What is going on in America?
 

Dear American forum members

What is going on over there, the news is that the whole system of government is being held to ransom by a bunch of right-wing "Tea Party" loonies.

If this is true then someone has got to get a grip of the situation before the American and world economies go down the drain.



UK Bob

um......yeah....

more like the country is being held hostage by a childish wanna be dictator...

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution states that the US will pay its debts.

Even Sen McCain is fed up with the TP, and says that, "One way or another, our debt ceiling will be raised...", (as it was raised seven times for Bush, four times for Clinton, and I think under Reagan they did it 17 times!).

It is quite disappointing to see our politics in such a sad state. The Republicans have no good leadership. I doubt M. Bachman could pass our citizenship test (and I imagine most Brits know our history better than she). It seems no one wants to make a strong effort when they'll likely lose to Obama.

Repubs got control of Congress on a jobs agenda. Yet they have spent their time in government giving tax breaks to the rich and subsidies to oil companies; while fighting same-sex marriage, abortion, unions, and anything Obama wants to do. Not one jobs bill. Taxes are the lowest they've been in 100 years, while the job market is the worst I've see in my lifetime. (I recently returned to a part-time teaching job that pays the same rate as when I last worked there - 15 yrs ago (and they pay a higher rate than their competetors!).

ObamaCare was Richard Nixon's idea - made less socialistic (Nixon wanted all employers to pay for healthcare). The Bush plan called for forcing everyone to buy insurance; that and his "public option" are necessary to make the system work. But like every other Republican idea that Obama wants to put into practice, suddenly it's an horrific idea that "the American people don't want" (so they tell us).

After Sir Paul received a medal from Obama, he said that, "Billions of people are supporting you and hope for your success". Alas, I don't think enough Americans understand the message.


Any hope of R Murdoch going to jail? Another of Nixon's ideas; to use a television news channel as a propaganda medium. (Funny how people still refer to the news media as left-wing, jewish-controlled, and having a liberal bias.)

Hi Blackhorse 70 (& Peerless)

First of all about Murdoch, it is highly unlikely that Murdoch or his son John will ever see the inside of a jail cell, it is more likely that a few more minions are likely to be done for phone hacking and maybe email interception (I don't know yet what these infringements are called, i.e. what laws are broken).

As for America, something is broken and it seems, from this side of the ocean, that a bunch of loonies are holding the country to ransom for their own political ends.

But what I cannot understand is, whether you like the current president or not, to take such a suicidal stand, with the country's well being at stake, is just sheer insanity. Saying that, this is what happens when intolerant (and borderline crazy) people are voted into positions of power that they should not have in the first place, they hold the country, and the world economy, hostage because they cannot see or feel anything beyond their own noses.



UK Bob

Our government systems work somewhat differently. But over here, for bills that require money to be spent on them, need the senate committee's approval. If the senate & house of representatives are different political parties, then the senate can hold the government in power to ransom. That's happened over here several times. The worst scenario was in the 1970's with Whitlam's Labor government. He had some fantastic ideas, but could not achieve anything because the liberal party who held the power in the senate would not approve of any spending on his ideas. Whitlam ended up quitting.

It's certainly strange seeing our AUD worth more than the US dollar. In previous years our dollar was usually worth US $0.80-$0.90. Presently AUD $ 1.00 = US $ 1.10 (spaced out to beat censor lol)

We have HealthCare here. This is similar to what Obama wishes to introduce. Many countries in the world have a similar system, but USA is behind the times. I can imagine many people see the system as socialistic with negative thoughts for that reason. I am aware the USA pharmaceutical companies 'hate' our system with a passion. They cannot dictate prices, cannot advertise medicines on TV that over here require a doctor's prescription first. I have no doubt the USA pharmaceutical companies are among the loudest & influential attempting to stop the new health system being introduced.
Hilarious. The part about the history I mean. :D

Most Traumatic Times in Australia
 

Hi LOTR

You know, I always thought that the most traumatic event to take place in Australia, in recent times, was the dismissal of the Gough Whitlam's Labor government by Sir John Kerr in 1975, the Governor-General at the time.


UK Bob

Thanks for the accuracy. Yes that's what happened. The government was dead-locked & couldn't do anything due to the power of the senate who were preventing the government achieving anything, the government couldn't move.

I get the impression something vaguely similar is presently happening in the USA political arena.

For the USA at least, results sometimes being compromises which basically ruin the agenda. Or compromise to agree to one bill with changes (that weaken it), if the party in power agree to something else in exchange which was against their original ideas, such as other bills going the opposition way. This seems to be what I've been able to ascertain in discussions with USA persons over the past year. We need some USA persons on here to clarify this. ;)

The two things that Americans really don't want to know:
How sausages are made and how bills are passed.

The difference being that a bad sausage makes you sick for only a day.

My grandfather returned to Australia after the USA company owner called him in one day & offered him a manager's job at a sausage factory to start up over here. He was not keen on our family eating sausages. lol

good God....such brainwashed rhetoric about the tea party and the GOP....sheeshus on a stick!

it's simple...the people in general do not want higher taxes and that will require spending cuts...and most likely the loss of jobs for some government employees (just like the rest of America)...the Chicago Gangster on the other hand wants a blank check to keep on raising the debt (which will take decades to pay off)...

I've never had insurance in my life, and I rather refuse to be forced to buy private insurance (which is what (n)Obama Care is...)if it was true socialized medicine then my thoughts would probably be different....