Migradudetoo Loc: El Paso, Texas

Do they make them in your size, pin head?

srt101fan

This is an interesting issue for discussion. But nasty talk doesn't help and only moves it to the gutter.

If FEMA is set up to provide aid in cases of natural disasters, why can't there be a similar role for the fed gov in pandemics?

I'm not sure what that role should be, but I am interested in what folks think about this.

eskiles Loc: Palmer Alaska

And the choice you made was much worse than even Bill Clinton. The Republicans played you and all the other Bill Clinton haters for fools! His wife’s only flaw was to marry him, but she married for love not his fortune like Trumps wives. She spent time in the Senate where she navigated the good ole boys club and outwitted them, she then was asked to be President Obama’s Secretary of State! Again she did as well as any man to occupy the office. The Republicans voted not to supply the Benghazi consulate with better defenses, it was not Clinton’s decision! Hillary Clinton was the best “Man” for the presidency! The Republicans smear tactics of alledge and run proved to be her downfall! And now you are bending over backwards to protect your poor choice voting for Trump!

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Average net worth has nothing to do with anything. "Worth" is a relevant thing that is only applicable within a country. It should not be used, without provisos, to compare one country with another.
That is why we have the problems in Hong Kong. Anything to do with protecting against the virus or national security is all CCP BS. Follow the money - it is to stop all the Chinese millionaires and billionaires (and how did they get like that if there wasn't capitalism working full speed ?) from getting their money out of China via Hong Kong. And thus increasing the 'net worth' of US/Canada.


So I might be a few percentage points out but principle remains. Not even sure about how many percentage points I might be out since these are old figures. recent Federal Reserve mucking about has almost certainly made my figures closer to correct.

From wiki - "Reich states that 95% of economic gains went to the top 1% net worth (HNWI) since 2009 when the recovery allegedly started.[10] More recently, in 2017, an Oxfam study found that eight rich people, six of them Americans, own as much combined wealth as half the human race."


It is but only because of a different arrangement of the top government officials. It is a rampant capitalist society. There are no, and never has been, a truly communist society on this earth. And there cannot be as long as the human race is basically as greedy as it is.


Since we have never had communism, see above, I am not sure what point you are making here. China is a capitalist society, it happens to be governed slightly differently than the US for example. There are only two sets of motivations for ruling a country (actually three but since a desire to actually help the country runs a very distant third I am leaving it out). The first is a desire for "power" (or ego) and secondly a desire for "wealth". I am talking about the leaders, not the 100's just under them, and we do see a mix of these two.

tropics68 Loc: Georgia

Since you believe "there are no, and never has been, a truly communist society on this earth. And there cannot be as long as the human race is basically as greedy as it is." What would be your definition of a truly communist society and exactly how would you alter the greedy, deplorable human race so they would embrace those ideas?

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

You’re incorrect. The Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s began the move towards off shore manufacturing and the Republicans under Richard Nixon eliminated the Fair Trade laws that protected prices for American made brands.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

I suppose I qualify as a "southerner," but after reading through the Bible several times, and being born with an ability to think, I am most definitely not into prayer; neither the Bible, Talmud, Koran, nor any other "divine" text written by men kind. If you are, more power (and delusion) to you.

btbg

Primarily labor costs.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

There are two questions here. And I cannot answer either. I can give a few thoughts about the matter though as to what might be required to make it work.
A truly Communist society would need to work for the good of the people. The ruler, controlling group, or however you want to lead this society would all need to firmly believe in working for the people and make decisions around this. The very first thing you would have to make sure of is that you DO NOT interfere in other countries affairs, that you do nothing to increase your territory, and that anything you do does NOT have as one of its goals anything to increase your own wealth or power. No country on this earth can claim to meet these goals so therefore no true communist society.
Obviously you also need some way of stopping people who want to overturn this. And I am making an assumption that "this" does not need or deserve overturning because there will always be people whose makeup requires them to always go against any authority no matter how good it is.
Russia and China who I guess everybody would claim are the largest communist countries (but there are others who claim they are communist) both have leaders whose egos are so large that they exist to make money. We know that China cannot be communist because they have killed too many of their OWN people while chasing after whatever goals they have.
As I said at the beginning I have no idea of what a truly communist country would look like but there are definitely some things they should NOT be doing and all our supposedly communist countries are busy doing these as fast as they can.
As to how you curb the greed of the people I have no sane answer.
There is an insane answer and that is to give everyone something to keep them occupied. A 3rd WW would do that but that only helps some people/countries. Maybe a threat against all mankind might help better but even the possibility of a major environmental catastrophe doesn't seem to be enough. If I wanted to make sure maybe a brain scan at birth might weed a few assholes out but I realise that this isn't really the answer either.
So I have no good answer to either question but I do know that communism (as we see it practiced now) and capitalism don't work. Capitalism just has a longer use by period.
And note here that just because I don't know what the solution is doesn't mean that I cannot make a judgement on what we have now.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

Are you unaware that Nixon was among the most far left predispose have ever had?

Your disconnect is that you view everything through partisan goggles.

tropics68 Loc: Georgia

Perhaps the lack of a true communist society is the reason that the number of people seeking (both legally and illegally) asylum in this country far outnumbers those leaving this country to go to utopias elsewhere. While you and others think this country is so bad, unfair, and anything I hear it called sometimes, to me and hundreds of millions of others, all over the globe, it is far far superior to any other on earth. Look what happened to Hong Kong. I would bet anything they wish they were back under British rule. What they had is now gone forever. No thanks. I like the USA, with all it's warts.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

I hate autocorrect.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

I don’t believe I ever said that your country is so bad.
I did compare communism with capitalism and said I think that capitalism is the lesser of two evils and will last longer.
And your society is not far far superior to anyone elses on earth. What arrogance ! Your country has a huge number of problems, just not as many or maybe as serious (yet) to a communist country.
And I have been watching what is happening in Hong Kong probably far more than you based on what you have said.
You make it sound like the Hong Kong residents wanted what is happening now and chose these options. They had NO CHOICE.
Hong Kong went back to China under an agreement made I believe in 1898 when a treaty was signed giving HK back to China. And China agreed to let HK rule itself except for foreign relations and defense for a further period of 50 years finishing in 2047. The residents had NO CHOICE and did not want it.
The CCP has grabbed HK back after 22 years totally breaking the agreement. So you cannot believe anything the Chinese say or enter into any agreement with them because they will break it at their will.
This is the government some of your pension funds have agreements with – best of luck with that.

kenArchi Loc: Seal Beach, CA

One thing I notice about a communist country. They tend to kill off all the good people. So what is left are slaves. Was 1984 like that?

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

Name even one instance of a first world nation trying communism. I’m not promoting it, but I get tired of dishonest cretins, such as yourself, comparing third world countries that are communist, with the US. Russia was a third world country before communism and it remains one today. Having a first world military doesn’t change that. Before saying communism has been proven not to work, one should have one or more examples.