h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What situation in Saudi. This is a feudal state. Where is the comparison?

Hmmm. Didn't make that clear, did I?

Saudi has a problem. It needs to import people to do the little jobs to make things tick over. You know, the small but important stuff like taking away the garbage. But those people cannot afford to live in Saudi because of the high standard of living and the low wages they are paid.

I have seen the same situation in Reading, UK. House prices there are so high that blue collar workers have to commute to Reading to work there since they cannot afford to live close to work. This adds to the monumental local traffic problem, but now I'm going off at a tangent.

The problem I see is that companies in the USA are eroding their own consumer base by shifting jobs away from where those consumers live. If no one can afford to borrow money or earn enough to afford the goods, what will happen next?

I think I read somewhere that the cost of housing has tripled since 1950 whereas the wages people pay are (propotionately) the same. From a layman's perspective, isn't this just a creeking teetering mess?

This creates rich and poor quickly...put right by intervention from state. If not you have unstable society..riots etc.

"Creaking, teetering mess" describes it perfectly. Something's gotta give. In a way, though, we'll all be shopping at Wal-Mart eventually, because most of our incomes will go for housing costs. Maybe the obesity problem will ease up as people find that they can't pay rent/mortgages/property taxes and eat too.

You'll need either the National Guard or higher taxes. Europe is streets ahead here cousins.

Hey there Dave.

I agree that opinion and perspective are the differences we have.
As far as "an agenda" it is all semantics as far as I am concerned. I have no opinion on who is right and who is wrong because I don't believe in wrong. I think there is right for you, and right for me, and that we both make our decisions based on our own experiences.
It does not ever surprise me that you and I could use the same language yet not understand one another.
In the case of government gagging, it is more of a social consiousness that we are raised with. Dad (the government) is always right, and like your actual dad, he is there to protect and provide and teach you.It is my opinion that there is nothing I need to be protected from. I don't fear the rest of the world because I understand that we are all just different. As far as providing- paved roads, electricity, public transportation, health care, ect. I pay taxes for these things. If I choose to use them or not. That is fine with me, but don't also provide forums for your own self advancement at my expense. There I go again, I have moved into judgemental land. Let me take a step back. Teach me? We are given incorrect accounts of history for one example. Death tolls, dates, ecological, and ecconomic impact are all distorted. And guess who provides me the books? This is most prevelent in public education systems.
Let me protect, provide, and teach myself at this rate. Those of us who do are told we are selfish and wrong. We rock the boat, cause unrest, and therby counter the goals of the purse strings. If one were to complain they are repremanded as being unpatriotic or now we are a threat.
Write a letter to the papers, or your representatives, or send out mass mailings. I am allowed to do all of these things. One thing I cannot do is pay for telivision or radio space. Even if I hand over my money my content is subject to editing or refusal. Coorperations and the government are in control of the public air waves. The FCC even allows coorporate sponsorship of our presidential debates!
Don't get me wrong, I support the idea of the government and the military. Fundamentaly they are good insitutions. The military supported my entire life growing up (I am the only member of my famliy who is not in the military). Alot of people don't understand that the military doesn't make desisions about policy (in theory) they are just the enforcement used when our government makes a decision.
I could go on and on about the little pieces that don't fit but it would make you and I irritated. I don't view myself as a wounded puppy or anything, I just understand that the system is designed to keep its citizens placid. Once we disagree is when things get bad. It is like the Matrix in a way. And I've found I've swallowed a bitter pill- but I'd do it again.

I am open to questions

A

Higher taxes?
National Guard?

Irony. Wasn't unacceptable taxation the reason the country was formed in the first place?

Can't disagree Adelle.
Quetion: Would you fight for your country if you were draughted?

Sorry, I know nothing much about history pre +1900CE

"No taxation without representation" means nothing to you?

Hmm.

The American Colonists objected to being taxed to pay for the presence of British soldiers who were there to protect them from the French. They also weren't represented in Parliament, despite being a sizeable population, and had some deeply restrictive trade practices enforced against them. The end result was soldiers on the streets and the American War of Independance.

Consequently the loss of the American colonies is directly attributable to French aggression and not at all the fault of the incompetent English aristocracy.

right!

So the irony would be that a large chunk of Americans don't vote, therefore don't have representation in Government and will therefore not be able to object to any new taxation...leading to the situation you spoke about with the national guard, perhaps.

Funny how history tends to want to repeat itself.

"So the irony would be that a large chunk of Americans don't vote"

Good point, Gradient. That IS ironic. Americans like nothing better than to crow about how their country is founded on 'freedom' and 'no taxation without representation'. Yet they don't take seriously their right to participate in the democratic process - a right that supposedly defines them.

Most don't value the right to get off their voluminous arses and vote. And those who do, lack the intelligence to do it responsibly. The result is George W Bush and Arnold Schwarzenneger.

Well Caifornia was just...sort of...well...literally powerless.
Arnie can't do worse.
Anyway the women like him he's cute.

"Anyway the women like him he's cute."

The same could be said about Pikachu. But would he make a good Governor of California?

Haaaanngg on... better than Arnold anyway.

Not the appeal. Never heard of said person.
Arnie brings good things like "Red Bull"
to defeat established cartels. You'll have
better air and clear morals etc.

Oetzi perhaps you'd like to point to just ONE thing Arnie has done in his entire life that indicates that his morals are "clear".

He escaped from Graz!

He emigrated from Graz (via Munich) in the late '60s. What's particularly morally good about that?

It's self serving, that's all.

Rags to riches.
Provincial working class.
Against the odds
That is an achievement...
And you know what...
The women like him..good for politics!

"Coorperations and the government are in control of the public air waves. The FCC even allows coorporate sponsorship of our presidential debates!"

Adelle, your rights to airtime would be guaranteed under federal law as a political party, if you were one. Media companies are required to grant equal space for advertising to both sides of a political issue. What I will grant you is this. It is the non-commercial airtime that shows an outlets bent. There are no regulations on editorial opinion or the particular spin given to hard news. The media shapes our public opinion like clay on a potter's wheel. Take California's latest circus. Of course Arnold won, he was the most famous name to begin with and to top it all off his was by far the most banted name in the media. From hard news to popular entertainment all America (and the world) heard was Arnold. Most often it is a much gentler spin. Details that are embellished or omitted, carefully selected vocabulary and syntax. Oh it would be truly beautiful if not so scary.
Oh and in general I think I have once and for all determined the answer to the topic. Brent Wright, basketball player, broke his foot one day while playing basketball for the University of Florida. Recovered and went back to playing. Sure, OK you get hurt in sports sometimes. His answer, sue Nike. I think any society that would let someone seriously offer up such a lawsuit should have fire and brimstone brought upon it. It seems that we want to go out and do whatever it is that strikes us with impunity. We are no longer willing to accept personal risk or personal responsibility. Get lung cancer from smoking? Not your fault for ignoring all of those health warnings, sue tobacco companies. Shoot someone. Not your fault, sue the gun manufacturer. Come on people.