Policy discussions on a game programming board are turning out about as well-researched and reasoned as I expected, sorry for having jumped in in the first place. Y’all have fun with it.
I’m sure happy. Less chance of us (a.k.a. Netherlands or Europe) being pulled into another senseless war.
It’s true Obama didn’t really present any new stuff, he more just said “I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing.” Which is probably okay, because the economy does seem to be getting better, but you’re right that Romney did have a proposed plan in mind, and Obama didn’t.
@Damocles, I think you’re forgetting that democrats control the senate? No matter what, half of congress is going one way and the other half is going another way. Neither president would have an easy time doing much of anything if the other side decides to be a roadblock. I’m hoping Boehner will chill out this next term.
@Cero, very good question about Guantanamo. I was reading an interesting article about how historically presidents never keep their pre-campaign promises. The interesting part was that this guy argued that the reason was because, as a candidate, you have no idea what the actual office is like. When you come into office you are immediately briefed by the CIA for an entire day (24 hours). Many candidates suddenly realize “shit I can’t actually do that.” Theoretically this is the case with Guantanamo. It also points to a major problem in the system, where hype is allowed to rule and presidents are mostly crippled once they come into office.
[quote=“StumpyStrust,post:19,topic:40087”]
I doubt anyone will be surprised to hear that: the US are a country with a (very) high standard of living. Given the huge differences between European Member States, however, such a comparison is not really meaningful. Instead try to compare the US with Germany, Sweden or Slovakia. Totally different outcomes, resulting from totally different policies and different economies.
My point exactly about presidents…
Well I guess sometimes they actually do shit they can’t or shouldn’t normally, see JFK but he did pay the price =P
@sproingie Haha this is the inter webs…what do you expect? And I guess you are referring to me…not like you cited any sources. :
http://www.census.gov/ :point: can find the stuff there yourself
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/09/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States
Yup wikipedia is a nice starting point for research. It is by no means accurate but can give you a general direction on what to googlefu/library-fu Go ahead and be all like, “oh em gee you put wikipedia? what is wrong with you?”
Yeah I also put stuff up from a site that leans against the left but you can take out the whole, “Obama sucks” and look at things for your selves.
I seriously doubt anyone here has actually read the healthcare bill…I know I have only gotten maybe 100 pages into it and was like :o
I don’t blame the politicians for not reading it either. 
Another fun thing. The Obamas have spent 1.3 billion alone this past year.
You can also read the book but I guess that he has had to tighten his belt like the rest of us. I don’t know if that is more then previous presidents but kinda seems excessive.
Anyways sorry for being rude and ranting alot but I am very frustrated right now as this was the first time I got to vote and my vote was basically meaningless. And boy how I hate it when someone on the internet is wrong. :point: sarcasm
Have to remember that many of those countries do not have a strong army because the relay on the UN which is basically the US as we fund everything. Because there has been loose peace for so long it seems like a waste of money to invest in new bombs. I kinda agree on that but then again, 911.
That’s a pretty arrogant statement. I’m in no way nationalistic enough to be insulted by your “my country is better than yours” crap, but I really can’t stand it when people think they’re better or worth more because they were born in some specific place, and that’s the kind of impression you gave me. I’m sure I can count in some way to make America look a lot worse than “those Europeans”. For example, I didn’t know internet access, computers, flat screen TVs and cars were so common among the homeless. :emo:
America also controls the UN, so I don’t see a problem?
Woh not trying to be rude at all. I am by no means saying America is better. I am say that Americans complain about being “poor” when they are not. We have some public housing systems that give unnecessarily large houses to people who need them. Would be better to make 3 houses out of one and use the space better.
If you look at the homeless people here you will see that most have some form a mental illness that prevents them from getting off the streets. I actually see homeless people with iPhones around my campus. I don’t even know how they got them but damn.
America has its advantages but also has its disadvantages. Health care is horrible if you have a no insurance. I know from experience. But if you have insurance it can be better.
I think that America has to stop poking its nose into everyone else’s business. I feel like we are trying to control the world.
With UN you mean NATO I guess? The UN is a paper tiger. It’s true that EU countries profit from the fact that the US spends such rediculous amounts of money on the military (and military campaigns). That makes comparisons unfair in a sense. On the other hand, whats stopping the US from shifting budgets from the military (a totally sick 41% of all the world’s military expenses) to more social policies, or to getting the budget fixed? Somehow I don’t see that happening, and least of all when a trigger-happy Republican is president. Still, it’s hard to complain about that when the EU can afford to spend less on defense because of the US military umbrella.
P.s. I’d love to visit the United States some day; maybe in a couple of years. There’s so much to see!
Military expenditure is a Tit for Tat game.
If China invests heavily into new weapon systems, the US also has to spend more.
Which in turn will force Russia to invest more.
And so on.
Cutting the military budget is nothing the US can pursue (decide) alone.
Hehe, sorry about overreacting… :emo:
Ah, yes. It’s all China’s fault for starting it. :
You dont understand the game theory behind it…
Its does not matter if it is Chinas fault.
China building up the military is a nessecary reaction to its economical development.
Simply because the US and Russia have/had stronger armies.
Which in turn forces the other parties to invest more.
Military spending is simply driven by the size off all the armies in the past.
In turn, you cant just blame the govenment to not cut an army down to 10% because
it would be so much nicer.
I do understand why they’re doing it. All I’m saying is that someone has to break that evil circle. Blaming it on everyone else is exactly what’s causing it.
China’s build-up is not a “reaction” to their economical development. They simply have enough money to try to challenge America even though they have lots of military bases everywhere. I believe that just getting a few nukes should be enough for your national defense, so why do you need super expensive precision bombs, etc, when everyone has weapons that can reach everywhere on earth and are pretty much unstoppable? An MLRS nuke is almost impossible to completely stop, let alone a few hundreds/thousands, so what’s the point of any other weapons for national defence?
Well, if only everyone started thinking that way at the same time… :point:
Sorry, I really don’t see your point. The US military budget is more than 3 times as high as that of China and Russia combined. The US have 11 operational aircraft carriers with support fleets, China has been struggling for years now to get an old Russian carrier which they bought operational (which would not do them much good in the coming years, or even decades, since they don’t have aircraft that can land on them). Same with the rest of pretty much anything military. I do think the Americans could save a few bucks without threatening their national security ;D
The reason why we have war is because of human nature. I would love to live in a perfect utopia but you will always get that one ass whole who’s like, “all your base belong to us.”
Not saying China is doing that just that you have to be cautious. China is also know for doing very unexpected things. Right now if I recall correctly, they have their sites set on Taiwan and a Japanese island. China wants to be a major world power. They do not want war as it would be too costly for them. Same goes for Russia and US. Thing is, if Russia were to drop military spending, then it would be not so costly for someone to make a move.
As for all our crap in the Mid-East, US should have backed off years ago.
PS: where was it you wanted to go in America? I think Asia and Europe have more to offer when it comes to site seeing as they are much older societies. Come on castles that are 100s or 1000s of years old still standing? That is freakin awesome. If you are an outdoorsy person then I would recommend Yellow Stone in Wyoming. Got some really cool geology going on there.
In turn, China could theoretically draft 200 million soldiers.
The budget is relative to the local prices too.
Anyway. With China building up military force, I dont expect heavy cuts in the US military.
Also: the nukes are not ment to be deployed.
They serve as retalitation shield to not get attacked.
Thats why North Korea wants a nuke so desperately. Even having one usable system
almost completely shields them from a conventional invasion.
[quote=“StumpyStrust,post:37,topic:40087”]
Haha, I’ve been over most of Europe and in a little bit of Asia. Castles are cool too ;D I’m interested in the Nature parks, for one. I know a couple of people who have travelled the USA from east to west coast. The pictures they had (and their stories) were amazing, very varied and some jaw-dropping sceneries. And the people apparantly are really friendly, too ;D
So why does America need those fifty-eleven aircraft carriers then? =S