Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
gggl - As much as a VAT tax should be a conservative tax of choice since it is a flat rate consumption tax, I can not envision today's Republicans proposing any new tax even were it to replace a business tax.
I think that Ireland's present status as a tax dodge country began when it sought to entice writers and artists to reside there by applyiing no taxation to their works, a recognition that the quality of life in a society is not simply based on GDP.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BlueOkie - I was brought up in the U.S. by French Canadian immigrants. Already, that was being exposed to two cultures. To come to Quebec added two more, that of post Quiet Revolution modern Quebec and that of minority Anglos unafraid of the reversal of power that the Quiet Revolution brought (the angry and the fearful moved away). Culturally, it's a fascinating place to live. The social safety net is stronger here than in the U.S., but good health and constant employment means that I have been fortunate in not having to rely on it very often. But, your question seems to ask why I do not live in the U.S.. I'm not sure about this but I don't think that I would qualify for Social Security (not enough quarters of earnings in the U.S.) and more importantly, I think that I would not qualify for Medicare either. At most. I would think of living in the U.S. as an escape from the worst part of winter.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Historically the parasite country was small and conveniently located to its large victim. Even within the U.S., Nevada could fulfill the wishes of its California neighbors. If New Hampshire could sell enough cigarettes and liquor, and better yet, draw in rich Massachusetts commuters, "live free or die" could be financed by transfers of wealth from Massachusetts.
Lithium Ion Starter Batteries: Will BYD Take The Place Of A123 Systems? [View article]
Perhaps there's another reason to go to 48 volts from 12, the same reason cars went from 6 volts to 12 many decades ago. The higher the voltage, the less copper is needed for wiring. It's about saving weight and cost of copper in our ever more wired cars.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BlueOkie - About 75% apparently stay long term. Having professional accreditation attained elsewhere and not recognized by Quebec has been a matter of frustration and probably contributes to the departure of some. There are presently discussions going on with France to have professional certification recognized on either side of the Atlantic.
Our social safety net is weaker and work hours longer than what is generally found in Rumsfeld's "old Europe", but better than what is generally found in the U.S..
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BlueOkie - That's silly. Look up the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917 as one of the gradual steps that led to Anglo-Canadians identifying with Canada rather than with the British Empire. As for French Canada, the identification with the U.K. never existed, nor with post revolutionary France either.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BlueOkie - Graft is so mundane. Even with our present day Charbonneau commission exposing long time municipal graft in Montreal, it is grander in scale than expected, but so commonplace and unimaginative in its application. In comparison, American politics can take nearly nothing and within days have some, at least in their own minds, thinking Presidential impeachment. American inventiveness brings forth Muslim, socialist, Kenyan born presidents. It has real estate tycoons insisting on long form birth certificates. It has pizza tycoons coming out of nowhere,promoting 9-9-9 taxplans in terms reminiscent of the poetry of Mohammed Ali and leading the polls of the Republican Party.
We are so bland and conventional. American political B.S. is brash, bold, even temporarily convincing, and oh so entertaining.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
gggl - sorta like the reason for Clinton's impeachment. Darrell Issa ''terror'' and Bill Clinton ''sexual relation'' seem to have taken the same rhetorical obfuscation course.
Gee, American politics are entertaining, so empty of content. It's like watching Jerry Springer. It's a guilty pleasure to only be taken in small doses if one wishes to maintain the semblance of a sane outlook on life.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Buckoux - Quebec nationalism has entirely different roots than the American version. When I first moved here, there was a popular political slogan - le Québec sait faire - Quebec knows how to do. I compared it to the prevailing Black assertion - Black is beautiful. I contended that both sayings were a means for convincing themselves of their value, against the popular opinion of others. I argued that when both groups ceased to feel the need to assert their value, then they would have achieved acceptance from others, and more importantly, from themselves. French Quebecers of the time resented the comparison. Today's confident Quebecer recognizes that past generations felt that they were "faitent pour un petit pain'' - made for a small loaf. Nationalism in Quebec was a defensive mechanism, a means of survival. It was never chauvinist. There was never a Quebec manifest destiny. What there is of Quebec exceptionalism defines difference, not superiority. With confidence has come a decline in nationalism.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Buckoux - There was indeed the failed disarmament of the 20's, followed by the arms buildup of the 30's. There was preparation for war, including testing new tactics in Ethiopia and Spain and then came WWII. Perhaps the arms race in seapower leading up to WWI is a more straight line demonstration that preparation for war tends to bring about what we prepared for.
As Russia and the U.S. have agreed to cut their strategic weapons, chances for war between them have declined. Where there is war, it is often where one weak side feels bullied and resorts to the techniques of asymmetrical warfare.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Buckoux - Why a "dream act" for Quebec? Normal immigration standards should suffice. Even though French immigration is up, those who choose to come here from whatever country and are accepted tend to be young and highly educated, and/or family members of immigrants already established here.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BlueOkie - We all remember Roosevelt's response to Pearl Harbor. The U.S. was now at war with Japan. Hitler's Germany then declared war on the U.S.. I've often wondered what would have happened if Hitler had not declared war. Would the U.S. have pulled a Soviet Union and fought a one front war until near the end? Maybe the scholarship is out there that could answer this hypothetical question.
Elsewhere on this string, you assumed lack of backbone for other countries' non involvement in Iraq. Would you be as quick to assume the same for U.S. non involvement in WWII for more than two years? In general, is it necessary to invent and deprecate others' motives as a means to put your own point of view in a better light?
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Spald, Ford - Opposing the Patriot Act at the time was a difficult thing to do. Opposing our milder Canadian version was also difficult, particularly outside of Quebec. Our version was proposed by the Liberal government. Generally right wingers were strongly for it. Opposition to it came from the Left, including some Liberals.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
BlueOkie - Only neocons would argue that foreign involvement in Iraq made sense. Whether foreign (France, U.S., Canada and others)involvement in Mali to oppose a militant 7th century view of Islam makes sense is not yet known. Backbone has nothing to do with it. Brains do.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
I think that Ireland's present status as a tax dodge country began when it sought to entice writers and artists to reside there by applyiing no taxation to their works, a recognition that the quality of life in a society is not simply based on GDP.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
The social safety net is stronger here than in the U.S., but good health and constant employment means that I have been fortunate in not having to rely on it very often. But, your question seems to ask why I do not live in the U.S.. I'm not sure about this but I don't think that I would qualify for Social Security (not enough quarters of earnings in the U.S.) and more importantly, I think that I would not qualify for Medicare either. At most. I would think of living in the U.S. as an escape from the worst part of winter.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Lithium Ion Starter Batteries: Will BYD Take The Place Of A123 Systems? [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Our social safety net is weaker and work hours longer than what is generally found in Rumsfeld's "old Europe", but better than what is generally found in the U.S..
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
We are so bland and conventional. American political B.S. is brash, bold, even temporarily convincing, and oh so entertaining.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Gee, American politics are entertaining, so empty of content. It's like watching Jerry Springer. It's a guilty pleasure to only be taken in small doses if one wishes to maintain the semblance of a sane outlook on life.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
As Russia and the U.S. have agreed to cut their strategic weapons, chances for war between them have declined. Where there is war, it is often where one weak side feels bullied and resorts to the techniques of asymmetrical warfare.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Elsewhere on this string, you assumed lack of backbone for other countries' non involvement in Iraq. Would you be as quick to assume the same for U.S. non involvement in WWII for more than two years? In general, is it necessary to invent and deprecate others' motives as a means to put your own point of view in a better light?
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]