2013-03-20, 11:02 | Link #27083 | |
NYAAAAHAAANNNNN~
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 35
|
Quote:
- US is 9,827,000 sq km, 13,841x larger. - China is 9,706,961 sq km, 13,672x larger. - Europe is 10,180,000 sq km, 14,338x larger. And how many people do you think you can hire to administrate each piece? The country can go bankrupt just by paying each regional administrator the same amount as our ministers to do their work for 1 day! That is no different from letting the corporatists take over.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-20, 11:28 | Link #27084 |
temporary safeguard
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Germany
|
The keyword here is city-state.
Comparing a state whose whole territory is downtown-city with one that streches a whole continent including huge, almost unpopulated areas and trying to read advise out of this is so stupid, I didn't even read past the first paragraph. The whole situation is so very different in every aspect, political, economic, social... it just makes no sense. |
2013-03-20, 12:06 | Link #27086 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
|
Quote:
The size of the country is fairly irrelevant to the points he discuses. He states a number of points that have helped equality in two successful economic regions in the world. Promoting home-ownership and savings, implementation of progressive taxation, collective bargaining for wages, and investment in research and education. He suggest this leads to an improved economic outcome compared to the more predatory form of capitalism now in place the US and in case of the Nordic countries ultimately leads to better political representation. I can't really fault his argumentation. |
|
2013-03-20, 12:08 | Link #27087 | |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
|
Quote:
__________________
|
|
2013-03-20, 12:16 | Link #27088 |
Megane girl fan
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
Age: 55
|
Westboro Equality House: Aaron Jackson Paints Rainbow Home Across From Anti-Gay Church
In your face, Westboro! However, when will people learn to stop feeding the trolls? Endless "Counter protesting" Soul
__________________
|
2013-03-20, 12:38 | Link #27089 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
|
Quote:
The US policies by Clinton and Bush encouraged taking on mortgage debt, not saving, which is a rather important part you left out. Without repayment of the mortgage loan, ownership becomes more of a risky form of renting. Good try though. |
|
2013-03-20, 12:47 | Link #27090 | |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
|
Quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_...g_in_Singapore 85% of the population lives in government owned housing. The houses can and are sold on 99 year leases at subsidized cost for a majority of the population. Our Singaporean forum-goers can comment further but my colleague and junior whom are both from Singapore have largely commented on the fact that it is tightly and strictly controlled market and housing is on a per application basis (I have heard anecdotally but cannot confirm that there is some selective bias based on policy decisions, ie. families, education, etc). I have also been told that the wait-list can be several years. So if you want to completely alter the U.S. real estate market and basically make it no longer a free market and appoint a board to manage every single parcel of residential home development in the U.S. go ahead. But of course I don't know anything and I'm just "trying" .. to .. do something?
__________________
|
|
2013-03-20, 14:31 | Link #27091 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
|
Quote:
If you make a statement that contradicts common perceptions, you may just want to add some argumentation instead of moping. There is no need for the bruised ego act. |
|
2013-03-20, 14:55 | Link #27092 | |
Nyaaan~~
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
|
Quote:
By the way, there was a reason I cited U.S. home ownership encouragement policies as problematic which you dismissed as irrelevant as they encouraged debt. Look at the writer of the article that you laud, Stiglitz, he was on Clinton's economic advisory council during his first term, has written about being pro-CRA (which is one of the policies that worked to ensure debt was being provided to less-affluent neighbourhoods) and pro-Fannie and Freddie as well as grossly underestimating their capital reserve requirements. So, I will set aside the "bruised ego act" if you set aside whatever your intentions were dismissing the others reservations on this topic as well as whatever was behind your "nice try" below.
__________________
|
|
2013-03-20, 15:13 | Link #27093 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
|
Quote:
The Singapore analogy was used to take a shot at the article without discussion of the basic idea. Simply because economic experiences learned in a city state can't be translated to a larger scale apparently. The second was just a simple retort to your 'carry on', which I interpreted as a sneer. Didn't expect it to hit a nerve. |
|
2013-03-20, 17:48 | Link #27094 | ||
I disagree with you all.
Join Date: Dec 2005
|
Quote:
(Though I don't think anyone here advocated bloody revolution.) Quote:
|
||
2013-03-20, 19:12 | Link #27095 | |||||||
Banned
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Hamburg
Age: 54
|
Quote:
Quote:
And now explain to me how to convince a German taxpayer to bail out dirty money from Russian oligarchs, especially while agent provocateurs are whipping the braindead masses into a violent frenzy by telling them that the Nazis are coming back. The 10% were also a suggestion by the _Cypriot_ government, by the way, but they at least gave the EU member states the impression that the pain was being shared. Now that they slapped _their own suggestion_ off the table as insulting, I can only say that my personal opinion is: Let them crash and burn. Quote:
Am I supposed to feel pity for those people? Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
No, I don't see the Euro collapsing. Neither do the markets. The hysteria is mostly big media pushing for excitement combined with low-information citizens in personal dire straits reacting to nationalist screeds. It will blow over eventually. Quote:
|
|||||||
2013-03-20, 19:37 | Link #27096 | |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
Quote:
|
|
2013-03-20, 20:22 | Link #27097 | ||||||
Le fou, c'est moi
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Las Vegas, NV, USA
Age: 34
|
Quote:
You know too that financiers the world over have demonstrated shocking "pragmatism" with massive government bailouts that saved their asses. They saw it as an opportunity to loot some more, a total feeding frenzy. Do you think that will stop? Moreover, if they had taken the deal, the average Cypriot will be stuck paying back the EU, not Russian oligarchs with the big accounts who'd only get a one time hit. You should know with your criticisms of the USA that "trickle down" is bullshit and doesn't easily trickle down at all. You also said down in your post that you think they should live "within their means," well here's a chance. They *want* to now, even if they're saying it to spite Merkel. So as far as I'm concerned, the people of Cyprus made the right decision, even if they made it from the "wrong" reasons... Quote:
Quote:
No, what the EU should do is let the banks burn, then intervene and guarantee the EUR 100,000 deposit. I'm not 100% certain on whose responsibility it has been aligned in the deposit guarantee treaties (whether the recommended EU-wide standard is the responsibility of individual governments, or if the European Union as a whole guarantees everyone's), but it would instill confidence, in fact, of the "evil" EU having just saved the common people while not supporting the rot and not, well at least not more than 100,000 per each account, paying to save dirty money. Quote:
And some have argued that at least a third of Cyprus' current crisis, in financial weight, comes from the Greek collapse. Quote:
Which is exactly why I think the nutjobs in Brussels proposing this deal are on Dutch weed (there's actually a Dutch banker in there somewhere, no? ). They threaten to spook Spain and Italy and other markets just to get back at Cyprus' blackmail attempt. Quote:
They are turning you all against each other. Throw off the propaganda. Most people, being people, like you and others, they work, they live, they shit, they do things in everyday life that they see others do. And if there's a widespread sense of largesse and they're not expert economists, they take a little something for themselves (or they don't even do that) -- try living in India without ever making bribes -- but it's not like we demand everybody to be expert economists in school these days, or ever. That's your average Spanish, your average Greek, your average Italian and yes, German and British and French and Dutch. You are all the same, hardworking people getting by however you can. Greeks want to work. They're all over the EU doing just that. You just said the media is low information, you know exactly the problem why they didn't "fix it at home." Yet now you hate each other so much. Cypriots chant of Nazism, Germans spit on the "lazy" South. Stop that. Please. It's sad to see, as a Europhile. Hate someone -- hate their governments, hate the irresponsible economists and high financiers (lower level workers in the financial industries are hardly to blame) and others with power and data and, despite everything, the public's trust to have foresight. Or don't hate and get on fixing things or letting them fail, whatever you feel like. But don't buy into that divisive stuff. I also don't think the Irish are very happy about their own banks getting away, but you've got to ask Don about that I suppose. |
||||||
2013-03-20, 20:30 | Link #27098 | |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
|
Quote:
government data: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/statistic...ouseholds.html Quickly scanned trough two articles from work intranet: Chua, B.H. (2003) “Maintaining housing values under the condition of universal home ownership”, Housing Studies, 18, (5): 765-780 Ronald, R. and Doling, J. (2010). Shifting East Asian approaches to home ownership and the housing welfare pillar. International Journal of Housing Policy, 10, (3): 233-254 and from a general wiki page on housing in Singapore "More than 80% of Singapore's population live in HDB flats, with 95% of them owning their HDB flat." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_...g_in_Singapore |
|
2013-03-20, 21:26 | Link #27099 |
Master of Coin
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
It is interesting wiki mention HSB flats, as they seem to be government subsidized housing with very specific requirement for purchase, rent, or re-sell. I am not certain they can be considered real home ownership.
http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p....obuynewHDBflat Perhaps both of you mis-understood each other? In a sense, you do "own" the home per see, however, with so many laws and government requirements, you are really still just a renter compared to western rights (For example if I own a home in America, I can sell, rent whatever unless I am in a subsided housing program), therefore, Willx is also right saying not many people in Singapore "own" homes in a traditional western sense. |
2013-03-20, 22:19 | Link #27100 | |
books-eater youkai
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Betweem wisdom and insanity
|
Obama skeptical of Assad claim on chemical weapons
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...03-20-22-17-14 Quote:
__________________
|
|
Tags |
current affairs, discussion, international |
Thread Tools | |
|
|