I kind of dread bring the US presidential election back on board, but that is the topic of my most recent KT piece, specifically:
So, what would Lee Myung-bak do about Michigan and Florida?
Read the rest to find out what I think he would do.
BTW, I ended up using most of the column just to explain the background of the respective nomination fights. It is sometimes difficult to guess the knowledge level of the average reader on any given topic.
BTW2, I did not mention that, as a Republican, I would be more than happy for Obama to be a hard case on Michigan and Florida, which would drive more than a few swing voters in those two states into the loving arms of McCain. I was wearing my analysis hat rather than my opinion hat for this one.
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More like the old, decrepit, stubborn arms of John McCain.
So it looks like the Democrats might buck the historical trend and lose an election by deliberately sabotaging their own nominating process, rather than losing by selecting a stiff and uninspiring zombie as a candidate. Goodness knows how many Democrats (and non-registered party supporters) the whole profoundly un-democratic ’superdelegate’ system (which until now has largely flown under the radar) will end up alienating, too…
Almost makes one want to switch parties and become a Republican, if not for the fact that Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coultier count themselves as such… *sigh*
The Republicans and McCain have about as much chance of winning this year’s election as Bush having “victory” in Iraq. As Mark Twain said, “History does not repeat itself but it sure rhymes.”
It’s the economy, stupid. American families are getting squeezed until they scream. They pay high taxes (higher than Canadian families, btw), are losing their homes by the hundreds of thousands, are losing health care benefits, are paying $4.00 a gallon for gas and face high inflation. Yet, Grampy McCain continues about “foreign policy.” Duhhh, it is domestic policy that created the foreign policy mess to begin with.
Clinton or Obama, both will be faced with cleaning up the mess of eight years of a corrupt orgy of borrowing, printing and spending money on a truly obscene scale. Either one will have to get out of the Iraq debacle and have to administer some really bitter medicine to get the economy back to where it was in 2000.
Keep drivin them SUVs, we are your biggest oil supplier.
They pay high taxes (higher than Canadian families, btw)
That would be news to the statisticians of the OECD and to those who collect or pay GSTs, HSTs and PSTs.
If Hillary continues the plan to burn the village in order to run the village and steals the Democratic nomination from Obamma via the super delegates, then the the Dems will clearly have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. That would alienate many Democrats and most of the Independant voters. The Dems would be in disarray and the Independant vote would shift to McCain rather than support Hillary. This is McCain’s only real hope of winning but it is very possible thanks to the selfish personal ambitions of Ms. Clinton.
Slim, low income families receive a GST rebate cheque quarterly. Further, low income Canadian families receive what is called the Canada Child Tax Benefit which is a direct income transfer for children with families. We also receive an additional $100 a month for each child under the age of six years. As a single parent, what I receive to help my family keeps me out of poverty and that,in my opinion, is a good thing.
A Canadian family of four with an income of less than $45,000 a year (Canadian Dollars)receives more in benefits than it pays in taxes deductions. Furthermore, they do not have to pay for health insurance. I would wager many US families pay more than out 5% GST for health insurance premiums and deductibles.
I might also add that there is not a singe government in Canada, either provincial or the federal government, that is not in a budget surplus, that our currency has appreciated by more than 60% in the last three years, we are at historic unemployment lows and had many more jobs created in February than estimated. Our inflation rate of 2.2% is less than half of yours. Canada’s debt GDP ratio is 27.6% vs 60% in the USA. Our growth is stronger and because we don’t run deficits I can be comfortable that my children will have a better future than I do.
But I don’t want to confuse you with the facts. Our fiscal responsibility is a result of Bolshie-Commies running our country, isn’t it? Our American neighbours know nothing about us and that is the way we prefer it. For example, now many of our American brothers know Canada is the USA’s largest oil supplier? Not many I would wager.
#6, how much does Canada pay for defense?
Well, since we don’t attack anybody, we don’t need to spend much.
#8, there are many countries that don’t attack anybody but still spend more than Canada, which doesn’t have to spend much because it’s permanently under the security umbrella of the United States.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2034rank.html
US security guarantees allow Canada to control a vast, resource-rich territory with a minimal military force because Ottawa knows Washington will treat any incursion into Canada like an invasion of the US.
But I don’t want to confuse you with the facts.
Thanks for your concern, but in fact you didn’t really offer the facts that were relevant to the argument that you made above (which said nothing about welfare and tax breaks for the poor — policies which do exist in various forms for certain income levels in the US) and that I questioned.
If I were a thoughtful Canadian nationalist (two of those three words apply to you) I wouldn’t be celebrating any US downfall so stridently, given the inter-connectedness of the two economies.
In fact, Slim, I do not celebrate the downfall of the US at all. What I think is important is for US citizens to starting asking questions as to why it is happening.
For example:
Is our tax system beneficial to the majority of Americans?
Why are we seeing such a decline in the USA and what can we do about it?
Has the war in Iraq made America a safer place?
What can we learn from the experiences of others?
Is the average American better off now than eight years ago?
What freedoms have we lost in the last eight years and has this made us safer?
All other OECD countries have a national health insurance scheme. How does the lack of this benefit or harm the USA?
Given that we are fighting an insurgency in Iraq, is our defense spending being put to the best use?
Good questions for the November vote.
you idiots always talk about what freedoms you lost???
you lose more freedoms from the left than you ever do from the right
example recently at harvard (left)
no men allowed in the gyms for specific period of times each day so muslims can workout comfortably
or (right)
eavesdropping on suspected terrorist conversations via the internet, telephone and other forms of communication
so what really impacts your everyday life??? a trend that now any fruit cake can go to a public facility and say “I WANT SPECIAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF MY RELIGION”
or “I AM GONNA CALL MY MOM IN WISCONSIN TONIGHT I HOPE THE BAD OLD WHITE GUYS DONT LISTEN IN ON IT”
see the harvard deal is the left wing loons and the ACLU imposing segregation, and eroding our freedoms in their way that they approve of
i wonder if someone said they dont feel comfortable working out with muslims can we close the gym for regular guys and gals and then they have a few hours for the muslim chics to do BURKA YOGA.
the ACLU would be all over that lawsuit
of intolerance, and racist segregation!!!
lost freedoms WTF are you talking about? you make these broad statements and never back them up
yes the US is safer
was it safe over 8 years ago when clinton was in office???
92-00 i am talking about?
no comments?
not surprised at all here!
and the economy was not good back in 2000
it was recovering from the .com bust
have you blamed that on clinton??
like you threw the subprime crisis on bush which clearly shows you are either an idiot or dont know what you are talking about
i say both
people played the real estate game and lost simple….if you dont research and plan before making a life changing decision the burden of guilt falls on you
simple! many of them were trying to buy homes cheap and flip them later and got burned once the mortgage payments caught up
they have shown interviews where the borrowers of these loans said they didnt read the contracts or the fine print
and were shocked that the lenders didnt tell them
they just saw the money and ran
so under your moronic perception is
i can go out blow my load on something i cant afford and then blame the govt when the shit hits the fan
finally it is funny to see the dems fumbling up their nominee election and some even saying MICH and FLA shouldnt count after all the BS they pulled in 2000 “EVERY VOTE COUNTS” “the republican are disenfranchising voters by not counting every vote!”
ok here we go
“RECOUNT 1″ nothing, same result
“RECOUNT 2″ nothing, same result
“RECOUNT 3″ nothing, same result
oh still not the result we are looking for
“RECOUNT 4″
damn still not winning
“RECOUNT 5″
ok we give up
There are two sides to the internal Canadian political argument over their level of defense spending, though you wouldn’t know it from Kicmhi:
http://toyoufromfailinghands.b.....html#links
97 Canadian dead in Afghanistan to date, according to the name listing count down in the lower right hand corner of this blog. The last time I checked (late Feb) Canadian Parliament was debating whether or not to commit another 1000 troops (an additional battalion?) to supplement the one already there.
A big part of the anti-government position (Liberal Party?) was the fact that the other NATO allies (specifically the continental countries with the exception of the Dutch) were refusing to commit their own ground forces to any combat role in the south part of Afghanistan.
USMC will commit 3200 Marines to that area (this is subject of latest posting on “The Torch” blog I think). Perhaps that will provide sufficient political cover to allow the current Canadian government to continue its own combat commitment.
I have no doubt that they will continue to fight valiantly as ever; maybe with close support from the Marines we can keep them from hitting that “100″ number, one which will infuriate kimchi ever more.
The recount showed basically that the nation was split 50/50 over Bush, and it was no landslide whatsoever. But getting back to a comment I read about “the downfall of America”, a recession is only a recession. The United States is only 200 years old and already the only “Superpower” left after WW2 and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The United is still in it’s infantcy. This financial situation is but a mere hiccup in the history of the U.S. The United States is used to bailing other countries out of financial crisis. But whenever the U.S. sees a slowdown it is astonishing how many of these “ally” country’s citizens jump to say ” Ah ha, fall of Imperial America at hand!” Those same countries will be the ones who will ultimately lose when the Dollar becomes strong again. It is soo flattering to hear America being called Imperialist by foreigners especially when we are still a Republic, and not yet officialy an Empire. (Sarcastic tone)
Kimpig, you irritate me. What’s with that big fat Canadian chip on your shoulder? Sounds like you live in paradise? Geez whizz!!! Well hang onto your hat, and pray that all goes well with your southern friends. Because if it doesn’t, your little piece of the pie is finished. Your wonderful government won’t be able to bail you out with those free checks that somebody else pays for. Or did you think you could piggyback off the American economy forever? You live in a glass house. Haven’t you noticed?
Kimpig, Oh ya don’t take this personally and have a nice day.