kraft

The dollar is backed by the US military which outspends every other military in the world combined and has bases in every corner of the earth. It really is an empire. As long as that keeps ticking over the dollar will be #1. The dollar is indeed a metal backed currency... lead, depleted uranium, plutonium.. Or another way to look at it is America actually does have a huge export economy, the "deep state" economy, the export being violence. And not necessarily overt violence like Iraq, but the stuff the CIA has been doing in the last few years Libya, Syria, etc. Lots of customers in the world.

A job is just buy low sell high like anything else. Your boss is buying your labour low and re-selling it high.

oh no radiation how terrifying. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xwy1o5_bbc-horizon-nuclear-nightmares-2006_tech#.Ud9H0zs3uM4

50+% of homicides are committed by urban blacks which skews the numbers a little. if you live in a rural/suburban white setting the crime rate is the same as a similar setting in Europe. The murder rate in Vermont was 1.1 in 2012.

Equality is what ruined the UK. There is as much science to support the notion of equality as there is to support creationism. It's complete pie-in-the-sky faith based dogma. You guys are living under a state religion and expecting scientific results. You might as well be living under Christian fundamentalism, at least you'd have a sense of cohesion.

Then: Now: Manliness is almost shameful today. Any expression of it is a sin against the sacred equality I suppose.

The thing I hate the most about the UK is how effete it has become. The British have always been a bit feminine in nature but underneath the layer of civility there was no doubting they were real men, and they knew they were. The vague plastic notion of manliness that exists today is just a commercialised mishmash of woman-like consumerism, *****ing, and binge drinking. I think the lad off that Apocalypse show is your quintessential modern British male. Soft, completely gormless, living with his mum, and engrossed in effete pop culture and consumerism.

I think you'll start hearing a lot more about assisted suicide in the media soon, and old age "end of life care" being compared to terminal disease. They will throw around the words like dignity a lot. You might get a choice between care home staffed by Somali refugees and a "geriatric palliative dignity clinic" i.e. suicide booth.

Which part are you talking about? I don't think nationalism had anything to do with it. The mess was started as soon as the British kicked Churchill to the curb. Here is an excellent documentary on it (probably been watched by most here already): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omIM4SF1oQQ There are 2 more episodes, forum wont let me post them.

3000 marxist guerrillas killed by security forces vs 2,000,000 civilians in the Cambodian killing fields suspected of maybe being intelligent enough to maybe question the government at some point. Basically the same thing.

North Korea, China, Russia, Cambodia, etc all ran genocidal dysgenics programs. They murdered millions of their most intelligent citizens.

It's more to do with demographics than politics. Replace 1/3 of Norway with Africans and Mexicans like America and get back to us with the economic results.

Median household income is over 50k. In a neighborhood where you'd see a house like that it would be more like 100k. There are plenty of decent paying jobs, just not government paper-shuffling ones like in California inflating living costs (and creating a giant deficit). We have Sprint, Garmin and a few other corps headquartered within commuting distance. And of course all the agriculture and oil fields which are going through a boom right now. You can make $25+ an hour working on the rigs as a high school drop out but it's hard, cold and dangerous work. Property tax would be about $2000/year for a house like that. It would appraise for about $180k. If it had a basement foundation finished with another 1000 sq/ft of living space, it would appraise about $220k. Somehow we get by fine without a massive government tit to suck on. You pay for all that stuff one way or another. The USA is really two countries: CA/NY/IL, and the rest (flyover country).

woops.. midwest USA.

I found out recently that my county has no building codes after I tried to apply to build a structure on my property. I can do what ever I want as long as it gets appraised for tax value. The B&Q equivalent here sells house kits with all the materials you need to build a house. You can do a lot of it by yourself if you're a bit handy. For example the cladding, you download a 3-page PDF from the manufacturer with the installation instructions and best practices and away you go. All you need is a circular saw, a compressor and a nailer. You could build a whole house (minus foundation and drive way) with about $1500 in tools. The building materials are all standardized and fit together almost like lego. I used to hate "stick built" homes but after working on a couple of projects with this kind of construction I've learned to appreciate it. If you stick with the modern practices and don't take shortcuts like a track home builder takes, they are actually really well built and energy efficient. For example the cladding is treated with borate so it doesn't rot if there's a leak. The structural sheathing underneath is embedded with a breathable acryillc stuff that is water and wind proof but lets the walls breath. The framing is tied together to the concrete foundation with metal hurricane straps. The windows have a fin on them that you just nail on top the rough opening, then flash with a butyl membrane tape. $73k gets this "compact" 1738 sq/ft 3 car garage house. Then I'd guess another $35k for the concrete driveway, foundation slab, water meter and sewage, and HVAC. Plus the land of course, $20k will get you 1/2 acre residential plot around here. http://www.menards.com/main/project-center/homes/g10839-the-compact-ranch/p-1493963-c-9919.htm

There are no safe havens, deal with it. Most of the wealth in the world including your own is purely imaginary and needs to be evaporated off. There are no safe havens. Even if everyone jumps to commodities it would be purely speculative demand, there is no real world demand especially when China runs out of ghost cities to build.

What exactly does Britain export besides financial fraud?

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.089144,-101.031647&spn=0.997962,1.408997&t=h&z=10 Each one of those circles is a giant sprinkler half a mile wide. That's what keeps the majority of the worlds grain growing.

A bit hot here in the world's breadbasket.

What difference does it make? Is the gold ever going to be actually used for anything? or just sit around in some vault forever?

Welcome to Tesco. I love you.

Did they smash in the front room and replace it with a garage or was it built like that? Architect must be American.

I just go for a brisk 2-4 mile walk every day. It's free.

Yes because millionaire hollywood moguls are the ones I count on to have their finger on the true pulse of the economy If you'd ever seen any of his interviews you'd know he's a dizzy hippy americaphobic who doesn't know his **** from his elbow except when it comes to the art of movie making.