Saunterelle writes: “If you think the 23% you pay is extraordinarily high, don't ever move to Europe.”
I don’t plan on moving to Europe, but if I did, it would be Germany which seems to have a lower tax rate that the United States if certain deductions are taken.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Germany__________________
"Thanks for the clarification on recession. The GDP may have increased but job creation has been nonexistent. In fact, President Bush has one of the worst records of any president when it comes to job creation."
For a clarification on our economy, we are not in a technically defined recession. We are most definitely in an economic downturn. The slash and burn policy on our economy left to us by the Clinton Administration still stands as the worst recession in the last few decades. Our present economic situation can only get worse as oil prices soar, the housing market continues to weaken, and our trade deficit only gets wider. President Bush has done nothing to stop any of this and has contributed to it by his failure to curb government spending. President Bush is most definitely one of the worse, President Carter still holds the title as the all time worst US President in recent history.
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“I find it incredibly stupid and naive to think that the way we are viewed in the world doesn't matter. Of course it matters for many reasons.”
Really, and who’s opinion are you using?
The Pew Report 2002-2007:
“A 47-nation survey finds global public opinion increasingly wary of the world's dominant nations and disapproving of their leaders. Anti-Americanism is extensive, as it has been for the past five years. At the same time, the image of China has slipped significantly among the publics of other major nations. Opinion about Russia is mixed, but confidence in its president, Vladimir Putin, has declined sharply. In fact, the Russian leader's negatives have soared to the point that they mirror the nearly worldwide lack of confidence in George W. Bush.”
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US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq fueling a whole new generation of youths hating America?
The US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq have not fueled a whole new generation of youths hating America. These youths are taught from birth to reject anything that is not part of their lives. Their hate for anything foreign is breed deep within them. To correct this problem, we must go after the infrastructure of their Madrassas.
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It’s is quite pathetic that our media and liberal leftists as-holes (I can't believe that our net nanny edited this) seem to focus on the few tragic mistakes of our military rather than all of the good will that our fighting men and women do in the field. Yes, their will be mistakes, that is the nature of war, but we should put these things in perspectives of the over all good that can come from this war if the job is finished.
We pulled out in Somalia, and now look at the mess that is going on over their. My question as for US involvement is why our we not trying to aleve the pain and suffering that is happening in Dafur? Again, we have an Islamic-Arab Government sponsoring ethnic genocide.
We meddled in Kosovo and now have the terrorist group Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) controling the country. Another Democratic Admisistration failed foreign policy.
I don’t believe that Democracy is a good thing for the Muslim people of the Mid-East but yet, it is still better than what they had from the regime imposed by Suddam.
As for soon large armies ready to carry out attacks on America, the poor fellow has no clue as to the war we are in. What of the large armies of Islamic terrorists that have been staging down in Honduras for years?
The whole world is joined in the fight against terrorism, In Africa, Indonesia, South America, France, Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Italy, Kosovo, Russia, Easter Bloc countries… What country is not united in the fight to stop Islamic terrorists as well as any other group that uses terrorism as a weapon?
Maybe Saudi Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Yemen, and a few other Islamic countries that support the terrorists.
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Bush as a stupid person? The same person that defeated Gore and Kerry? What does that say for the type of people that the Democrats ran against him.
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When anyone borrows money, it is only important that that person is paying the money back. Anything else is only conjecture.
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China and the United States are the only two superpowers in the world. Russia is a distant third and the European Union is a distant fourth. Most of the other world countries have negative views of all three.
As for being viewed in a good light (how vain,) what's important is whether countries respect us either by our Actions or Might. (Remember, that in the real world, "Might Makes Right.")
Only when we become weakened by our economic mistakes do we become vulnerable to world criticism. Do you really think that China, now probably the worlds #1 Super Power is worried about world opinion?
For a Super Power to be a true leader it must lead by example and consensus - not by appeasement.
As for now, the United States is more at risk from negative world opinion because of our failing economy and dysfunctional governemnt. Our economy improves, we start throwing more money at these countries and we get a strong leader and our approval rate goes up. Problen is, it ain't going to happen in the next 4 years. Not one of the three candidates are woth a plug nickle.
[“Germany was the world's leading exporter again last year with a value of €969 billion ($US1.39 trillion), a gain of 8.5 per cent from 2006.
China sold $US1.22 trillion worth of goods abroad.
In terms of the trade surplus, Berlin can be pleased with an increase of €40 billion last year to €199 billion. That compared with a chronic US trade deficit of $US63.1 billion in November, and the record French deficit of €39 billion, which was announced this week.”]
One of the many failures of the Bush Administration will be this constant reminder:
www.americaneconomicalert.org/ticker_home.asp
