Refuting Ombugge's left wing rhetoric

I learned a long long time ago about the hazards of drinking with Norwegians in America. Don’t even think about trying to keep up with them.

It would be safer in Norway, at those prices I couldn’t afford to keep up with them.

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From the Police log for Aalesund and Sunnmore last night: http://www.smp.no/nyheter/2017/08/18/Dette-har-skjedd-i-natt-15171414.ece?cx_front_click=baseline_test&cx_front_click_place=9&cx_front_click_articles=2
Beer and Booze may be expensive but w​​​​e like it like this!!! No murders, robberies or terrorist attacks.

Yes, that older couple in the second picture look like they’re having the time of their life!

They better be, spending that much on a pint of beer!!

Have a look around Norway and see what you can enjoy for free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEIPkcCHwe0
Of course you have to get here first.
Plus; don’t drink too much beer and booze, unless you won in the lottery.

More Norwegian propaganda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMGTsVOLm7Q
No text to tell what and where on either of these two videos.
Sorry, I can not help much, I have seen far too little of Norway myself.

Here is another, with text in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW-WokExNKM

We got visitors:

Reviving this thread to get back to the misconception about immigration and immigrant, both in USA and in Europe.
I listened to a discussion on CNN a few days ago where it was stated as a fact the USA had more foreign born resident than any other developed country. (Of course without any attempt at proving it)

Out of curiosity I fact checked that statement, since I knew that it was not correct.
Singapore has over 40% foreign born Citizen and Permanent Residents, but then the speaker may not know of, or regard Singapore as a developed country.

Here is an OECD statistics that totally refute that statement:


Singapore and other small states with large foreign born populations are not OECD members, but even Norway (surprise, surprise) has more foreign born than USA, contrary to the belief it is “lilly white”.

Two questions:

  1. are you speaking in absolute numbers, or foreign-born relative to percentage of population?
  2. does your analysis include illegal alien residents?
  1. Of course it is % relative to population.
  2. I have not made any analysis, only quoted OECD statistics.

I know it is nice to look at total number sometimes, other times it looks better when shown as “per capita”.

The oft quoted; “USA is the richest country in the world” is actually “the largest single economy in the world”. Which is true, unless you count EU as a single economy, in which case that is the largest by far. Both are likely to be overtaken by China within a few years, though.

If you look at “GDP per capita”, many of the smaller countries become “the richest”, with China still in the “developing economies”. USA is #20

Here is the latest World Fact Book comparison of GDP (PPP) by CIA:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html

Though I love the USA I must admit the country is number one in some dubious categories.
Highest incarceration rate
Obese People
Divorce rate
Rate of illegal drug use
Car thefts
Reported rapes
Murders
Total crime
Most police [ figure that one out]
Highest healthcare cost
Highest prescription drug use
Highest student debt
Largest creator of porn
Highest military spending [more than the next 7 countries combined]
More foreign military bases than any other country
Debt

But after awhile all this seems normal if you live on the island of USA :slight_smile:

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Those are the symptoms of a society in a downward spiral and what is most alarming is that there are no corrective measures on the horizon.

We are nearing the end of the cycle. Wash, rinse, repeat.

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I like the photo analogy but I would substitute “people” for men. There are some tough women and kids in the USA. When people realize someone set their home on fire and all they have left are matches they use them. Scary stuff from history. History does not repeat itself but it does rhyme.

This quote and the underlying principle behind it fall squarely into category 3 of the above info-graphic

Typo on my part or early Alzheimer disease or maybe just dyslexia. Been edited now. :slight_smile:

So so very (sad but) true. History will judge us poorly as a once great all around (ie not just militarily) superpower that was brought down not by a greater superpower but by our own doing. The radical idea of “America First” is about 40 years too late I’m afraid as irreversible damage has already been done.

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Yes every nation have had busts and booms in the past, even Norway, but the difference is that America has been the world hegemon for the past 7 decades and steered the world into an interdependent state.

If America withdraw from it’s leadership role, or turn against it’s own goal of free and fair trade in a globalized world, who will take over that role and responsibility??

China is not interested in spending it’s monetary or political capital on such an unthankful task. The European Union is not united enough yet to play the role. Neither Russia or Germany has the capacity to do so and UK is no longer in any position to do anything outside it’s own little island and dreams of passed glory.

With a little luck the world can come together in establishing a world order around the UN and it’s various multilateral organizations, like WTO, IMO, ILO, World Bank and IMF, with a revamped Security Council reflecting today’s world reality as a kind of World Government.

But all this depends on how gracefully the US withdraws from it’s present position. If it try to defend it’s hegemony by “containing” China, or stopping her from taking it’s rightful place as a major economic power it could result in an arms race, or even armed conflict that nobody can win.

I’m an optimist and hope that sensible leaders on all sides will come together to avoid conflicts, but I’m also a realist that see the contours of world where the battle lines will be drawn again.

No, not a repeat of WWII, or any other previous battles between nation states, but a clash of cultures, religions and even races. The contours of that can already be seen, both in USA and in some parts of the world.

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I don’t think our illustrious leaders have any delusions about “containing” China but its unchecked expansion of territorial waters by militarizing reefs is illegal and problematic. Xi’s abolishing of term limits should also be cause for concern.

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If our European “allies” were actually reliable, it would be very easy to stop China from illegally building islands on reefs hundreds of miles from their coast and illegally claiming vast distant areas of ocean as their home territorial waters.

The US and Europe fund everything that China does. All we and our “allies” would have to do is stop buying Chinese crap and stop allowing Chinese flag or Chinese owned (including Honk Kong) ships to call at US and European ports until China backs off. If that were done, China would abandon those islands and give up their illegal claims to distant waters within a month, without a single shot fired by anyone.