coineineagh:

You left because of the elected president? I thought claims like that were empty pundit hyperbole, but there are actually people who do that? Wow. If Bernie manages to win, I wonder if your kind will go extinct. You know, like how pandas could survive in a delicate microcosm, in you case one of misinformation. You may be the only one left in a few decades, subsisting in an expat bubble where your Chinese handlers take selfies with you, as you explain during English Corner why you'd rather vote for Hitler than live under a president you didn't vote for.

Hotwater:

Following on from Coins point........as well as leaving because of a President, my understanding is that you also place a lot of the blame for Americas woes on China.....yet you moved to China!

ambivalentmace:

hotwater, you go where the money is, not where it has been, the money is leaving china as did japan in 89, i worked in japan also, adam smith the customer will do what is in their own self interest, its a new world order, i did not make the rules, i just play the game to my benefit and deal with reality as it plays out, actually canada will by my next stop if america does not recover, i have enough to retire, china was safer than most other countries at the time and the money was there, many liberals went to canada when bush was elected, i made some scratch on prividing security in the middle east at the time because the money was there, the new liberal government in canada may cause investment to leave but i hope this young turk has more experience with that after his family tried to muscle alberta and had his ass kicked.

ambivalentmace:

coin, if i live in america, i lose half my money and work for the government until may or june every year to pay taxes, why would i give bernie 3 more months work and pay 60 to 70 percent taxes. i work 12 months wages and the government takes 6 to 8 months and i get to keep 4 months pay, no thanks, i have to much pride to be a deadbeat and live off other people's labor so my only choice would be to leave. how many new milliionaires and invention have come from high tax socialist countries, security and comfort for the masses has a price for innovation, there are isolated exceptions but basically workaholic productive citizens like their money and if you take too much, we dont play anymore.

ScotsAlan:

The Uk does pretty well at inventions Ambi, and you would probably define us as a high tax socialist country. Same could be said for Germany

As a Brit, Bernies message makes total sense to me. Pay for healthcare through taxation, and it actually works out cheaper because you don't have a private company creaming profits from your insurance premiums.

I pay tax in China at pretty much the same rate as I would in the UK. But I get none of the benefits. No free health care, no social safety net etc. But I don't mind paying it. It goes towards road building and schools. Infrastructure. Something that Trump is big on. He wants to tax the wall street hedge funds to pay for road building.

Higher taxation + infrastructure investment = jobs.

coineineagh:

I can't completely disagree with you that high taxatin is at a risk of stifling enterprises, and as a result, ingenuity. But studies have shown that people with talent will not sit on their thumbs (or emigrate), merely because they pay higher taxes. If you are a high income earner, you need to shake off the notion that you are carrying others in terms of contributions. Intelligence is not always hereditary, and Bernie's plan for free public universities will do a lot more for creative capital than any conservative plan. You may be shocked that people on welfare may have more potential than you, provided they get a chance to apply themselves. How are you going to use those extra months salary to cultivate yourself, I ask you seriously. A lot of americans are just plain greedy, and want to extend Bush-era tax breaks for millionaires. Stop claiming to be anything more than greedy. America has the lowest social mobility of any western nation, and social mobility is an indicator for how personal efforts and endeavours are rewarded. America is stagnant, and bears shocking similarity to the hierarchical corrupt system in China. You are the modern-day equivalent of an entrenched nobleman fighting against peasants' attempts to better their lot in life.

Shining_brow:

You know, I thought I was about to go off on a tangent, but apparently it's become the main idea!

There's a HUGE difference between 'invention' and 'development'. And the problem with development in a purely capitalist country (like China or USA) is that the owners of the current system are liking their income, so don't like any new inventions that threaten that income.

Alternative energy sources is a fantastic example (and the most significant for all of us). We've been told that oil and coal are so damn important to our lives, that we NEED to keep drilling - and NEED to keep it flowing.

We don't!

We have alternatives.

If those alternatives were fully funded, then the gulf wars (and Afghanistan... and Syria) wouldn't have happened. For a few reasons. One, we wouldn't need the oil that much, and thus the leverages that people had wouldn't be there. Secondly, their level of technology would be much different... which usually (historically speaking) would mean better education... and better education tends to lead to bigger internal changes. At the very least, if the gulf wars happened, it wouldn't be just about oil! And oil as I said, is only about profit in a capitalistic society.

(if you should bother googling - is it now Binging?? - alternative energy sources, also look at current usage. Then multiply that by the amount of money spent on producing and protecting the oil & coal industry!)

ambivalentmace:

http://hechingerreport.org/in-norway-where-college-is-free-children-of-uneducated-parents-still-dont-go/

dont always believe talking points on education, reality does not always match idealistic intentions.

ambivalentmace:

i grew up poor in the inner city of a high crime city and i made my life successful with out government support and i want the government to give the same opportunity to everyone that i had, but if they  take most of their money for wars, healthcare, whatever, there is nothing left to invest and grow and better the individual, the opportunity to be wealthy should be a right, not a luxury for the privileged.

seansarto:

@coineagh...The Democrats under clinton eliminated college loans from the bankruptcy laws in the USA..thus burdening many college educated students to carry the economic burden of crap education to their graves...educations which would have no bearing on their employability...sanders plan is just another attempt to make crap educations unaccountable for their pomposity...which is all many private education's end up being. ..and if you haven't noticed private universities in the USA are bastion of liberal ideas which only burden their students with student debt. The open market and bankruptcy, if related to college loans, was a natural mechanism of regulating private education's viability as an economic engine...the democrats want everyone to pay for crap education by making it unassailable from the market..no thanks.. it is a place where government does not belong. 

Englteachted:

Amb: Top earners pay at most 34-38% and  that's before deductions and tax credits. If you're paying half then go see your accountant not Obama (most end up paying about 25-30%).

Logic check

Increased costs necessitates increased Revenue

Where were you on GWB's expensive unnecessary escapade into Iraq?

Where are you on military spending? I met a couple guys like you (complaining about taxes but  give nothing in the way of alternatives).

America spends close to a trillion a year on military, Russia spends a fraction (1/6 to 1/8 depending on which articles you read) but Russia's military is on par with ours. What do you say to that?

Do the math, you want to pay less taxes, make a plan to spend less.

Shining_brow:

On top of Scot's cost cutting of the military (take away a large chunk of that, put it into health and education... the former won't miss it, and the latters will be so grateful!), take a look at Australia's higher education idea. You still have a debt to pay - but it gets transferred to your tax payments after 5 years of post-university life, It comes out of your pay automatically.

So, you're still paying for it - but it's from YOUR pocket, not from everyone else's! (there is a downside - scumbags like me, who don't pay taxes back home...).

As for your link about Norway... so? What that says is - more people need to be educated! And more needs to be done to attract people into university - IF they're not actually doing anything else!

Also, I suspect you missed a paragraph:

"Also, because wages remain high for blue-collar occupations, she said, there’s less of a financial incentive for some Norwegians to bother with college, since they can get jobs more quickly, and earn almost as much money, working as plumbers or electricians."

A lot of that article actually DOES point to education as being a major factor - it's just spread more over the entire social structure. The higher your education, the better your money (hopefully - not always!). AND... the higher your education, the more you will encourage your children to get a higher education, and you'll have the background to help them succeed academically. Ie, it's not just a single generation thing, as seems to be proposed by most.

ambivalentmace:

i was a cpa in america, your talking about income tax, im talking about all of it, top rate is 39, state income taxes, city income taxes, fica tax, if you run a company, unemployment taxes, inventory taxes, property taxes, ad valorem taxes. the hidden tax in everything you buy that is really corporate taxes,

corporations dont pay taxes, they pass the tax burden into products or services that you buy and of course price a profit in also. corporations pay taxes that they collected from you the consumer because the government wants to hide the fact that they are shaking you down for more money, the corporations is just a mafia bookie taking a small cut along the way.

hell if you live new york city or philidephia you have a city income tax on top of all the rest.

i dont have a problem with paying taxes, but everyone has a budget, if you want 60 percent, fine, but dont come back next year for 61  percent and 10 years later for 70 percent. pick a number and live with it.

i worked for the iraqi government providing security because of french foreign legion history, was paid as a french citizen to avoid us taxes. the former late hussein had a good relationship with france.

ambivalentmace:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/france-sees-millionaire-exodus-religious-tensions-rise-1552423

the productive people leaving, no they never leave, tax the shit out of them, 75 percent is not too high

ambivalentmace:

we spend too much on the military, do tellhttp://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274967-former-defense-secretary-obama-double-crossed-me

ScotsAlan:

Play hardball in what way Robk?

I found his import tax idea interesting. But when he says the Chinese stole American jobs, he is just plain wrong.

It was Wall street that exported the jobs.  This is why I find his idea interesting. The import tax will be passed onto the consumers, but at the same time raise billions in revenue for the Government. If the tax is set at a rate where it makes manufacturing in China too expensive, the companies will relocate back to the US.

But either way, the price of consumer goods will go up. To pay the tax or to pay higher wages to American workers

I wonder how people who vote for him will feel when their Iphone or TV doubles in price.

expatlife26:

I always thought that whole "but things will be more expensive!" argument against protectionism is a way of shutting down rather than encouraging discussion.

Who is to say that UK citizens wouldn't ultimately be happier in the aggregate paying twice as much for appliances and electronics in return for the number of quality, unionized manufacturing jobs it would create.

I'm a professional knowledge worker so I don't give a shit about unions and I like things being cheap. But why should policy serve my desire for a cheap washing machine more than the guys currently on the dole who should be working in a washing machine factory?

That's who the sanders & trump campaigns are appealing to. The clear "losers" of globalization who are tired of hearing that they should be grateful that they can only find 20 hrs a week of work at a gas/petrol station because they can buy an iPad for only $500.

Do you think cheap iPads give people the sense of security and belonging that a stable 40hr/wk job where you get to build things with your hands does?

I mean you can't raise a family on the cheapness of imported consumer goods.

ScotsAlan:

Yup expat.

I remember there was a factory close to where I lived in the UK that made slippers for a major UK chain store. They sold in the shops for 10 quid a pair. But the shop decided the UK factory was too expensive, so they sourced their slippers from the far east. They still sold the slippers at the same price, but 150 UK workers lost their jobs.

What annoyed me about this was, the consumer was not given the option to pay a few quid more for slippers with a "made in UK" tag  If the shop had given consumers that choice, there might be people in the UK still making slippers.

Shining_brow:

Scots, you're missing something here (Unless 'China' is a euphemism for 'everywhere else in the world') - the jobs won't go back to America - they'll go to the next cheapest, viable alternative... which won't be the US!

I'm sort of surprised with Ambi's post above ... he doesn't want China to have the money and jobs, but he's happy with "India or the Philippines". Other than China's aggressive attitudes in the SCS, what difference does it make where the products are made, while they're not made on home soil?

ambivalentmace:

shining, whats wrong with building up the infrastructure and making other countries stable with economic growth, spread the love ( i mean wealth) . if you can overlook china's faults and help them, then why not help 2 democracies, china can always say see we are smart and great, look how much better we are than india and the philippines, but that does not cover all the weaknesses and strengths, but people look at the appearance not the reality, if you wanted to promote the vitues of democracy against china, speaking of india and the philippines would make you a laughing stock and a hypocrite, considering who should be our allies i would be resentful of america for the policy they have had so far if i was from these 2 countries.

ScotsAlan:

I am confused Ambi. You are a tax exile, you pay as little tax as you can, even if it means you migrate, but yet you support your private investments being used to fight poverty in developing countries. Are you a closet socialist :-)

Shining_brow:

@Ambi - I wasn't suggesting there was anything 'bad' about it (for that matter, I'm totally for it... although, I'd suggest other countries instead of those 2)... I'm only surprised that you would suggest it, rather than some other policy to make those jobs return to US soil - that's all.

ambivalentmace:

factories never come back, they left england, france, germany, america and soon china, but each time they leave for cheap labor market, the new country emerges after its over with infrastructure and more stable developed world neighbor, i only think the choice of china by nixon instead of another country was a bad choice, having a strong india or philippines with capital investment for the last 30 years would have been better than china in my opinion but history will let us no after im gone if it was a wise choice. you cant stop private investment but should the american government have the power to push china as a target investment instead of relieving poverty in south america or mexico. do you build up an enemy in hopes of making them a friend, or build up a friend to make them a stronger ally. i dont know if these decisions were even considered 30 years ago, but someone should have thought about it. factories or jobs coming back is just science fiction, perhaps by war and destruction somehow but no other possible scenario, im still amazed by the theory that "technology will give us more job opportunities", really , so if robots make everything in the future, how exactly will i be able to work to buy what the robot made. we will have an atm lottery for work and 40 percent of the people work and the others sit home and get a check, a revolving second string workforce for things robots want do. fascinating.

Shining_brow:

She's also female (apparently). There are many who will vote for her just because of that.

BHGAL:

Push comes to shove

I really believe that Hillary Clinton will be the next President of the USA. Polls be as they may and the Republican party blowing up, Clinton shouold win handily

Trump has been and will continue to be great entertainment, but he is more than that... a real eye opener for the whole world. (God I hope that is all)  President Trump scares me.

ScotsAlan:

I think she has too many skeletons. Too many things to resurface, and be made major points by Trump.

Private email server, "under sniper fire in the Balkans", anti gay marriage comments she is on record as saying, Wall Street money and so on.

Trump will rip her apart on the stage.

WooMow:

The way it's looking now, most people have made up their minds.

There are people who will not vote for Trump under any circumstances.

There are people who will not vote for Bernie under any circumstances.

Hilary is everyone's second choice.

That's my theory anyway

icnif77:

Not 'Ozz' anyhow.

Shining_brow:

Nice try, but 'Aus' wold have been better :D

ScotsAlan:

Us. As in us.

Russians, Chinese, Americans, Syrians, Nigerians, British, Japanese.....

Ozzies don't count. Oh, the Kardashians too. The Osbornes and the Kardashians are too far removed from reality 

icnif77:

Can't do anything (decent ) with word 'Aus'

'u-as...' with long-er 's'

philbravery:

Australia will have federal election his year

and we have nobody at all worth voting for

icnif77:

Chris Rock was the best ....

ScotsAlan:

Nah, it's small Conservative Government who make people broke. They give their pals in the corporations breaks so they can make more and more money.  Then the politicos retire and are given jobs on the board of the same companies.

Not just conservatives of course, socialists do this as well. Lord Kinnock in the UK is an example, as is Jack Straw, a U.K. cabinet minister who was caught in a sting by a newspaper posing as rich Chinese trying to recruit him. Caught with his hand in the till. And guess what, an investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing.

ha ha ha. Watch the video on YouTube and decide for yourself 

BHGAL:

I beg to differ.

A Con, to me is something illegal ....I do not believe that anything illegal has occurred in the Trump campaign. sure somebody would have told us by now it it had happened. con - confuse???  well maybe

the conspiracy theory about getting Clinton elected has yet to play out.

last week I mentioned about being a "seer" and I see now that you and your drinking buddy have also mastered this art..... no LSD, no drugs.... just a few beer is all it takes to "see" the future

ambivalentmace:

i know the theory very well since bill clinton did the same con for his election, but i think trump could be killed before the election against hillary and if no candidate took his place the majority of americans would vote for "none of the above" or "not applicable" or " john doe" before they will vote for hillary, i really think hillary would lose to a "blank line checkmark".  the people of the middle class have been screwed by the elites of both partied for so long that they are just fed up with them.  none of the ideas the elite throw out has worked and country just gets worse and people are fed up with condescending  know it alls in washington telling the lower class that they just dont understand, everything is a crisis and the solution never fixes the crisis. this trump candidate was created by their own arrogance. i dont have much confidence in trump, an educated guess is he will probably be conservative on financial issues and with a new york background somewhat pragmatic or liberal on social issues, the only good thing i see in this, i expect him to hire real people with credentials for cabinet and advisor positions, not politicians who are owed a favor., now whether he listens to them or takes their advice is a whole different story

ScotsAlan:

If you have a vote... Vote for Bernie.

The world needs a secular US president. Let put God to bed, and grow food for all.

Shining_brow:

"Con" = confidence trick... people get played and lose out because they are confident that they know what they're doing - when in fact is the other person making you think you should be confident, while sneakily having a hand they haven't played yet (or knowledge that you don't know). Usually some form of lie or deception.

Should it be illegal? If I sell you the Brooklyn Bridge because you're a moron, should I be the one going to jail? If I sell you a 'diamond ' ring made of glass, am I the fool who didn't get it checked? (just saying!!)

Should it be illegal to lie?

ScotsAlan:

Interesting Shining.

It's on BBC today that the UK are considering making it a crime to create a fake Facebook account in order to troll people.

ScotsAlan:

Scandinavia apparently. The Socialist places that the Republicans say are bad.

Canada is shit too apparently. Even though Ted Cruz is Canadian. Even though his poor parents went to Canada to have their baby under the Canadian free health system... Canada is shit. Too socialist

Ted Cruz. Born under a system he despises. Married to a Wall Street banker.

Ted says he will start every day of his Presidency on his knees before God almighty. Praying for his guidance. Before he bombs people for being brown.

The world has gone mad. Mad mad mad.

This is why I drink 

ScotsAlan:

Have an upvote from la la land .

I totally agree he wants to burn down the establishment, and they are running around like headless chickens trying to extinguish him. And they have no clue. No clue at all.

Yesterday, a news anchor said a republican senator was about to endorse Clinton.

What fools they are. That will not encourage people to vote for her, it will make people want to vote for Trump. It will make it look as if the establishment are willing to turn coat just to keep the establishment in.

I have to admit. Trump is a genius showman. He is a natural at reading a crowd and knowing what they want to hear.

If they attack him on policy, he wins, even though he does not really have any.

If they attack him personally, he wins.

And I have to admit, from watching the debates, he is the most Presidential on the stage to republican voters. He shouts people down, he makes the rest of them look like wimps. 

And the the way he says something, then straight away says "I didn't say that, but someone did. This is what people say".  A master class in how to appear to agree with an audience, but leaving a back door open for escape.

Shining_brow:

But does the rest of the world deserve him?

Stiggs:

I saw this article a few days ago....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/28/former-cia-director-military-may-refuse-to-follow-trumps-orders-if-he-becomes-president/

An ex CIA director is saying he thinks the military could refuse to follow Trumps orders because they would break international law and make the guys who did it war criminals, He doesn't just want to kill people's families, he wants to start torturing people too.

ScotsAlan:

This is why I am amazed at the media. Nobody pulls him up on this.

He now wants to make it easier to sue the press. He wants to limit freedom of speech.

There was a story last week that many US news outlets are considering pulling out of the U.K. They say the UK libel laws are too strict, and publishing in the UK is just not worth the effort . This would not just affect printed press, they are also considering blocking UK IP addresses from browsing their website.

The first amendment is one of the many great things America has. And Trump wants to destroy it. 

And yet yet the press still fall over themselves trying to get him on their show, promising not to ask difficult questions.

ambivalentmace:

every army commits war crimes, most are never known or reported, i have witnessed this first hand and i have no problem with what he said at all, just wish i was young and could still serve, the french have done this for years but we dont let reporters anywhere we do the business of war. letting reporters in makes one army behave while the other can misbehave with no accountablility and then you wonder why the moral high ground side lost. its not a social experiment, its mean nasty work.

nzteacher80:

So you have no problem killing women and children? Women and children should be seen as valid targets in a war situation?

You are completely okay with the leader of your country promoting the killing of children?

ScotsAlan:

Wow ambi. You wish you were young enough to sign up again. Going by your comment above, you would want to sign up to torture people. Is that the way you seen the world? Really? That its ok to torture and kill innocent people. Wow.

Shining_brow:

What's wrong with killing women & children?

Are you sexist? (apparently)

Women are just as capable as (it's been suggested, somewhat moreso than) men. Especially when they're fighting for their homes and families. The Romans learned that lesson when they first tried to invade Briton :p

13 year olds can fire an AK or rocket launcher...

Being female, or under a certain age, does not automatically mean one is 'innocent'.

(also - bombs don't discriminate)

Stiggs:

I agree with you, except for the part about him hurting China's economy and causing factories to close etc.

China's economy seems to be heading that way without him doing anything, and I'm not sure he would be able to cause that anyway unless he wrecked the U.S economy and China was caught in the backlash along with the rest of the world.

Janosik:

No, he will not.

US would have really hard time if they would like to block China ...