Thank You very much Donald Trump!!!

Whatthefucksittoya?

 

Heres the part I dont get though, and I'm only talking to you here because the others wont know who I'm talking about


Yes Trump is a rich pratt, obnoxious. But what you see is what you get, and you get it up front.

Compare that to someone like Kevin Rudd, who tells everyone what they want to hear, then its not till 6 months in office we all find out he is a total nutcase that was never going to do what he promised

Or why did Bill Shorten lose the last election? Really only because he was such a wet blanket. I would have liked to have seen labour do something about negative gearing

Picking a leader based on their personality rather than what they can actually do for your country to me is just bizarre

 

Thank you Suzanne … please send me some hugs and kisses. I'm located here in America's Heartland … Indiana!

 

The American model of capitalism is a failure, you know this by watching the TV brought to you by the American model of capitalism

 

Simply us aussies voted our PM in. More people look at each party’s policies and vote for them.
I saw that you voted for one nation. Doesn’t bother me. But it might bother many others because you are encouraging that party to be racist.
I have friends who are greens members. Everything has a purpose. Their purpose is to keep the country environmentally friendly.

 

This is exactly what Trump did... The only difference is some of us knew Trump was full of shit before he got elected.

 

Pfft, the Greens, one whole seat in the lower house, whats that going to do

 

The party itself has some great policies. It might be small but it's policies hit the mark.

 

I agree with your points.

Those are all capitalist and socialist countries. I don't think everything Marx suggested will work. We still need some capitalism. I did "benefit" since I lived close to a college well known in my field. I could probably apply to European companies and they will look at me resume and see it's a top ranked school. That prestige might help me.

I was able to study there as a resident of the state. I did not pay tuition since I had a scholarship. Most students have to pay a lot. Without that scholarship it's 6 figures of debt for me. I have not benefited from American health care. When I had a nasty fall it was months fighting with insurance. They were upset I was in the ER for too long. Well that's not up to me. The experience made me respect the NHS even more

Americans hate the idea of helping someone else and they hate education. They don't see the need to fund this. If college is too expensive don't go who needs it anyway? The free market will fix itself and college will have to come down in price. They ignore the reality that most jobs need college. For example you can fix a diesel truck with a year of trade school but can you design it so it drives a million miles? No you need a college educated engineer for that. Do you want your doctor to have a degree? Probably. Americans needs to change their views on these topics.

 

Lol

 

It is interesting that roads came up as 6 began a thread on that in the Libertrian subforum

What about the Roads?

In which he stated

The problem is that it really didn’t go much beyond that there was no real detail

This was my reply at the time -

Well like a lot of what comes out of right wing libertarian mouths this makes no sense in a literal sense although in another sense Domino's already do build roads (explained at the end) - but first - businesses like "Domino's Pizza" only exists because of the infrastructures built up by the state.

This has basically been the history of roads. Take the Romans for example, they were master road builders, these were military resources but had economic benefits, this can be seen by the number of towns and villages that grow up because of the roads. They made it easier to transport goods to market places, this in turn lead to businesses like flour mills, that allowed in turn bakery’s and yes the Roman equivalent of pizza places (thermopolia).

The prosperity of the US was in part built on easy access to previously untouched resources and a lot of the problem in the early period was a lack of infrastructure by which it could be tapped. This was often realised by governance which used public money or enacted ways of raising money to construct the roads, bridges, canals and later railways that were needed to bring prosperity. For example the Erie Canal that brought such economic benefits to New York and other cities on the eastern seaboard (along with wheat, tomatoes and cheese – to make pizza).

The railways opened up the Midwest and allowed goods and materials access to the Pacific and Atlantic and the roads carried that on such as Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway act of 1956 which has been called the "Greatest public works project in history".

Then there is the thing we are communicating on - the internet and the World Wide Web (on which many people order their pizza)

Also public works are about spreading the benefits of prosperity, infrastructure does not just help businesses but also families and individuals. For example sewage systems have done a great deal to improve the lives of people. In 1950’s America (some 50% in rural areas) had no plumbing or flushing toilets while today only a few go without those things. Which allows people to clean up after having finished their pizza.

BUT once the infrastructure is in place it seems to me only right and proper for the state to tax such businesses that benefit from it to maintain and improve the system.

So as i say through taxation Domino's Pizza already builds roads.

I got no reply to that then I wonder if I will this time.

*

It has to be remembered that the US from the 1940’s was a militarised society – with an economy tied to military spending it was a bastard form of Keynesianism (military Keynesianism) while Keynes’s ideas in Europe brought about the creation of the welfare state and universal healthcare in the US it brought about the Military-industrial complex. Even the Eisenhower’s massive spending on highways was promoted on its military usefulness with Congress added the words “and Defense” to its official name in 1956 (“National System of Interstate and Defense Highways”).

From the 1970’s onward the Military-industrial complex morphed into the neoliberalist corporatism of today that some describe as corporate socialism.

 

We get the same old tired arguments from the right that they know didn’t work the last time they used them (often for the 100th time).

The thing is that the right of today do not seem to have any answers or solutions to today’s problems – there used to promote free market/neoliberal ideas as a panacea but it has become increasingly obvious that such ideas make things worse rather than better so all the right seem to do these days is to scream that any alternative is akin to the worst form of communism.

And they seem unwilling or unable to enter into rational debate because it inevitably leads to criticism of their ideas for which they have no answers and raises alternatives to which they have no rational criticisms.

 

It seems to me that many on the right really don’t like the bedrock of democracy - educated and rational debate - it often seems that they are at war with these things trying to reduce complex and nuanced issues down to a meme or slogan that are shouted into the face of anyone that ties to explain or point out those complexities.

I get the horrible feeling that many would happily do away with democracy in favour of some type of plutocratic regime, where information could be controlled and only the ‘right’ type of education given and where a ‘free’ market economy takes priority over democratic social concerns

As Milton Friedman put it “there is evidence that a democratic society, once established, destroys a free economy and another example of this is Stephen Moore, who was a favourite earlier this year for Trump’s appointment to the Federal Reserve Board, who has commented that “Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy” adding “I’m not even a big believer in democracy.”

I mean as said the things that many right wingers don’t like or even hate have come about as a result of democracy in that an educated and informed electorate tend to use their votes to pressure politicians into more social spending, having decent welfare and healthcare for example

But to bring that about you need a badly educated and ill-informed populous that will vote against its own interests that through wealth sponsored propaganda and lies will vote against such things as decent welfare and healthcare because it is ‘socialist’ or some such.

And to bring that about all you need to do is to stifle or stop educated, informed and rational debate.

 

So basically the kids are now forced to grow up under an indoctrinated agenda. Nice.

 

The same public education centers where kids are graduating high school unable to do long division, unable to find China on an unmarked map, being taught Columbus discovered the United States, and being taught imaginary genders exist. Barely preparing them for college, much less the real world.

 

6

Can you give examples of this?

What has this got to do with this?

 

Well, next time there is an open day at your nearest university either of you can go tallk to an educated person and ask them.

Or you can ask me if educated people; doctors, lawyers, bankers actually give a shit about their governments increasing money on welfare.

The answer is no

 

I’d suggest the book The Age of American unreason by Susan Jacoby which I now see has been updated as The Age of American Unreason In A Culture of Lies

It has a damining analysis of US education that places the blame on the UShaving no national curriculum or standards.

The thing is that people talk of high schoolers not been educated but I can see it here with adults on the forum with ill-informed people who are totally unable to have a rational debate and are unable to defend ideas and views they promote even against the slightest criticisms.