America – The Grim Truth

Why don't you go ask the dead (how many was that again? more than a few thousand I'm sure ) about how they feel about American involvement in the war as a whole?

You didn't answer anything, you've just repeated the exact same things from your previous post. Well I guess you did add a little bit of snip at the end, always a welcoming sign.

 

1. Now you are calling them liars several decades later. well done.

2. I have talked to them and they disagree. You should try talking to them also.

 

They love that we fought on their side against a murderous government.

 

*rofl*

 

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wut. Just, what. I will just say that those whom rebelled against the 20th century empires had a slightly different mindset from the Founding Fathers, partly due to the different levels of oppression and such among other factors.
Then again, I have little doubt that you think of Washington as some evil capitalist slave-holding person, so maybe it works.

Care to explain what's so funny? Vietnam was massively misguided, but why do you think we went in there?

 

And yet...aaactually German productivity doesn't "lag far behind the U.S.", it's about the same

And if you still insist on going by these 3 particular carefully cherrypicked stats anyways, then the U.S. actually lags far behind Luxembourg and Norway in all three - your own stats contradict you sooo badly!!!

But in any case, you still haven't addressed your assertion of whether the reason for Germany's #1/#2 export nation ranking the past decade (with the U.S. as #3) is b/c they're lazy or not bright or both.

In fact, how does the EU on the whole export 50% more than the U.S.? Since the Europeans are so lazy and stupid as you say, why is the rest of the world buying more of their goods vs the hard-working genius Americans?

I can sorta understand how you would think the Euros are not as bright as you personally b/c let's face it, they would never be shrewd enough to be able to manipulate an entire cast of message boarders with just a keyboard and some usernames. But then on tha other paw, the rest of the American public is surely not as smart as you eitherrr

As always I await your next disingenuous distorting response with great anticipation, no matter which moniker you happen to reply with next time

 

For those citing how 'large' the economy of the United States is - it's not like we're all one big basketball team, like the billionaire is Hakeem Olajuwon and we're all Chris Jent but we get a ring anyway.

With each passing generation, the massive amounts of wealth generated in the American economy are more and more centered, and staying, in those small groups of people who were, more or less, born in those small groups.

 

Unless you have worked in the behavioral health field or studied neuropsychopharmacology I suggest you refrain from commenting about diseases that you are incredibly ignorant about.

ADHD, depression, these diseases that ignorant people believe to be fake are very real. The neurotransmitters in your brain are very real dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, etc. Why do you think people do illegal drugs? Meth, cocaine, ecstasy etc.? It messes with these NTs releasing them or prolonging their reuptake. Now what if your brain already has an imbalance? Suppose you reuptake serotonin too quickly and thus are chemically depressed? Then SSRIs are available to slow the reuptake to attempt to balance you the way the rest of us take for granted.

 

Do you work in these fields?

 

I showed this to a friend who works in Big Pharma and she laughed. Although no doubt you are trying to give sound advice, I think you should take a look at the following articles which show a disturbing increase in doctors prescribing more pills to patients than psychiatrists, that they're encouraged to do so through financial incentives from pharmaceutical companies (my cousins are both docs and they confirm this), that they're prescribing them in combos with other pills even though that's very risky, and that any studies debunking the effectiveness of anti-depressants, as opposed to psychotherapy and placebos, is suppressed through various channels, and the cozy relationship between the FDA/govt agencies and Big Pharma leads to little or no regulation or oversight.

Although your advice will work for a niche of our population that seriously needs something strong, a lot of Americans who are just mildly depressed don't need a lot of the pills which have dangerous side-effects.

Are Antidepressant Drugs Actually Worth Taking?

Docs paid to prescribe pills

Docs substantially increase distribution of psychotropics

Placebos getting more effective, Big Pharma under pressure

 

I have extensively studied neuropharmacology, and these medications are effective in treating depression. TCAs, SSRI, et al are not just drugs for treating chemical imbalances. They actually modify the neuroanatomy.

 

That's what my friends who work in this field said, "either he's naive or he's one of us".



The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth

Read this book for those of you Big Pharma supporters. Spending on antidepressants reached nearly $10 billion in 2008 but, the author examines 38 industry studies involving more than 3,000 patients and finds 82 percent of the benefit from antidepressants is a placebo effect.

The authors examines 38 industry studies involving more than 3,000 patients

 

Interesting thread. Having lived in both countries, I think on average, there are no huge differences between quality of life in the US and, e.g., in Germany. However, it seems to me that the gap between rich and poor is significantly bigger in the US.

 

Apparently the author failed at epidemiology. You cannot say 82% of benefit from antidepressants is a placebo effect. Placebo effects are measured in studies, not with retroactive studies.

 

No doubt they're effective, but for which patients? And to what extent and with what costs, both financial and biological?

Like I said, I'm sure there are docs and pharmacists reading this and getting all flustered but I have provided some links that are from very respectable sources (docs and pharmacists possibly even more respected than you) that say otherwise. In addition, just from personal anecdotes from friends who work in the labs of these pharmaceutical companies, the people who work in management, and finally the liaisons who work with Congress, there is a sense that some drugs do work for certain people but overwhelming a lot of the stuff is BS and simply ineffective. Anyways, I can't really discuss this any more since this is the most I know about the subject, but take a look at the supply chain analysis of how a drug is developed and given to you as the consumer, and you'll understand the pressures on these companies to generate profits and satisfy their investors:

http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/upload/F...ercial-Pharmaceutical-Supply-Chain-Report.pdf

 

Sorry, I paraphrased that wrong. Scratch that sentence entirely. Did you read the links I provided? Does the below qualify as a retroactive study?

 

In the past though not currently.

 

I counseled kids who took ADHD and depression medication, I've worked in psych hospitals. You can see when a patient is on their meds and off. Do I think that doctors over prescribe them? Yes. Are they always effective for everyone? No. Are ADHD and depression real diseases? Yes. Is it black and white to diagnose and treat them the way we would say a diabetes patient? No. Studies show that a combination of therapies is most effective. Drugs combined with counseling and coping skills training for example.

I am the last person who supports Big Pharma. All I am saying is the meds are effective for some and the diseases they effect are real.

 

So basically, everything is fox news and christians fault, notice he says nothing about msnbc, bill maher, and those like them

 

GDP and other measures of macro-economic growth don't really matter when 10% of the country has 90% of the wealth. If their companies do well voila! Instant increase in GDP! I'm living in a 3rd world country so I can't really comment on this, however from what I understand there are a lot of countries that have better quality of life than the US. In the US the tax rate is pretty steep, and unless you're living in states like texas you also have to pay state tax on top of your income tax. The OP is right in saying your government has been bought by corporations via lobbyists, and even your so-called healthcare reform has some serious downsides to it that nobody in their mind would do...unless they're working for the healthcare industry's personal interest. Just look at the financial reform done by Obama. You would think that the guy in charge when the financial crisis hit would be sacked, instead he keeps his job and actually takes part in the "reform" done.