Turkey

Hillary Clinton has made statements unequivocally trumpeting NAFTA as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Buffalo News reports that back in 1998, Clinton attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and thanked praised corporations for mounting "a very effective business effort in the U.S. on behalf of NAFTA." Yes, you read that right: She traveled to Davos to thank corporate interests for their campaign ramming NAFTA through Congress.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/hillary-clinton-pretends-_b_86747.html

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obama_mailings_false.html

Turkish prime minister Erdogan reacted harshly to Peres’ words during a panel in Davos. What do you think about this reaction?

(What happened in Davos?
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey walked off the stage after an angry exchange with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, during a panel discussion on Gaza at the World Economic Forum on Thursday, and vowed never to return to the annual gathering.

Erdogan apparently became incensed after he was prevented by the moderator from responding to remarks by Peres on the recent Israeli attack. The panel was running late and Peres was to have had the last word, participants said.

Panel discussions at Davos are strictly restricted to one hour, but Erdogan insisted on responding to Peres. Red faced, and with one hand grasping the arm of the moderator, David Ignatius of the Washington Post, Erdogan turned to the Israeli president.

" Peres, you are older than me," he said. "Your voice comes out in a very high tone. And the high tone of your voice has to do with a guilty conscience. My voice, however, will not come out in the same tone."

Resisting efforts by Ignatius to end the session, Erdogan continued, saying to Peres, "When it comes to killing, you know well how to kill.")

He was right. But he should not have walked out. He should have kept talking until Peres had no answers to his questions. However, he did make a point, which is more than other country has had the nerve to do. And the Moderator should not have intervened.

AN “overwhelming majority” of Europeans believe immigration from Islamic countries is a threat to their traditional way of life, a survey revealed last night.
The poll, carried out across 21 countries, found “widespread anti-immigration sentiment”, but warned Europe’s Muslim population will treble in the next 17 years.

It reported “a severe deficit of trust is found between the Western and Muslim communities”, with most people wanting less interaction with the Muslim world.

Last night an MP warned it showed that political leaders in Britain who preach the benefits of unlimited immigration were dangerously out of touch with the public.

The study, whose authors include the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, was commissioned for leaders at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
And it concludes: “An overwhelming majority of the surveyed populations in Europe believe greater interaction between Islam and the West is a threat.” Backbench Tory MP David Davies told the Sunday Express: “I am not surprised by these findings. People are fed up with multiculturalism and being told they have to give up their way of life.

“Most people in Britain expect anyone who comes here to be willing to learn our language and fit in with us.”

Mr Davies, who serves on the Commons Home Affairs Committee, added: “People do get annoyed when they see millions spent on translating documents and legal aid being given to people fighting for the right to wear a head-to-toe covering at school.

“A lot of people are very uncomfortable with the changes being caused by immigration and politicians have been too slow to wake up to that.”
The report says people have little enthusiasm for greater understanding with Islam and attempts to improve relations have been “disappointing”.

And with the EU Muslim population expected to reach 15 per cent by 2025 it predicts: “Any deterioration on the international front will be felt most severely in Europe.”

But leading Muslim academic Haleh Afshar, of York University, blamed media “hysteria” for the findings. She said: “There is an absence of trust towards Muslims, but to my mind that is very much driven by an uninformed media.

“To blame immigration is much harder because the current influx of immigrants from eastern Europe are by-and-large not Muslim.

The danger is that when people are fearful of people born and bred in this country it is likely that discrimination may follow.”

Do you want to Play Cowboys and Muslims?

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/32867/Europeans-think-Islam-is-dangerous

Yes, the Europeans are correct, Islam is dangerous. Whenever they get 10% of the population they start making trouble.

Guess which country has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it’s Canada. Last year, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada’s banking system the healthiest in the world…America’s ranked 40th. Here’s some other facts:

Home prices are down 25% in the US, but only 12% in Canada. Why? The Canadian tax code does not provide the massive incentive for over consumption that the U.S. code does: interest on your mortgage isn’t deductible and sub-prime loan schemes are illegal. In addition, home loans in the United States are “non-recourse,” which basically means that if you go belly up on a bad mortgage, it’s mostly the bank’s problem. In Canada, it’s yours. Ah, but you’ve heard people say there is a need for these expensive programs—(interest deductibility alone costs the US federal government $100 billion a year)—because they allow the average Joe to fulfill the American Dream of owning a home. So 68% of Americans own their own homes and what is the rate of home ownership in Canada?….68.4%

This might be a shocker – Canada’s health-care system is cheaper than America’s by far (9.7% of GDP vs 15.2% in the US), AND life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 yrs in the US.
Theonlybeldin: That’s funny!
It-Is-What-It-Is: I think you also need to consider that according to most surveys 31% of Americans are obese (BMI over 30), whereas in Canada it is only 14% – Obesity leads to higher rates heart disease and diabetes.

Proud to be and American: I don’t quite understand which country you are referring to that is in decline??
Patrick D: All stats here are normalized as a % of population for an apples – apples comparison. Canada is officially a bilingual country but roughly 68% speak English only, 13% speak French only and 18% speak both.

Lovinglife: For sure…the question is meant to highlight the things that work really well in Canada that don’t work so well in the US to see if there are things that can be learned. In terms of ethnic diversity Canada actually has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world with about 18% of it’s population comprised of immigrants (11% for the US) In addition Canada is one of only a few countries that has a federally implemented policy of multiculturalism. I agree with you about allowing business to flourish – but there needs to be well defined rules to play by or else everyone gets hurt. Canada is a free market, capitalist democracy just like the US – the only difference is that the government chaperones the party to make sure no one gets killed!

You’re selectively citing facts, which distorts the overall picture.

You can’t simply attribute a slightly higher life expectancy to socialized medicine. Consider that the US has a higher obesity rate and we have vastly different murder rates and vehicular death rates. Different ethnic groups also have different life expectancies. The US has a lot more diverse population than Canada.

Health care is not the only factor affecting average life expectancy.

I want a private market where there is free market competition. I don’t want the only choice to be the government when it comes to doctors and hospitals.

Canada has its problems too. Have you ever noticed that Canadians who have the money to do so often come to the US to get medical procedures done to avoid the excessive wait times and bureaucracy that plague the Canadian system?

When it comes to financial situations how about we limit government intrusion and allow private businesses to flourish and fail without Uncle Sam stepping in.

ADDITION:
You have to consider what kind of immigrants each country is getting. Latinos have a slightly shorter life expectancy than white Europeans do, and a large percentge of the US’s immigrants are Latino.

Actually the US is not a democracy, it is a republic. In a democracy mob rule can happen, in a republic the rights of individuals can’t be voted away by mob rule.

One also has to consider that a lot of what got us into this financial mess was government involvement. Perhaps government involvement is not the solution to a problem partially caused by that very same thing.

The government can’t even manage my tax dollars properly, I certainly don’t want them managing my health care via socializing medicine.

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/putin_warns_us_to_eschew_socia.html

when a ex KGB officer and leader of Russia is warning us about socialism we better listen

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/02/11/putin-warns-us-about-socialsm/

Does Socialism work?

There are a lot of things not to like about Vladimir Putin, but he did grow up and work in a socialist system, and was there to witness its collapse. That alone should give weight to is words. On the subject of socialism, perhaps we should be listening to him.

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/02/11/putin-warns-us-about-socialsm/

Does Socialism work?

There are a lot of things not to like about Vladimir Putin, but he did grow up and work in a socialist system, and was there to witness its collapse. That alone should give weight to is words. On the subject of socialism, perhaps we should be listening to him.

This is my second attempt to post this question.

In case you are wondering Mexico is ranked 14th and Brazil is ranked 15th.

I would like to thank every member of Congress who voted for the TARP bill and / over the Stimulus bill for this wonderful ranking.

Thanks guys!!!

Yes, I have a source, here it is:

http://merriemarie.amplify.com/2009/10/09/world-economic-forum-ranks-us-financial-stability-38th-currency-stability-50th-globally/

If you are wondering why we are ranked so low here is a clue. It is called our debt. You can watch it grow in real time here: http://usdebtclock.org/
Monkin: Yes, I do not want to leave out Obama. I would like to thank Obama for this ranking as well.
eldelfinalegre: Would you mind answering this question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqU6RjqZh8GjULs8cWlFK33ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20091009145119AAmyN8l

I am amazed that we’re not dead last.

But then again, what does the World Economic Forum know? Apparently even THEY cannot see the writing on the wall. I wonder what they were saying about Argentina back in 1998? Probably talking about "mild recessions" and "green shoots."

And to the person who blamed capitalism, WE HAVEN’T HAD FREE MARKET CAPITALISM IN THIS COUNTRY FOR NEARLY 100 YEARS.

Find another Red Herring.

Same with the person who simply said "Obama." If you think an economic collapse of this magnitude can be engineered in 8 short months, you’re dreaming. Obama is just one small part of a much bigger picture. He’s playing his part, just like Bush did.
.

This is my second attempt to post this question.

In case you are wondering Mexico is ranked 14th and Brazil is ranked 15th.

I would like to thank every member of Congress who voted for the TARP bill and / over the Stimulus bill for this wonderful ranking.

Thanks guys!!!

Yes, I have a source, here it is:

http://merriemarie.amplify.com/2009/10/09/world-economic-forum-ranks-us-financial-stability-38th-currency-stability-50th-globally/

If you are wondering why we are ranked so low here is a clue. It is called our debt. You can watch it grow in real time here: http://usdebtclock.org/
Monkin: Yes, I do not want to leave out Obama. I would like to thank Obama for this ranking as well.
eldelfinalegre: Would you mind answering this question:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqU6RjqZh8GjULs8cWlFK33ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20091009145119AAmyN8l

I am amazed that we’re not dead last.

But then again, what does the World Economic Forum know? Apparently even THEY cannot see the writing on the wall. I wonder what they were saying about Argentina back in 1998? Probably talking about "mild recessions" and "green shoots."

And to the person who blamed capitalism, WE HAVEN’T HAD FREE MARKET CAPITALISM IN THIS COUNTRY FOR NEARLY 100 YEARS.

Find another Red Herring.

Same with the person who simply said "Obama." If you think an economic collapse of this magnitude can be engineered in 8 short months, you’re dreaming. Obama is just one small part of a much bigger picture. He’s playing his part, just like Bush did.
.

I was absolutely SHOCKED when I read the following. Putin, himself, all but begging us (the USA / Obama) NOT to go down the [same] road they went [down]:
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"Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise “excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence”.

“In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute,” Putin said during a speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”[Snip.]

Sounding more like Barry Goldwater than the former head of the KGB, Putin said, “Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.”

Putin also echoed the words of conservative maverick Ron Paul when he said, “we must assess the real situation and write off all hopeless debts and ‘bad’ assets. True, this will be an extremely painful and unpleasant process. Far from everyone can accept such measures, fearing for their capitalization, bonuses, or reputation. However, we would ‘conserve’ and prolong the crisis, unless we clean up our balance sheets.”

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Can the USA learn from others….learn from history, or are has the mold dried already? I pray that we wake up, very soon, or we are really in for it.

There are plenty of people in the west too who are against government bailouts in the economy.

The problem with having the government bail out the private sector is that the imprudent, the incompetent, and the corrupt get rewarded at the expense of the rest.

People who are made to pay for all of this unfairly through their taxes will surely loose some of their motivation to work hard. And in the end, the economy will become less efficient and less productive as a result of such government bailouts.