TheMaster

point is that what the israeli army is doing, is also terroristic. It's not collateral damage, if you bomb an apartment building just to get a couple of terrorists, then it's murder, terrorism. Again get those elite troupes in there. Collateral damage is so misused nowadays, it's like carpet bombing and then saying collateral damage is normal. Collateral damage should be accidental in this day and age, I mean, I hope we have evolved ethically sinds WOII.

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You didn't mention healthcare in your initial post, which I do think is definitely a legitimate issue with the rising costs of prescription medications nowadays. However, on the other points, you're definitely taking a completely socialistic view of society, which is far from the capitalism which has made the USA the great nation that it is.

socialists are also capitalists. We just tend to think that there should be some rules, so no one should have to live in poverty, that every one is tacken care of. The US is very good at greatness as a superpower, but it's lacking in compassion. In Europe the whole system is more socialistic and that's why we tend to more focus on equality then on freedom, it's just the next step. We have been free for over a century, both US and Europe, now the equality should kick in.

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Also, there is a huge fallacy that you need lots of money to make money... (it's a catch-22 in itself). What I'm talking about is putting the maximum amount of money into your 401k and Roth IRA, save up and buy some real estate (instead of renting) so that your house hopefully appreciates and becomes an investment, and diversify your streams of income. Instead, what people are doing is drowning themselves into the debt of buying a half million dollar house with 2 SUV's and playing golf with the buddies when they can barely squeeze out their interest payments. And then they expect companies to bail them out with pensions and the government to come riding along and saving the day with social security.

no no, we have a totally different view on this, 'cause we live in different systems, pensions, health care & social security are not a company matter over here, the state controls this, the taxes we pay go into those programs. + they are strickter over here about getting yourself into debt. If you want to buy all those things, you should or have a big part of the money already or make a lot of money. If you get into debt, you'll have to pay it of, social security doesn't pay for such things.

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I used to have a very similar thought process to your point of view, a few years ago. I thought big corporations were evil, and that the government should tax higher income people more. Little did I know, that I was just trapped in a vicious brainwashed cycle, which would lead to only gloom! Then I came across Rich Dad, Poor Dad... which you should read, you'll see what I mean. I am all for helping the needy, but not at the cost of making everybody else earn the same amount of money, you saw how well that went in Russia.

I don't think, they're evil, I just think it's the government and justice that should make sure they don't do anything evil. But wages aren't the same, everybody just pays a percentage of their taxes, lower incomes are just taxed less, but not that big of a difference. If you earn well, you will live well.
Everybody should get the same basic opportunities: good education, good health care, ...
BUT if you fuck up, it's your mess, the state won't bail you out, but if you are the victim of a unfortunate situation of no fault of your own, it's not you who should pay the bill.
take college, how much to study in the States, UK, etc ... $30000 (tuition) a year or so. Who the hell can pay for this, we pay $500 (tuition) a year, Finland it's only $15 or so, yes really, and the Scandinavian countries have the highest living conditions in the world, belgium is right after them, one regions even rank first in the world.

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