U.S. Election Postscript: the Despairing Expat View

[below_freezing]

Then we may need some political reform so by the time the 70s and 80s came to power, the 90s and beyond will have a bigger say.

Can China grow itself sufficiently strong so that by the time the 70's assume power, hopefully people can see that what US and Europe can achieve, China can too.

World situation may have changed in another 20 years. New generation are confident about themselves, just hope they don't get too confident. No fengQin. We need to stop teaching in history the idea of china being the centre of the world, even as a part of history. The world is like a big spring and autumn playground.

Who teaches that? many 70后 and 80后 think china is garbage, USA is god, regret being born in china, etc. the curriculum of the times reflect that. remember the whole 20 years of brainwashing thing?

read the comments: http://comment5.news.qq.com/comment.htm?site=news&id=26592609

when we didn't have a high speed train, they said, we are so stupid, backwards and ignorant, we can't even make high speed trains.

now we have a high speed train, and its best in the world. they now say, who cares, its just a train, no one can afford to ride it, its a "face engineering project", all fake, useless.

REMEMBER THE VIDEO: "After demoralization, the process is permanent and irreversible. The people become incapable of processing information. Regardless of facts, they will always be programmed to think in a way that is beneficial to the rival state."

 

[sensenreason]

Who teaches that? many 70后 and 80后 think china is garbage, USA is god, regret being born in china, etc. the curriculum of the times reflect that. remember the whole 20 years of brainwashing thing?

read the comments: http://comment5.news.qq.com/comment.htm?site=news&id=26592609

when we didn't have a high speed train, they said, we are so stupid, backwards and ignorant, we can't even make high speed trains.

now we have a high speed train, and its best in the world. they now say, who cares, its just a train, no one can afford to ride it, its a "face engineering project", all fake, useless.

QUOTE]
My two cents:

I think US needs a Bush like leader who can take transformative decisions and stick with them instead of an Obama who will keep asking for data to make decisions and finally take a muddle=middle ground that doesnt change the basic nature of the mess US is in today both an economic/intellectual or geopolitical perspective.

Problem is that, Bush or Bush like leader might make the wrong decisions for the US and for the world. Anyhow, the Tea party victories and Dems loss of the house and other posts gives Obama a stick to beat his failure to produce the transformation/change he promised on lack of cooperation from a unhelpful US congress.I wouldnt count him out for a second term but that wont be good for the US....I think.

Decay in the US I think was caused due to the invisible but all prevasive redistribution of all resources to Military production and research at the expense of building infrastructure and a new intellectual class in the 80s and 90s.The rise of East Asia and Europe was drowned out in the silence of the cold war.In other words, while USSR broke into pieces in 1989 but it might have cost US its empire as well.

On another level, it might be because Im ingnorant but I dont see the Chinese having many intellectual culture (this wasnt needed given the model China chose in the last 30 yrs) ,it also means the weaknesses US faces today are also ones China already faces and might face in the future...which is why the peaceful rise was a great strategy and opportunity to build this culture.

Back to the US, too much importance was gained by the Pentagon/CIA and Washington...and which means the How business is done is as big a problem in the US as how much.I do think though the Tea Party will lose importance over the next 2 years and the 2012 will see a rise of a centrist admin. Tea party was a response to the fall of big banks and QE ie big govt...that will get pulled back now and hence their relative electoral pull.

 

[below_freezing]

obama doesn't make decisions. the wall street bankers that put him in office do. if you note, he makes the exact same decisions that bush did; bush made the exact same decisions clinton did.

it is not intellectual culture or not, it is the brainwashing described by the KGB agent. people exposed to propaganda will eventually believe it, and have their way of thinking permanently damaged.

what is intellectual culture anyhow? does any major country have it? does INDIA have intellectual culture?

 

[sensenreason]

obama doesn't make decisions. the wall street bankers that put him in office do. if you note, he makes the exact same decisions that bush did; bush made the exact same decisions clinton did.

it is not intellectual culture or not, it is the brainwashing described by the KGB agent. people exposed to propaganda will eventually believe it, and have their way of thinking permanently damaged.

what is intellectual culture anyhow? does any major country have it? does INDIA have intellectual culture?

I dont believe that a clique makes decisions instead of Obama...yes he is influenced by interest groups...for sure..

As far as intellectual culture goes..well the way I mean is that national decisions are influenced by special interest groups or not. India is much like US in this case...though good work is done to analyse options..but this intellect is hardly used..

 

[CardSharp]

Who teaches that? many 70后 and 80后 think china is garbage, USA is god, regret being born in china, etc. the curriculum of the times reflect that. remember the whole 20 years of brainwashing thing?

read the comments: http://comment5.news.qq.com/comment.htm?site=news&id=26592609

when we didn't have a high speed train, they said, we are so stupid, backwards and ignorant, we can't even make high speed trains.

now we have a high speed train, and its best in the world. they now say, who cares, its just a train, no one can afford to ride it, its a "face engineering project", all fake, useless.

REMEMBER THE VIDEO: "After demoralization, the process is permanent and irreversible. The people become incapable of processing information. Regardless of facts, they will always be programmed to think in a way that is beneficial to the rival state."

This is pretty sick. Most of these idiots have no idea what the US is actually like. It is easy to worship something if you can idealize it to fit their own perception.

Brainwashed and incredible naive.

 

[muse]

More than that, though, I have a problem with the continued rise of unqualified, ignorant populists, the new “Know Nothing” crowd championed by the “Tea Party” groups. These are the morons who are cheerleading for budget cuts during a downturn in the business cycle, ignoramuses crying out for “constitutionalism” without understanding anything about that document or its history, and the retards (yes, I still use that term) moaning about the spending policies of the current administration, which either began during the Bush presidency or were necessitated by its handling of the economy. I won’t even bother mentioning the bigots, the Jesus Squad, the global warming deniers or the birthers.

These angry people, these tea baggers and such - they are necessary, they have to be created - because they keep the populace distracted, busy with meaningless stuff, while decisions which will bring pain to these same people are quietly made by the same power elite as before.

You will note this same phenomenon in Europe.

 

[Jigs]

obama doesn't make decisions. the wall street bankers that put him in office do. if you note, he makes the exact same decisions that bush did; bush made the exact same decisions clinton did.

it is not intellectual culture or not, it is the brainwashing described by the KGB agent. people exposed to propaganda will eventually believe it, and have their way of thinking permanently damaged.

what is intellectual culture anyhow? does any major country have it? does INDIA have intellectual culture?

That is not true Obama has made drastic changes to many bush policies. Seeing as i have lived here since the Clinton administration i can tell you they all held vastly different views.

For example Obama Endorsed gay rights, lifted the ban on stem cell research (bush had a ban on it) and Obama quickly removed the Interrogation/Torture guidelines that monster Cheney had implemented just to name a few changes.

He also had a massive health-care bill that passed.

 

[ThatDamnGood]

The video made me think. The US seems to be doing to us what the soviets did to the US. demoraliziation means a person is not capable of processing information correctly - they have been programmed into thinking in a certain way that is to the advantage of a rival state.

this seems very obvious for those born in the 70's and 80's. we are going to be in rough times in 2020-2030 when the 70's and 80's generation assumes power. if we can survive until the 90's generation comes to power we may be safe. My observation is 90后 are less interested in US culture than 80后 who are less interested than 70后.

even if we become the dominant state on earth, we may still suffer an internal collapse like britain, USSR, soon to be US.

His assertion that demoralisation is irreversible, I would challenge that. It is hard to change but given the right circumstances, it is possible.
What is needed is to have the western system discredited in a very explicit fashion. It does not have to shown to be entirely wrong, but very wrong on significant points. This should shock them quite a bit and then there must be "guidance" given to them. Hence, all the bullshit being thrown about China must be dealt with. As well as the bullshit about why the west is great.
The bull must be taken hold off by the horns.

And China PR Machinery must be up to the task.

Also, there is still a need to filter out the elements of western society that are afflicted by the demoralisation process, like Hollywood.

 

[ThatDamnGood]

Clinton, Bush, Obama are free to add variety but the core interest of the real powers that are will never be touched. You think Ron Paul would ever get the chance to be President?

Look at Japan, LDP out, then Ozawa got neutralised because he would take on the power of the MOF. Now, its like the LDP never left and they got a nice sideshow going to distract the populace. The brain behind it all is the MOF and God knows who else that are pulling the strings if any.

Now once the US goes, we can countdown when Japan goes belly up. Possibly just after. I don't think they are doing much to diversify their dollar exposure.

On the bright side, it is good for China.

There is already an attempt to co-opt China's biz elites into things like the Bilderberg, Trilateral, etc. The charity event by Gates and Buffet, all the attendees from China needs to be closely monitor to see how they intend to progress from there.

 

[ThatDamnGood]

World situation may have changed in another 20 years. New generation are confident about themselves, just hope they don't get too confident. No fengQin. We need to stop teaching in history the idea of china being the centre of the world, even as a part of history. The world is like a big spring and autumn playground.

Qin is ok, feng no.

A belief in China IS the centre of the world, is like that American exceptionalism. However, it should be taught that China should ALWAYS STRIVE TO BE the centre of the world as it once was. Its geography and the limits of transportation technology made it so. But now, the reasons for such a development in the past no longer holds. Therefore, it must be strived after.

Our ability to assimilate will make China a very good point to be the centre of the world. I would argue no other culture in Asia can assimilate like us and yet retain coherence.

It is not China is the centre of the world but China can be and should aim to be so. Just remember that the reasons why China was in the past no longer holds, so be prepared to work hard to achieve this.

 

[gpit]

I have to say I am gleeful.

When my boss told me about the US tax system, among which, that the IRS can come after you after you cease to be a US citizen, I understood that America is not that beautiful. The devil is in the details. If you weren't paying attention...

...

I don’t think your boss's description is accurate, though I sort of agree that IRS is not lenient.

There are typically two scenarios to consider:
1) If you are a US citizen and you have to report ALL your incomes from world-wide sources to IRS. If you decide to renounce your US citizen, you have to be on a foreign soil and go personally to a US consulate and to prove that you owe no tax to US. Then you’ll get a certificate of non-US citizenship. So, at this time, you are cleared of your tax responsibility.

2) If you are non-US citizen, and you are living in US (for instance, as a permanent resident), you are still required to report ALL your incomes from world-wide sources to IRS, just as US citizens do.

My feeling is that IRS would more come after you when you remain a US citizen. This is perhaps the reason that there are more people renouncing their US citizenship after the financial crisis when the government tightens the enforcement of the tax laws.

I know Canadian laws do not require overseas Canadians to report tax if they don’t have substantial economic connection to Canada (no spouse and/or children, no resident house, no active bank accounts in Canada) and their incomes are only from overseas. This is one of the reasons that some US citizens leave US and become Canadians.

But again, if one is against US law, US government will hijack him/her if needed, regardless which citizenship he/she owns.

 

[Solomon2]

Oooh, the "America is an Empire" meme again!

America is a powerful nation-state, more powerful than many. But it doesn't go around installing puppet rulers the way Chinese Emperors, Russian commissars, or the British Raj did. Why would the U.S. have problems winning U.N. votes if its allies there were all directed by the U.S.?

I can understand some of the thinking of new residents here in the U.S. They see what they see, but don't understand that you can't necessarily grasp what comes next in a movie by watching a few scenes in the middle. American history is complex, and American society is varied. The number of times supporters of the losing side in the electorate have "despaired" seems beyond count. Yet American democracy's great accomplishments are there for all to contemplate and experience. It's one of those things that makes America itself such a fascinating study.

As for the comparative shrinking of America's economy, that has been expected since the end of WWII, for due to the freakish nature of that war America then produced over 60% of gross world product. China is on the up now because it is industrializing as fast as it can.

Viewed over thousands of years, China is usually the largest economy - until its polity collapses under the weight of internal revolt, corruption, or external invasion. Democracy, properly implemented with an alert electorate, individual rights, and honest voting, can go a long way to avoiding all that.

 

[huzihaidao12]

Oooh, the "America is an Empire" meme again!

America is a powerful nation-state, more powerful than many. But it doesn't go around installing puppet rulers the way Chinese Emperors, Russian commissars, or the British Raj did. Why would the U.S. have problems winning U.N. votes if its allies there were all directed by the U.S.?

I can understand some of the thinking of new residents here in the U.S. They see what they see, but don't understand that you can't necessarily grasp what comes next in a movie by watching a few scenes in the middle. American history is complex, and American society is varied. The number of times supporters of the losing side in the electorate have "despaired" seems beyond count. Yet American democracy's great accomplishments are there for all to contemplate and experience. It's one of those things that makes America itself such a fascinating study.

As for the comparative shrinking of America's economy, that has been expected since the end of WWII, for due to the freakish nature of that war America then produced over 60% of gross world product. China is on the up now because it is industrializing as fast as it can.

Viewed over thousands of years, China is usually the largest economy - until its polity collapses under the weight of internal revolt, corruption, or external invasion. Democracy, properly implemented with an alert electorate, individual rights, and honest voting, can go a long way to avoiding all that.

This is same with Mao's view, therefore, that depends on "democracy" means what? If the American democracy, it is difficult, our people are too experienced and wise, American democracy is the lack of strong enough for the anesthetic effect. The history of a Chinese dynasty for about 300 years, the United States is still not long enough for this time. If you are referring to genuine democracy, this is a hard way, if you are really blessed with the Chinese people, I would be grateful that.

 

[huzihaidao12]

There is an interesting point, the Chinese dynasty was overthrown because of the weather, a small ice age the earth, usually the downfall of a dynasty because that the temperature drop caused crop failures.

 

[Solomon2]

Examples of this?