November 7th Midterm Election

[chazarus]

To an extent.  I would hardly believe that the current conflicts have any economic benefits other than to those directly or indirectly involved with the security industries.

To take the current American war as an example, the US government is racking up a huge debt because of 1. taxcuts and 2. military spending.  At the same time, the people who are in office, as well as their friends and companies, are investing huge amounts of money into government grants.  This is a documented fact, it's all on public record.  They're putting the government into debt and then they're loaning the government their own money at a high rate of interest.

(The tax cuts themselves represent billions of dollars going back into the pockets of the rich.  Eliminating the death tax means that these multi billionaires and Paris Hiltons will hang on to their wealth for eternity.)

Then there's Haliburton and how they've been given so many contracts without any competition.  I've spoken to soldiers who have seen service in Iraq, they say that the food isn't very good despite all the money Haliburton has been given.  I wonder what they're doing with all that cash if they aren't spending it on the soldiers?  Keeping it, maybe?

Then there's the oil thing.  Of course, it's possible that the US government wants to control those oil fields simply because they don't want China or Europe to have their own source of oil.

We have debt because he have a multi billion dollar trade deficit.(see china)

[Datruth]

We had a trade deficit with china back with clinton too, but in those times we had a surplus.

I think it's the war that's drained all our money.

[chazarus]

Then Clinton gave China most favored state and we traded away with them .... well they sent billions of dollars in crap here and we sent almost nothing there.

Soooooo we owe them the difference in cash.

Yea dont think they'll be gettin that.

HAHAHHAHA

[Efflixi Aduro]

go democrats

die republicans

[Monketh]

Actually Zanzibar, Haliburton would be an example of a company involved with the security industry.
The connection of private capital to security industries is a bit weaker though.

[zanzibar]

Actually Zanzibar, Haliburton would be an example of a company involved with the security industry.
The connection of private capital to security industries is a bit weaker though.

I did a

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=haliburton+iraq&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

And found a

http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/



It appears that they have their fingers into a few things.  And yes, feeding soldiers is one such thing.

[Monketh]

Actually I meant rehtorical link, rather than physical link.  It's confusing to say, but I wasn't arguing.

[Isra]

it is so interesting seeing your points of view on this , from the inside of it all . Yeap you guessed right I`m not from US
however here is my 2 cents on the matter . US politics has done more harm to the world in the last few years then comunism/nazism together throughout history . I can only pray to whatever god out there that the democrats win this -and the next round- and hope that it makes any difference whatsoever
Whenever I start to contemplate the US actions and there effects on the entire world over the last decade .....I stop really fast and rush out to get drunk really fast , because realizing what US has done to the world scares the %^$# out of me
Sometimes I find myself wondering what will be US`s next step : They can`t extend there military actions in the orient - nowhere to go wth Iran there - , and no US will NEVER attack Iran , they can`t even deal with Iraq and it seems they plan to stay there untill they will compleatly exterminate the population there  , so no way US will dare move against Iran , not as long as rusia is backing Iran up. That leaves..what? Africa open I presume . probably they will "find" some threts to world security there if they will want to get there hands on some hypotetical resources there.....
But the main problem from where I`m standing is the anti-US sentiment world-wide . I don`t belive there was ever in earth`s history such a world-wide feeling of hatred twards a nation as the curent anti-US sentiment world-wide . to me it seems US is alone out there , except for UK ofcourse , and it`s dooing an great job on geting everyone else against it . So if this is to change then these ellections are crucial . I really hope the democrats win and things will change

[bilbous]

It is interesting that you mention Africa. I read somewhere that China is making many friends in Africa and they don't have the whole White Man's Burden / Colonialism baggage to hinder them. Apparently one of the things being said by Africans in favor of Chinese initiatives there is that they just get the job done while the west gets bogged down with environmental / social impact studies causing projects to be greatly delayed if finished at all.

[zanzibar]

it is so interesting seeing your points of view on this , from the inside of it all . Yeap you guessed right I`m not from US
however here is my 2 cents on the matter . US politics has done more harm to the world in the last few years then comunism/nazism together throughout history .

Excuse me, but Hitler and Stalin murdered well over a hundred million people.  The American governmenthas promoted globalization, the American government has assassinated and tortured people, the American government has supported terrorist organizations abroad, but I don't think that you can put their war crimes even close to the those of Hitler and Stalin.

By the way, where have you been?  Or have I just not noticed you around and you've been here all along?

[Datruth]

I don't know zanzibar, like i understand what you mean, there are alot of deaths under stalin, like 20 million.

And i have no clue how many deaths came from hitler.

I can't seriously say America killed as many.

But it's policies, in my opinion, have effected more people, without actually killing them.

Like our embargo on Cuba.


Which is the worse of the two, probably communism and naziism.

But give america 100 more years, then we'll beat them lol 

[Monketh]

I'm invoking Godwin's Law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law

[zanzibar]

I don't know zanzibar, like i understand what you mean, there are alot of deaths under stalin, like 20 million.

More like 95 million, actually.

And i have no clue how many deaths came from hitler.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties:

"The civilian toll was around 37 million, the military toll about 25 million."

However, I'm not sure if that number includes the 25 million Jews, Socialists, Immigrants, Gypsies, and Homosexuals who were killed by the Germans as a part of the Holocaust.

[bilbous]

From that same page which by the way that number was total deaths on both sides
                                POP            Mil. dths          Civ dths                  total deaths
China[9]    530,000,000    3,000,000    7,000,000       10,000,000    

Somehow I don't think the Germans were responsible for any of these.
                                               pop                  Md                   Cd               Holocaust
Soviet Union[49]    168,500,000    10,700,000    11,500,000    1,000,000    23,200,000    

and the total holocaust deaths listed is 5,754,000 not 25 million. However I would not claim these numbers are definitive.

As far as Stalin's count goes that too is subject to debate by people who know more than me.


About the only thing that any of this has to do with today's vote is nothing.

[zanzibar]

6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, but the Jews were not the only victims.  Gypsies, immigrants, socialists, and homosexuals were also killed in concentration camps along side Jews.  Going back to the wiki page, it reads that the number killed in the Holocaust "totaled 12.1 million, plus 5.7 million Jewish Holocaust victims that are listed separately".  So that's 20 million souls in total.

The 95 million figure for deaths due to Stalin's regime comes from the latest estimates and research.  A number of books have been released that go into detail on where that number comes from.  My understanding is that it's been well recieved by the academic community - a lot of work and peer review has gone into it.  It's a safe bet.