'The unemploment percentage dropped' isn't the whole story, ever. There are several things you need to think aobut when you see stats like that:
1 - Did the government change how unemployment is calculated? That sort of thing has been done before. It used to be that everybody who isn't working counts as unemployed. Including kids. All well and good, leads to unemployment percentages around about 10-20%, mostly because of kids and old people. Then they start stripping off dependants, people on welfare, people that work seasonally, people from interstate, that guy, 'cause he's hurting our stats.
2 - What type of jobs were created, if any? Normally, they're casual, or low paying crap, and you trade in high-paying jobs for well-educated people to get them. That's what's currently happening in Australia at the moment - Our PM keeps blabbering on about all the jobs he has created, and they're all low-paying casual jobs with limited prospects and poor tenability, and all the while he's whittling back health and education funding, losing jobs for highly-educated people in the process. My mother has a Masters Degree in public health and can't get a job, and it isn't for lack of trying - there just aren't any to go around.
How about 'Decrease the deficit! Stop trying to police the entire world, and cut your military spending!'
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Iran is nowhere near making nuclear weapons. At all. They made some enriched uranium, but there's no way that they can make enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb, currently. Bush is just looking for another country to invade to distract people from the real issues.
Additionally, I think that if the US actually disarmed, as is required in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a treaty the US actually signed, then other countries might be a little warmer to the idea of following the NPT. | |
A better idea then a income-based taxed system - an expenditure-based tax system. Maybe have a flat 20% tax for people have a certain income threshold, and have a flat 20% goods-and-services tax on most items (Except some neccessities, like milk, water, bread, medical care, education). The government is rolling in money it can spend to fix up its horrible education, medicine, and welfare systems, 'illegals' now pay taxes, and poor people have some level of exemption.
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We only care about your character. And your religion, and your bank account balance, and your health, and how much you kiss posterior, and... | |
That would be because you put most of your money into blowing up countries with oil, rather then a decent education system. When you have screw-all money, an extra million dollars really isn't that much. In Aussieland, our education system is going downhill, and we complain about it heaps, but it's still far, FAR better then America's. We can get free education from reception through to year 12 (That's 13 years of school), and then government-sponsored university education that you only have to pay back a bit of later, once you earn more then a certain threshold income. And our universities are generally on the same level of quality as your 'ivy league colleges'. And they don't give out sports scholarships, which is possibly the stupidest idea I've ever heard of.
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The problem is that America spends far too much time (and money) invading other countries and catering to the rich, and not enough time (and money) setting up government-funded education, healthcare, and welfare.
In, say, 50 years time, I predict that America will have sunk to the level of many third-world nations, in terms of squalor. Unless something massive happens to shake the place up - an independant getting elected, a left-wing group getting elected (Not the Democrats, they're far closer to centre then left. American politics is horribly right-centric) | |
About 20 years ago, when my mother and father lived in America for a while, they explained Australia's welfare system to someone and got told "I didn't know Australia was a socialist country!"
How I laugh at that anecdote. | |
Except South Australia, which never housed any sort of prison camp - it was founded entirely on English people wanting to live somewhere where it didn' rain 90% of the time.
And, of course, America was also a prison colony, and it was before Australia. England originally started sending prisoners down here because America became independant. | |
Jp wrote:
In, say, 50 years time, I predict that America will have sunk to the level of many third-world nations, in terms of squalor. I predict that America will have been destroyed by every other country joining together in a socialist alliance against the evil empire. ^_^ genocide ^_^ | |
Jp wrote:
About 20 years ago, when my mother and father lived in America for a while, they explained Australia's welfare system to someone and got told "I didn't know Australia was a socialist country!" That's pretty funny. Ultimately a nation shouldn't strive for dominance or greatness, it should focus on being able to support and cater for all its peoples. A nation should keep military defense for times of need, but should focus on welfare and education primarily. Having an army ready to invade and attack other countries is largely pointless. Not only does it cause needless bloodshed but it also breeds disillusionment among a nation's populace- and causes other nations to up their own military in response! Just because a person is lazy and wishes to 'spong off the state' does not mean they are any less of a person and therefore they should be provided for equally. | |
Additionally, I think that if the US actually disarmed, as is required in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a treaty the US actually signed, then other countries might be a little warmer to the idea of <s>following the NPT</s> blowing us the [instert your own word here] off the planet.
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Jp wrote:
That would be because you put most of your money into blowing up countries with oil or stop all the retarded spending in schools*, rather then a decent education system. When you have screw-all money, an extra million dollars really isn't that much. In Aussieland, our education system is going downhill, and we complain about it heaps, but it's still far, FAR better then America's. We can get free education from reception through to year 12 (That's 13 years of school), and then government-sponsored university education that you only have to pay back a bit of later, once you earn more then a certain threshold income. And our universities are generally on the same level of quality as your 'ivy league colleges'. And they don't give out sports scholarships, which is possibly the stupidest idea I've ever heard of. *Let me expanded on this. I have heard from people that work in schools how stupid they are about spending money. From doing complete unneccesary things to complete waste of money. For instance one school LEASES printers instead of straight out buying them. (Also note the printers are not working) | |
No, not to my knowledge. The formula stayed the same, I think. Feel free to check that one... I heard nothing, and something like that with the current media conglomerates out to kill any economic good news, would be a major story.
Since all the low-paying, low-skill jobs are being outsourced to other countries (according to respected DNC economists </oxymoron>), all the jobs that are being created should be high skill level, and therefore, on average, higher paying. --Vito | |
Yes. People who are forced to do work for little or no pay with very little chance of getting out And who were impressed to do so against their will.
If the government announced that every new convict would spend one or two days a week building something, for no pay, those who would (and probably still will) commit crimes would be forwarned. It then becomes their choice to enter into such an arrangement by doing something illegal. Idea: Why not make them build a wall across the border? That would be almost as effective at solving the original problem here: There are't enough jail cells to hold all the Illegals. If all the felon inmates were out at a work camp building a wall for two months, the cells would be free for the Illegals. As soon as the wall is done, do a swap - drop the Illegals on the far side of the wall and put the inmates back. --Vito | |
The govenment.
Where does the government get it's money to fund the prisons? Part of the tax money.
So yeah. You have to pay them.