Post something interesting about the country you live in

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The Rich/Poor Divide does seem to be growing greater, due to the fact that jobs are being outsourced to places like Mexico, China and India. I imagine that it will only grow. For the most part, it's not particularly prevalent on a surface level, however, there are some pretty serious levels of poverty in some parts of Appalacia, as well as other places. Meanwhile, many company CEO's and other directors are getting phenominal pay raises while they move jobs to cheaper labor markets like the ones above. --- I suppose that this is a bit tangental, but I'd also like to drop the names of Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, as well as my favorite, MCI/Worldcom.

No, the levels of poverty here aren't as great as they are in the third world shantytowns, but we do have some areas that seem to begin to approach it, luckily it's not widespread.

Sure, corporate looting and 'cooking the books" is rare, but when it happens, it happens in a BIG way, and lots of people are hurt as a result.

I would like to see some form of free secondary education, (As Uni and Tech school are referred to here) but the problem is that nobody is willing ot spend the extra tax dollars. About the only way you can get a free education these days is to be a star highschool athelete, who is guaranteed to fill either a football stadium or basketball arena with team supporters, irregarless of whether you have more than two brain cells.

Sure there's always the Armed Forces, and a GI Bill that contributes towards secondary education, but the chances of coming back from any active combat situation unaffected can be questionable. --Besides, the Armed Forces have a pretty lousy record of helping Vets after they are discharged. Homeless shelters here are filled with people who put their lives on the line in Vietnam, and Gulf War Ver.1.0 with PTSD's, not to mention not paying compensation for disabilities such caused by Agent Orange (Vietnam) and Gulf War syndrome.

Who wants to risk that, and perhaps come back with handicapped from war wounds, or even worse, come back in a body bag, in order to go to school???

I suppose that I could be eligible for minority student Grants/loans or perhaps religious based grants/scolarships to go to school if I was a minority, or I was religious, however, I am neither, so therefore I get none.

We do have very limited health care over here, that much is true. for the most part, it varies from state to state. Maine, for example is very good with providing healthcare for poor people, but at the same time, it gets really F---ing tedious knowing that Drunks/drug using idiots that fight all the time and cause trouble for others are getting free, tax paid healthcare to more or less continue with their lifestyle while people who work invariably wind up paying their medical bills via taxes.

On the other hand, Maine requires that all employers provide medical coverage to their employees. In order to get hired by a company here, you have to pass a pre-employment physical. I got turned down on nearly all the good paying jobs due to an existing hernia.It was frustrating, but then again, I really can't find fault with their position.

Who want's to foot that bill right off the bat for somebody that may decide to get the operation done, and then split the job after? Or worse still, claim that the hernia happened on the job, and therefore require the company to pay a workmans compensation settlement plus the cost of the surgery. --Hey it happens, and lawyers are more than willing to file a court case, irregardless of whether there is anything factual about it, or not.

Luckily I got full coverage for the operation, and only had to pay for the Pain medications and the preliminary surgical appointment. @ $60, for a surgical proceedure that would have wound up costing me @ $3300 and some change.

I suppose we could be more like you people in the EU with Free college, and free cradle to the grave healthcare, etc,etc. but nobody here wants to pay $6-7 a gallon for Gasoline, or pay $8 for a pack of smokes, or pay import prices for domestic beer on order to fund it. Conversely, nobody is particularly thrilled about paying VAT's on everything , including the Licence required to watch TV, as you in the UK do, or watch %40 or more of your paycheck dissapear in taxes like other EU countries do. In short that free healthcare, as well as the free education aren't exactly as they appear to be, now are they? -- either way, you wind up paying, one way or another.



I actually prefer stickshift over auto, as you get better control over the car that way, Unfortunately the Marketing people at American vehicle manufacturers concur otherwise, you can only get a stick on a few economy models and a few sprts models, as well as a few PU Trucks. --Oddly enough, this rarity costs more than the Much more complex, and less controllable Autoshift models.

Diesels on the other hand, are strictly for Larger fullsized trucks and vans, unless you're getting a VW, or a Mercedes.Over here, Gasoline is actually cheaper than diesel per gallon , and compared to what you pay, the prices are VERY cheap (@ $2/ Gallon), while diesel is on average about 25 cents more due to federal transport taxes, as diesel is used primarily for large 18 wheel Semi Tractor/ Trailer freight hauling.

We did flirt with diesel cars breifly in the late 70's and early 80's due to oil shortages. You could get some decent Japanese and Euro models, but GM was the only American manufacturer to produce their own diesel engine,.

And that engine was a disaster!! ! The GM Engineering Dept. had the brilliant idea of retrofitting an existing Gas engine with an extended stroke crankshaft, Iron Pistons, and modified cylinder heads, to produce a relatively low compression engine. Essentially the stroker crank turned a Chevy 305 ci V8 into a 360 ci engine. The problem with this, is that Diesel engines are engineered specifically to havdle the heavy stresses inherant with diesel combustion, whereas a converted gas engine isn't.

People that bought the Diesel GM cars started having major mechanical problems with them. Cracked Cylinder blocks, Cracked Cylinder heads, thrown piston rods, and continuously blowing head gaskets. They were also good at eating valves as well. Needless to say, they weren't well recieved, and I think there was even a class action settlement in court as a result.

Chrysler, on the other hand, at least had the common sense to well provel Mitsubishi engine in their designs, but diesels still never really caught on.

Personally, I'd like to see diesel come back over here, as long as it's done correctly by US auto makers. This shouldn't be much of a problem as a lot of US models are more or less the same as their Euro models. I like diesels due to the fact that they get fantastic fuel economy.

If I had the $$$, I'd get a TDI VW Jetta, or if it was available the Euro version of the PT cruiser with the Mercedes TD engine, and a stick transmission. Say... this may be a bit of a stretch, but..... is there anyway you could convince your rich Aunt in NY to donate @ $20K to a questionable, and not particulary deserving cause??

What you posted there has reinforced my opinion about staying in Europe.

I dont keep in touch with my American relatives. I only seen my aunt because i was in my dads home town in Ireland and she visited at the time.

England is the birthplace of grindcore music.

I live in Australia.
There, something good about where I live. :P

England beat Australia in the cricket.

yeah, i suppose winning one test match cancels out how sucky they've been ever since 1997.

True... oh well.

Australia is better than England at cricket most of the time.

But we still beat you! And in rugby!

The US has better gun laws than the UK or Australia. In fact, bettter than any other first world nation except Switzeland.

College tuition: My college tuition was completely paid by my State and the Federal Government here in the U.S., this was in 1997-1999. So, one may receive grants, provided one qualifies and such qualification is based on need.

NHS: The issue here is that the majority of Americans aren't willing to pay the increased taxes it would cost to have such a system in place. We pay the lowest income taxes in the world. Many people aren't willing to pay the higher taxes, like they do in Sweden and Canada. Our health care system is in a shambles, but we are working on it and more and more people are willing to fork over the taxes for such a benefit, b/c the insurance companies are gouging us. Also, if one spends over 1/4 of their income on healthcare, even with insurance, it is tax deductible.

We are not a socially oriented country when it comes to economics. Pull yourself by your own bootstraps and work. We really have redesigned our welfare system, so that people only receive a couple years' benefits and then they must find a job or they are on their own and must rely on private charities. People, especially in my State, are no longer allowed to sit on their cans, waiting for their dole check after two years. Also, we do have state and federal benefits for disabled people, so those people are helped and those benefits do not cease, unless one is no longer disabled.

I find it interesting that the rest of the world is so quick to bash Americans, when you watch our t.v. shows, listen to our music, buy our fashion and art and use our technology...free markets and lower taxes enable more leisure time, which creates a more inventive and creative people or more specifically, larger populations of such people...this is what capitalism produces. That is Econ 101.

America was built on sweat, not handouts. I think my Irish ancestors preferred gambling on the US as opposed to living with having their land stolen, starving and resorting to eating horse meat in order to stay alive. They were bashed and beaten and Americans treated them like crap, but Irish immigrants perservered to become the most successful immigrant population in history.

BTW, it has been proven that our Native Americans are directly (by genetic studies) related to Mongolian tribes in Siberia...they crossed the Bering Strait. Native Americans are just as American as I am, nothing more nothing less.

Does this mean I wouldn't mind an NHS or a more socialist situation? No. Does this mean I agree with the current administration's foreign policy? Certainly not. However, by virtue of being an American, I am given more opportunity to find happiness and succeed than in other nation and for that I am grateful and proud.

My parents both worked two jobs throughout most of my life, I was a high school drop out, but I was accepted into law school, studied, and could have become a lawyer, had I still been interested. There aren't many countries where I would be given that opportunity, b/c of class biases and economic restrictions.

We also don't have a monarchy, so our tax dollars don't go to support a family that has nothing to do with me or my life...Americans would never stand for that bs.

BTW, our Constitution is one of the most flexible, and in my mind most humanistic, legal documents in the world. Because of its flexibility, we are able to change the contents to suit current social ideals.

Tallgirl.

hey kid get with the programme, don't let the convicts push you around

bring on Old Trafford, the aussies are dropping like flies

Shane Warne's practicing for a new career as a footballer judging by the way he kicked his stumps over!
(have to lose some weight though)

LOL

cricket and rugby... now they're FAR more my cup of tea than bloody football. went to barbados for the cricket, you know.

/me tries to suppress thoughts of The Haka...

On the whole the Swiss can be trusted with guns you lot cant. Having watched America's dumbest criminals i wouldnt trust youse with circled paper and a safety pencil.

God Bless America

I always enjoy that logic. The Native Americans came to this continent over 11,000 years ago. To say that they are not really "Native Americans" would be to say that there are no Europeans, because all Europeans are actually Africans. The indigineous human-like inhabitants of Europe were killed off by our African ancestors about 11,000 years ago, as this was the end of the last ice age and it finally became warm enough for us to move there. I guess the true question is how long do people have to live in a region to be considered from that region? Irish can be traced by genetic studies to sub-saharan Africa, actually later than other Europeans because the Celts were cast-offs from Eastern Europe who were pushed around until they finally settled in the British Isles, northern France and northern Spain. This would mean that the Irish are even less Irish than the Native Americans are indigineous to America. As for the Irish being the most successful imigrant group in American history: I think that the Germans have us beat on that one. Of course it helped that the Germans weren't considered lower class citizens until the 20th century. The Irish have certainly come farther than any willing imigrant population (with the Chinese being a very close second in that), but the Germans have more entrenched themselves in the society that we use to determine true success here in the United States.

Hard work is was built this nation. The work of much cheap labor. The Irish, the Chinese, the Africans, all people who worked even though they would never see the fruit of their labor. They knew that their children would never see the fruit of that labor. But their grandchildren just might, and that was enough hope. That is an interesting fact about the United States: that people saw the potential and were willing to work for it even though they knew full well that they would never see it themselves. My Irish ancestors worked along side the Chinese coolies on the railroads. Neither saw that comfortable living, but we do now.