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.

[gcruse]

GMTA.

TSDDT

[Lazamataz]

So what, he signed up today? He makes an excellent and non-disruptive point.

Economically, if we destroy the world's trust in our corporations, we are in for a deep and poverty-stricken future. Furthermore, as we dilute the Constitution and Bill of Rights more and more, we are slowly evolving to the same police-state as the former Soviet Union was.

[TLBSHOW]

The democrats are the spelling party!

[stalin]

ref # 27 ;

Joe you have a lot to learn about Russia. Almost everything you said about it was incorrect. They couldn't have carved out and maitained such an enormous empire for so long without being a powerhouse. The way they measured economic development was different and impossible to put into dollars but look at what they did. That kind of power comes from the use of vaste amounts of recourses both human and otherwise. If you could translate it into dollars it would be a huge figure.

They didn't have businesses like we do. Your theory on the reasons their economy collapsed after the breakup has some merit but not much. Their biggest problems then are the same as now - capital ( and other resource ) flight and lack of confidence.

That is what we are experiencing a small portion of now because of the lack of confidence in our economy created by the corporate criminals. It will get much worse if we don't correct it. Putting them in prison will help a lot and tell the world that you can trust our economic institutions.

[TLBSHOW]

yep whatever you spew!

[handk]

Lazamataz was a Forshund Dictator in the Trenaxlorian Galaxy, who killed no less that 300 billion sentient beings in his bloody, long rule.

I named myself after him.

So, in other words, your a geek with a sick mind and a degraded soul.

[stalin]

ref #30 ; Well I didn't exactly clap my hands. I was just searching for anything memorable. My first couple of tries failed.

I assure you that I will not change my name unless forced to. I will be hitherto know as Stalin. All of my future posts abotu junk food or whatever will be with that name.

If I had thought of Hitler or Gangus Kahn first I would have tried it. I was talking about Russia so that's what came to mind.

[Southack]

"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 compensation to their victims."

I agree with that point, strongly.

[stalin]

ref#31 ; Thanks ; I'll remember you when it's time to set up the reeducation camps. Care to be a party boss ?

[Libertarian_4_eva]

European govs are better at attracting scientists.

That is not true. Infact tony blair and a few other european leaders at a summit about european sciences made speaches attacking politcal groups in their nation that are scareing scientists away from europe because of laws pertaining to animal welfare and religious groups that will not allow reseach that they believe is immoral.

Almost all of the attacks were on green groups who were seen as anti-science. It has been a fact that big companies have been investing more in america over the past 5 years then ever before. So again someone on this thread is wrong. Euro nations might fund science more then the united states but our companies beat them when it comes to R&D reasearch a few doezen times over. While some of that R&D is not done here 90% of it is.

While some of our colleges or even many of them are messes the united states has more funded departments devoted to hard science then every single european nation.

Also a point about russia. Russia might have minerals and good farmland plus highly education citizens. That however does not mean a thing. In russia you are still forced into many fields from school by the government and their economy is a mess from mafia like groups that make the italians look like a joke here in the states. Russia also has a rule of law problem were some parts of the government do not want to moveover for private industry. Russia has huge problems with its roads and rails that are falling apart all over the nation as well. It does not matter how many farms you have or mineral deposits if you cannot go from point A to B in a predictable amount of time your in trouble as a nation.

[stalin]

ref # 34 : America is doomed because she makes the same mistakes that all great nations have made and we have turned away from the values that made this country great.

I agree.

[jumpstartme]

Here's some junk food for ya if yer Hungary:

ps- welcome to Free Republic.

[stalin]

ref # 42

Yes !!!! that's another way we are becoming more like them. I've been saying that formonths. That's what got me thinking about this issue as being another example.

[Lazamataz]

So, in other words, your a geek with a sick mind and a degraded soul.

AND a track-record of killing 300 billion sentient beings! Don't forget the 300 billion sentient beings!

The Red Age of Slaughter.... my proudest accomplishment..... thousands of Vironic Cruisers adrift and aflame off the Persillian Nebula.... *sigh*......

[Just another Joe]

OK. Let me take your points and see what happens.

They couldn't have carved out and maitained such an enormous empire for so long without being a powerhouse.
The USSR was actually around for about 74 years. Of that 74 years they were a powerhouse for maybe 50 years. The way they did it even that long was by cracking the whip on their own people. They did not have near the living conditions that we have had here and really since the USSR came into play never have had.

That kind of power comes from the use of vaste amounts of recourses both human and otherwise. If you could translate it into dollars it would be a huge figure.
You're right, the USSR did use vast amounts of resources. At least human resources.
When Joseph Stalin killed 30 million people how many do you think could have helped his economy? They still have vast NATURAL resources. They're just broken up by nationality now.

Their biggest problems then are the same as now - capital ( and other resource ) flight and lack of confidence.

So, under the USSR the people were ALLOWED to take their capital out of the nation? The companys were ALLOWED to ship the natural resources overseas. I really don't think so.
The government was the one that determined where capitol and resources were used. And look where it got them.

Putting them in prison will help a lot and tell the world that you can trust our economic institutions.
I agree with you completely on this point.

[jumpstartme]

Well, at least you're amusing. Wanna hot dog?

[F16Fighter]

"There was no mandate [to go after the ex-POTUS]...It would have looked like a coup."

That, OR, he Dubya truly would have looked as though he were a Sheriff cleaning up the fecal-mattered legacy of corrupt President who degraded not only the Presidency, but the American people.

"Besides he is affected with BushBalls. They don't seem to produce enough testosterone."

LOL -- Mandate-Schandate.

[sarcasm]

There were a large number of Scandinavians who returned to their native countries during the depression. I understand that there were net outflows to other countries as well.

[stalin]

ref #50 ; I agree on the scientist issue but that isn't the main point afterall. Our physicists and some of our genetic researchers are going there but we are still have plenty in many inporant fields and we rule in R&D because our government has deeper pockets.

as faras Russia is concerned I agree with what you said and what you said confirms my post.

[Lazamataz]

Thanks ; I'll remember you when it's time to set up the reeducation camps. Care to be a party boss?

How can you offer me more than I have already accomplished? Having been the First Citizen of the entire Trenaxlorian galaxy, a simple party-boss position on an insignificant planet in a backwards solar system in an unknown galaxy is shooting quite under my potential.