Brand America Wobbling

it's not so much conviction as it is making money, the American economy is militerized, that means running up huge debt and spending it on defense and the military it helps the economy in the short term but the end result will be bankruptcy of the central government and could lead to total colapse of the USA as a single political entity..

what is this "conviction", were so much better than everyone else in the world, thats what separates us from them because they're inferior and they don't have 'conviction'

we stand behind other countries that have 'conviction'

Oh you must mean Israel, the racist aphartied state, and Kuwait the c-suckers..those people have so much conviction

Originally posted by Partyof1

Originally posted by chinalurker

What does our American representatives here at ATS feel about the situation?

Doing the right thing (now, and historically) hasn't always been popular. That's what separates the USA from most of the rest of the world, and is the reason behind her incredible success. We have strong convictions, and we stand behind them. Just as we have stood behind the strong convictions of other countries, for the betterment of the world at large.

We don't suffer from low self-esteem, nor worry about our popularity in the face of threats. We do what needs to be done.

PS - BTW, most Americans couldn't give a rats a$$ about Coca-Cola or McDonalds, nor their popularity in the UK.

[edit on 22-3-2005 by xphantomx]

[edit on 22-3-2005 by xphantomx]

[edit on 22-3-2005 by xphantomx]

[edit on 22-3-2005 by xphantomx]

Originally posted by chinalurker
The American good image has faded across the global community these past few years.

The generally cocky attitudes and loud voices have gradually transformed into weak peeps and embarrassement.

May I ask what is being done to reverse this trend... or will the American brand keep falling even further?

What does our American representatives here at ATS feel about the situation?

Could care less really. It might actually be a very good thing. Im a strong supporter of total isolationism and a new way of life. # this "global village" crap.

Originally posted by xphantomx
it's not so much conviction as it is making money, the American economy is militerized, that means running up huge debt and spending it on defense and the military it helps the economy in the short term but the end result will be bankruptcy of the central government and could lead to total colapse of the USA as a single political entity..

"You have voted xphantomx way above ignorant for this month. You have two more votes remaining."

I am sorry, but this is simply the most uninformed post I have ever read.

The US DoD (Department of Defence, AKA the military) Budget for 2004 was $379,898,000,000. The total federal budget was 1,922,000,000,000. That means that under 2% of the total US budget was spent on the military.

www.whitehouse.gov...

Further more, if you think that 400 or so billion dollars is what makes the US economy the beast it is, you are sadly mistaken. This is a 12 TRILLION dollar economy, and represents somewhere between 15 and 20% of the total world economy. Further more, the national deficit is shrinking. So no, we are not running up huge debt, we have debt which is being paid back.

Next time before you make such outlandish claims please find sources to back up your claims.

Whoooo~ Hold your horses

How come a little topic like this can be rewarded so many responses.
Seems all the heroes jumped out all at once trying to save the situation.

Haha, Good ole America. My respect in your direction. Seems there's still some spirit in ya after all.

Good day.

American Mad Man, ditto, good post. We could actually spend more on defense in order to get the budget up to historical levels of around 4%.

can't you add?? defence spending is about 20% of the federal budget, not 2%.

thanks,
drfunk

I don't really think that even America's policies is enough to make people stop buying. Its pretty ironic, you see one Arab protestor burning an American flag for supportin Israel and invasion of Iraq and few hours later says goodbye to his friends and heads to the nearest McDonalds to see his girlfriend and eat lamb and salad.

It's actually about 15% if you look at the 2.6 trillion dollar budget for 2006. It is about 4% of gdp. The 4% is lower than historical averages as shown in the graph below. By the way drfunk, defence is actually spelled defense.




[edit on 22-3-2005 by cryptorsa1001]

The American military spending is huge and unsustainable, especially when you include the money spent to service the debt, which is almost as much as the military spending itself

Originally posted by the_oleneo
Do we need another anti-American thread?

Obviously we do


To see the effect of brand America's wobble look at:

news.bbc.co.uk...

Exports falling, imports rising - US economy is in trouble - and this is with the WTO skewing all markets in your favour, CIA NSA spying for your corporations - if it was a level playing field you'd be in real trouble.

BTW don't tell us how to spell our own bloody language. We don't point out there's a 'u' in colour, two 'i's in niaive etc etc.

Originally posted by CTID56092

Originally posted by the_oleneo
Do we need another anti-American thread?

Obviously we do


To see the effect of brand America's wobble look at:

news.bbc.co.uk...

Exports falling, imports rising - US economy is in trouble - and this is with the WTO skewing all markets in your favour, CIA NSA spying for your corporations - if it was a level playing field you'd be in real trouble.

BTW don't tell us how to spell our own bloody language.
And what language is that?

We don't point out there's a 'u' in colour, two 'i's in niaive etc etc.
You just did. Isn't that being hypocritical?

Looks like Australia is having a bit of a problem too:

The current account deficit and net foreign debt surged to record levels in the December quarter, providing a dramatic demonstration of the Reserve Bank of Australia's concerns about the nation's economic imbalances.

However, the numbers, released on Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, were seen as unlikely to turn the RBA away from announcing a well-flagged interest rate rise on Wednesday, following its monthly board meeting on Tuesday.

The current account deficit - the widest measure of Australia's trade and investment transactions with the world - rose 6 per cent to $15.174 billion in the final three months of last year, topping market forecasts of $14.2 billion.

The worse-than-expected result means exports in net terms took a 0.6 percentage point chunk out of economic growth in the quarter, pointing to downside risks for the economy's growth rate in the final three months of last year.

At the same time, net foreign debt jumped $15 billion to $422 billion in the December quarter, a record level.

Britain's trade deficit falls in November

January 12, 2005 12:05

Britain's trade in goods deficit fell to £4.6 billion sterling in November from a downwardly revised £5 billion in October, official figures showed today. Analysts' consensus forecast had been for a drop to £4.8 billion in November.

The narrowing of the deficit occurred despite record monthly imports, which hit £21.5 billion in November from £21.3 billion in October, largely because of higher imports of oil and natural gas, data from the National Statistics office showed.

Exports, meanwhile, rose to £16.9 billion from £16.2 billion, primarily as a result of higher exports of petroleum products, chemicals and raw materials.
Click here to find out more!

Britain's trade in goods deficit with the rest of the European Union narrowed to £1.9 billion in November from £2.1 billion the previous month. The trade in goods deficit with countries outside the EU narrowed to £2.7 billion from £2.9 billion.

Despite the improvement in November, a spokesman for the statistics office said Britain was on course to post a record trade deficit for 2004. The cumulative deficit for the first 11 months of the year was estimated to be £53.2 billion, compared with the full-year record of £47.4 billion in 2003.

Looks like you might want to shore up your own economy before you take a jab at someone elses CTID56092.

[edit on 22-3-2005 by cryptorsa1001]

Why is that my economy? Please explain

BTW don't tell us how to spell our own bloody language. We don't point out there's a 'u' in colour, two 'i's in niaive etc etc.

You said the above after I corrected drfunk's spelling who is from Australia. When you used the word us, it included you with drfunk. So you are saying you are not from Australia? Then where are you from?

'Us' as in people who can spell corectly

English - as in 'our own language'. And yes we do speak it here - surprisingly.

Correcting people because they spell certain words differently in their country is ignorant IMO - especially when it's an imported language for you in the first place. Correcting people who just can't spell is, obviously, good fun.

Aussies may make up new (shorter) words but at least they can spell!

There's a clue in the location. Think of a big aircraft carrier just off the European NW coast.

Originally posted by drfunk
can't you add?? defence spending is about 20% of the federal budget, not 2%.

thanks,
drfunk

First of all, it's division, not adding So please put your foot in your mouth and down your throat.

Second of all, a typo of an extra "0" when doing the division on my computers calculator accounted for this. I think you can understand that.

Anyway, my point is still valid. The US military budget in no way shape or form will put the US government into recievership.

It's funny, NO ONE here but me has put any factual evidence into this backed up by sources, and yet an obvious typo mistake gets you all bent out of shape.

Why don't you come up with some sources that say the US economy is in trouble because of defence spending?

Correcting people because they spell certain words differently in their country is ignorant IMO - especially when it's an imported language for you in the first place. Correcting people who just can't spell is, obviously, good fun.

Drfunk slammed someone for making a mistake so I slammed him for making a mistake. Just letting him have a dose of his own medicine.

People who act like they are smarter than other people are not smart enough to know that they aren’t.

Sorry I tried to edit that response to something like 'yeah you got me I'm a Brit but there's still a 'U' in colour' but obviously didn't manage it (???).

Don't expect irony from you crazy Yanks.

Still think US brands are declining in popularity though

Alot of American brands are losing popularity in the US such as Mcdonalds, Coke and Walmart. It would not break my heart if they go out of business.

Btw, defence is a british word. Sorry drfunk.

Good day to you CTID56092.

And you mate

was going to post you this - but honestly not taking the piss. Not sure it's quite what you mean by your sign-off

www.poptel.org.uk...

made me chuckle anyway

R

America blows and is WAY over-rated. Its pretty cool as a child but once you grow up and get to know your leaders and your fellow citizens, you start to hate it all. Id much rather live in the hills of Europe or something.