America

[stardust2003]

Originally Posted by Rogerbh

I haven't read this entire thread, but this speech from Aaron Sorkin's Newsroom I thought was right on the money. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk

The US has never been more polarized, its people never more divided.

Its quite sad right now. I hope it gets better but it seems everyone is gaming whatever system is in place - I guess we will rebound when we hit rock bottom - but that is not been reached yet.

Yes, but America is such a vast country... with vast resources............ with oil and gas reserves probably greater than Saudi Arabia .....

Its still the richest nation on the planet with companys and corporations that span the globe....

Americans should just cool down and realize what an amazing country they are living in with the ability to drive for thousands of miles in all directions.

Living in the UK we need to get onto ferries to go to the European continent.... then we have to pay tolls to drive on the French roads .........

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by stardust2003

Living in the UK we need to get onto ferries to go to the European continent.... then we have to pay tolls to drive on the French roads .........

See, you poms don't deserve England. All that history, all those different countries and cultures on your doorstep and all you do is bloody whinge.We didn't invent the phrase whingin' pom for nothing.
I like America. I use to travel there a lot in my old job. I wouldn't want to live there but it a very interesting nation to visit. Such a study in contrasts.

[9876543210]

loosegoose,

Originally Posted by loosegoose

Such a study in contrasts.

Care to elaborate?

[Rogerbh]

I'd like to give an example of gaming the system in the US.

Background: Many state and local governments are facing tremendous future liabilities - unfunded - in their pension systems. Firemen and policemen have been "spiking" their pension pay by working massive amounts of overtime so that their final year(s) pay - which includes overtime - is as large as they can get it - the percentage that they receive as retirement pay (based on that/those final year(s)) is usually higher than their base pay. This unplanned for cost is driving the bankruptcy of cities in California and also in other states - a non-Californian example being Detroit.

http://www.mercurynews.com/pensions/...ia-800-million

This article highlights the fact that although this practice is supposedly illegal for new hires - guess it is still legal for legacy employees - they will only audit it once every 66 years. Talk about who is guarding the henhouse.

A sad example of how the current generation of Californians are screwing the future generations. It just sucks. The assurances of scrutiny and safeguards at the end of the article - viewed under the history of what has been allowed as to this date - should give people a reason to worry.

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by 9876543210

loosegoose,



Care to elaborate?

It's an impossible place to pigeonhole. When I first when there I was expecting Americans to be insular and provincial and racist...and they are.
I was once refused service in a eatery because the guy in charge saw me showing some Negro kids the finer points of Aussie Rules in a park while waiting for him to open and I once had an Investment Banker congratulate me on how well I spoke English. He was confusing Australia with Austria.
They also have a mindset that I think comes from being for the only Superpower. They are ignorant of the rest of the world because they just don't care. They seem to think everywhere else is some sort of pale imitation of the states..or should be.
And guns...well the less said soonest mended.
And yet, they are also really cosmopolitan and worldly and intelligent..and the most friendly and hospitable people on earth.
I was once pulled over down south by a cop who looked like an extra from In the Heat of the Night, who, when he found out I was Australian, declined to give me more than a warning to drive more carefully as he did not want to give me a bad impression of the 'great State 'a George Ja'
I've made some good friends during my travels there.

[SanteeFats]

Originally Posted by loosegoose

It's an impossible place to pigeonhole. When I first when there I was expecting Americans to be insular and provincial and racist...and they are.
I was once refused service in a eatery because the guy in charge saw me showing some Negro kids the finer points of Aussie Rules in a park while waiting for him to open and I once had an Investment Banker congratulate me on how well I spoke English. He was confusing Australia with Austria.
They also have a mindset that I think comes from being for the only Superpower. They are ignorant of the rest of the world because they just don't care. They seem to think everywhere else is some sort of pale imitation of the states..or should be.
And guns...well the less said soonest mended.
And yet, they are also really cosmopolitan and worldly and intelligent..and the most friendly and hospitable people on earth.
I was once pulled over down south by a cop who looked like an extra from In the Heat of the Night, who, when he found out I was Australian, declined to give me more than a warning to drive more carefully as he did not want to give me a bad impression of the 'great State 'a George Ja'
I've made some good friends during my travels there.

Well loose I must say that you seem to have a decent view of parts of America. You don't specify which part of the country you were refused service, the South would be my guess. There are spots in my country which are not admirable by most standards of conduct. Of course I remember my first time in Australia where I saw signs on the phone booths that said "abos keep out". So I guess a lot of countries have their ethnic problems, huhh?
I and many American's do care about the rest of the world and actually realize that others do not see the US as God on earth. I thank God for that.
I must disagree with you about the US being the most hospitable place unless you will include your country. i was never called mate so much in my life

[Sir Honkers]

Originally Posted by SanteeFats

Well loose I must say that you seem to have a decent view of parts of America.

I do I do. I use to travel there a lot. Two or three times a year for about ten years and while most of that was to LA I always added on a few weeks each time to do some travelling.
I can state the following categorically:
I wouldn't want to live there, but it's a great place to visit. The Missus and I are going to stay with friends in Maine in March.
Californian wine is pretty good.
Yes, it was in the south I had my encounter with racism. It was more embarrassing than anything else.
The Alamo is really disappointing.
Pretty much everywhere I went I found people to be really nice.
I always felt guilty telling people, 'no Australia is nothing like Crocodile Dundee.'
I have never been to the Outback, nor to I ever intend to. Flies and heat. Yuk!

[stardust2003]

Originally Posted by billybunter

Going to the moon would cost billions of $$. Why would anyone build a house there? I love the idea of space travel, have done since I was a kid. But i'd rather those $$$ were spent looking after planet Earth. Stop all these phony wars and start to care for each other. Sadly a pipe dream
If we humans all worked together we would have explored space a lot more. Sadly the real objective of the space race was to dominate Earth.

especially after a year where we ve seen the Brzilian rain forest deliberately set on fire to get more cattle grazing land... and in dec 2019 Australia is on fire....

Meanwhile Nasa announces that it plans to go back to the moon in the next 5 years.... boring.... lets spend those gazillions planting trees in North America ... Europe... Australia ... Africa to stop the creep of the Sahara desert.....

Millions and millions of trees planted over the next 5 years could help Save the Planet

Some tubby American driving round the moon on an electric car is going to save sod all ......





.

[Paddy Bog]

Originally Posted by stardust2003

especially after a year where we ve seen the Brzilian rain forest deliberately set on fire to get more cattle grazing land... and in dec 2019 Australia is on fire....

Meanwhile Nasa announces that it plans to go back to the moon in the next 5 years.... boring.... lets spend those gazillions planting trees in North America ... Europe... Australia ... Africa to stop the creep of the Sahara desert.....

Millions and millions of trees planted over the next 5 years could help Save the Planet

Some tubby American driving round the moon on an electric car is going to save sod all ......

.

I understand completely. However where would we be without our need for exploring and adventure? We would all be still living in Africa where our ancestors started out 200,000 years ago. Migration is the story of mankind and the next step is to the stars. It also looks like that we might need a new place to live if we wreck planet Earth which seems to be what is happening. All aboard the Golgafrinchian Ark Fleet! (See Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)

[cicciobuki]

Originally Posted by Paddy Bog

. It also looks like that we might need a new place to live if we wreck planet Earth which seems to be what is happening.

I heard someone smart recently say that if we have the technology to build a livable colony on Mars (and bacisally terraform it), we have enough technology to fix our own Earth instead, so there's no need to go live on a barren red planet.