US to acquire third world status if trends continue.

[Heracles 417]

Actually the problem is douchebags like you. Only a stupidfuck would live here and complain about it on a daily basis when his home was in paradise. Or a troll. America, love it or leave it.

Heck what do you do apart from hide everything about yourself chicken sh-t? Come out and say it. Or are you all talk Mr "High Profile".

It's no wonder everyone thinks you and Scandal are wankers.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Actually the problem is douchebags like you. Only a stupidfuck would live here and complain about it on a daily basis when his home was in paradise. Or a troll. America, love it or leave it.

Heck what do you do apart from hide everything about yourself chicken sh-t? Come out and say it. Or are you all talk Mr "High Profile".

It's no wonder everyone thinks you and Scandal are wankers.

The only one who thinks that is you. Most people here think your a pretty boy preppy blowhard, but don't have the stones to say it.

Edited October 20, 2009 by spookyturtle

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I don't think they're wankers.

[Heracles 417]

The only one who thinks that is you. Most people here think your a pretty boy preppy blowhard, but don't have the stones to say it.

You have confused me for your girlfriend scandal there.

By the way, while I am waiting on what business you have, what does your spouse do?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

The only one who thinks that is you. Most people here think your a pretty boy preppy blowhard, but don't have the stones to say it.

You have confused me for your girlfriend scandal there.

By the way, while I am waiting on what business you have, what does your spouse do?

We know you're a preppy who wears those gay sweaters with alligators on them. Why deny it?

[Heracles 417]

I don't think they're wankers.

Must be a coincidence that you feel this way yet have been branded as being the original spook.

We know you're a preppy who wears those gay sweaters with alligators on them. Why deny it?

Clearly you know nothing outside the world of Boston. I wear diesel / Hugo Boss clothes.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Booyah!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I don't think they're wankers.

Must be a coincidence that you feel this way yet have been branded as being the original spook.

We know you're a preppy who wears those gay sweaters with alligators on them. Why deny it?

Clearly you know nothing outside the world of Boston. I wear diesel / Hugo Boss clothes.

edit: I'll take half of that back. I like Hugo Boss suits.

Edited October 20, 2009 by spookyturtle

[Heracles 417]

edit: I'll take half of that back. I like Hugo Boss suits.

I can offend you just as much as you think you can offend me. The difference is that I can use material that is actually bellow the belt and true. Whereas you use ####### like 'if you hate America go home or (insert teenage insult).

Did you see how the police helicopter was shot down in Rio, Brazil, while battling drug dealers. What an awesome choice for the Olympics. Probably why many are 'dieing' to get out and will marry anyone for a PR. Particularly old men with small businesses that cannot get any local talent. Hence, need to skew the odds in their favor by showing off their cash to poor people in third world countries that are desperate to get out.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Booyah!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

edit: I'll take half of that back. I like Hugo Boss suits.

I can offend you just as much as you think you can offend me. The difference is that I can use material that is actually bellow the belt and true. Whereas you use ####### like 'if you hate America go home or (insert teenage insult).

Did you see how the police helicopter was shot down in Rio, Brazil, while battling drug dealers. What an awesome choice for the Olympics. Probably why many are 'dieing' to get out and will marry anyone for a PR. Particularly old men with small businesses that cannot get any local talent.

I posted the story here. No one replied. The only thing below the belt is your mouth. Looking for a job?

http://www.jfwhite.com/index.htm

[Heracles 417]

I posted the story here. No one replied. The only thing below the belt is your mouth. Looking for a job?

http://www.jfwhite.com/index.htm

If you want to take a shot at me for no reason apart from disagreeing with my views, I will fire back.

Why didn't you tell me you're in construction? That is the life and blood of my family. Why do you think I have not moved back? I am working on building two new houses before I move there.

Second of all, why would you criticize Australia considering they are having such a huge construction boom? You should be defending what I say regarding infrastructure upgrades, you idiot.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Booyah!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

That isn't my company. It is a big one in the area and did a lot of work on the Big Dig project. A very good contractor.

[AlHayatZween 2]

i think we are definitely in a downward spiral. It's not Obama's fault... it's been happening for a while. Businesses & jobs shipped overseas. Our public schools are in the tank. Cost of living rising faster than wages. Healthcare costs skyrocketing... The great divide between rich & poor just getting greater...

The only thing good is that if we do hit rock bottom, maybe we will be able to ride on the bumpers of busses to get to where we need to go. i've found that to be fun.

Don't lose faith.

The US has always had structural issues. Yet it's always overcome them, and come out ahead.

There's a spirit of innovation and drive and enterprise in this country that's unmatched anywhere in the world.

When combined with America's capital, human resources and natural resources - the capabilities of this country when push comes to shove are simply unequaled.

The global economy has transformed over the past few decades from one based primarily on manufacturing to a service economy.

That's been unsettling - here and abroad. We're still going through that upheaval. I have every confidence that we'll come out on the other side with a standard of living Americans will continue to be justly proud of. We have challenges - a stymied political process, troubling statistics from our K-12 educational system and withering increases in post-secondary tuition and healthcare costs. Nonetheless - this is a country that gets down and gets 'er done.

Here's a quote I liked from a WWII historical account of American war production. Ok, this dates back to our manufacturing past. It still shows the potential of what this nation can achieve.

... American industrial production tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Roosevelt's 1942 production goals appeared puny once the economy converted to war. The figures are staggering. Between 1941 and 1945 the United States produced 300,000 military aircraft. In the peak year of 1944 American factories built 96,318 planes - more than the yearly total of Germany, Japan, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union combined. Henry Ford's enormous Willow Run plant produced a B-24 every sixty-three minutes. By war's end the United States had manufactured 2.4 million trucks, 635,000 jeeps, 88,400 tanks, 5,800 shipps, and 40 billion rounds of ammunition.

Quantity was the all-important goal of the war effort. American industry thrived on high-volume output performed on an assembly-line basis. No other industrialized nation had mastered the art of mass production so efficiently. In a sense the United States made a virtue of necessity. With a workforce composed disproportionately of unskilled labor, assembly-line techniques fit American industry like a glove. And they matched the needs of war perfectly. The Germans and Japanese, by contrast, with their highly trained labor pools (at least in the early stages of the war) chose qualitative superiority over mass production and depended on precision-made flawlessly performing, high standard weapons for their margin of victory. But as the war dragged on they simply could not produce enough of them. "We never did develop a top tank during the war", said General Lucius D. Clay. "We did all right because we made so many of them. That offset some of their weaknesses. But we never had a tank that equaled the German tank."

That galvanized American industrial effort occurred only a few short years after the pits of desperation during the Depression.

Times are different, circumstances are different. Today China is that powerhouse of unskilled labor who has perfected low-cost mass production techniques. The US, and the world, has needed to find other areas of economic specialization and competitiveness. We are doing so.

Never, ever count out what a free willed and innovative people can do. Especially one with half a continent worth of resources to draw upon.

i hope you are right, Brother Scandal.

"troubling statistics" from our school system...nice euphemism.

It's because all the mean, nasty, snootypants lazy teachers always have a problem with the cool teachers like me.

[meowmeowmeow 1]

what goes up must come down, it's inevitable, every major empire in history has gone through this cycle. there will be another superpower that is for sure, the question is who? china? india? russia? eu? neither?

[scandal 951]

i think we are definitely in a downward spiral. It's not Obama's fault... it's been happening for a while. Businesses & jobs shipped overseas. Our public schools are in the tank. Cost of living rising faster than wages. Healthcare costs skyrocketing... The great divide between rich & poor just getting greater...

The only thing good is that if we do hit rock bottom, maybe we will be able to ride on the bumpers of busses to get to where we need to go. i've found that to be fun.

Don't lose faith.

[....]

My contribution to this thread was a direct response to Al Hayat. She posted - accurately - about the depressing issues we face in the US. Job losses, education, healthcare, etc. While not disagreeing with her, I tried to give a more upbeat assessment of America's ability to handle adversity and come back from declines and hard times.

This is a public OT thread, no one owns it, everyone can contribute whatever they like. I made my contribution. No attacks, no slurs on anyone. Just expressed my own optimistic views on the potential of this country. Let's see your contribution, shall we?

Then again you are a guy who cannot even accept that Chicago is not ranked highly in the international community. Better yet, actually have the nerve to suggest it's a lot like Vancouver. Which is ranked #1 by the economist and 4th by Mercer.

You've never been to either Vancouver or Chicago. You know how to use Google maps, but you've never walked the streets of either city.

I lived in Canada for over 20 years. I know Ottawa and Toronto intimately, having lived in both. I have also been to Vancouver numerous times, for personal visits (my uncle lives there) and for business (e.g. I presented a paper at the OOPSLA'98 conference held there). I have also been to Edmonton, Calgary, Quebec City, Halifax and much of Canada. For that matter, I've been to Sydney and Melbourne Australia too. I currently live in Chicago. I wouldn't say Chicago is better than Vancouver. Both cities have their charm. Both have their drawbacks. I do know one thing - a city, like most things in life, is not one dimensional. There is not one cookie-cutter scale to measure its qualities. There is no one right answer. The mere idea that a person would try to rank a city as "better" than another in such a simplistic manner says much more about the person, than about whatever point he's trying to make.

It's no wonder everyone thinks you and Scandal are wankers.

You have confused me for your girlfriend scandal there.

Way to make a contribution there, BY. You are such a god amongst men. Surely we should all just surrender our views and adopt yours. Whether a VJ poster is left or right, pro or anti health care reform, immigration reform, or any other issue you judge yourself to be an expert on, there's no sense anyone having an opinion different than yours. You win all arguments because we are wankers and 'girlfriends' and just can't see your glorious insightful wisdom about how much better Vancouver is than Chicago. Your "debating strategy" is all bluster and big talk, trying to intimidate others who disagree with you. Frankly I'm sick of it.

I like hanging with people who have something to contribute to a conversation other than arrogance.

[Heracles 417]

what goes up must come down, it's inevitable, every major empire in history has gone through this cycle. there will be another superpower that is for sure, the question is who? china? india? russia? eu? neither?

Hey at least all of the other empires had a few hundred years of success. The United States had 50. As a friend once said to me, the US will not be conquered but will collapse within and by its own weight.

I am one of very few foreigners who actually gives a ####### and is trying to suggest ideas, yet am branded as being anti-American. Half the forum has given me ####### and insulted me for doing so. Yes, for suggesting ways to improve America. That is when you know there is no hope and need to take the closest emergency raft. Every superpower that fell did so due to their arrogance and pride that they are untouchable and the best. Best example, hello independence from Great Britain. Brits were a superpower and thought they would have the pilgrims rounded up in a week.

Like Russia once was, the US has been the center of attention for the last 50 years. Nowadays the US has become just another country. People either accept this and embrace the reality, or they deny it and go down as did Russia, the UK, Ottomans, Rome, Greece and the Egyptians.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Booyah!