Goat Boy©

Company I work for is laying off about 20% workforce, 5% management in the next two weeks......but then I work in aviation and that's a charlie-foxtrot already.

OK, apologies, here's some more: http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/asce/pdfs/volume12/sixto.pdf The termination of Soviet and CMEA aid as well as drastic reduction of trade led to the decrease of GDP by 35 to 40 percent. In 2000, GDP was still 18 percent below the 1989 level (Mesa-Lago 2002). The crisis had a negative impact on the importation of medical equipment, spare parts and medicines. The lack of supplies accompanied by a deterioration of basic infrastructure (potable water and sanitation) resulted in a setback of many of the previous accomplishments. The strengthening of the U.S. economic embargo in the second half of the 1990s contributed to these problems. Starting in 1997, the government implemented many austerity measures along with various organic food and herbal medicine programs. *** 166 pesos per capita in 2000, an increase of 69 percent (see Table 1). However, the real value of those expenditures was severely reduced by inflation. (The series between 1976-89 and 1989-99 cannot be technically connected because they have different base years.) Real expenditures increased from 34.7 to 91.1 pesos in 1976-1989, but declined from 65.3 to 44.4 pesos in 1989-1999 (Table 1). In 1989 the Cuban government spent US$227.3 million in the importation of health-related products, but that amount was reduced to US$67 million in 1993; although such imports rose to US$112 million in 1997, they were still half their value before the crisis (MINSAP 1999). In 1997, 38 percent of the healthcare budget was assigned to primary care and 46 percent to hospital care. Of the total health budget, 50 to 54 percent was spent on salaries (Figueras 1998). However, since the early 1990s, there has been a sharp decline (15 percent in 1990-94; 3.1 percent in 1997) in the expenditures on the maintenance and construction of basic health sector infrastructure, as well as on hospitals and policlinics (MINSAP 1999). The lack of investment in water and sanitation has contributed to the increase of contagious diseases (see below). Thus, “the out-of pocket expenditures assumed by families include drugs prescribed on an outpatient basis, hearing, dental, and orthopedic processes, wheelchairs, crutches, and similar devices, as well as eyeglasses” (PAHO 1999, 7). Many families spend over 400 pesos a month on these items while the average monthly salary in 2000 was 234 pesos (ONE 2001; Sixto 2001). *** http://www.autentico.org/oa09474.php I'm an adamant supporter of universal health care, straight to the tune of Tommy Douglas. But the claims made about Cuba are just ridiculous. Moore even went on in writing to claim the Cuban system provides superior service than the Canadian one. They've done a fantastic job based upon the limited resources that they have, but to give them the status that they 'apparently' have......

I don't believe that Harper will remain leader long enough to ever see his majority.

OK, specifics. I mean radicals, the loudmouth ones that never shut up, not those actually try to advance the well being of the populace. I'm referring to the trendy, group-think, it's hip to protest Iraq but never mind the toll it took on a populace to produce my Iphone that replaced a perfectly good Iphone from last year, just because it wasn't the 3G model.

In Real Life Here's a start http://www.miamiherald.com/509/story/148897.html I take it you don't know any Cubans??? Come on.....Michael Moore? He's as bad as Bill O'Reily. Actually, the threads doing quite well. I was rather hoping that it would take off in a constructive fashion, and perhaps add something positive to the board. As it stands, it looks like great bait to come down. My feelings remain hurt.

I'm saying if I'm fascist then our current government might as well be Mussolini's Italy.

I define a centrist as somebody that examines the situation and policies available, and then makes an informed decision as to what will do best for the geographical area that s/he represents. As opposed to sticking to an ideology and refusing to look at any other alternative. IE: Religion is evil, homosexuality is immoral, it's always right to unionize and the worker is always right, no it isn't, the margins are always right. Etc, etc....

Yeah my colorful language definitely represents me as arrogant, but this is certainly not the case IRL. Sorry forum, I'll put it in harvard-speak next time, never mind the message just attack the sender. J/K, don't take that too too seriously. I really don't see communism haunting us as an alternative, where are the successful communist states in today's world? And please don't say China. Second pic link was a political compass graph, hoping to actually get a constructive thread going but I guess we can call that failure to launch.

First time I've been called a fascist. But who am I kidding, representing partisan ideology and basing election campaigns and political decisions on the sole reason of staying in office is far more important than actually representing the voters that elected you.

http://s960.photobucket.com/albums/ae81/Ka...SC_1957-6ab.jpg Left wingers....shut up! People have to work for a living, communism failed. If you stop being so radical and trying to control everything, people might actually listen to you. Government cannot take care of itself, much less the tax payers. Right wingers.....stop lying! We know your screwing us. Just because it isn't expensive right now as a left wing government, doesn't mean the long term costs won't be. And no, people aren't evil just because they happen to belong to a different cult/religioin. Centrists....Speak up! Come on, you're the silent majority, lets bang some friggin sense into this bloody government and get rid of all the freaking infighting. http://i30.tinypic.com/2h64n5d.jpg What are yours?

And then gone within weeks.....he was set to leave mid 2009, not christmas.

This was my fave of the year... http://moneynews.newsmax.com/financenews/f.../12/213463.html

All apologies sir, the comment was based upon what we typically see on internet forums, from conspiracy theories, zeitgeist and such. My brother was a commercial lending manager at HSBC, now doing securities & manulife, where I am still in school and learning much.

+1

One could also make a strong argument that the Van & potentially TO housing bubbles have not yet burst.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianp...MmsltrdvQgN1mpA

Direct result of the failed Coalition.

LOL!

I find myself wondering about this, as one of the biggest reasons for the current LCROSS mission is to search for possible water on the moon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCROSS Set for impact, October 9 of this year.

I predict it's only a matter of time before the entire continent of Africa as well as many Pacific Rim countries erupt into a permanent state of war. Might be a decade, might be a century, but it's coming. It's also going to be interesting to watch China as that massive population gradually increases it's standard of living, not to mention India's many times higher pop. growth rate.

Fractional reserve does not exist nearly to the extent that youtube tells you. If what you were saying was true, there would be no reason for a bank to refuse credit, ever. This fictional money is transferred in transactions and finds its way back to the banks, in effect, the banks cannot take a loss. WaMu certainly proved this to be true. Fractional reserve does exist, but nowhere near the 1/20 ratio quoted. Canadian banks are even further restricted beyond the US banks, but they are regulated on the amount of cash they must have on hand to back deposits. Furthermore, in Canada the government carries the risk, a minimum of $250,000 of every single persons secured deposits are backed by the CDIC.

NATO in Afghanistan NATO’s operation in Afghanistan currently constitutes the Alliance’s most significant operational commitment to date. Established by UN mandate in 2001, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been under NATO leadership since August 2003. ISAF comprises some 64,500 troops from 42 different countries deployed throughout Afghanistan. Its mission is to extend the authority of the Afghan central government in order to create an environment conducive to the functioning of democratic institutions and the establishment of the rule of law. A major component of this mission is the establishment of professional Afghan National Security Forces that would enable Afghans to assume more and more responsibility for the security of their country. Much progress has already been made. From a non-existent force in 2003, the Afghan army currently comprises approximately 92,000 soldiers, and has begun taking the lead in most operations. In addition to conducting security operations and building up the Afghan army and police, ISAF is also directly involved in facilitating the development and reconstruction of Afghanistan through 26 Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) which are engaged in identifying reconstruction needs and supporting humanitarian assistance activities throughout the country.

I thought that's what the Excited States were for? I absolutely flat out refuse to believe that they are not going to have their hand in the extraction of the Norther Resources.

What, that I have better things to do with my time than electronically track the status of every piece of equipment in our military?

It is also possible to travel to Saturn's moon Titan and mine it for Steel & Methane gas. In fact, the way to do it and the physics necessary are already figured out.