http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/13/bush-sig...p-act-into-law/

As if the US was not bad as it is...

I find it ironic that he signed this in order to avoid receiving the lowest presidential approval rating...

Oh my. How bout they announce a $700 billion prison building program FIRST

I mean the current fiscal year deficit is looking to be about 1.2 trillion before any new president takes their oath ... but why not try and push for $2 trillion. On the upside - at least no one will beat your record for running yourself into debt for a few decades ... until you need $2 trillion to buy a loaf of bread. Cos after this series of ridiculous actions from Wall st, 'Main st' and 'Politician st' no one will loan the US a single dime until they pay their debts off. Seriously ... China could probably eat and grow fat for the next decade on interest payments alone already ... let alone after the last 8 years of anti-US legislation coming out of Washington.

Oh yeah ... just so you know I decided to rebadge the term 'anti-US' as a term for ACTIONS that hurt the US rather then a term used to dismiss friendly advice.

yuck

i suppose its a good thing then that most every coffee shop, neighbor, and college has open wi-fi.

I am so tired of the two party system in this country; as far as I am concerned, both suck.

Don't know much about the British parties, but surely they must be better than this. And hell, their economy is not in the tubes...

Scary accurate, to be sure.


On topic....

Wow, this sucks. ):

Sorry to disappoint your move to Britain but Britain essentially has a 2 party system as well in the last 60 odd years only 2 parties have been in charge labour and conservative.

Piracy is good for you and me,
Dubya trying to save economy.

Yar har fiddledeedee, being a pirate is alright to be! Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free! You are a pirate!

We are all pirates cant you see?
Just look right now at your TV,
and take out the bootleg DVD...

what is this masterpiece I see?
Its something that I got for free.

downloading is the way to be.
sorrryyyy

solution: TrueCrypt. I run a windows/data HD then 2x raided game HDs. I encrypted my windows and data HD with a double 256 bit encryption and a 30 some character password. It wont slow down my gaming cuz it draws data from the other hds. Will be getting another 2 gigs of ram soon so i can cut off my page file too.

also, run peer guardian 2 whenever torrenting. It blocks all P2P identification info, but that means you cant play games over the net when its active. Catch me now biach!

Yes but it seems that the Westminster system has more scope for minor parties to influence the cabinet ... which can be viewed negatively or positively in the scope of democracy. For example, in the US it is virtually impossible for a new-comer to win a Presidential election and therefore appoint a cabinet. But in Australia, a small number of independents can sit in the 'balance of power' in the house of representatives or senate and therefore be part of the appointment process for the 'majority' and 'opposition' governments ... even changing their vote should the 'majority' fail to serve their interests.

One hypothetical example is lets say the Australian Greens won 3 seats in the house of rep's, Labor won 74 and the 'Coalition' won 73. If the Greens sided with Labor in the hope that they would reign industries environmental impact after the election but were disappointed they could give their votes to the 'Coalition' if Labor ignored their wishes. And in the next election; should they see success they might gain more votes. Another major thing that can occur is parties splitting into pre-existing factions but using new names. For example, in the 1960's I think the Australian Liberal Party (which is our conservative party) lost a faction which renamed itself the Democrats who had the slogan "keeping the bastards honest". The Democrats had a limited amount of success in influencing policy over the following decades.

BNP!!!

Erm. My computer only has one internal 80GB HDD

Don't come here.

Why would you want to go to Britain anyway? Perhaps you won't have an insane copyright czar or whatever but you can't own weapons, there seems to be some sort of protest in the middle of a city led by some random nuts each week, and brushing your teeth is illegal. Plus everybody's economy is going down the tubes. Good times!

As for China and others lending us money, why would they not continue to do so if they expect us to continue paying them back? For better or worse (worse in my opinion) they are one of our largest trade partners. It is fine for our country do some big spending at times, but our politicians have really overdone it. We really need some financial conservatism now, but of course either canidate seems to offer that. They would probably cut spending in the wrong areas too.

Doesn't Mexico or part of Europe still owe us a ton of money?

Actually the whole point of this economic crisis at the moment is that no-one is keen to lend money. The sub-prime lending crisis has caused banks to be afraid to lend at all. The problem is basically that in normal economic conditions people for past generations have only leant to sure bets. They make sure that the people they're lending too can and will pay them back before lending the money to them and ensure that the security = the value of the loan. But this time around, the banks thanks to the lack of regulation were allowed to lend to people who might've defaulted on their loans. And at the same time as this happened housing prices crashed because interest rates went up. So lets say you owe the bank $300k and were sitting on a $300k house. You lose your job and can't make loan repayments ... a year later the bank repossesses your house. But now it is worth $200k. So the bank finds out that it loses money. Which eats into its reserves, which are very minimal.

So they look around for money to loan from another larger bank. They lie, because deregulation legalises this. And the bigger bank lends them money despite the fact that their assets are shrinking and their debts are growing at an exponential rate.

In this climate, large amounts of credit reserves are being eaten up and any organisation that attempts to loan money from a source must be an absolutely sure bet. Guarantees cannot be made on property and obviously not on other assets like cars etc. So other kinds of businesses find themselves in precarious positions. A small emergency can result in as serious a problem as not being able to pay the staff or buy more stock.

And naturally the same applies to governments. If they don't look stable economically ... and if their loan repayments are looking to become insurmountable ... people simply won't lend to them. And thats the view the Chinese have of the US at the moment because interest payments are now making something like 20% of US budget at what are comparatively low rates and thats @ $3 billion debt ... not next years $4 billion. That means the burden on the taxpayer is going to get even bigger next year ... and the Chinese are keenly aware of the state of US politics. They know how much of an issue raising taxes are, especially when times are tough.



Everyone owes everyone money these days. Loans are thrown back and forward more often then actual cash transfers on the larger end of economies. The important thing to look at is the balance of trade & debt. I don't know the actual figures but I know that the USA currently owes a significant amount more money then it is owed. Which means its balance of debt is poor. As for its balance in trade ... well thats a more complicated matter. US trade is not easy to truly calculate as you need US$ to buy oil ... which makes the transfers of money for US made goods hard to measure.

Don't worry. I'll come instead so we can party hard.

I knew the causes of our little economic mess but I was talking about on national debt. If nobody will lend to us we can take as long as we want in paying these guys back.

No you can't ... that would be illegal under both US law and international law. You have to pay the loans back at agreed rates and the current agreed interest rate for $3 trillion is* 12% NOT INCLUDING actually repaying the debt. The rate therefore @ $4 trillion will be closer to 16%.

* US Federal Budget

So how about thinking about some serious change. There is 1 clear way the USA can save the money to pay off their debt rapidly:



This is the past & present cost of health insurance ALONE in the USA ... remembering that when you get sick you still get bills and quite often this amounts to the full cost of a procedure because your insurance company refuses to pay.

The total cost of providing health care in the USA has passed 12% of its GDP. Meanwhile countries with proper health care systems like France, Britain and Australia pay closer to 4-6%. The USA comes in @ 37th in the world in terms of standard of health care. France & Britain are in the top 10. Australia has slid 10 places from 17 to 27 since privatising a large amount of its system. We also pay more for the same treatment.

Personally I'd rather be taxed 4% more then have my employer NOT pay me $12,000 a year because he has to cover my health insurance! Hell ... I'd be happy to be taxed 8% more and help pay of the national debt ... so that future generations didn't have to pay as much tax. IF that meant that the government was doing the right thing by me.

Yeah we can even though we probably won't. U.S. law and international law both get broken enough. Unless we step in nobody tries to enforce major international laws anyway.

I suppose China would have owed us a good deal of money if not for their revolution.

Regarding healthcare one problem is that many European countries which have successful universe healthcare systems don't have large numbers of illegal immigrants, or people living off of welfare, which are too often covered under proposed healthcare plans. I am no expert on the subject but I have also heard that it could theoretically save us money. Yet with the way our government mishandles everything how likely is this to happen? There are other problems too. Canada for example, once considered a model for such a system has problems getting people treatment quickly. Some privatization would also still be good to have.

No way in hell I would want an 8% tax increase. If there is one thing the United States should not have it is European level taxes.

True ... although the US does also get in the road of people trying to enforce international law which is almost your point.



The EU has massive amounts of legal migrants. And these people, depending on the system are not covered. The same occurs here. Medicare covers Australian citizens. Even permanent residents face the normal heavy bills. And yes ... you do have to prove citizenship when going to the doctor to get a free appointment ... but we all have a card for that.

Interestingly, unemployed people here get further discounts on health care. But make no mistake ... we have a lot of people living off welfare and our system is more generous then the USA's. So that is a financial hit on our system too.

Oh and the libertarian point that "the government would screw it up anyway" is the fault of the people who vote for said incompetent governments.



My point was ... a $12k payrise and an 8% increase in tax. At most! So hypothetically;

Mr. Carpenter earns $80k a year and pays $20k tax. After the change he earns $92k but gets taxed $27k. So his untaxed income at the end of the year is now $65k ... up from $60. Of course with the complexity of tax systems it will vary. Some will gain more, others will gain less.

The reality is that universal health care provides cheaper, better health care.

Yes because your own policies have served you so well in the past...

Back on topic....

doesn't intellectual property deserve some legal protection?

yes - It needs to be proportional and enforced sensibly - do you know anyone who got done for taping the radio or tv?

Money is funny.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-fD78zyvI&...s-consequences/

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jB9fuIvksLw&...mic-crisis.html

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

What are you referring to? If you talking about foreign policy the Europeans certainly don't have the best record.

If you want Europe, go to Europe I suppose. Lower taxes and guns make America, **** ya! I would not mind a small tax increase for universal healthcare but 8% is pushing it.



Well you get to vote, but the incompetance comes with all the offerings these days. Up here in Connecticut our state politicans are too busy taking kickbacks and appointing ultra-liberal judges to do anything good for the state. Yet they tend to get reelected anyway. Our senators always get reelected and none of the media wants to say a word about Chriss Dodd's recent scandal. Town elections always end up being a big revolving door of suck.

So what if your taxes are lower! The services your government provide and therefore the services available to the people are sub-par. Your country is rich enough to have the best health care system in the world and in fact spends PER PERSON 1.5x what the best health care system costs because of your corrupt corporate system for health care. Besides the % of the US government budget that goes on health care is higher then Japan's, Frances, Australias or Britains. Wouldn't you rather a DEMOCRATIC health care system where you had some influence on how it is applied?

what´s the percentage of tax in the US?
Here it´s 19% with exception for pharmacy products-lot lower than 19%
- unemployment here about 15%, then take into consideration hundreds of thousands working abroad.(that´s how our unemployment levels dropped, not because our govts making more jobs in the past- a temporary drop from roughly 25% in some regions in late 1990s )

Edit:
Anyone read Michail Chazin´s (in E. Mikhail Khazin) recent interview with some Russian newspaper about future inevitable´default´in the US? (or his book about the empire of dollar etc...)
Good stuff, unbiased, even though a written in a perspective few would write.

I would certainly like it if it could be done properly. Yet I fear our government would screw it up so it either costs way too much or your waiting for months which was a big problem in Canada if I recall.

Not much to do now but sit back and see what happens. Perhaps I should find an abandoned oil rig or something and create my own country like that crazy guy did with that old British naval platform.

Call it the Republic of Dave. Would make my day.

Actually, Canada has pretty much always had shorter waiting lists then the USA. See there is always x number of doctors to x number of patients. With the severity and frequency of the illnesses of the patients, the accessability and quality of the care being factors which influence waiting lists but basically, the USA with its nearly complete lack of independent media gets fed horror story after horror story about universal health care failing because big surprise, your media has a stake in that business!