Excise tax

[Master Yota]

As for the bailouts they are still in my opinion a veiled overpayment to the CEO's for their incompetency. The employment situation has NOT made a substantial recovery. The use of semantics and slanted statistics have been used to fool the average American into believing progress has occurred that has obviously not occurred.

That was very well put, and could probably be true all people, American or otherwise, who's countrys have provided some form of bailout.

[snowdad]

Juan,
No offense, but how much was spent/lost in your Failed 1982 Falklands invasion?

[Juan]

No idea, probably a lot more than you can imagine, considering the size of our economy. A big chunk of our debt was originated in those times.

But there's a huge difference, it was not an elected government who lead us into that war. No matter if I consider that Malvinas Islands belong to us and were stolen by the Brits, (wich I think) we didn't have an option.

Our president at that time was a militar dictator not elected by the people.

Lots of people were not happy about going into war against Britain, but nobody in the government cared. Actually if you disagreed and showed it, you were marked as Terrorist, and you and your family were at risk of disappearing. We have 30,000 documented missing people.
There was no congress at the time.
Can you even start to imagine that?

Actually all our economic straits started in late sixties, caused by military governments, they got us into a huge debt with international banks and funds, used to buy armament (and top off their pockets meanwhile) getting us ready for whatever militar adventure they could come up with.
We almost go to war against Chile (like you going to war against Canada) in '78 just because our dictator/president couldn't stand the chilean dictator/president or viceversa.

Cuz: You are right on the CEO's incompetence. The bailouts, here and there, usually saved their asses but How many jobs would have been terminated otherwise? I personally don't like banks and banks executives, I think their greed led them to invent exotic ways of geting profits and that's what causes most economic meltdowns around the world. They call them bubbles here.
Look at Greece, Ireland, Spain all helped gone south by greedy investments banks.
The thing that makes me angry is that those Ceos are not prosecuted by their incompetence, they get out of the mess smelling like roses, with an early retirement and probably a bonus check in their hands. Right? At least that's what happened here after meltdowns and huge bankruptcies in the nineties.
Thanks for taking the time for giving me an inside look on whats going on up there.

[Lifer]

I find it fascinating, not to mention informative, when two people from different countries can compare the faults/problems of their respective countries without getting into a pissing contest (i.e. starting a "war") on the forum. When it happens in polite discourse, as it has in this instance, we can look at both sides and see that we are very much alike despite our differences.

Today's lesson in Political Science 101 has been made possible by the famous Dodge M37. Go out and play with yours today!

[cuz]

The common thread on this entire planet is the common man. It has always been well known that governments make war on governments and the common man get's it in the trenches! The common man on both sides has to fight for his country's government and not because of any hate for his common opponent.

I'd much rather watch Osama and Obama get in the ring together and resolve their issues.

[Juan]

That's a nice picture, Osama vs Obama and GW Bush against Saddam in a Ring.

Another nice picture would be, the bank CEOs under trial and then cleaning parks or streets as part of their community service.

[cuz]

the bank CEOs under trial

Don't forget the auto manufacturer CEO's who took the money and still shut down plants and put workers on the streets.

[Juan]

the bank CEOs under trial

Don't forget the auto manufacturer CEO's who took the money and still shut down plants and put workers on the streets.

What? I thought that the whole idea of the bailouts was avoid doing that!
I've read about plants shutting down but I thought it was before the bailouts not after.

Now I start to see why you guys are not happy at all with the bailouts.

On a side note, I've started to see the offspring of the Chrysler-Fiat merger down here and it don't looks good.
A basic Dodge Journey with manual transmission and the 2.4l engine rebadged as FIAT is starting to show it's ugly face down here.

[MSeriesRebuild]

the bank CEOs under trial

Don't forget the auto manufacturer CEO's who took the money and still shut down plants and put workers on the streets.

What? I thought that the whole idea of the bailouts was avoid doing that!
I've read about plants shutting down but I thought it was before the bailouts not after.

Now I start to see why you guys are not happy at all with the bailouts.

On a side note, I've started to see the offspring of the Chrysler-Fiat merger down here and it don't looks good.
A basic Dodge Journey with manual transmission and the 2.4l engine rebadged as FIAT is starting to show it's ugly face down here.

Now you're beginning to see the clear picture. Bailouts, stimulus package, among other giant spending programs have netted very near nothing to improve things in most areas of the US. Unemployment #'s are huge, and Obama's crew of flunkies still continue to tell us how well their programs have worked. Them or me one needs to be committed as I have failed to see any hint of a positive result at all for the country in general. They continue to push for more stupidity in legislation daily. I for one am not happy at all with this bunch, and it isn't because they are democrats, it's because they are idiots.

[refit1701]

Both parties are equally capable of some extreme stupidity.

[DAP]

Agreed, neither party has the smarts to figure out the shift pattern on an M37 much less how to engage the 4 X 4 and hi/lo range levers. They are so out of touch with the public that they would probably call our trucks a Jeep - grrrrrr. I say at the next election we shouldn't reelect any of them.

So pretty sneaky how I got that Dodge M37 content insert back into the discussion. Sort of like having lockers in the pumpkin

[Juan]

[quote="MSeriesRebuildNow you're beginning to see the clear picture. Bailouts, stimulus package, among other giant spending programs have netted very near nothing to improve things in most areas of the US. Unemployment #'s are huge, and Obama's crew of flunkies still continue to tell us how well their programs have worked. Them or me one needs to be committed as I have failed to see any hint of a positive result at all for the country in general. They continue to push for more stupidity in legislation daily. I for one am not happy at all with this bunch, and it isn't because they are democrats, it's because they are idiots.[/quote]

You seem to be describing our politicians with those last lines.
I Guess politicians is a species that´s in all continets and countries. Or a plague.

Funny thing, CNN etc don´t tell the whole story.
(I know I sound very dumb saying this)

This is what I was looking for, the real deal told by working people.

I used to travel a lot in the past (when I was single with no kids).Unfortunately now it´s impossible for me to travel abroad, so I miss chatting with people from other countries.

[cuz]

Before we call politicians idiots we must first define idiot. If I reverse engineer this then a politician who can be a politician for life (read leech on tax dollars), can set his own pay raises without the consent of the people, has the best health care program in the world, and can retire on the same annual income he had while setting in his office sure as hell sounds to me like one smart individual!!! Hardly an idiot although he may do things we think are idiotic but what he does 99% of the time is simply his version of job security. He pleases whomever keeps him employed or whomever offers him the best bribe.

The nice thing about having a dictator is that when you overthrow him the world sees it as an act of liberation, not a crime. In our case it is a crime punishable by death. It is the way of the ancient Greek democracy for us but most Americans do not understand what that means!

[Master Yota]

My understanding of the situation is that "our" administrations (both US and Canada) financed the bailout of the major banks and trusts to encourage them to continue lending money to "qualified" recipients. This was to give the working man some leeway to make adjustments in mortgage payments and what not to stay financially solvent in this depression. After all, people with money will spend it - thus moving the economy along.

It was a good idea, until the banks decided to prop up themselves only and not share any of the wealth beyond lining thier own pockets with our money. Our two governments basically spent thier way out of a depression in 1 year rather than a long drawn out recession. They did what they thought was neccessary to avoid an instance like the great depression of the 30's...

Its not really the fault of the governments who spent billions to keep us from the bread lines, but rather the banks poor lending practices and irresponsible use of credit (and thier own natural greed) that has put us in the position we're all collectively in. I say shoot the banker instead.

[W_A_Watson_II]

a politician for life (read leech on tax dollars), can set his own pay raises without the consent of the people, has the best health care program in the world, and can retire on the same annual income he had while setting in his office sure as hell sounds to me like one smart individual!!! Hardly an idiot although he may do things we think are idiotic but what he does 99% of the time is simply his version of job security. He pleases whomever keeps him employed or whomever offers him the best bribe.

I think you have hit on part of our Governments problem. They are in control of their lives and ours, not us in control of the Government.

In a situation where a Politician can be so powerful and disconnected with reality they will become the "We Know Whats Better For you Than you Do" elitist who don't care about the purpose of the Government or what it does to the country.