It's summertime, and you know what that means in the big cities. . .

[BSAM]

No..
Lol. ...you seem to be the only one having a problem to learn from other cultures and countries. Forget the way it's presented. ...but may I suggest there are dire times when it's best to shut up and learn from others rather than being a stubborn clown

You beez real real funny little boy.
Now, run along and find others to play with.
Cause there ain't a DAMN THING you can teach me about the USA.

The truth is that you need folks like me way more than folks like me need folks like you.
Check out some history sonny.
It's been proven over and over and over.

No...I'm not saying we don't need each other; I'm just pointing out some well known facts to your uninformed ass.

Good luck with your European lunacy.

 

[gwb-trading]

Professional protesters Lol. how typical USA. Kids have been shot in high school by a teen and it's automatic weapons and two weeks later nobody talks about gun control anymore...back to business as usual. Same will happen here. What DID actually happen? A few burning houses a few damaged cars and an angry mob. This was nothing. Wait and see when the spread between rich and poor in the US further widens. My bet is on literal witch hunts and execution style killings.

If you don't like the denouement of these Baltimore riots, another set will be starting shortly in a Democrat-run city near you. Consult the White House for tour dates.

 

[BSAM]

I'd be surprised if Volpunter knows the difference between the Baltimore riots and the Baltimore Orioles.

 

[Ditch]

I was saying to someone yesterday that we may be looking at the modern equivalent of the Slave Rebellion (e.g., 1811). Only this time, the "slaves" can purchase weapons without a license and they're entitled to open carry.

Better than television.

You actually talked to a real person? Mindblowing!

 

[Ditch]

Currency weakness is not everything, but it's a big help. When Germany was on the DM, a strong economy and strong currency was a problem. All of a sudden, place a whole bunch of countries on the same currency, and Germany has a ton of brand new consumers that find a whole bunch of good quality products at cheaper prices.

It would be like the US finally entering a currency union with the UK, Canada, and all of South America and assuming the currency of one of the weaker countries. All of a sudden, US goods would be cheap to millions of new consumers.

That's one part of the German success, the other part is that Germany is the only country in Europe that has been able to successfully transform their labor market to a model that is more in line with international competition. A lot of worker rights have been abolished and many Germans are now working in so called "minijobs", that barely pay enough to support yourself. Some will call that social injustice but that's how you cope with economic reality. The relative equal distribution of wealth we have seen in the 60s and 70s was a historic anomaly, we're getting back to normal.
Volpunter makes it sound like Germany is some multicultural paradise but it's not. Germany is having it's share of problems with the massive immigration of people coming from backward, tribal cultures. The national trauma about WWII has however smothered a sensible discussion about these problems, even more so than in the rest of Western-Europe. Everyone who even dares to touch the subject is labeled a nazi and a fascist.

 

[JamesL]

It's not news... it's CNN

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/pub...skipping-baltimore-coverage-to-focus-on-whcd/

 

[CaptainObvious]

Back to poor Freddy. Let's have some facts. The system did fail Freddy.
Freddy was a career criminal, mostly drug dealing. Extensive rap sheet going all the way back to his 18th birthday. Who knows what his juvi record was. Freddy kept getting arrested and the system kept putting Freddy back on the streets. That, and Freddy's own personal choices is why poor Freddy is dead. Freddy should have been in a prison cell. It is likely he'd still be alive.
Another thing. I'd bet some serious money if you asked any of these rioters, protesters, civil rights activists, community leaders and politicians this question, does it matter that Freddy was a career criminal, their answer would be no. Do you think that Freddy in anyway contributed to his own demise? Their answer would be no. Then you can ask them about all the crime in this community, all the difficulty in bringing business to this community and they would agree telling you how terrible things are. Then you could point out that it is the Freddy Grays of that community that are the cause of all that trouble and ask why are you memorializing, paying tribute to criminals like Freddy, that their might be some connection to that action and all the crime, then see what they say. I doubt that they would have a coherent answer.

 

[Tsing Tao]

Another of your urban myths. Joining the monetary union came free of choice for every individual European country. That is why some choose not to join and others did. Each country fairly and thoroughly evaluated the merits of joining. Nobody joined who thought they would lose out. 2 main facts speak against your assertion: One is that Germany has for decades been the largest net payer into the European pot. Suggesting Germany unfairly benefited from the monetary union and Euro fix is hilarious in light of the fact that Greek and Spanish, Portuguese citizen received huge "welfare transfer payments" from Germany. Secondly, if Germany fixed into an advantageous currency peg then domestic consumers would have been worse off paying more for imports, something no single statistic backs up. Furthermore, after the fix the German economy should have performed markedly better which it did not. All the above have been studied abundantly and countless papers have been released into the public that prove that Germany did not in fact benefit from an unfair exchange peg. In fact Germany has always paid in more than the benefits it extracted from a fix to the Euro. You are the top myth mongerer on this website.

And may I point you to one specific statistic that calculated purchasing power before and after the fix? German cars cost more or less the exact same for British or Spanish consumers than before the fix. So did bread and butter for German consumers. Those were all expressed in purchasing power, essentially expressing how many hours one had to work to earn a car or other consumable items.

Whether or not people chose to join or not has nothing to do with who received the benefits.

What huge welfare transfer payments are we talking about? Greek, Spanish and Portuguese governments took out more debt to cover it, but I don't recall transfer payments being made - simply because there is no fiscal union. You can't have transfer payments without a fiscal union. There's no mechanism.

 

[volpunter]

Don't waste your energy, the same lack of knowledge Tsingtao displayed about Greece in various other threads, he displays regarding Germany. For him Germany stands for a nation that must be ostracized into eternity for past transgressions and a currency manipulator in modern times. Believe he has the capacity but certainly does he not have the inclination to consider any other possibilities.

Certainly does Germany have its own problems and I think it deals with it. But please allow me express a divergent view on some of your made points:

* Even today the wealth distribution in Germany is among the most balanced one in the industrialized world. Do you mind pointing us to a different nation that has a more balanced wealth profile?

* A multicultural paradise? Certainly not. But given how many refugees and immigrants Germany accepted (the highest number in all of Europe as percentage of its number citizens in both categories) the number of racial clashes is a lot lower than, for example, in the US, Spain, Italy, and particularly France. Nothing is perfect but I think Germany has learned a great deal from the 1960s how to better promote and support integration. You have 2nd generation Turkish immigrants sitting in German politics, immigrant entrepreneurs (one of the world's most advanced computer game companies was founded by immigrants in Germany -> Crytek), and you see immigrants sitting on corporate boards. Can things further improved? Certainly.

* National WWII trauma? This applied to my parents but especially my 70s generation. Education nowadays handles this part of history highly responsibly and at the same time Germans have learned to again to display national pride and patriotism. I am not sure how this is connected to a discussion about immigration.

* There is one single group that labels anyone a Nazi and anti-semite who takes a differing stance: Jews. The Central Council of Jews in Germany is an organization that can say whatever it wants and it still can end political careers. Sad but true. That is my biggest gripe, that a majority of Germans has not yet made an effort to shut up those people who have only one goal set before themselves: To again entirely control German media and finance. They have made great efforts on the media side and to the fullest (ab)use their media representation in Germany. This is maybe the last bastion and leftover from the WWII guilt that still holds most Germans captive.

That's one part of the German success, the other part is that Germany is the only country in Europe that has been able to successfully transform their labor market to a model that is more in line with international competition. A lot of worker rights have been abolished and many Germans are now working in so called "minijobs", that barely pay enough to support yourself. Some will call that social injustice but that's how you cope with economic reality. The relative equal distribution of wealth we have seen in the 60s and 70s was a historic anomaly, we're getting back to normal.
Volpunter makes it sound like Germany is some multicultural paradise but it's not. Germany is having it's share of problems with the massive immigration of people coming from backward, tribal cultures. The national trauma about WWII has however smothered a sensible discussion about these problems, even more so than in the rest of Western-Europe. Everyone who even dares to touch the subject is labeled a nazi and a fascist.

 

[volpunter]

Of course it directly has to with who receives benefits. If you enter into an agreement knowing fully well that you are the one losing out in the deal while the other side greatly benefits then you must be stupid.

You contradict yourself: On one hand you say the Eurozone is responsible for holding the bag regarding a possible Greek default and that Eurozone members should have known better how much and when to lend. Now you make a 180 and argue that apparently Germany which is one of the first joiners of the monetary union deceived others. Interesting logic, or better lack thereof.

Whether or not people chose to join or not has nothing to do with who received the benefits.

What huge welfare transfer payments are we talking about? Greek, Spanish and Portuguese governments took out more debt to cover it, but I don't recall transfer payments being made - simply because there is no fiscal union. You can't have transfer payments without a fiscal union. There's no mechanism.