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Sprite, I have to agree with you on the loss of youthful enthusiasm. My days of tilting at windmills are relegated to keyboard strokes and pulling a voting booth lever for the most part. I too, see the entire hemisphere undergoing a change that may be irreversible, but however small our efforts, we still should try. I sincerely wish you well also. Retirement is one of those things that can be a blessing or a burden. Keep your mind active, and enjoy yourself.
Rebeca, I don’t think the US would willingly hand over control to any foreign entity either, but the fact remains, the heads of the US, Canada, and Mexico had their discussion, and all seemingly agreed it was a good idea. The hope I hold out in this is that Fox and Martin are gone, and it won’t be too long till Bush joins them in the dustbin of history. However, if the next administration here carries on with this plan, we’ll have to challenge it.
Last month in New York, our governor proposed a new drivers license program for illegal aliens. It would also have provided new licenses for legal citizens, and would act as a passport between Canada, Mexico and the US. The outcry was so great, he dropped it a week after he proposed it.
I don’t think we will see the Amero anytime soon, but the incremental changes we are receiving now makes me think we are going in a direction that will involve some sort of deal to “protect us” from some sort of unknown or unseen enemy. Somebody is pulling the strings. It’s time to get out the scissors.
There will always be a small group of greedy people controlling nations, and the general population has little choice in the matter. Whatever choices we do still have left in this country should be exercised before we lose them entirely
Sprite, It looks like you are in the “all is lost” camp. We both have differing opinions of how this will turn out. One of us will be right, and the other wrong. Even though most times we all would like to be right, this time I really hope I am. I’m still going to be here a lot longer than you before retirement. I would at least like to try to make a last ditch effort to help turn things around.
Your assessment may be closer to the truth than mine, still, there is a reason to make a stand for what is left of our country. My question to you is, what if Costa Rica signs on to the Amero one day, are you going to relocate again? See, this is the problem, if we keep running away from a bad situation, we may ultimately find ourselves backed into another corner. By then we’ll most probably be dead, but we can’t keep letting it go down the drain because we won’t be here. If you have children or any other younger relatives, it has to figure into the equation.
Alberto, That was what was discussed in the meeting at Crawford, TX, between Martin, Fox and Bush. I don’t know what Canadian citizens think, but the PM was all for it at the time.
The “Amero” has been bandied about for a while now. Ever since the meeting in Crawford Texas between Bush, Fox and Martin, rumors have abounded. It is the darling of the elitists, and a way to have two smaller economies tied into what is still 29% of the world’s GDP, the USA economy. Even though other markets are growing more rapidly, will the transition ever come to pass?
The American people, and by this I mean US citizens, though we are all Americans if born in north or south America, are a fiercely independent group. We have always been. Whether liberal or conservative, we are individualists. If anyone thinks we will surrender our sovereignty to a union cooked up by politicians, they have another guess coming. As we discussed in an earlier thread, where is the revolution? This would be a defining and compelling situation to bring a revolution about. We once fought for independence, and what makes anyone think it could not happen again if this union tries to be enacted. Free trade agreements are one thing, loss of sovereignty and control over our own monetary and economic system is another.
While on the surface, there would seem to be a sensible argument, whereby a larger economic system would bring about parity with the Euro and other currencies, in the deeper sense, we would be absorbing countries with smaller economies and have to bail their troubled systems out. Much like the EU doesn’t want Turkey in their union. Unless the US falls into such a state where we are broken enough to be equal to the GDP of Mexico, we will not do it. I don’t think we will stand for a lowering of our living standards to “third-worldism” without a fight. And that is exactly what would happen with a unified currency.
Having said all the above, the stage is almost set for lawmakers to attempt the implementation of this unified currency plan. A falling dollar, lousy real estate market, unstable equities markets, rising cost of living, loss of jobs, diminishing manufacturing capabilities, and the inability to secure our own borders, will give rise to telling the American people this is our only hope. Trade agreements, with NAFTA and CAFTA being at the forefront, would make transition to the Amero system that much easier. All the elements are falling into place, but will we really go for it?
Only economies having a lower standard of living will rejoice at the prospect of having “Big Brother” come to their assistance. If the US manages to squander everything we once had, we may look for help as well. Until such time, I doubt it. I don’t think we will go down the tubes without a major battle. We will wake up before it is too late, get up off our lazy collective as**es and rise to the occasion, throw out the bums in office, and produce, like we have always done in the past. We have survived depression, recessions, wars, epidemics and a whole host of other miseries, but we are still here. We will not go quietly into the night! It’s just not in our makeup to do that.
As a sidebar to this topic, and as an observation of what is happening in the US, there is something realistically troubling about the dollar’s decline. As we’ve seen it already against the Euro, any US citizen wishing to retire to, or those that have retired in Europe, are getting hammered if their income is tied to Social Security, US dollar annuities or pensions. Having already lost any financial advantage in European retirement, we now see Costa Rica being put in a similar position. How much further will the dollar slide? I won’t even guess, but if you are a Baby Boomer, this has to be of some concern.
The question I have is, are they trying to keep us from leaving? With the massive amount of people retiring in the next ten years, that might be considering relocating outside of the US, are they worried the economy might take a hit with all those retirement dollars being spent in other places? Not being a big conspiracy theory believer, I still have to wonder what is really going on.
Maybe an expert opinion is needed here, but I’ll venture a guess. The dollar fell a bit over 4% against the Colon the other day. What some of this means, is that your dollar holdings, SS, and pension funds, are worth that much less than it was last week, when converting to Colones.
The mortgage, if it is in US dollars, should be consistent with dollars, one for one.
If the dollar continues to fall, and the colon is revalued further, this could have a serious impact on your resources.
Fishrman,I saw those and thought they were pretty impressive. Then there’s this one http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread79655/pg1.
I believe this particular one has a little more physical evidence.
The question should be, what is it that we are winning. Is it just winning a war for winning’s sake, or does it serve a purpose?
Take a look at a map and see where Iraq is located. You will then understand why we have something like 11 bases there, and are building that huge embassy. 20 Years, or forever?
I am in total agreement with you. What they did was NOT a calculated risk. They were playing with lives. And that is never worth the risk.
I just reread you post, just for further clarification. NASA’s space shuttle program, based on statistical analysis, was prepared for the loss of one vehicle.
The statistics were based on the complexity of the shuttle, the human error factor, and the fact we had lost Apollo Astronauts on the pad. It was an inherent risk factor.
I don’t like cold statistics, but it was part of the plan.The Challenger disaster was human error on a grand scale. Pressure was being applied, and somebody blinked. It was a totally preventable disaster.
Rebeca, I think I may have not been clear in what I said. The calculated risk was determined in the original planning stages of the program. They knew they would lose one. The decision to launch on that particular day was a bad one. I know they knew beforehand that it was too cold, and the O rings were not flexible enough to seal the boosters.
Not to totally change the subject, or to diminish what you have said, Rebeca, but there are inherit risks for every undertaking. The challenger tragedy was part of a calculated risk. When NASA built the orbiters, they added one more shuttle to the order. They calculated the probability one would be lost in a disaster. Two were lost. The shuttle program had a life expectancy that was based on losing one during its programed life. The Astronauts were always aware of the risks of flying the shuttle.
This does not make it any easier to swallow the loss of human life. Technology and exploration have always come at a cost. It is a price that is paid, sometimes too dearly, in order to advance science. We hold life as precious, and no one wants anyone to die. The Technology that goes into the space program is very complicated, and protecting life was always a consideration. We have lost less lives than the Soviet program, according to what I’ve read. We have always known that space exploration should be performed by unmanned vehicles, but the public wants to have a human face to it, thereby supporting its future. Unmanned exploration is not something that will hold the public’s interest very long.
I know it seems like we are playing with lives to have a program that reaches for the stars. Man has always wanted to test new frontiers, and with it comes this risk. Some will say it is a selfish, nationalistic goal, to reach out in space. Others will support it from a scientific viewpoint. This does not make it right or wrong, unless you think the cost is too high if even one life is lost. Throughout history, wars, natural disasters and dumb science has sacrificed many people. We have to step back, count the cost, and see if the benefit outweighs that sacrifice. It is also a matter of respecting those who make the choice, knowing what the consequences could be. These are the brave among us, who step out of the shadows to put their lives and limbs on the line for what they believe in. All of the names may not be remembered for all of history. I consider them all on the list of heroes.
My hat is off to all who have made the sacrifices they did for what they believe in. It is selfless devotion to put down your life for another. Upe, you know where I stand with your daughter’s boyfriend. He is in my thoughts and prayers.
Now the crowd wants out but of course it’s too late for that and it won’t happen. The Democrats go through the farce of trying to force the President to get out, all the while knowing it won’t happen but that it looks good to voters.
Simon, you hit the nail on the head. It happens all the time. Politicians backing a favorable bill knowing full well it hasn’t got a chance to pass. It satisfies their constituents, and still gets them the votes in order to be re-elected.
Many of us, including myself, were all for this war at the outset, thinking it was the right thing to do. I have changed my opinion, and so have many others. There is no valid reason to be there, especially after the WMD removal position we took, has been shown to be false. The problem is, if we bail out now, Iraq will fall into a terrible state. If we stay, it looks like we will be there for another 50 years. Which means, we are never going to leave. I can’t predict the future, but we have gotten ourselves into a mess that has no good solution in sight. In hindsight, we should have not gone in there in the first place.
