Whee!
Ok i respect your views and my view is just a opinion.However lets get real here, just because you as one American family doesnt feel your livelihood is suffering doesnt mean another American family is not.Ye are Americans, probably the greatest nation on Earth,people respect and look up to America for guidance and Leadership.When that suffers everything else suffers along with it.
The war on terror eight years of it,no bin laden, never caught, Trillions of dollars spent on bombs, tanks, and Manpower.Now the America Economy is comeing to a very fast halt, the war is one cause, and to say otherwise is stupid.Look American needs a social health service to be proud of, For Example where if you turn up at a hospital you wont be turned away because you have no Insurance.It is called human morals which all humans should have, Haveing money is not everything, but it is welcome if you treat it right.
How many homeless are on the streets of America. Who looks after them , Not the Republicans, they spread lies that they care, but look into your heart,.Does there actions tell you that this true. How many families are on a wage in America that barely gets them through the day and some maybe not even have a wage that does that.I take my country as a example we have a minimum wage of 9 euros a hour that covers all sectors of the economy both public and private. To put it simply it would be around 13 to fourteen dollars a hour in your country. We have pensions, health care, sick pay, " The American treats its population not too well in my book ,too many rich, too many poor.
Insurance and taxes. most Americans pay too much tax and insurance, lower tax rates stimulate the economy. that is a economic fact , not higher taxes.Promote jobs come on America, start kicking, tell this goverment in the white house we deserve better, and we are going to get it.
I don't fully understand your first point. EVERYONE votes the issues that matter to them and that they believe in. That's sorta the whole point. Are you saying I should vote for things I don't want? People who value more socialism will vote for Obama. People who don't, won't. People who are anti-abortion will vote for McCain, people who are pro-abortion will vote for Obama, etc. That's just how it works. I don't vote for people who got fucked because they bought two houses they wanted to flip but got nailed when the market stalled. Nor do I expect a billionaire to keep me in mind when HE votes. Europeans don't vote for their leaders based on what we want, and vice versa. I may be misunderstanding your point, though. But as a general rule I vote along the lines of my world view, and national healthcare is not included in that.
Or perhaps are you trying to say that I'm a "bad person" for not voting in a way that makes bailing out poor people a priority? If so, then I'm guilty as charged, especially since I don't think the way to help those poor people is via the Democratic platform or it's values. More socialism is not my idea of America "leading the world"
Of course some families have done worse. On the other hand, America is home to almost 1/3 of the entire world's millionaires. The shrinking middle class in this country is a bigger issue, and the result of many many interconnected factors, so it's not as easy as "well.. you just have to do X or vote for Y and it will all go away" All my friends and extended family are all doing fine as well. Here in LA, in my industry, finding a job is not a problem. Companies have trouble keeping top people since there are so many options.
So my original point was simply that things are not all doom and gloom over here, and and some of the recent problems are simply the system restoring itself to equilibrium - For example, the past few years the housing markets went through a ridiculous bubble, driven by banks and lenders giving loans to people who had no business applying for them when the fed lowered interest rates. You can't live on credit forever and now the bill has to be paid. People who lived unwisely will be burned because of it. In the future, banks and everyone else will think twice before jumping into mortage contracts that are obviously a joke. Lenders even had a name for it - NINJA loans (No Income, No Jobs, No Assets). That sort of business practice is bound to fail from the outset. My advice on the banking problems is to limit each savings account to 100K or less. If you have more than that, split it across multiple banks/accounts. Only the first 100K is insured by the fed.
On other issues, it's way too complicated to hash out here, but suffice it to say that I agree that the war was unecessary. Horrible misuse of funds! That money could/should have been spent getting us off Arab oil and buying back huge chunks of the economy that now belong to China. I'm in a hard situation becuase I agree with the "ideal" republican platform of smaller government, less taxes, strong military, free-trade, pro-business, allegiance to America, securing the border, self reliance etc. Unfortunately Bush and the republican congress violated pretty much every tenant of that platform IMO. I am not excited about this election, nor do I ever expect to be in the future with any other. Last year my wife and I changed our party affiliation to "independant"
You sound happy with the way Ireland does things. More power to ya. But I will be voting the issues that directly affect me and that are concordant with my own views on life.
One last thing, homelessness in the US has declined by 30% between 2005 and 2007 according to the US dept of housing and urban development. It's just not an election issue over here at the moment. The giant sucking sound of money going into the black hole of Iraq is WAY more important than homelessness.
