Why the USA is a disgrace

[Thumpalumpacus]

The U.S has an economy that is based on war. In other words: without warfare, death & misery, the U.S would not have become what it is right now.

Categorically wrong.

If you look carefully, Iraq was the most perfect example on how the American foreign policy operates :

1-Demonize somebody.
2-When the person is officially considered evil, invade them.
3-Destroy their country
4-Take the natural resources (like oil)
5-Offer the locals means of rebuilding the land that America destroyed (in exchange of money; of course) : offer them contracts that would benefit the U.S the most
6-Before you get out, make sure to spread hatred between different local factions within the country (Example : shia & sunna in Iraq), so a civil war can go on, and the U.S can benefit from selling weapons to both sides.

That's exactly what happened in Iraq, and in many other places.
That's war economy. And the regime in the U.S did learn to play it right.

Categorically wrong. The invasion was a gross injustice, but US oil imports from Iraq reached a peak around 2001, and have been in a general decline since then, from around an average of 21000 bbl/mo, to around 12000 bbl/mo currently.

Also, it needs to be pointed about that the American GNP is about $17 trillion. Arguing that government contracts totaling $140 billion over the course of ten years have floated a $17 trillion economy is silly.

[JuliaL]

Okay, so sometimes people comment that I'm "too anti-American". Well I have good reason. Some of the shit that they do has far-reaching consequences.

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• The USA starts wars. They're the most war-hungry nation on the planet.
  
• They are the worst first world country in their handling of income inequality.
  
• Companies based in the USA extort people. This includes so-called "copyright trolls" and other companies like PayPal that freeze accounts without warning and keep all of their client's money.
  
• Prostitution is still prosecuted, and pornographers have not been forced to provide a safe work-palace, despite the enactment of a new law in California.
  
• Minors can be tried as adults - something not done in any other first world country.
  
• Criminal prosecutions are excessive.
  
• They trigged the GFC because they allowed predatory behaviour in the corporate banking world.
  
• Because they have corporations that are based on distributing creative works, they fight to keep copyrights and patents at unreasonable lengths, in measures that only benefit publishers and not artists or researchers.
  
• They believe they can dictate to other sovereign States how they should behave, and what policies they should enforce.
  

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Feel free to add your own points.

OK, you don't like the Imperium.  Tough, nobody does.
If it wasn't US, it would be somebody else.
Big and nasty in and in charge is more stable than Kumbaya unless the latter band together to out-nasty the former.
So that's what society generally falls into and stays there.
You'd rather hand the world over to Putin or the Communist Party of China?
At least corporations have to pretend interest in satisfying customers.

[WinterHold]

oh, forgot this :

You, particularly, wouldn't know wtf to do without us Ayatollah

But Dick said:

And Iraq's oil reserves, the third largest in the world, with an estimated 115 billion barrels waiting to be extracted, are a prize worth having. As Vice-President Dick Cheney noted in 1999, when he was still running Halliburton, an oil services company, the Middle East is the key to preventing the world running out of oil.

So may I ask you, what the hell are -YOU- going to do without us ? without oil that is being extracted out of OUR Muslim Arab lands ? to keep your DOLLAR alive ?

Oh boy. I just tasted the filthy scent of nationalism.

[WinterHold]

The U.S has an economy that is based on war. In other words: without warfare, death & misery, the U.S would not have become what it is right now.

Categorically wrong.

If you look carefully, Iraq was the most perfect example on how the American foreign policy operates :

1-Demonize somebody.
2-When the person is officially considered evil, invade them.
3-Destroy their country
4-Take the natural resources (like oil)
5-Offer the locals means of rebuilding the land that America destroyed (in exchange of money; of course) : offer them contracts that would benefit the U.S the most
6-Before you get out, make sure to spread hatred between different local factions within the country (Example : shia & sunna in Iraq), so a civil war can go on, and the U.S can benefit from selling weapons to both sides.

That's exactly what happened in Iraq, and in many other places.
That's war economy. And the regime in the U.S did learn to play it right.

Categorically wrong. The invasion was a gross injustice, but US oil imports from Iraq reached a peak around 2001, and have been in a general decline since then, from around an average of 21000 bbl/mo, to around 12000 bbl/mo currently.

Also, it needs to be pointed about that the American GNP is about $17 trillion. Arguing that government contracts totaling $140 billion over the course of ten years have floated a $17 trillion economy is silly.

You won't find it on the imports list, because it's an American "property" now.

[Gawdzilla]

I'm convinced, Merkins is EVIL!!!!!!

[Thumpalumpacus]

So may I ask you, what the hell are -YOU- going to do without us ? without oil that is being extracted out of OUR Muslim Arab lands ? to keep your DOLLAR alive ?

Buy from Canada, develop alternative resources, and tell the Middle East to go fuck itself with a cactus.

For the record, I was against the war in Iraq, and I'm against any intervention anywhere in that region. I regard our aid to Israel as a form of intervention, too -- eliminate it.

If the population over there is comfortable with people killing each other over whose imaginary friend is real, great -- you fucking clean up your own mess.

There's not one square foot of land in that fucking ashtray that is worth one drop of American blood.

[Thumpalumpacus]

You won't find it on the imports list, because it's an American "property" now.

This is a non-answer. If you want a real discussion, you'll have to give substantive answers, and for claims like the above, you'll need sources that I can examine for myself.

Which direction this conversation goes is up to you. How you answer this post will say much about you.

Please give a more substantive answer to my previous post.

[abaris]

You'd rather hand the world over to Putin or the Communist Party of China?

Which will happen sooner rather than later. Not Putin. Russia's far too weak. But China, which in my opinion combines the worst of both worlds. Oppressive political system combined with unchained capitalism.

And frankly, I don't see the distinction. The US as well as China are profit based societies. They're out to make a dime and ultimately that's all that matters. On a lighter note, I considered the US a role model for the Ferengis since they first cropped up in the Star Trek universe.

We're living in an age of corporatism. Some countries more than others. The US has already sold their politicians, lock, stock and barrel. They're not supporting the interests of the voters anymore, but the interests of the donors. But most other countries have already taken the highway there. The EU is largely dominated by lobbyists, and even if it's the sum of the national governments, it doesn't make things any better. China's a corporate dictatorship, selling it's people into working slavery. Russia's dominated by a few very rich people, who call the shots.

In my opinion, democracy would need a hard reboot before we talk about domination. As I said, it really doesn't matter, since it's about the same interests. Making money for the ones already being rich.

[Catholic_Lady]

Looks fine from the side. What are going to do to it?

You don't see the dorsal bump? He's just going to straighten it and make it a little smaller too. But thank you! 

[Catholic_Lady]

Nose job.

I also have a deviated septum so the surgery will help me breath as well as just making it look better.

Well, I can’t really see your nose, but your whole face taken as one impression, is lovely.

Me, I have perhaps more nose than is actually necessary for the purpose of respiration, but when I was one and twenty, a guy told me I have a sexy nose. That changed my life. I was born again.

Good luck improving perfection.

Aww, thank you so much! That's very sweet of you.