MoogleViper Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Yeah, it's pretty much how we don't blame the recession right now on the Conservatives (or even Labour for that matter) It's like you've never read the papers (or listened to all the morons try and talk about politics). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipaul Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Very glad Obama won, he's the only president looking through post FDR history that I actually like. My knowledge is very limited on some of them but still. Most people of my politics say they like Bill Clinton and I have immense dislike for him so... The Republican party really could have won this election if they hadn't gone so batshit crazy in the last 8 or so years. They're really gonna have to think about this loss hard and try to win some moderates back because their current strategy of relying on predominantly white, male, rural voters is doomed to become less and less effective. Yay Obama! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 It's like you've never read the papers (or listened to all the morons try and talk about politics). Well actually it was probably the papers fault anyway. Going on about how no one was going to have any money soon and that we'd all be worse off - but don't forget to go out and buy things to help the economy! Anyway, irrelevant to the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent Gibbs Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Yeah, it's pretty much how we -snip- blame the recession right now on the Conservatives (or even Labour for that matter) as we realise that it wasn't their fault. But we do judge them on what they've done so far. In Obama's case he seems to have genuinely tried. corrected that :p I may not like the conservatives in general but the economic mess is not their fault, its Labour and the building blocks before that were laid by thatcher selling off utilities (we'd be far better off if we still owned them) My dislike for conservatives is their real random miss mash of ideas etc, cut speed camera funding and promote road safety = Win don't let us vote on Europe = fail Can defend ourselves in our own home = Win don't carry out pledge of British bill of rights = fail On Topic though Obama has done most of what he said (not delt with gitmo but hey ho that should keep repbulicans happy you'd think) and has done lots to improve the overall quality of life for everyone in the country, whilst improving the economy and international relations of course to republicans that equates to grovelling to other nations, taxing the rich, proping up the poor on welfare, releasing the devil/obama care that will apparently mean forcing the old to die (i remember that outlandish republican claim of forcing old folks off to care homes to die), and other twisted things, which FOX spouts and the "plebs" (to coin a british phrase) lap it all up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iun Posted November 7, 2012 Author Share Posted November 7, 2012 @Iun I'm far more interested in what the 'once a decade' leadership change in China could mean. I've not heard anything about it except one tweet BBC have on their live feed at the moment. Elsewise I'm feeling extremely cynical about this whole thing. I mean of course I prefer Obama; I'm a liberal who knows nothing about running a country but has throwback 60s hippy ideals for how the world can run on peace and love' date=' [i']but[/i] I'm just surprised at how surprised (inorite) I am that everyone non-american is so... passionate/zealous about the whole affair. Alright,I'll give you a rundown on the Chinese leadership change tomorrow when I am awake again. Remind me, yeah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnus Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Ugh, spoiler alert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Ugh, spoiler alert! Obama won't win the next one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flameboy Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 I couldn't have been more uninterested in the election even though arguably it now means more to me. It made me feel very disengaged with UK politics. The whole family stayed up waiting to see everything whilst I laid in bed reading a Dave Gorman book, I feel like I spent my night much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 That entirely depends on which Gorman book you were reading! (just kidding, they're all excellent!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Mitt Romney represents the very worst of human nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arab_freak Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 The assumption that Obama is relatively better than Romney is of course very hard to sell to Iranians, Afghans, Palestinians, or Pakistanis, who are in one way or another suffering the consequences of his deadly decisions. Four years ago you did not have a heart if you did not vote for Obama - this year you did not have hope in humanity if you did. It's a shame us Middle Easterners can't vote for our next American president. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/201211785348348393.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted November 7, 2012 Share Posted November 7, 2012 Thank fuck. The anti-liberal, anti-progress, anti-equality, anti-science, religious right-wing nutjob Mitt Romney represents everything that is wrong with the United States. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 @Iun gimme dat all-juicey China Truth-y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dog-amoto Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iun Posted November 8, 2012 Author Share Posted November 8, 2012 @Iun gimme dat all-juicey China Truth-y. Here's how it goes: Like it or not, we are starting to move away from a unipolar economic world - the US and the US Dollarhave enjoyed complete economic dominance over the financial markets and indeed a degree of politically-linked economics. The US had been ale to dominate the system through the ubiquity of the dollar, the relative stability of the currency and confidence in the American market. Ow ever, a lot of these factors changed with the global recession: faith has been lost in American banks, growth has gone from decline to snails-pace recovery and perceptions of growing US national debt has led to less confidence in the American monetary system. It's still viable to peg your currency to the dollar, and most international transactions are still carried out in dollars. For example, although I bought my plane ticket in China and the price on the website was shown in RMB, the card issuing Chinese bank converted the transaction into dollars for actual payment. China, on the other hand, has been on the ascent for the last ten years or so: the political system is abhorrent and would disgust most of us if we were to live under it - the rule of law is not respected, the constitution as set out in 1949 is mostly disregarded and there is only one source of information: the Government. Imagine a country where the police can arrest you because you wanted to complain to your local representative about the forced demolition of your property; you will be denied legal assistance, there will be no due process and the entirety of your family could be punished as well. Juxtapose this with the fact that if you are rich enough, or have friends within the local political apparatus, you can literally get away with murder, massive fraud and any other crime that would see you prisoner for the rest of your life if you committed it in the UK. However, despite the disgusting nature of this political system, one thing it does give is relative stability. The markets are still affected by global trends, but the state here is rich enough to pump cash into massive stimulus projects that keep people employed, companies producing goods and the general populace satisfied that things are actually being done. China is still a developing country, but it's model of welcoming huge amounts of foreign investments with big tax breaks (or no tax at all) cheap labour and almost carte blanche to do your most polluting and dangerous production in the country without any worries. China's business model of export-led growth has seen the country's economy enjoy double-digit growth almost every year in recent memory, when you consider that most European nations can muster about 2% growth and be considered successful, figures of 10% or if her are absolutely staggering. Labour here is so cheap and so plentiful that most factory works earn the equivalent of £150 a month. The domestic stability that the state can enforce through the police and military is barbaric, but at the very least reliable. As the Partyis not elected through any direct means, it gauges its success through economic growth and the number of citizens living above the poverty line. Economic growth is paramount, and they will take ANY steps necessary to safeguard that including mass arrests, coercive pressure on regional neighbours and withholding support in international fora until other states cave in. China is now in some ways bankrolling the world - I'm sure you've heard that China owns 27% of America's foreign owned debt, which in the grand scheme of America's actual debt is a minority, but it's still an uncomfortable situation to be in. Though as yet, China has not been able to translate her economic power into political power over the US, it hasn't stopped them from bringing smaller nations into line: pacific island states and a number of African nations have been bullied (and that is the correct term) into accepting certain domestic political concessions in return for investment. Now, the handover is in progress. What does this mean? Well, the watchword of the Hu administration has been "harmony" i.e. government-approved stability, at the barrel of a gun when necessary. The incoming administration is going to inherit a robust economy (still enjoying 7% growth) and a low-level of foreign held debt as well as a confident domestic market. Nonetheless, there are some challenges: the export-led economy cannot go on forever without the majority of the nation being kept in perpetual poverty. House prices have skyrocketed in the last three years -my home doubled in value in about 8 months, meaning that housing is completely out of reach of something like 80% of people. What affordable ousting that is constructed is often ought through various means by the wealthy and then leased-out at market prices which most can't afford. It's not unusual to have three or four families living out of two bedrooms and a living room in order to survive. All the while, the middle class is becoming more prosperous. Now, the middle class has historically been the cause of most revolutions and trouble, and that's a big fear. Post Tiananmen Square Massacre, the government made an unspoken agreement with the population: don't do it again and we will make you rich. Well, the middle class are ow rich and they are looking for more rights - they have all the money they want, now they would like to have more than NE child (in China, families are only allowed one child, and in rural areas families that break this law can be forced into sort ions and even sterilised by the government) they will want the right to choose their leaders and more say in domestic and international affairs. China's growth has put the wind up regional neighbours, traditionally aligned with the US. While the UD is likely to dominate militarily for the next 20 years, neighbours such as Japan, Singapore and the ROK are aware that Cona's coercive attempts to bring them into its way of going are one day going to end up becoming military attempts to dominate them. China, with a focus on harmony and stability WILL NOT accept neighbours that are going to stymie or resist her influence. There's no question that China has ambitions to become the regional hegemon, and neighbours are starting to balance militarily against that happening. The result of that is that China is becoming more aggressive to stop them from challenging its power in the region. It's a no-win situation - unless you are willing to kowtow. Historically, most Asian states were client states or vassals to China, and the Party certainly would have no objection to returning to that status quo. The incoming administration, it is hoped, are going to be reformers. They will have to tackle difficulties with changing the economy from export-driven to consumer driven. But that presents a huge problem in that Chinese consumers are generally too poor to consume the kind of quantities necessary for this transition. If you take Japan as an example, their goods are extremely high-end and expensive, but the consumers are wealthy enough to afford them. China is an integral part of the world economy, and this change is biiiiig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayseven Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Consumer-driven is bound to be a near-impossible task, beause surely they'd have to stop weakening the chinese yen for it to happen - which in turn would mean that foreign investments would not be as ridiculously cheap as it is now, amirite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellmeister Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Normally I ignore long posts because I'm just too lazy. I took the time to read that and I'm glad I did :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mokong Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Can you sport what is wrong in this? The girl who posted this has since closed her twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 I don't think that tweet could have been more wrong if it tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killer kirby Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Can you sport what is wrong in this? The girl who posted this has since closed her twitter Wow...ummm...just...wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murr Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 it's the replies I like - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 They should just deport her to Somalia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 Random fact: Did you know that the Queen could technically sack the Australian's PM? Of course, our royal family would never do such a thing and the whole thing would likely be abolished if they tried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent Gibbs Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 i could and perhaps will copy some posts of a guy from America on my Facebook, got chatting friendly with him on a different site and slowly discovered he doesn't have a problem with "gays" but thinks its ungodly and they are going to hell, and is not only a staunch republican, he's a fox news fed republican I'd unfriend him but he's too funny for that 17m ago Al Torres shared Just Cuz's photo.I support our Troops, it's unfortunate that the same thing doesn't hold true for Obama before that he shared a picture of Obama's half brother living in africa on less than $20 a year and proclaiming this is Obama's family values reposts of Donald Trump's rants (obviously in agreement) Al Torres11 hours ago via Mobile Kevin Sorbo-- No bitterness....just sad. The "have nots" now outnumber the "haves". We are most certainly following the path of Europe. The New Zealanders call it "The Tall Poppy Syndrome". If one person gets taller than the others, it gets chopped down by the others. No one is better. No one deserves more. We are all the same. It is okay if a few people live like Capitalists, such as the governme nt, but as long as the "have nots" drag down 99% of the populace, then they can feel better about their failures to live up to their end of the bargain. We can all be losers together and live like they do in Cuba, because it is so much better there than in America. Best part of this is when another 4 years goes by and we are worse off than we are now....we can still blame Bush! Al Torres shared Mitt Romney's photo.Yesterday The Angels themselves in the heavens above cry tonight, it breaks my heart to think that we were almost there, it breaks my heart to think of what could have been. it was accompanied with a picture of Romney saying thank you Al TorresTuesday via Mobile If your a healthy lazy bastard that doesn't wanna work and lives off the system you shouldn't have the right to vote. I'M Al Torres and I approve this message. This one is a killer Al Torres1 November via Mobile Obama is an Islamic Extremist sympathizer who attended Jerimiah Wrights church of the hatred of Whites and the hatred of America for over 20 years, why is he our President? Al Torres28 October via Mobile I think so, If Romney loses I lose, every True Republican loses, most tragical of all the economy loses. I figured I'd do my part, I put up signs for Romney on the road, I gave people in my community signs and now I got Romney pins with his face which I'm giving my Romney friends in my community. Four years ago we Republicans drank from the cup of sorrow, I wept tears of sadness when Obama won, this time around if I do shed tears may they be tears of Joy. I am not getting paid for my efforts but I figured if we Republicans are gonna go down again we're gonna go out with a fight, we're gonna go out in a blaze of glory. Al Torres24 October via Mobile I am happy that I am not Obama first and for most because I can put my head on a pillow at night and go to sleep with the clean conscious Obama doesn't have in knowing he cost the lives of Four of our fellow Americans in the Syrian embassy and secondly because I have impossibly good looks and Obama doesn't. Al Torres22 October via Mobile I am proud to say that a little ol' lady knocked on my door this morning and asked me if I was the Romney yard sign headquarters since I have so many signs, funny thing was that I was even wearing a Romney for president pin. I gave her two signs and two Girls honked the horn and smiled at me. Romney/Ryan 2012 !!! ---in comments--- Al To**** This is an issue that affects us all, I am proud of Romney and I am proud that he touched basis on the heart wrenching sorrow that our world suffered with all the tragic barbarities commited by Assad who must go and the frightening fact that Ahmadinishad another killer and terrorist is four years away from Nuclear weaponry. Thats just the last two/three weeks, i could post pages of the stuff, wish i could find his tirade on Gays it was just epically biggoted I'll look later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 It still haunts me that Bush became President instead of Al Gore. And that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. Republicans are such assholes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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