UNLIMITED GOP 2012 PRIMARY CANDIDATE THREAD

[Cain]

To be perfectly honest, any time I hear "[X ideology] is responsible for minute variations in economic output" I wanna bang my head against a wall.  "Socialism" isn't an explanation, it's propaganda.  Europe is the world's largest economy.  High standards of education and industralisation with low tariffs and support for critical industries along with low military spending means gigantic economic output.  And Europe's closer geographical position to Russia, the Middle East and Africa give it significant trading advantages in those regions as well.  It's public debt is a good 20% lower than the USA's and its budget deficit is one third of the size of the USA's.

However, there is a German-led effort underway to bring all of the Eurozone under German financial control, on terms they prefer, which are typically austerity orientated.  Under the current German plan, all European budgets must have a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3% and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 60%.  No exceptions.  Ever.  So, this means that, for example, Francois Hollande's government, which was voted in on the basis of the French public wanting to employ stimulus measures to aid the economy, cannot actually carry them out.  To have more money for the programs he wants to employ, he must engage in cost-cutting elsewhere.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Germany: realized it couldnt take over europe with guns decided to try with money instead.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Germany: realized it couldnt take over europe with guns decided to try with money instead.

Yeah, we taught them well, the British and us.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Romney is doomed.  Trust me on this.

I hope so. He scares me.

He's a fucking cartoon.

I trust you.

But I want to be in europe before 2016. Not sure how I'm going to pull that off.

Probably can't, TBH. 

You mean the Europe where Ryan like ideas about austerity are increasingly and disturbingly popular, and everyone's budgets are subject to the whims of Germany?  Sure, our welfare systems are more developed, but they're under an equally sustained attack, and German fiscal policy makes deficit spending to stimulate the economy impossible, under EU law.  And in Europe, rather than have the dipshits out in the open, they're more diffuse and generally more suave, couching their terms in the language of economic and fiscal necessity and generally being members of European commissions that have no democratic accountability and that no-one has ever heard of. 

The only country whose budget is not open to German revision is the UK, and our political class are all equally committed to cuts. The Tories have their own libertarian dipshits, who are only currently held at bay by the fact that David Cameron is personable on TV and they are not, and who would gladly welcome in the IMF to restructure the entire UK economy by the preferred method of privatising everything, especially education and the NHS.  And the UK is likely to follow the American route of political deadlock anyway, with no party commanding a majority and increasing unstable coalition governments taking charge, for the short term.

I know it's going to shit there, Cain, but it looks damn good from Texas. 

[Nephew Twiddleton]

You know im quite happy living in boston. Or just outside of. Just saying. Ive been continuously employed at the same place for twelve years despite occasionally shaky grant situations.

That reminds me. My discordian supervisor told me i was getting the maximum 2% raise as of my review tomorrow. (ref my annual training post).

Twid
breaking the fifteen dollar mark in a few hours.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Which is still significantly lower than when i was working for dr. S- that worked out to 40k per annum.

Eh. I was out of my league but i got a guitar and a couple of semesters out of the deal.

[Telarus]

Congrats on the raise, man!

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Thanks tel!

[BabylonHoruv]

Another interesting side note-

The Green Party's pick for candidate is Jill Stein. What's interesting about this, is that she ran against Romney in 2002 for MA governor. Not sure if that's happened before- two candidates for president have run against each other for governor.

I actually don't hang up the phone on political pollsters, unlike most.  They don't include third party in the polls, not even as "press 3 if you are voting for a different candidate"  it's Romney, Obama, and undecided, and if you go with undecided they want to know which way you are leaning.  I'm voting Jill Stein, but apparently nobody wants to hear that.

[AFK]

All I know is Obama's campaign has some real stooges doing poll calls.  This one guy called last night and seemed thoroughly confused and bewildered when I said I was voting for the Democrat in my State Senate race.


"Who?"


"Uh, your guy.  The one you just said."


"Huh?"


"Romney!  Bye!"

[Cain]

Three days to the Tampa Convention!

[LMNO]

What the gibbering fuck is going on here?

Republican platform to include a return to the gold standard.


They're trolling us, right? 


Right?

[Juana]

Perfect.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm hearing all kinds of hilarious noise about how "anarchists" are going to blow up one or both of the conventions.

Haymarkey Square, anyone?

Anyway, I give it a 90% chance that it's bullshit manufactured by the DOJ, a 9% chance the DOJ is gonna pull some shifty shit involving actual bombs, and a 1% that Oscar De La Rocha will actually blow himself up trying to make a bomb.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Also there's a statistically noticeable chance that a hurricane will strike the convention. Does this mean that God has shifted his hate off of gay-loving New Orleans and onto the Republican Party where it belongs?