[PapaG]

It sucks to live in a country where countless hours can be spent on the internet (high speed connections, I'm sure) criticizing that country without any censorship from the government of that country.

My guess is that the majority of the "America is bad" crowd have very limited experience in terms of traveling the globe, but that is a different topic altogether.

[stockfire]

By "America is bad" crowd, who exactly are you talking about? Because I don't think that group exists in the way that certain people (and perhaps yourself) believe it does. The majority of the "America is bad" crowd in the world aren't Americans.

Being an American who doesn't ignorantly bless every single action of it's country or being an American who understands the complexities of America (you know - when there are good AND bad things) doesn't make you a part of the "America is bad" crowd.

So, not sure if that is what you are implying, but it seems as if you were implying that no one should criticize the country because we have an uncensored internet.

[PapaG]

Originally Posted by stockfire

By "America is bad" crowd, who exactly are you talking about? Because I don't think that group exists in the way that certain people (and perhaps yourself) believe it does. The majority of the "America is bad" crowd in the world aren't Americans.

Being an American who doesn't ignorantly bless every single action of it's country or being an American who understands the complexities of America (you know - when there are good AND bad things) doesn't make you a part of the "America is bad" crowd.

So, not sure if that is what you are implying, but it seems as if you were implying that no one should criticize the country because we have an uncensored internet.

I'm not talking about anyone specifically. More so just an observation about how agitated some people seem to get whenever another person says that they feel that the United States is the best country. I hold that opinion as well, and I have traveled to every continent except for Antartica. There is simply no country on earth more diverse or with more opportunity available to any person from any background.

I mean, I saw this thread title and just knew that ultimately some poster would end up having to defend why he likes the country that he lives in. I don't mind that others see this country as the problem to many of the world's problems and I won't try to argue with them or change their minds.

[SodaPopinski]

Originally Posted by PapaG

I'm not talking about anyone specifically. More so just an observation about how agitated some people seem to get whenever another person says that they feel that the United States is the best country.

I mean, I saw this thread title and just knew that ultimately some poster would end up having to defend why he likes the country that he lives in.

Yeah, but honestly, anywhere in this thread, is there someone going off on some diatribe about how ticked they are at the sentiment that America is the best country? All I see is a bunch of people making the point that yes, we are the best, but we also have lost our way in a bunch of areas and we need to get back on track. And then responses from Talkhard claiming that all of those people are just un-American.

This thread is hilarious to me. I mean, I kind of get it that Talkhard has spouted his delusions enough to himself in the mirror that he actually believes them, but the fact that other people are seeing these grand illusions just fascinates me. Under the Talkhard theory of "disagreeing with the current status is un-American," people like Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King, Jr. should be considered some of the least patriotic citizens in American history.

-Pop

[hoojacks]

Originally Posted by Talkhard

Who says? We have the strongest military in the world, our economy is bigger than all of Europe put together, and we're leading everybody in the total medal count at the Olympics. We have the best scientific and academic community anywhere, and we lead the way in high tech innovation. Don't let the stock market or the housing situation fool you--America is as robust as ever and still king of the hill. That's why people from all over the world want to come here.

Most of these things are true enough, however I would take issue with the scientific and academic community part. Unless you think inserting God into science is a good idea and would prefer to teach our children how to take tests instead of use real world knowledge. There are many countries that are ahead of us in some cutting edge scientific fields and depending on what you focus on, we are close to dead last in education in the first world. That's an entirely different thread, however.

But none of this is the point. The point is America isn't on top of its game because we invaded Iraq and are torturing people. I know that you think those two things are a good idea. I'm just saying, the rest of the world (and a lot of Americans) thinks we're *****s for it. And yes, I know you don't give a **** what the rest of the world thinks (and a good amount of Americans). That's one of the reasons you can come off as a xenophobic malcontent. However, I don't think you are. I think it's just part of the conservative ideology to reject other people's influence while insisting that we get to assert our own. And of course, why the hell would we want to listen to anyone else when we're obviously #1?

[maxiep]

Originally Posted by HB

Whatever reality Talkhard is living in, I'd love to visit there.

You don't live in America?

Originally Posted by HB

America's a great country, but it has a lot of problems and if not corrected things might not be as rosy in the future. Just take a look at the education system, and how unprepared the Nation's youth are for the future.

Our primary and secondary schools have really dropped the ball, but that's more an issue of our teacher unions and political correctness holding us back while other nations have stepped on the gas. Especially disconcerting is our lack of emphasis on math and science.

That being said, our university system is the finest in the world. In fact, many of our brightest minds came here to study and then stayed to ply their craft. Now THAT's a smart immigration policy.

Originally Posted by HB

You brag about America leading in the Olympic medal count, yet China is clearly leading them in the Gold medal count, and not too far off in the overall medal count.

You know China has an official program to increase their medal count, right? Here's a link from a crazy, unhinged, jingoistic, radical conservative media source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=93707032

Always strong in diving, gymnastics, table tennis and badminton, China honed in on sports like women's weightlifting, archery and shooting, where the global talent pool isn't deep and other athletes don't receive much financial support. The low-hanging fruit strategy has paid off handsomely.

Layered on to this approach is a huge and sophisticated government sports apparatus that identifies promising young athletes through a network of coaches. Some 200,000 Chinese children are said to be living and training at elite sports academies. In sports like gymnastics, kids start boarding at 6 or 7 years old. Their lives are difficult, but the potential rewards are enormous.

If this sports factory approach seems familiar, just think back to Communist East Germany and the Soviet Union, where sports had their own ministries and gold medals became a tool of government policy.

Originally Posted by HB

The same China has the world's fastest growing economy, and as of now third largest in the world. In a couple of years, it won't be unrealistic to think they could be the world's best economy.

Don't confuse growth rate with size. China has had massive rates of increase because their government kept them back in the 19th century. As for their size, with a little over 300MM people, we're at $13.8 trillion. With over 1.3B people, they're at $3.2 trillion. As for projecting out growth rates as a constant, with the Olympics over and the price of inputs increasing, don't expect China to continue their double-digit growth.

Originally Posted by HB

Oh by the way, regarding technological innovation and the likes, you might want to read up on Japan and how well they are doing in that regards. Heck Asia and Europe are already using technology that America is well behind the curve on.

True, but adopting technology and having the innovative management to harness that technology are two different things. I think it's sweet that I can walk around Copenhagen with a Blackberry and surf the web, but their culture doesn't embrace the kind of striving that makes America great. They focus on the quality of life of a society; we each focus on our own quality of life and let society largely take care of itself. One is top-down, the other is bottom-up. Adam Smith wins that argument every time.

Originally Posted by HB

Lol America as robust as ever? Really. What are you basing that on? I guess the foreclosure, unemployment and rising food and gas prices are all figments of our imagination.

What you fail to realize is that the loose credit offered by banks have contributed to people living in better homes than they could have ever dreamed of just 20 years earlier. The fact is that too many people reached for too much. They may have lost their home, but many of them lived beyond their means for years beforehand. So, who's the loser here? It seems to me it's the banks that are going to lose money on these investments.

As for making it seem like EVERYONE is getting their house foreclosed on, the historical foreclosure rate has been roughly 0.6%. Today's foreclosure rate is a little under 1.0%. Sure, it's a 40+% increase, but one in a hundred homes is hardly earthshaking.

Let's move on to unemployment. Our current unemployment rate is 5.7%. When I was in graduate school, the natural rate of unemployment (i.e., The lowest rate of unemployment that an economy can sustain over the long run) for the US was thought to be 5.5%-6%. We've blown that out of the water without the concomitant rise in inflation that generally comes with overheating the economy. In contrast, the unemployment rate in France is 7.5%, in Germany it's 8.4% and across the EU it's 6.7%. The crazy thing is they think unemployment is shockingly LOW.

As for rising food and gas prices, that's to do with increasing demand for energy. As long as we're unwilling to tap our own petroleum resources and start building nuclear power plants, this change is going to be a permanent condition. Don't hate the value chain, embrace it and figure out how to make it more efficient.

[Hector]

In human psychology, there are levels of selves. For example, Freud imagined the ego and the id, the conscious and unconscious minds. Hinduism has what is it, 9 levels?

If an individual feels too small to cope, he can partake in a greater collective self. He can imagine that he is part of a religion, or a nation, or Manifest Destiny, or White Tradition, or the United Nations liberal human race, etc. He will then feel that this is the greater goal for us all to work toward. If the greater self you select as your object of worship is your nation, you will believe that your country is culturally superior, and should therefore be the World Policeman. Enough of theories. We're wasting time. I don't hear enough arms twisting out of joint. Let's get out there and resume torturing.

[barfo]

Originally Posted by maxiep

Our primary and secondary schools have really dropped the ball, but that's more an issue of our teacher unions and political correctness holding us back while other nations have stepped on the gas. Especially disconcerting is our lack of emphasis on math and science.

So teacher unions and political correctness are keeping schools from emphasizing math and science? Can you connect the dots for me? Me were a pubic school gradarat, I kent finger it owt.

barfo

[el_Diablo]

Originally Posted by Talkhard

our economy is bigger than all of Europe put together

no

[meru]

Originally Posted by el_Diablo

no

What the hell is "Eurozone"?

Go Luxembourg! (And Liechtenstein...)

[meru]

Oh, and that "medal count" thing: it's funny to note that all the US-based news sources I've seen list the medal table by TOTAL number of medals, where the US is (just) ahead of China. But all international news sites I've seen (e.g., the BBC) list them by number of Golds, where China is SIGNIFICANTLY ahead of the US.

Coincidence?

(The test would be to find a Russian-based source, because they'd like the American system where they're third, rather than the world system, where they've been lower (although they've moved up to 4th and are likely to overtake GB soon).