The start of WWIII? IRAN!

Originally posted by ElCubano
The GDP counts pollution three times: first when it is made, second when it is cleaned up and third when health-care professionals treat pollution-related health problems. An organization called Redefining Progress developed an alternative economic progress measurement, the GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator). GPI takes into account 24 aspects of economic life that the standard GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ignores. The GPI adds value for such activities as housework and volunteerism, and subtracts for the costs of such problems as crime, car accidents and family breakdown.

cut and paste job......


p.s. By the way since 1973 this index has been falling..While the gdp and our overconsumption has been rising....
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This is also the reason that so many from foreign origins desire so desperately for a piece of the American Dream. Whence they get here and realize the daily work grind, and all those who "fell through the cracks", and there really aren't any smooth pavements blocks to stand on, then they realize WHY its called the americal DREAM!

go figure....

perhaps that's one undocumented (alien) reason for all this "consumption" and waste....
 
Originally posted by Brandonf
There is no place else in the world that poor white trash like me could make a million before he is of drinking age, give it all back slightly after coming of age and then earn it back with interest over the next several years. All of this done with out friends and contacts in high places guiding the future for him.

Brandon
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dude,

did you make a million before 21?!? how old are you now? if this is true, how much money did you start with? sorry, i'm nosey.

congratulations

p.s. depending on how much you started with, i think it's pretty tough to make a million by 21 WITH TAXES.
 
No offense taken; how can one offend if they dont understand?

Keep overconsuming at the expense of our children and our planet....OVER-CONSUMING not consuming....

If you have read anything I have been posting you would understand that we are doing harm to ourselves and the future generations.

That is mainly our problem, we need more toys, more stress, more work, more debt, bigger homes, a new car evey year to be happy...... Get the point....how does this really make one happier????
 
Originally posted by aphexcoil

Perhaps Japan wouldn't have such a huge problem if people over there started spending more money, too. What good is it to me if I save money and die with a big bank account?

I want to die with a huge pile of debt -- not excess cash!
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Aphie - Ginza bars and geishas cost $$$$$ - BTW I liked the Carlin comment. People these days are WAY too uptight

ElCubano-
Perhaps we are a nation of over consumers but thats life. Social conciousness may be a good thing and I'm all for helping the less fortunate but you seem to almost feel guilty for the quality of life you have here. You're not gonna feel bad when Fidel goes are you?

As traders, why should we not accept the fact that in life as in trading someone wins and someone loses. Maybe this sounds a little harsh but it is reality. How many of you have felt bad for making money on a trade because that money in essence came out of someone else's pocket? Certainly not me.

This pretty much sums it up:
http://www.tailhook.org/Prayer.htm
 
Either you guys are idiots or you guys dont bother reading and digesting what people post.....I AM SAYING IT IS DOING US HARM AS WELL...you freaken ignoranous.....What part of that dont you guys fucking undertsand......

I am saying that it is bad for our future..if you guys would look past tomm. you would understand...but since you jitterbugs live for today, which I understand, i dont expect you guys to agree...

Fidel has taken plenty from me.....I will be the first to do a back flip when that SOB is gone, but how does that relate to this topic??
 
What are some effects of Affluenza?

Vicki Robin: One of the main by-products of Affluenza is the effect of the North American lifestyle on the environment. Global warming is happening, and the North American lifestyle is implicated. It is destroying the biosphere that we depend on. We breathe the air, we're exposed to the sun, we're part of the biosphere. If we destroy our home through our consumption, then we're going to destroy the basis of life, and our children and our grandchildren are not going to have the ability to go out into the sun without sun-block on.

There are some people who are getting wealthier, and everybody else is feeling poorer because they are comparing themselves to the people in that insidious box that we call the television. I don't have as much as the people in the soap operas, so I must be doing poorly. It erodes your sense of self-esteem. There is a kind of unraveling of the (social) fabric -- the two-wage-earner households, the latch-key kids. There is an increasing amount of teen suicide that tells us that our young people don't want to grow up in this culture that supposedly has it all.
 
Originally posted by limitdown



This is also the reason that so many from foreign origins desire so desperately for a piece of the American Dream. Whence they get here and realize the daily work grind, and all those who "fell through the cracks", and there really aren't any smooth pavements blocks to stand on, then they realize WHY its called the americal DREAM!

go figure....
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Good one, haha.

:D

Here's more:

THE US Crime Catastrophe:

Americans are scared, and they are angry. The scary orgy of violent crime has made average citizens afraid to walk the streets in front of their homes. And this fear has fueled a public cry to end the killing fields in America. In America, the crime clock continues to click: one murder every 22 minutes, one rape every 5 minutes, one robbery every 49 seconds, and one burglary every 10 seconds. And the cost of crime continues to mount: $78 billion for the criminal justice system, $64 billion for private protection, $202 billion in loss of life and work, $120 billion in crimes against business, $60 billion in stolen goods and fraud, $40 billion from drug abuse, and $110 billion from drunk driving. When you add up all the costs, crime costs Americans a stunning $675 billion each year.

http://www.probe.org/docs/crime.html


Out and Homeless in the USA:

Over the past year, over 3 million men, women, and children were homeless. In 1995 the demand for shelter increased by 11%. This demand is still increasing. More recently, in 2001, the demand for shelter rose 13%, according to a survey released in December 2001 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors on hunger and homelessness.
And even more Americans are at risk of homelessness. A January 2001 report by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that 4.9 million low-income American households had worst case housing needs, paying more than 50% of their income on rent, while HUD estimates that this figure should be no more than 30%.

A missed paycheck, a health crisis, or an unpaid bill pushes poor families over the edge into homelessness.
http://www.nlchp.org/FA_HAPIA/


Poverty in the USA:

For more than 34 million Americans, every day is a bitter struggle to survive with the least. They are America's poor, left behind on the road to prosperity.
http://www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/


USA: The land of Equal Opportunity??

Growing Income Disparity and the Middle Class Squeeze
Our economy is marked by a very uneven distribution of wealth and income. For example, it is estimated that 28% of the total net wealth is held by the richest 2% of families in the U.S. The top 10% holds 57% of the net wealth. If homes and other real estate are excluded, the concentration of ownership of financial wealth is even more glaring. In 1983, 54% of the total net financial assets were held by 2% of all families, those whose annual income is over $125,000. Eighty-six percent of these assets were held by the top 10% of all families (US Bishops Economic Justice 183, quoting 1983 Federal Reserve Board figures).

Real weekly wages in the U.S. rose until 1973, and have been declining since. From 1977 - 1989, the wealthiest 660,000 families gained 75% of "average pretax income" increases, while most middle income families saw only a 4% increase -- and those in the bottom 40% of income cohorts had real declines.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development notes that the U.S. has the most inequitable distribution of income of all the industrialized nations and the middle class is in serious decline; the international bankers are worried about social and economic problems in the U.S. (Dubois 43). The Economist writes that since the 1970s, economic inequities have mushroomed. The top income quintile is doing great, the bottom quintile is declining (not in numbers, but in income). The conditions of the poor are described as "bad" (34).



A survey of 26 industrialized nations (the Luxembourg Income Study) found that the gap between the wealthiest 10% and the poorest 10% is greater in the United States than any other country except Russia (Wallechinsky 6). !!!!



In 1970, the lowest quintile had 5.5% of the national income; in 1990, that group had 3.7% -- a 33% decline in 20 years (Haughton and Schwoyer 88). The Gross National Product rose 33% (in constant dollars), 1975 - 1985 (Bayer 45). The December 1995 Commonweal magazine, using Federal Reserve data, reports that between 1982 and 1994, nonfarm labor productivity increased three times that of the rate of real hourly compensation. Manufacturing productivity rose by 37%, wages and benefits remained flat. The ratio of the compensation of CEOs to the average worker in 1974 was 35 to 1; now it is 150 to 1. Using Council of Economic Advisors data, the article found that the real income of men with high school educations dropped 21% between 1979 and 1990. During 1983 to 1992, the top 1% of households net worth increased from 34% to 42% of all household wealth; the bottom 80% dropped from 18% to 15% (the top 20% in 1989 controlled 85% of all household wealth). The only other comparable era of wealth concentration was 1922 to 1929 (12-13).

So income is flat or declining. But unfortunately, expenditures have not followed income's example. Of the major categories of household expenditures, only food and clothing have shown declines over time (Segal 62). All others are up, many in excess of the general inflationary rate.

This household squeeze is mirrored on a national level. If we factor together the costs (direct and indirect) of the U.S. international military empire and its adventuristic tendencies (e.g. Persian Gulf, Panama, Grenada, etc.), welfare for the rich, the savings and loan debacle, interest on the national debt (now a trillion dollars every five years) and the expensive drug war, among other issues that might be mentioned, it seems apparent that literally trillions of dollars of national wealth have been squandered over the last 30 years by the economic and political elite to no good purpose and a lot of that money has ended up in the hands of that same economic and political elite and their good friends in corporate America.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cach...&hl=de&ie=UTF-8[/url]


Some relevant Stats:

U.S. median household income: $ 40,816
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1999)

Average household net worth of the top 1% of wage earners: $10,204,000
Average net worth of the bottom 40% of wage earners: $1900
(Edward N. Wolff, "Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership, 1983-1998," April 2000)

Definition of middle class in terms of income: $ 32,653 to $ 48,979
(Economy.Com's The Dismal Scientist, 1999)

Percentage of U.S. children who live in poverty: 20
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2000)

Percentage of U.S. adults who live in poverty: 12
(U.S. Census Bureau, 2000)

Percentage of single mothers who live in poverty: 37.4%
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1999)



Rank of the U.S. among the seventeen leading industrial nations with the largest percentage of their populations in poverty: 1
(United Nations Human Development Report 1998, N.Y.C.)!!!!



Portion of U.S. stock owned by the wealthiest 10 % of Americans: 9/10
(Economic Policy Institute, Washington D.C., 1999)

Median hourly wage of a former welfare recipient: $6.61
(Urban Institute, 2000)

Percentage of former welfare recipients who have no access to a car: 90%
(Surface Transportation Policy Project, 2001)

Number of families or primary individuals who live in mobile homes or trailers: 6.8 million
(U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey, 1999)

Percentage change in the number of rural Americans living in mobile homes between 1980 and 1990: + 52
(Housing Assistance Council, Washington D.C.)

Percentage of death row inmates who could not afford to hire a lawyer: 90%
(ACLU, 2001)

http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/resources/stats.html


Child poverty in the USA, highest among the seventeen leading industrial nations :


Poverty's Effect on Children
Unfortunately, not all America's poor have been so fortunate. According to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau in September 1996, 13.8% of Americans live in poverty. Many more are on the borderline. Poverty affects all ages, but an astonishing 48% percent of its victims are children:

About 15 million children -- one out of every four -- live below the official poverty line.

22% of Americans under the age of 18 -- and 25% under age 12 -- are hungry or at the risk of being hungry.

Everyday 2,660 children are born into poverty; 27 die because of it.

Children and families are the fastest growing group in the homeless population, representing 40%.

http://www.heartsandminds.org/articles/childpov.htm

Heck, we got plenty to take care of ourselves before going of on extremely expensive, putting it mildly, fruitcake adventures around the world where we will be the only ones paying the bill, because we are the only ones sufficiently versed in the fine art of twisting facts and subsequently actually believing them ourselves, so as to be able to pretend to instill objective madness with alleged subjective reason, anyway.
 
I digest very well thank you.

The part I don't understand is - "IT IS DOING US HARM AS WELL" Tell me how sucess, progress and yes consumerism have harmed us so badly as a nation and me personally? Sorry I'm not Amish - no offense to those who are (oops - they can't use computers can they? So I guess the apology is moot). Guess they don't trade either.

I think we are all better off for what technology has provided us than being "hunter/gatherers" and cave dwellers. Sure our advancement as a civilization has a price but I am not as fatalistic as you seem to be and believe that as we advance we will find ways to address the problems created by our very advancement. You don't think that the world would be a better place with billion or so LESS people on it do you - population control through genocide-do you? Please tell me you're not one of those "De-evolutionists" types.

As for looking past tomorrow, I have spent considerable time and $$ doing just that - supporting renewable and "green" energy sources. Why? Because I beleive it will a) benefit the planet and b) benefit me monetarily - so I can go out and buy and even bigger SUV - perhaps the new H2?

The Fidel comment was ment to get a better feel on your idealologies based upon your response.
 
TWA 800 took off in a slot that was to be used by a EL AL 747 that horrible day. Several U.S. Army UH-60 "Blackhawk" pilots flying inbound over the coast near the long island yacht club saw the missile launch and track away to the northeast from what appeared to be a small barge. They saw the missile detonation near the lower left side of the TWA aircraft near the forward part of the center fuel tank, and then they saw the massive explosion which destroyed the aircraft.

The AIM-54A "Phoenix" missile was sold to Iran with the F-14 "Tomcat" package during the late 70's during the term of Reza Pahlovi. The missile is very large and very deadly, and was designed by Hughes.
 
Just read what has been posted and that should give you an Idea how it affects us (maybe not you)...the price we are paying to have all these toys is way too much.....I am as much to blame as the next fella.....

I understand that these problems may never be solved, I just hope our children and grandchildren forgive us...
 
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