Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (235597)	6/3/2005 9:37:41 AM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1572702

Why is that important to you? To be honest, I certainly don't think in terms of who is best in the world like its a beauty contest. I am simply pointing out what we are doing wrong. Its called providing constructive criticism. It's important to me, because I'm trying to see if your criticism is because you just hate the U.S. or if it is because you see another country doing it better and would like to present that as an alternative to the way we do it. Thank you for finally giving me examples. They are indeed countries that I think are doing something right as well. Now I'd like to ask you, if those other are better at governing and have better economic models, why is it that the U.S. is the country that has attracted the most immigrants in the past and has the most wealth? My point is not to prove that we are the best, rather it's to point out that we have risen to great governmental, military, and economic power BECAUSE of our values, not because of our lack of them. This country was built on solid Christian values and many of them have been codified into our most venerable institutions. If we are straying recently, I'd say that it's because we have a President who is a fundamentalist and therefore believes he can do no wrong. And we have an ACLU and extreme left that is trying to turn this country into a blankly, secular nation devoid of any Christian identity. If we get away from our values, then it won't surprise me if we become just another country like those in the EU.

To: tejek who wrote (235597)	6/3/2005 5:04:31 PM
From: Taro	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572702

Ted, my buddy Bob in Fremont, CA wrote these wise words to me and I thought it being worth while to quote him here to wise guys like you: My opinion is that western European countries are in deep trouble that is not likely to get fixed well. The birthrate of the European-stock people in those countries is too low to sufficiently support the socialism that is so rampant across west Europe. And the import of people from Muslim countries is growing at an alarming rate. Pretty soon they (and more importantly, their kids) will be a VERY important voting bloc, and that is when REAL trouble will begin. So the problems are both economic and political, and as a consequence, I would not invest money in west europe's economy. Just too many problems on the horizon. East Europe (the former Soviet-bloc countries) are different, if only because they are starting so low that they can produce some very good growth rates. And so far at least, the Muslims are not so attracted to them because they are not so rich. All in all, I think the invasion of west Europe by Muslims is a VERY big problem for the future. It makes me think it might be a better idea to visit a southern country with seafront (like Albania) for investment opportunities (although I know next to nothing about Albania specifically, or its prospects). Slovakia appears to be getting its act together, but lacks seafront. Perhaps some of the components of the old Yogoslavia might be optimal. Plenty of beauty there, and opportunities for growth. But maybe they have caught the socialism fever, too, I don't know. You'd think that people would have figured out from the Russian example that socialism is a great theory, but does not work well in practice. But no - TOO MANY people still believe in "equality" and a free lunch from the government. And worse - it gets taught in schools, so kids grow up believeing in that drivel. Of course I get most of my in-depth info about Europe from "The Economist", and they have biases similar to my own, so maybe I'm all wet about this stuff. But I doubt it. Taro