Does Britain suck? - Page 6

reed · #41 February 18th, 2007, 03:14 PM

MrTAToad,

Being an American I won't jump anymore into this Brit debate (although I find it amusing). All I can say to you is, living in France for a number of years, the French think exactly like you. Believe me. Brussels, for them is it numero uno ballbuster (see the famous cheese debate).....except when the cash (from the EC) comes in to "help" certain farms or other structures.
On one hand one does not want to be ruled or dictated by Brussels but at the same time one looks for a certain aid when things go wrong (especially in agriculture). It's a tough nut to crack.
One thing is sure... it costs a lot of shillings.

rubaiyat · #42 February 18th, 2007, 03:37 PM

The CAP is crap. The only worse case of agricultural protection is Japan's. A close third is America's.

All of these plus the innumerable imitators in Korea, China, India etc have had an horrific effect on world trade and the economic plight of the poor nations.

Typically the exploiting rich countries make a great deal of how they offer "Aid" to the poorer countries, which is only a fraction of the damage they do to them with their agicultural subsidies.

Like raining bombs on them, then tossing them a box of band aids.

reed · #43 February 18th, 2007, 03:55 PM

you forgot Corsica rubaiyat.
And no...band aids first....THEN the bombs. Big difference.

rubaiyat · #44 February 18th, 2007, 04:34 PM

Corsica has a separate agricultural policy?

The band-aids thing reminds me of how the Americans were dropping both cluster bombs and food parcels and toys for the kids on the Afghanis. The Afghanis didn't know whether to run out and catch the things or hide in the cellar.

Should have dropped Happy Meals on the Taliban. That way they would end up being too fat to fight.

MrTAToad · #45 February 18th, 2007, 04:43 PM

The Queen has agreed to pay taxes on income and capital gains from 1992. We are working on getting the Lords at least partially elected.

reed · #46 February 18th, 2007, 04:46 PM

pipers.jpg

MrTAToad · #47 February 18th, 2007, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Should have dropped Happy Meals on the Taliban. That way they would end up being too fat to fight.

Have you seen the Top Gear episode where the team (The Hamster, Captain Slow and Clarkson) is in American. If you haven't - well, I wont spoil it for you...

Quote:

All I can say to you is, living in France for a number of years, the French think exactly like you

Indeed - France was one of two countries that voted against a constitution.

rubaiyat · #48 February 18th, 2007, 04:49 PM

Hmmm, from memory someone let the cat out of the bag in the early 90's. By coincidence not long before HRH suddenly decided to do "the right thing".

So when exactly do you plan on approximating a real democracy? Or is this like metric conversion, you never quite get around to it?