Random Politics & Religion #00

And this is what I hate about politics, regardless of political spectrum. Hardly a handful of politicians cares about doing something good, everyone else just goes on forever discreting the opposition cause winning is all that matters.

I really wish the carreer of politician would give a much smaller salary, then maybe we'd have more people focused on fixing problems and less on holding onto their chairs.

Sorry for this childish post.

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget proposal would shrink U.S. deficits by $1.232 trillion over 10 years compared to those expected under current tax and spending laws, the Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday.

The deficit reduction, although smaller than that claimed by the White House, is largely due to Obama's proposals for higher taxes on the wealthy, his plans for lower spending on military operations in Afghanistan and net savings from proposed immigration reforms, the CBO said.

For fiscal 2016, the first full year under Obama's fiscal blueprint if Congress were to adopt it, the deficit would fall to $380 billion from $455 billion, the CBO's latest forecast under current laws.

But Congress routinely casts aside the president's budget request and passes its own budget and spending bills. Next week, Republican-controlled budget committees in the House and Senate intend to unveil their own proposals for budgets that eliminate deficits within 10 years, with deep spending cuts expected for some federal benefits programs.

Under the analysis from the non-partisan CBO, near term deficits under Obama's proposal would be smaller than those forecast by the White House Office of Management and Budget, while deficits in later years are larger.

The CBO's fiscal 2016 deficit estimate is $94 billion less than the White House $474 billion estimate, a trend that continues through about 2019, when they grow larger in CBO analysis.

The CBO's estimate for a cumulative deficit of $5.977 trillion from 2016 through 2025 is $303 billion higher than the White House's forecast.

The CBO said its estimates for spending on federal benefits and interest costs are lower in the near term than the White House estimates. But the CBO's estimated revenues will grow more slowly later in the decade due to its assumptions for reduced economic growth and lower effective tax rates on corporate profits and other income.

Britain announced hopes to become the first major Western country to join a Chinese-led development bank on Thursday, drawing a concerned response from Washington.

The $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has been feted by Beijing as a way of financing regional development, and is seen as a potential rival to US-based institutions such as the World Bank.

Finance minister George Osborne said Britain would join discussions with other founding members to set out the institution's governance and accountability structures later this month, in a move to bolster relations with China.

"Joining the AIIB at the founding stage will create an unrivalled opportunity for the UK and Asia to invest and grow together," Osborne said in a statement.

The move drew a cautious response from Washington, a rare note of discord in the special relationship that follows criticism from the US about Britain's falling defence spending.

"We believe any new multilateral institution should incorporate the high standards of the World Bank and the regional development banks," said US National Security Council spokesman Patrick Ventrell.

"Based on many discussions, we have concerns about whether the AIIB will meet these high standards, particularly related to governance, and environmental and social safeguards."

China and 20 other countries signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the Beijing-headquartered bank in October.

The bank has support from countries including India, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

However several major economies allied to the United States including Japan, South Korea and Australia have declined to become founding members.

Iceland on Thursday announced it was dropping its bid to join the European Union in line with pledges made two years ago by its then new eurosceptic government.

Iceland first applied for EU membership in 2009 but Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson said in a statement that the centre-right government had informed current EU president Latvia and the European Commission of its decision to annul the application.

"Iceland's interests are better served outside the European Union," the minister wrote on his website.

Iceland first applied for EU membership under a leftist government in 2009, when the country was badly shaken by an economic crisis that saw the Icelandic krona lose almost half its value, making eurozone membership an attractive prospect.

But the thorny issue of fishing quotas was seen as a key obstacle to joining the bloc, although it was never brought up in the accession talks.

Fishing represents an important part of the Icelandic economy, and it was never made clear how differences between Brussels and Reykjavik could be patched over on the subject.

Thousands of protesters had thronged the streets of Reykjavik last year to demand a referendum after the government said it was dropping its EU membership bid without a popular vote.

But opinion polls more recently began to show growing resistance among Icelanders to EU membership.

The head of the Social Democratic opposition, Arni Pall Arnasson, however lamented that the government had taken the decision without approval from a majority in parliament.

- Clawing back -

When the centrist Progress Party and the right-wing Independence Party came to power in 2013 they suspended the talks with Brussels.

Iceland has said it wants to maintain "close ties and cooperation" with the EU, and indeed already benefits from such links.

The North Atlantic island is a member of Europe's visa-free Schengen area and the European Economic Area.

That allows it to export seafood to the mainland tariff-free and helps boost tourism, which is crucial to the country's foreign exchange earnings.

Iceland has clawed its way back from the demise of its bloated financial sector in 2008, with official figures showing this week that GDP reached record levels last year.

At constant prices, Iceland's GDP grew by 1.9 percent in 2014 to beat a GDP record dating back to pre-crisis levels, according to Statistics Iceland.

However, "GDP per capita remains lower than in 2008, and while there is no shortage of jobs, we lack jobs that pay well, especially for young graduates," University of Iceland economics professor Asgeir Jonsson told AFP.

For many Icelanders, joining the EU has not been a major priority, with concern instead over how to pay back loans taken on when the economy seemed to be booming before the crash.

The small Nordic country was hit hard as the crash of US investment bank Lehman Brothers caused the collapse of its three largest banks.

Without effective oversight, Iceland's banks had taken out massive cheap loans abroad, scooping up assets worth several times the island's annual output.

Iceland then became the first Western European nation in 25 years to appeal to the International Monetary Fund to save its battered economy.

Why women aren't funny

Maybe one in a thousand are, but generally women aren't funny. They don't need to be.

Seriously, were you sodomized and beaten and left for dead by a group of marauding feminist man haters in some sort of post-apocalyptic time travel nightmare a la The Road Warrior?

What do you have against the double-X?

Now I'm a sexist because I don't generally think women are funny?

post-apocalyptic time travel nightmare a la The Road Warrior?

What about the feels?!

You're a sexist for pretty much every feeling you've expressed on women on this forum ever.

But your dismissive attitude about a gender is in stark contrast to your stated feeling of everyone being an individual responsible for their own actions. "Everyone is an individual, but women aren't funny because vaginas."

Doesn't really jive.

Yeah, weren't we promised that future back in the 1980s?

What gives?

Also, where's my hoverboard?

What about dismissing all discussion by insultingly repetiting the word "feels" as if emotion isn't a natural part of the human experience.

lol, c'mon dude, it's too early to be this bigoted and intolerant isn't it?

Psst Nausi, we're not on Stormfront. I repeat, this isn't Stormfront.