Is the USA becoming the new Russia ?

[stalin]

Russia is becoming more like the USA and the USA is becoming more like Russia.

Why does Russia have a devastated economy while America's is so powerful ?

Russia has resources ; Oil , gas , strategic metals , Iron , water , a well educated and under employed workforce ; Everything it needs to have a powerful economy. Yet it doesn't.

The USA doesn't have nearly enough and any of these recourses and relies on the rest of the world to supply most of them. Yet our economy is strong.

Why ?

The big difference between the two is corruption and confidence. Very few people including Russians will invest in Russia because their capital isn't protected from the well placed thieves and conman with political connections. They aren't put in jail.

In Russia well placed corporate criminals run the show. When the Soviet Union collapsed they stole Russia's capital recourses and sent it to safer markets ( like America ) where it was assumed the it would be protected from the criminals.

Much of the unprecedented economic expansion of the 90s was fueled by foreign investment in America.

Now it appears that that confidence was misplaced. Much of the money was stolen by well placed corporate criminals just like in Russia.

Conmen , swindlers , thieves , whatever you want to call them , must be punished for any economy to continue to thrive. That punishment must be severe enough as to properly deter this type of behavior.

If these thieves are seen as having benefited in the end then our economy is doomed.

For the sake of the nation , the corporate criminals at Enron , Global Crossing , Sunbeam , MIC , Andersen , Etc must do hard time. They must have their all of their assets taken from them and given as partial compensating to their victims. The CEOs are ultimately responsible. The ones that received the most of the ill gotten gains must be punished the most.

We can't be seen as being like Russia , where well placed thieves are not punished , or we will become like Russia. Capital flight will devastate our economy and we don't have resources to fall back on like Russia does. It will be our best looking woman the will be fleeing to other countries that punish their criminals and have men that can take care of them. It will be Americans lining up at foreign embassies to escape the grinding poverty of a failed nation.

[tomahawk]

I agree. We need to take the criminals' homes, cars, boats, etc. that they acquired through fraud. I'd even like to see a home demolition or two, to send a message to the perps. While imprisoned, they should be made to do hard labor.

[CIBvet]

Whaaaaaaaaat !!??? You're asking for accountability exacted from the corrupt CEO's and their well paid political-lackeys ??

Would this mean our legislators would then have to throw out their CFR/Trilat playbook, and start using the U.S.Constitution again??

Astonishing .... simply an astonishing thought.

But then whatever would we do with Dan Blather, Jennings, et al who have done such a good job of covering up all this rape and plunder ?

I mean ... is there really enough rope? Naaaw. We'll just send them off to 'White-collar' Security for a couple years to work on their backhand.

[gcruse]

 It will be Americans lining up at foreign embassies
to escape the grinding poverty of a failed nation.

It didn't happen in the Depression; why would
it happen now?  Welcome to FR, by the way.

[sonofron]

"The USA doesn't have nearly enough and any of these recourses and relies on the rest of the world to supply most of them"

We educate like half the world's scientists, seems hard for me to believe we don't have enough educated people. Well, at least he's right about them having more oil/petro than we do.

[sarcasm]

I understand that there was substantial reverse migration during the depression.

[handk]

Hey "stalin", what's the deal? Was "hitler" already taken?

Seriously, what kind of a friggin' moron thinks "stalin" is a "good" user name, huh?

[Just another Joe]

Is this a vanity? If not why is there no link to the article.

Do you really believe that this will happen in the next 40 years?

[jumpstartme]

The kind that posts a vanity thread as his/her very first post.

[Fzob]

Some differences.

In the USSR cronyism and corruption WERE the political and economic system. This fruad if it ever occured in the USSR would never have seen the light of day.

In the USA a small (but significant) element of the economic systems have committed fraud and the political system while hardly perfect, is a far far cry from the unaccountable Communist political systems of the USSR.

Also a balancing factor is our public involvement in the economic and political systems. It will successfully force the worst of the corrupt over time.

[stalin]

They have more over edudated and under employed than we do. We do have many educated but not enouph in some fields. We import tech workers scientists and engineers from many countries like Russia and India because we don't have enouph and they have too many. If our economy falls apart they and American scientists will go elsware.
We are already facing a scientist shortage because American scientists go to Europe where they're given the recourses that aren't provided here ,
such as ; the worlds biggest collider ,that we half built then scrapped , and stem cell reseach which has been hampered here by politics. European govs are better at attracting scientists.
In any case we are in big trouble economically if we don't punish our corporate criminals.

[stalin]

That's what's happening in Russia. It will happen here if we become like Russia.

[F16Fighter]

"Would this mean our legislators would then have to throw out their CFR/Trilat playbook, and start using the U.S. Constitution again?"

LOL -- dead on shot...

It's obvious both parties have sold us out to the New World Order, aided and abetted of course by Rather, Jennings AND that senile ol' idiot, Walter Cronkite.

And just when some of us hoped Sheriff Bush would help restore our faith in law and order, he ignored calls to go after the ex-POTUS Liar/Rapist/Traitor. Why??

And while refusing to protect the US borders from illegal entry, he seems rather obsessed in maintaining an army bogged down in a wild goose chase 6,000 away in Afghanistan for some reason. No need to go over the litany of inexplicable thus far with the new Sheriff...

BTW, you ask if there is "enough rope"? Heh -- if there is, it will ALL have been 'Made In China.'

[stands2reason]

Maybe we still have some more of the recent liberal infestation to root out...

[Mudboy Slim]

"We can't be seen as being like Russia, where well placed thieves are not punished, or we will become like Russia."

Shall we start with the Federal Bureaucracy criminals like Terry McAuliffe, Robert Rubin, and Der SchleekMeister?!

Welcome to FR.com...MUD

[stalin]

It got your attention didn't it ? My first post was about Russia after all. I was surprised it wasn't taken already.

[Just another Joe]

I was surprised it wasn't taken already.

Don't be. I wouldn't want to be known by that name.

[denydenydeny]

We are already facing a scientist shortage because American scientists go to Europe where they're given the recourses that aren't provided here , such as ; the worlds biggest collider ,that we half built then scrapped , and stem cell reseach which has been hampered here by politics.

When you joined today, you picked a very appropriate screen name.

And the idea that there is some kind of "brain drain" from America to Europe is just silly.

[stalin]

It was a post by me. There isn't anywhere to link to.

In the next 40 years ? No. In the next ten years if we don't do somthing about it. Capital flight can happen very rapidly. It feeds on itself.

Russia went from powerhouse to popper in about 4 years because of capital flight. They have resources to sell or it would be much worse. We don't.

Their economy was hurt by mismanagment and corruption before the end of the evil empire and our is still strong so it would likely take longer here.

[stalin]

ref #9 Why is it vanity to post my opinion instead of somone elses ? I haven't heard anyone else comparing us to Russia yet. Am I not suposed to write my own posts on this site ?