Poll: Personal approval rating

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  1. #61
    Quote Originally Posted by Itheni View Post
    I’ll take a president who can fool the world over a reckless , stupid one.
    Well you're in luck because our president is both!

  2. #62
    Quote Originally Posted by roboscorcher View Post
    Federally - 3. I am pretty happy with Justin Trudeau so far. I didn't vote for him but his govt legalized weed and is at least trying to fix the situation with the first nations. He's had a few blunders: (buying the pipeline, the SNC prosecution) but overall it's a net positive.

    Ontario - 9. I do not like Doug Ford, his policies place economics over environment to appeal to baby boomers. He cut the tax credits for buying electric cars and this weekend he's forcing gas stations to put anti-carbon-tax stickers on every gas pump. Non-compliant gas stations can be charged 10k.

    I'm also bummed that America's superPACs seem to have made their way here. During last night's Raptors game, 2 political ads ran throughout the night, and neither were from any official party.
    So much this! Watching the raps game with the entire family honestly we were a little pissed to have those attack ads play.
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  3. #63
    Over 9000! Kithelle's Avatar
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    with the US? I'd say around a 5 or 6....we aren't in a nuclear war with anyone so that's good, but the people in charge are no good....no matter which side you're on.

  4. #64
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    Despite us foisting a disease like Trump on the rest of the world, I'm gonna say a 3 or 4 for the US.

    Yes, we're going through an episode right now, but I think we'll come out of it stronger. I think in the end, Trump's silver lining will be similar to that of a stress test, as he's inadvertently showing us the weak points of our democracy to fix. He's also simultaneously revealing just how corrupt the GOP is, hopefully to the point of pronouncing it moribund. My hope is that eventually we can get a second party out of this mess that's willing to work in good faith with the Democrats towards making the country a better place to live.
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  5. #65
    Politicians are just regular Joe's looking to rake as much wealth into their corner as possible during their short time on this planet.
    The actual genuine people, the ones that would bring meaningful change to the 99% rather than the 1%, mysteriously croak.

    One of the highest tax rates in the entire world, yet our government has managed to displace 90 billion SEK. Gee, I wonder why money's been sucked out of our economy at such an alarming rate.

  6. #66
    Quote Originally Posted by Skroe View Post
    It's a historic irony that the disaster for the idea of a united Europe that is Brexit, in fact, has lead to a remarkable and reputation-building moment for the European Union.

    It's kind of like how Apollo 13 was a disaster, but also one of NASA's best moments.
    Many people underestimate this aspect, actually. The EU has spent the last 3 years doing a superb job at PR, something they were accused of lacking in the past. And Brexit has motivated a whole army of volunteer "PR workers" like me and many others to research and explain the EU to other people (sceptics mostly). And while they were upping their PR department (have you seen their press conference room? It's not only massive, it's as modern as they can get), they've ratified some landmark regulations that have global repercussions. And while some people may agree or disagree with the decision, the vast majority in Europe isn't even doubting the fact that it's the EU making these huge decisions. It's the accepted norm by now. It is one of the reasons why the fringe groups have wailed against the EU. But Brexit has effectively put a stop to that notion and outside of the UK, nobody is doubting the authority the EU has in these matters anymore.

    The EU is not a nation, this has to be repeated... but as an example: GDPR has affected the whole planet. For the better, as general consensus seems to be after we overcame the initial shock of spam mails informing us that someone had our data... what the now, who was that and why do they have my data again?

    As I said, the EU gets full marks right now, they're pressing all the right buttons at the perfect time. This won't last forever, but nothing really does. As far as international politics goes, this is the EU winning the World Cup right now.

    What will be interesting is how we'll come out after all of these circus shows ended. If we end up equal to the US accepted by the US, I think that is a good accomplishment. Anything less than that would leave me disappointed. At the very least, I hope no future US president will make the futile attempt to play EU member states against each other and approach the EU first, as that is its purpose.
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  7. #67
    Quote Originally Posted by natpick View Post
    voted 10 cos im in uk,i vote labour but first time in all my long years im so disillusioned with them,the tories are literally a cancer of our country,so no where to turn for a viable political party.
    Depends if you are a leaver or remainer. Brexit party for leavers and lib dems for remainers.

  8. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by roboscorcher View Post
    Federally - 3. I am pretty happy with Justin Trudeau so far. I didn't vote for him but his govt legalized weed and is at least trying to fix the situation with the first nations. He's had a few blunders: (buying the pipeline, the SNC prosecution) but overall it's a net positive.

    Ontario - 9. I do not like Doug Ford, his policies place economics over environment to appeal to baby boomers. He cut the tax credits for buying electric cars and this weekend he's forcing gas stations to put anti-carbon-tax stickers on every gas pump. Non-compliant gas stations can be charged 10k.

    I'm also bummed that America's superPACs seem to have made their way here. During last night's Raptors game, 2 political ads ran throughout the night, and neither were from any official party.
    Also from Ontario.

    Federally, I'd say 8, and rising. The virtue signaling of Trudeau (and his cabinet) is nigh unbearable. The complete lack of humility is disrespectful and offensive to the seats they're in. Consistently and deliberately misrepresenting information to either make themselves look better, or others worse. They can never say it how it is. They've had some success, but so, so much failure. I voted NDP in that election. Will be voting PC this time. I don't care who win's the upcoming election, as long as it isn't Truderp.

    Provincially, I'd say an 8 as well. I voted Ford in --FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE-- of getting Wynne out. Trading somebody who has proven themselves both incompetent and incapable, with another person who we've more quickly found out is incompetent and incapable. They're right about the lies regarding the carbon tax, but didn't represent it properly. Forcing gas stations to advertise it was also a huge dumbass move. As for cuts, we kind of need them to pay for our future. No amount of just rearranging the budget is going to solve the debts accrued by previous governments. Voting Ford out next election.

  9. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kokolums View Post
    Here is a list of 3 things you can have:

    1. A powerful military.
    2. A massive social safety net.
    3. A high standard of living.

    Pick two.

    If America chooses a powerful military and single payer, its standard of living MUST plummet because taxes must go much higher then the rest of western civilization to pay for all of that. That means businesses will uproot and move to other nations, jobs will dry up, and unemployment will spike.

    If America chooses single payer and a high standard of living, it must get rid of its military. That will make China/Russia the world's superpower and crown them the kings of force projection around the world. They will either take over the UN or replace it and project their morality across the globe.

    If America chooses a powerful military and a high standard of living, it cannot have single payer or any real sort of socialized medicine. This is the current path preferred by BOTH the democrat and republican parties. Even when Obama won by a landslide and had a supermajority in 2008, he entered office and just worked on making insurance a little more affordable and/or accessible. He never took socialized medicine seriously.

    The problem is that in order to get socialized medicine off the ground in the US requires building a massive new government infrastructure to handle it and altering the entire system. Projections are this will cost at least $2.5-$3 trillion. We spend about $1 trillion on social security, $600 billion on medicare, & $400 billion on medicaid. So we cancel all of those programs and roll them into single payer. We still need $500 billion-$1 trillion. The defense budget is about $600 billion. In other words, to get single payer, we need to cancel social security, medicare, medicaid, zero out the ENTIRE defense budget, and levy a massive new tax to cover the rest which could be up to $400 billion.

    No one is going to do all of that. Its never gonna happen. The US will never have single payer.

    Europe and other western nations CAN have single payer because they don't really spend anything in their defense budget. They zeroed that out and let America defend them for free. That allows them to choose 2 & 3.

    The only thing America MIGHT do is some incredibly watered-down version of single payer where everyone is guaranteed some basic health checkups. But no procedures.
    1. US military spending is a relatively small portion of total US government spending, people just look at federal spending and ignore upwards of 40% of government spending is done at the state and local level... The total US government spending for this year is north of $7 trillion.

    2. Medicaid and medicare are not just $400 and $600 billion respectively, they are more like $600+ and $700+ billion respectively. And medicaid and medicare are not all of government spending on healthcare... They also subsidize private health insurance premiums, subsidize non-profit hospitals, pay for private insurance for millions of government employees, as well as manage VA healthcare (which isn't just insurance, it includes full on government run healthcare as well), much of which is hundreds of billions more and would similarly be absorbed by single payer...

    3. Given the previously mentioned things, current US government spending on healthcare is in the realm of $1.6-$1.7 trillion; which is already about $5,000 per capita healthcare spending and in line with other western nations that have single payer and/or socialized medicine's healthcare spending per capita on its own.

    4. But our healthcare will always be more expensive because our people are used to a higher level of service... They don't want to wait months for appointments, they don't want to sit in giant wards full of people, they want their own private room, etc., that won't change over night. So how do we make up that difference in price? A new tax obviously. A tax that replaces their old insurance premium (paid for by both businesses and individuals). 2/3 of the country are covered by private insurance now, do you think if we opt for single payer that those people would simply stop paying for insurance all together and the government would have to materialize hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air to cover them? Of course not, that's absurd. They will still be paying for their insurance, it will merely be a tax to the government rather than a premium to a private insurance company.

    5. Also of note, the government is already insuring and/or providing healthcare for the most expensive class of people to provide healthcare for... The elderly, the disabled, the dangerously poor, veterans, etc. Single payer would merely extend that coverage to the rest of the population, which would utilize those services to a far lesser extent; its not like everyone having medicaid/medicare coverage would mean that the expense would be a 1:1 increase relative to the new population covered, far from it. That was the entire purpose of the ACA's individual mandate, because younger, healthier people didn't have much in the way of medical expenses and thus opted not to buy health insurance because why pay hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance you don't need? So the government forced them to buy it because insurance only works when you pool risk.

    6. Then there is the fact that private insurance isn't in business to provide people with healthcare, its in business to make money... They make that money by constantly cutting services, constantly increasing premiums, constantly increasing deductibles, constantly denying claims, etc. etc., anything it takes to maintain that profit margin; a profit margin that ceases to exist in single payer... Throw in the bargaining power one single provider has, and prices will fall even further...

  10. #70
    Well got the poll backwards picked a 7 should have been a 3-4. There are certain aspects I like and certain ones I do not.

  11. #71
    10, all the way.

  12. #72
    Government is a tool to control humans. When the humans that need to be controlled are shit, the folks that effect control will be more shit. The US is not exempt from this. I say we are at a 5.
    "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not but common sense doesn't really work here. You're mad, I'm mad. We're all MAD here."

  13. #73
    Quote Originally Posted by Slant View Post
    The EU is not a nation, this has to be repeated...
    Yet.

    /10stars

  14. #74
    About a 7. We just got a new left-leaning government in Denmark. Starting off at a cool 7 to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the idiots usually move their way steadily towards a 10 over a few years.

  15. #75
    I'm British, so somewhere around 11 or 12.

  16. #76
    I like my government.

    It's too dumb to trust with my tax dollars though.
    .

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  17. #77
    Quote Originally Posted by I Push Buttons View Post
    3. Given the previously mentioned things, current US government spending on healthcare is in the realm of $1.6-$1.7 trillion; which is already about $5,000 per capita healthcare spending and in line with other western nations that have single payer and/or socialized medicine's healthcare spending per capita on its own.

    5. Also of note, the government is already insuring and/or providing healthcare for the most expensive class of people to provide healthcare for... The elderly, the disabled, the dangerously poor, veterans, etc. Single payer would merely extend that coverage to the rest of the population, which would utilize those services to a far lesser extent; its not like everyone having medicaid/medicare coverage would mean that the expense would be a 1:1 increase relative to the new population covered, far from it. That was the entire purpose of the ACA's individual mandate, because younger, healthier people didn't have much in the way of medical expenses and thus opted not to buy health insurance because why pay hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance you don't need? So the government forced them to buy it because insurance only works when you pool risk.
    I already made both of these points in my post when I said we'd roll medicare and medicaid into single payer. There just no way to come up with the money for it without destroying the military even WITH rolling those 2 programs in.

  18. #78
    Titan I Push Buttons's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kokolums View Post
    I already made both of these points in my post when I said we'd roll medicare and medicaid into single payer. There just no way to come up with the money for it without destroying the military even WITH rolling those 2 programs in.
    I like how you ignore number 4, where I point out that 2/3 of the country are presently covered by/paying for private insurance (most through employers) and they will instead pay into the single payer system should it be implemented.

  19. #79
    10 they have no clue here.
    Do you hear the voices too?

  20. #80
    Stood in the Fire BlackBoss's Avatar
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    Living in a white supremacist society while the majority of people who run that society disavow its existence. Having to take extra precautions with my children that I wouldn't have to if they were white. The United States could end the Israel-Palestinian conflict in 24hrs but refuses to. I don't mind military spending as long as the contracts overwhelmingly go to the American people.
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