@Snipzor: On which issues do you feel he is "insane"? I find his economic arguments to be extremely common sense based, better than inflation and credit bubble fictitious wealth that the Fed and Government likes to create.
" @Keyser_Soze: I agree with Ron Paul on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but disagree with virtually everything else he says. Plus the stuff he doesn't talk about (Which would make him look like a hypocrite). Just because he says one thing that is true, doesn't mean he isn't barking mad. "
I first started following the guy on his economic arguments, fiat money as a sham, erosion of purchasing power, the effect of printing dollars, inflation and interest as a idiotic means of artificially controlling money supply. I think the man speaks much common sense, most of what he says economically, you never get taught in economic classes.
We're still there because Osama bin Laden is still alive.
I'm not gonna say anything more than this right now because I'm a little drunk and I don't want to sound like an idiot, but until we can confirm that Osama bin Laden is dead, we will have troops in Afghanistan and any other neighboring countries.
Awesome, willing to wage war just to find one ex-CIA stooge. And American's ask why their nation is bankrupt. Morally and fiscally. Oh and there still is no evidence that Osama is in either Afghanistan or Pakistan, not that it matters, because it's all war for corporate businesses sake.The US military and government on a number of occasions has stated that it has not been proactively looking for Osama, they ceased caring about him years ago, but idiots in the West still think the war is about him, it isn't. It's about empire building and destabilising the Middle East for other interests. "
I know why America is becoming bankrupt, and our presence in Afghanistan wouldn't do much to affect our deficit. Actually Bill Clinton is part of the reason it was so expensive for us to go there in the first place- when he cut our military by over half. Then when 9/11 happened, every American I knew wanted us to go woop Osama bin Laden's ass. So Bush had to spend tons of money to rebuild the military that Clinton cut. You're right about Osama not being our main target anymore. We've forced him into confinement, and he probably isn't calling the shots anymore.
Al'Qaeda expected us to be scared pussies who live in fear when they pulled 9/11. Instead, they just pissed us off and gave us a valid reason to destroy them. Pearl Harbor was supposed to do the same thing, but all it did was piss us off.
When did the rest of the world start hating our War on Terror? I could understand them not liking us when we were in Iraq(I know we're still there, but we've pulled out almost all of our troops). But when did they hate us for fighting Al'Qaeda and the Taliban?
"
The Iraq and Afghan Wars are massive strains on the US budget, I have no idea where you get the idea that the Afghan war is "cheap", it's anything but. Combined the Iraq and Afghan wars come to well over $3 Trillion dollars, and the Afghan war costs are only rising day by day, because Bush concentrated mostly on the Iraq war. Don't be fooled by what the US government tells you, they never include future interest payments, medical costs for wounded soldiers, extra-budgeted costs etc, it adds up to hundreds of Billions. But this also does not include the unfeasible $700 Billion for the Defense budget outside of the war costs, themselves (that's more than the Rest of the World spends on defense put together). Not only should the wars be cut, but defense spending needs to be kept in check.
And if you still don't believe, understand that the US is still paying off Vietnam war costs 3 decades later. The estimated war costs of Afghanistan is approx $500 Billion, include future interest payments, medical costs, cost of future "surges" and that figure is now a cool $1 Trillion loaned primarily from the Chinese, a double whammy. These wars are very "real" costs on the economy, it's not just the fact that money is being spent over there, you also got to take into consideration that guns and bombs yield little to no future capacity to increase GDP, it's a double effect of spending money which does little for the US economy, and becoming indebted to outside nations like China, who have effectively helped bankroll the US' wars.
Costs of US wars: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933935.html
And here's a nice statement from Ron Paul on war and costs, replace Iraq for Afghanistan and it's still just as pertinent: http://www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=080619_2062,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml
The motherland campaign because communism is better than capitalism you filthy dirty capitalists pigs!! You will learn to love LENIN!! You bible will become the communist manifesto you decadent bourgeoise.
" @Keyser_Soze: Yeah, but the empire is weakening itself by draining its resources in a foreign quagmire. "
The sad fact is most people don't realise this. The debts being incurred, the loans that will have to be repaid to the Chinese are gonna cripple the US, the weakening strength of the dollar, even countries with smaller vested interests like the UK are headed down the same path.
The guys I genuinely feel sorry for are the ones that have nothing to do with any of this but will find themselves out of jobs, their businesses end up closing, they'll find the quality of healthcare isn't what they expected simply because they can't afford better. Many are going to be plunged into poverty and the US government won't bail them out, because the government won't have any money left. The upcoming generation will not have the same opportunities, nor live in the same country that their fathers had.
We're still there because Osama bin Laden is still alive.
I'm not gonna say anything more than this right now because I'm a little drunk and I don't want to sound like an idiot, but until we can confirm that Osama bin Laden is dead, we will have troops in Afghanistan and any other neighboring countries.
Awesome, willing to wage war just to find one ex-CIA stooge. And American's ask why their nation is bankrupt. Morally and fiscally. Oh and there still is no evidence that Osama is in either Afghanistan or Pakistan, not that it matters, because it's all war for corporate businesses sake.
The US military and government on a number of occasions has stated that it has not been proactively looking for Osama, they ceased caring about him years ago, but idiots in the West still think the war is about him, it isn't. It's about empire building and destabilising the Middle East for other interests.
" @CL60: Can you tell me why military forces are still in Afghanistan, other than the reasons Commando stated? "
It is a humanitarian and military mission. Remember how we went to war with the Nazis? Same thing. What the Taliban is doing to the world and to their own country men is unacceptable. The plight of women in Afghanistan is so sad, that something has to be done. "
The Soviet Union said the same thing when they invaded Afghanistan in 1979. And they were an occupying force. They were bankrupted within a decade. Kind of funny how history repeats itself.
Half of Afghans actually support the Taliban, which is where the Taliban draw a lot of their strength from. Which is why I believe NATO should just leave the area, you can't win a war if the people don't want you there, remember Vietnam, defenders of freedom turned occupiers.
It's easy masquerading war as morality when it's anything but.
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