The Europeanization of America and How to Stop It.

[CunningStunts]

and don't get me wrong: the perfect country (or government) does not exist. but i like where the EU is heading a hell of a lot better than the ghetto the US is quickly turning into.

Seen the riots on France lately? Over 10% poor muslim population, and they are angry and violent. I'd say Europe has their own problems right now...

The bottom line is that people, not government, need to get off their asses and stop blaming OTHER people for why their lives are shitty. Only one person can truly make a difference in one's life: YOU.

 

[TunnelOfLove]

Seen the riots on France lately? Over 10% poor muslim population, and they are angry and violent. I'd say Europe has their own problems right now...

France is not Europe, it's just one country in Europe. I live in European country but what goes on in France doesn't affect me.

 

[Namreg]

france voted "no" on the european constitution, if i'm not mistaken... maybe it's time to ahem, pay them a visit

 

[sdj374]

I think it was the part about "narrow-minded individuals pretentiously sharing their ill-informed second-hand opinions" followed up by saying that we all live in trailers, have shitty educations, and an awful infrastructure. It's a shame. I thought you were actually a descent poster, but I suppose you are just another ignorant person who thinks they know everything there is to know about America without actually spending any time there.

 

[Namreg]

i know you don't ALL live in trailers, are ignorant, or morbidly obese. that seems to be the vocal majority though, not just on this board but also in american TV and newspapers.

i'm going to stop visiting this thread now, i'm not going to get drawn into a flamewar about whose country has the least shitty government.

 

[Elwood70]

- most americans have never been abroad, and not just because they aren't welcome anywhere in the world. they are simply not interested in seeing anything other than the familiar, and thus they never venture outside the trailer park much.

Or maybe,just maybe they can't afford to travel to a different fucking state in America,much less outside of it.

i'm glad i'm not american.

So am I.

 

[Supafly]

Your first second sentence and your last paragraph is just the Pot calling the Kettle Black. :wave2: Do as I say and not as I do.:thumbsup:

Well lets see I know a bit about Germany since I was stationed there for a few years with the United States Army. Also I have been to France, Italy, Spain and Monaco. So how about if you want to defend Europe you not make xenophobia, hate-mongering, and various narrow-minded statements about America.

Conservative or Liberal, GOP or Dem I love my country and have SHED BLOOD for my country in Kosovo and Iraq and will defend her till the bitter end.

I have served with German, French, Greek, Polish and British Troops in Kosovo and Iraq and I hear them talk about how they wish they had some of the freedoms that us Americans have. Sure America ain't perfect but really what country is, yours? Germany is FAR from perfect.

You know, i highlighted the catch-line. I am german and you must be bullshitting - unless you talk about the rights to get and use arms like you get candy, pretty much.

Otherwise, your the Homeland Security Act really put any desires of europeans to be more like the no-more home of the free to the grave.

The legal issues of your Big Brother Country trying to draw Europe into the same dark pit are a major topic in our courtrooms and the media right now.

And your signature REALLY gives you away:

Glenn Beck supports this post^

 

[georges]

some very interesting responses in this last page, thank you all for chiming in :thumbsup:

 

[Rey C.]

Our markets haven't really been free for a long time, when the government forces banks to lend money to buy houses for people who can't pay it (the Community Reinvestment Act), or when the American oil industry is restricted from drilling in their own country (environmental restrictions), and then there's American industries closing shop here and opening up in China because, how ironic, they find it easier to deal with a communist country's regulations than American regulations. Remember kiddos, excessive government regulations add to the cost of producing anything, is that really a free market?

Good point: truly excessive government regulations do not equate to a "free market." But there has never been a time in this nation's history that there haven't been regulations that someone didn't find to be excessive.

Believe me, I understand the points that you're attempting to make. And some of them are good points. But the problem is, you're confusing correlations with causality. And you're also claiming things to be true which are not. For example, in the case of "American industries closing shop here and opening up in China because, how ironic, they find it easier to deal with a communist country's regulations than American regulations." That is anything but true. The cost of labor is the primary cost of doing business within most industries. With NAFTA, American multinational companies were able to take advantage of the delta in wages between the U.S. and Mexico, so many moved some of their manufacturing there. When the delta in wages between Mexico and certain Asian countries became great enough to overcome shipping costs, many moved some of their manufacturing from Mexico/Latin America to Asia. And even within China itself, an issue the Chinese are having to address right now is the outflow of jobs from China to even lower cost locations, like Vietnam.

Unless you're suggesting that the minimum wage laws be discarded, and we make some attempt to drive average wages down to roughly $1.50/hour in the U.S., it's got very little to do with regulations. If it was primarily the regulatory framework that caused businesses to move from one location to another, companies would be flocking to the U.S., and China would be one of the last locations that a multinational would move to (especially if export was a concern). China, being a communist country, has a managed economy (it's anything BUT a free market system - try exporting something to China and then get back to me). And it is NOT easy for foreign companies, especially smaller ones, to do business there.

There is not a SINGLE category in which China beats the U.S. on "ease of doing business"... EXCEPT wages.

Ease of doing business:
Overall Rank U.S.: #4
Overall Rank Mexico: #51
Overall Rank China: #89

http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/?direction=Asc&sort=0


Annual Total Personal Average Income in Constant 2005 International Dollars:
Overall Rank U.S.: #1 ($19,776)
Overall Rank Mexico: #26 ($3,136)
Overall Rank China: #27 ($3,029)

http://www.worldsalaries.org/total-personal-income.shtml

Same as with most anything else: just follow the money trail!

 

[Facetious]

3rd Parties, in Contemporary America, are nonfactors. How'd that Ross Perot party do anyway....he was atleast more of a serious "threat" than Ron Paul

What about your FIRST CHOICE for '08 Johnny Edwards, and all it took was the National Enquirer to bring him down. Such a shameful man, John Edwards, a prominent jury manipulating trial law-yeah turned democrat senator for the State of North Carolina, a man with a beautiful family, a man with a beautiful :uhem: home, a man that would never let us forget that he grew up as a son of a man who worked in a mill each day.... phoney bastid ! :1orglaugh

Today, I can't say that I have any reservations about Paul so...



Listen, you're getting really snarley -n- agitated lately and you haven't quite been your regular engaging self ... has the college ball concluded for the season or sumthin ?

 

[Red Spyder]

i didn't bother to read the thread, because i know what's in it:
xenophobia, hate-mongering, and various narrow-minded individuals pretentiously sharing their ill-informed second-hand opinions with other blowhards in a patronising manner.

the truth is:
- "europe" is not a country. to me, as a german, poland is as different from germany as mexico is to a US american. "europe" contains democracies, monarchies; rich and poor countries; good food, bad food, and british food (which is uncategorisable). which europe are we talking about here?

- most americans have never been abroad, and not just because they aren't welcome anywhere in the world. they are simply not interested in seeing anything other than the familiar, and thus they never venture outside the trailer park much. what do they (and by implication, you) know about any country in europe, or the rest of the world? nothing.

- what would be bad about becoming a bit more like (western, i presume) europe? actual democracy (and not demockracy like in the states), more money in education and healthcare than in the military, legal prostitution, non-retarded speed limits...

- or should we become like you? overtly corrupt government, crime-ridden cities, shitty education, shitty social services and healthcare, third-world infrastructures, but a massive arsenal of nuclear weapons... ?

i'm glad i'm not american.

Excelent post. Here in America we do have lots of things we need to change or improve. We should copy the things that have worked in other countries, but avoid becoming a nanny state. I don't have time right now to talk about little things I've heard from England, France, Germany, etc., that really make me think that, well, sound too big brotherish for my taste. On the positive side, the Finnish education system is one thing that I've heard is extremely better than what we have here.

 

[Member2019]

Actually ...

I agree that the US has lost its "independence" view on liberty and individual freedoms, but not what the media puts forth. The idea that we can enact "fair" and "right" is the non-sense that started in the Soviet Republics, headed west and now we're seeing it trans-Atlantic.

The result is that no one is safe, no one has any rights, and people stupidly think the right-wingers are the only ones behind this. To Libertarians, freedom of choice in both life and as a consumer are intertwined. The problem is that the US started to decide what was right/wrong starting with Suez, and since then the US has been the military arm of the UK and France (who could no longer afford their armies, and reduced them after Suez).

The US does needs neither petroleum from the Middle East nor natural gas from the former Soviet Republics, let alone has massive coal reserves. The UK does not, and most of the EU does not either. Yet the US has been the defacto default military ensuring such to the EU since Suez and the Cold War, while most in the EU hypocritically and arrogantly washes their hands of it.

Pisses me the fuck off. If you are in Africa or the Middle East, and I can understand criticisms of the US. But if you are in the EU, honestly, don't bother. Back in 2002, Americans finally realized that was the reality -- when EU and US business leaders met. It had nothing to do with Iraq, but the entire, selfish attitude that exists more on the east side of the Atlantic than the west.

Sorry, but truth. Wait until the US is no longer a dominate power and you'll see the EU crumble worse due to lack of secured resources. At least the Americas can be dominated by Brazil and the US (sorry Chavez, I don't see much out of you other than hypocritical rhetoric as well).

BTW, US foreign policy remains unchanged with Obama. Not even Kyoto -- yet another prediction of mine that came 100% true! But I'll at least give Obama some credit over Clinton. At least he didn't sign it knowing it would never pass in the US Congress. Clinton knew it wouldn't and guaranteed absolutely 0 Senators would vote for it.

Absolutely nothing has changed, and I love being so fucking right. Why? Because this is the US, not the EU. Americans should not be like the EU, although we should get the fuck out of everything except the Americas -- like before Suez and WWII. George Washington and Adams warned of this over and over, and everyone fought them on it -- before there were Federalists and Democrat-Republicans.

Political bullshit was what GW warned us the most about, along with Europeans defining our policies.