I agree with this: Beside the country is lead by the "UMP" party since 1995 (first Chirac, then Sarkozy) that is the right-wing party as opposed to the "Parti Socialiste" which is the socialist party. Your comment about education only hold if education can be accessed by everyone, which is not the case. I also was lucky enough to be able to go to university. I studied longer (and harder) than most. And I was lucky enough to meet the right persons. And I am lucky to be smart enough to understand financial engineering and make a living out of it, which makes me lucky enough to be a person that earns more money than I can spend. Now do I deserve that money? Of course I don't. In another random draw I could have been less lucky and end poor with the same amount of enthusiasm and hard work. Ninna
And the criminals in government and corporate America are doing their level best to destroy that. They only like the kind of Capitalism where they can gamble with our money and profit, keep it all for themsleves, and socialize any losses. Honest Capitalism died decades ago!
Correctamundo! Unfortunately, neither "we the people" nor our government acknowledge this fact. What we SHOULD be doing is trying to maximize our staying power and longevity rather than wasting all we have to recapture that which can never be.... at least down the path we currently travel. (If we were TRYING to restore America, that might be different. But Odumba's policies... and Bush's too... have us "swirling 'round the bowl of the great economic toilet"... )
I beg to differ. In America, education can be accessed by EVERYONE who qualifies. That is, "everyone who makes the effort". We have lots of kids who either don't go to school or don't do their homework. Education is shoved in front of their faces, but they don't take advantage. Shoot, with our "affirmative action" policies, even LESSER qualified minorities get preferential treatment.. for jobs, school, EVERY FRICKIN' THING.. but those eligible for such perks (NOT deserved, IMV) don't bother to do even the minimum to qualify... then they the BITCH "somebody has more than me"... POPPYCOCK! In America, good jobs and wealth are not "bestowed" upon many of us. If we have wealth and success, it's because WE DESERVE IT BECAUSE WE EARNED IT.. or we inherited it because someone in our family earned it. Either is OK with me.
This is wrong. Almost all Top 50 cities as far as standard of living is concerned are in countries that implemented a fair amount of "socialist" programs. The first continental US city (San Francisco) is ranked 32, far behind european "socialist" countries.. The criteria are: 1. Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement, etc) 2. Economic environment (currency exchange regulations, banking services, etc) 3. Socio-cultural environment (censorship, limitations on personal freedom, etc) 4. Health and sanitation (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution, etc) 5. Schools and education (standard and availability of international schools, etc) 6. Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transport, traffic congestion, etc) 7. Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports and leisure, etc) 8. Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars, etc) 9. Housing (housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services, etc) 10. Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters) Source: The Mercer Study, http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/quality-of-living-report-2010#City_Ranking_Tables Ninna
Are you accounting for "bias" from the rankers? And frankly, my view is that PEOPLE "DESERVE" EXACTLY WHAT THEY EARN FOR THEMSELVES... NOT 1 NICKEL MORE! "Government tit-suckers" add little/nothing to society. They are parasites, maintained at great cost to the responsible and productive. Personally, I'd like to see all of the parasites leave the US and move to Venezuela, Cuba, or even France... where all could be happy.
What exactly is the America you would like to return to? The one where private gold ownership was forbidden? The one where taxes for the rich at 90%? The one where capital gains taxes were a multiple of where they are today? The one where blacks weren't allowed to sit in front of the bus? Wouldnt you agree people at times romanticise the past?
My solution Empty out the asylums for the insane, tell them they are batman/catwoman give them guns and ship them off to Afghanistan. Alnd also recruit the over 50s for military service, think of the savings to the Health service !!
Maybe we should revisit the Industrial Revolution era, where the masses were working 16 hour days/7 day a week for a subsistence wage...Oh damn, I guess we ARE heading back that way, thanks to globalization opening up labor markets around the world, where billions of people are more than happy to work twice as hard as we are, for a fraction of the $$.