Wasn't there a Russian professor who said the U.S. was going to fragment into several pieces?

Don't bet against the U.S. If you've lived long enough you've seen this country bounce back from the abyss. If you've lived here you know the spirit of the people here is unique. The melting pot of different cultures and people coming here to find a better life over hundreds of years has built in a fighting spirit. I think the proposal has a chance to at least start to get the people motivated and once motivated this can be a special place.

think there is nothing schizophrenic. Is this idea does not remind us of something? Remember the "New Deal"? I think it could be propaganda because it is the citizens wanted to hear . We'll see what happens, remember that the great unemployment of the Great Depression of the 30, the twentieth century, stopped, until World War II.

@Vitaliy
>It is also interesting to see how president is making speech that is not backed up by any real numbers or calculated plans
Because it was a speech addressed to the voters in the coming presidential election. Most of these voters, hearing real numbers or calculated plans to do this are not understood. For me, pure propaganda.

>They've lost their way,

They did not lost anything.
Cutting all social infrastructure, made possible because of USSR, in extremely short time, with parallel new colonialism, is nearest target.
Back to the future :-)

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -- That's pretty much sums up a modern day socialist like Barry.

As they develop (and both are far behind the US) they both become markets for US goods. Russia is essentially a gangster nation and China a slave state that hasn't invented much of anything since gunpowder -- and that was a long time ago.

I really like your style :-)
Gangster nation, slave state.
And other them are real freedom fighters(tm) who need new markets for their... wait can't find anything.. yep, found.. paper dollars. :-)

Inconvenient truth: Russian is one of the most crooked countries in the world. Berlin based Transparency International ranks it BELOW chronic underachievers like Congo, Haiti and Pakistan. It ranks 154th out of 178 nations that are rated.

China is well known as the world's #1 ranked sweat shop and also rates an embarrassing 3.4 out of a possible 10 on the corruption scale. At least the Russians invent things, all China does is copy stuff. It's a giant ant heap.


http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results

>Berlin based Transparency International ranks it BELOW chronic underachievers like Congo, Haiti and Pakistan. It ranks 154th out of 178 nations that are rated

I don't give a fuck about Transparency international opinion. Because this is one of the most flawed organizations.

>China is well known as the world's #1 ranked sweat shop and also rates an embarrassing 3.4 out of a possible 10 on the corruption scale. At least the Russians invent things, all China does is copy stuff. It's a giant ant heap.

They fight corruption quite hard, if you look deeper in the topic.
And corruption appears because economy grow very fast, so many firms fight for credit money or goverment sponsorship or permits.
About copy stuff, well, it is also not so simple as it looks. I already had discussions here and explained why they tend to copy many things. You can't blame them, because this is human nature and this is good thing for quick development and obtaining skills.
I can also tell you that I met many interesting and inventive Chinese guys.

There are no posts under the topic "Art." Let those who feel such passion ...write a script for a movie about this debate, or an important part of the preceved "inside story." I'd like to vote on a community project to be produced

Yep, not much under Art. May be we are too young community and too modest for this?
May be you could help us here? :-)
If you so like this topic and film something on the subject I'll be all for it.
It is yours idea.

>Or am I missing something about a film community?

May be.

>But every single one of them lives in a place other than China!

Here we go again. My expirience is exactly the opposite to yours :-)

@brianlucebrianluce Wowowow. Maybe you should learn a little bit of the Chinese history before you make statements like that? Being a poor nation for a hundred years after ruling the world for a couple thousands isn't such a big deal for them. Plus, were you Americans not involved in the Opium Wars that brought the first loads of "peace and democracy" to China?
As for Russia being a gangster nation, I may agree if we admit that after all the crazy neoliberal reforms imposed on Russia by the Harvard boys in the 1990s, it simply resembles the ultimate gangster nation, the unmatched pioneer, the Perfect Global Mobster, and the International Godfather. Should you have problems in identifying that exemplary country, I'd be more than happy to assist you.

There seems to be a lot of one-sided emotional crap floating around this thread. It's nice to have the freedom to express opinions as facts....but please. Some of the things I'm reading here from all sides of the coin are ridiculous.

Oh how soon people forget about the last administration that put us through hell. The current man in office, whose task was to clean up the mess made by the previous administration, never stood a chance. From within 30 days after he took office all hell broke loose. He always was and always will be just a token set up to fail. And failing he is...not for the lack of leadership, wisdom or policies he's tried to push...but simply because he was meant to be the scapegoat that he is. As I've always suggested....there's a much more sinister motive for the animosity he keeps receiving from naysayers. No one is perfect. He certainly isn't. But I'd be lying if I said "I don't get it" because I surely do.

@NickBen when you say "Meanwhile, Obama gives NASA engineers pink slips instead of utilizing their college educations for a more streamlined shuttle program or applied scientific research for US competitiveness, and now he wants more college educated engineers? For what, to join them in the unemployment line?".....

...what do you mean by this? You think the folks who have been (or in danger of) laid off don't get it? I'm one of those engineers who has been working at Kennedy Space Center on the Space Shuttle program for many years and I can tell you one thing.....NASA DOES NOT LAY OFF ANYBODY!!! You have to understand that NASA doesn't build ANYTHING. It's the folks like myself (your USA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney etc.) who build and maintain these rockets and launch pads. And when it comes to the end of a program...WE get laid off. NASA just SHUFFLES thier folks around into different positions. With that said...do you realize how much money it takes to MAINTAIN just one space shuttle per year. Let me put it to you this way....Billions of $$$...with a capital "B." Being the middle man NASA has this NASTY habit of WASTING money, They are and always have been a bottleneck to the space industry's success.SO....what's so wrong with our President's vision to privatize this industry by REMOVING NASA from the equation and turning them back into the research facility THAT THEY WERE INTENDED TO BE FROM DAY ONE. I hate to see the Shuttle go away but do you realize how much of that money allocated for the maintaining of the shuttles can be used for OTHER programs? Programs like "a more streamlined shuttle program or applied scientific research for US competitiveness?" This takes a lot of the burden off the taxpayers and allows for more creativity than NASA could even dream of.

In regards to the engineers being laid off.... I'm not sure by your statement you really understand what you are saying. A lot of these guys/girls (God bless them) are hanging on by a string. Whether they are NASA or contract engineers they are folks who have been around for 30+ years (most of them). The industry is literally old and most should have been retired a long time ago. The problem here is...there is not nearly enough talent to replace them. At the same time none of these contracting companies can hang on to young engineers fresh out of college. There are no REAL incentives for them to stick around. So what happens is,,,,most of them bail for more promising industries with better 401Ks etc. CAN ONE BLAME THEM!!! So, what does that leave us..??? An AGING workforce who will no doubtledly retire at around the same time. How should the industry face this kind of future prospect? Which brings us right back to Obama wanting "more college educated engineers." What's so wrong about that? Do you see the bigger picture now? Change is never easy...but it HAS to come.

I don't quite know about Mr. Warren Buffets BOA deal. But you do realize although he's one of the richest men in the world..MOST of what he earns goes to charity? He is one of the biggest philanthropists in the world. In other words he gives most of it away. This is the same man who, when trying to make a point, stated that his SECRETARY pays more in taxes per year than he does. How pathetically wrong is that? Why shouldn't Obama point to him as being a "Model American."

You said "President Bush would have been impeached for the same association with a political supporter."

That's funny because impeachment should have be the least of his worries. He should have been jailed. ;-)