Quote (fender @ Sep 18 2021 11:20am)

you're such a bullshitter, that was never the claim. the implication was that the US could easily afford stronger social safety nets and policies, but rejects them (thanks to both decades of propaganda, fearmongering, and disinformation, as well as being a hyper partisan de facto oligarchy, in which people can easily be manipulated into voting against their own interest just to spite the other side - not that the slightly better side wasn't also corruptly opposing such policies) by simplistically calling it "socialism", and therefore "bad".

the old "that's only possible with homogenous societies and a natural resource that yielded the country a higher per capita income than the US" (conveniently ignoring the multitude of resources, land, and all the other natural and unnatural (slavery) economic advantages the US were able to exploit historically, making it the richest country in the world) is just your usual copium. that's why none of you tried to make those excuses when i suggested to compare with germany or the uk. hackety hack...

Quote (bogie160 @ 18 Sep 2021 15:35)

If we want to go down the rabbit hole, we're going to need to recognize that Germany is the definition of a country that has exploited historical inequities to establish its current economic position. A combination of enormous American aid and the fact that Germany single-handed my led to the economic destruction of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe has put it in a position where it can export very large quantities of finished goods to captive, poorer markets.

And all of this without addressing the fact that the United States has subsidized German defense for the past 80 years, and Germany fairly owes a debt of roughly 3%+ of GDP over that span.

Quote (bogie160 @ 18 Sep 2021 17:35)

If we want to go down the rabbit hole, we're going to need to recognize that Germany is the definition of a country that has exploited historical inequities to establish its current economic position. A combination of enormous American aid and the fact that Germany single-handed my led to the economic destruction of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe has put it in a position where it can export very large quantities of finished goods to captive, poorer markets.

And all of this without addressing the fact that the United States has subsidized German defense for the past 80 years, and Germany fairly owes a debt of roughly 3%+ of GDP over that span.

Quote (fender @ Sep 18 2021 04:20pm)

you're such a bullshitter, that was never the claim. the implication was that the US could easily afford stronger social safety nets and policies, but rejects them (thanks to both decades of propaganda, fearmongering, and disinformation, as well as being a hyper partisan de facto oligarchy, in which people can easily be manipulated into voting against their own interest just to spite the other side - not that the slightly better side wasn't also corruptly opposing such policies) by simplistically calling it "socialism", and therefore "bad".

the old "that's only possible with homogenous societies and a natural resource that yielded the country a higher per capita income than the US" (conveniently ignoring the multitude of resources, land, and all the other natural and unnatural (slavery) economic advantages the US were able to exploit historically, making it the richest country in the world) is just your usual copium. that's why none of you tried to make those excuses when i suggested to compare with germany or the uk. hackety hack...

Quote (fender @ Sep 18 2021 05:12pm)

not only is your 'wE pAy fOr yOuR pRoTecTiOn' talking point incredibly dumb and wrong, it's also amazing how you people will make any excuse in the book to avoid the simple truth that your shitty social safety nets and policies are NOT a consequence of economic affordability, but a matter of choice (by your oligarchs).

your indoctrinated obsession with capitalism and rejection of anything "socialist" is both hilarious and sad.

Quote (bogie160 @ Sep 18 2021 05:35pm)

If we want to go down the rabbit hole, we're going to need to recognize that Germany is the definition of a country that has exploited historical inequities to establish its current economic position. A combination of enormous American aid and the fact that Germany single-handed my led to the economic destruction of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe has put it in a position where it can export very large quantities of finished goods to captive, poorer markets.

And all of this without addressing the fact that the United States has subsidized German defense for the past 80 years, and Germany fairly owes a debt of roughly 3%+ of GDP over that span.

Quote (fender @ Sep 18 2021 12:12pm)

not only is your 'wE pAy fOr yOuR pRoTecTiOn' talking point incredibly dumb and wrong, it's also amazing how you people will make any excuse in the book to avoid the simple truth that your shitty social safety nets and policies are NOT a consequence of economic affordability, but a matter of choice (by your oligarchs).

your indoctrinated obsession with capitalism and rejection of anything "socialist" is both hilarious and sad.

Quote (bogie160 @ 18 Sep 2021 19:27)

What excuse do you think is necessary? The United States is the second richest (after oil rich Norway) country on earth on a per capita basis. The HDI difference between the United States as a whole and the richest places in the EU is negligible. And the United States has delivered that wealth across a diverse, continent sized nation. European prosperity is unfortunately limited to the privileged few, while the Eastern and Southern European members of the EU remain in comparative poverty. And this is all without addressing that the research, medicine, and technology which makes your life possible are all largely the products of an American system that specifically promotes the ingenuity that makes those inventions possible.

Quote (bogie160 @ Sep 18 2021 12:27pm)

What excuse do you think is necessary? The United States is the second richest (after oil rich Norway) country on earth on a per capita basis. The HDI difference between the United States as a whole and the richest places in the EU is negligible. And the United States has delivered that wealth across a diverse, continent sized nation. European prosperity is unfortunately limited to the privileged few, while the Eastern and Southern European members of the EU remain in comparative poverty. And this is all without addressing that the research, medicine, and technology which makes your life possible are all largely the products of an American system that specifically promotes the ingenuity that makes those inventions possible.

Quote (Surfpunk @ 18 Sep 2021 20:12)

By what metric do you make this claim?