The US has already imposed tariffs on a number of Chiense products many of which are green products. This is what happens when nations engage in tariff wars:

HONG KONG — The Chinese government issued an uncommonly mild response on Friday to a United States trade complaint challenging China’s imposition last December of steep tariffs on American-made sport utility vehicles and midsize and large cars.

Globalization...it is here to stay. The world is increasingly becoming more and more interdependent economically. Instead of being just National, most corporations even some "small" businesses through the use of the internet can be considered multinational.

Sad thing is that a number of Americans yearn for the good old days when our country had all those manufacturing jobs and we were also the go to place for pretty much everything (besides oil). That was NEVER going to last,it was only a matter of time before other nations brought themselves up and seriously competed with us on the international economic stage.

The US hegemony wasn't going to last forever (these things never do), we just have to re-develop our own niche and continue to be a force in global politics in our own right but realize that now we will have other company (China,etc).

My advice for today's youth is to get as much education as possible (and make some international friends along the way) to help set yourself up for the future.

DD, I'm not talking about buying Chinese products or driving a Nissan. I'm talking about a company that is located in the US laying off 80% of its IT staff and then rotating cheaper labor in from another country. I'm talking about Citibank, who decided it would be a great idea to outsource its customer service to another country, and then received the backlash from its customers. There are jokes all the time about calling a company like Dell or HP, only to get connected to tech support in India with someone who calls themselves "Bob". Those are the kind of jobs I would like to keep here in the US.

Unfortunately, most of those jobs arent going to come back either. To the credit of a few companies. I have been reading in some business magazines (Businessweek,Forbes,and also WSJ) that some companies have actually relocated some of these jobs back to the states because of the increasing high cost of labor in Asia and low customer satisfaction rates of American consumers.

And for us 20 somethings .."One more cup of coffee for the road!"

tell me about it

20 somethings? Try being a 50 something looking for a job. At this level, I find I'm usually used to prove that they looked at other candidates when they've already decided on someone from within the organization.

The way that companies hire these days is ridiculous. They will only accept online applications. Most times, when you try to upload your resume it doesn't fit correctly into their stupid little boxes. Job-searching officially SUCKS!

However, back to the election. There was an interesting article about the polls in the paper this morning. They said that President Obama's numbers are rising for two reasons:

1. Romney's unfortunate "47%" remark.
2. Increasing consumer confidence in the slow but steady recovery of the economy, especially thanks to the rising housing prices.

Don't forget the 1st of three debates is Wednesday. Its result will tell us alot.

Finally another debate! I missed watching all those GOP ones.

This is not the Jokes thread.

They were very entertaining and made for some good laughs.

Not really. You can pretty much bet that most media will declare Obama the winner. The debates won't change anyone's mind.

Does anyone think Romney will go on Letterman? I heard Letterman calling him out recently, generally laughing at him. Do you think this sort of thing effects Romney's prospects? I know Obama has been on Letterman and Leno. They get big audiences so I think its a good thing to appear.

Sounds like my neighbors in Queens when I lived there. Sit home and smoke pot all day while collecting food stamps.

When Bush left office roughly 1 in 10 in US were collecting food stamps.
Today about 1 in 7 collect food stamps. If trend continues another four more years, 1 in 5 will be on food stamps. No wonder Gingrich called Obama the food stamp president a while back, though I don't think it is entirely Obama's fault.

To qualify for food stamps in NYC, a family of four has to have a gross monthly income of $2389. That's roughly $29K per year, which I can't imagine a single person in NYC living on, much less a family of four. It's estimated that more than half of the families that need assistance aren't getting it. To continue to receive food stamps, adults between the ages of 18 and 50 must work 20 hours per week or participate in an employment program. Otherwise, people are limited to three months every three years. The only people exempt from the work requirement are the disabled.

Six weeks ago the PA Commonwealth upheld the Voter ID Law, recently passed in the commonwealth. The PA Supreme Court remanded the matter to Commonwealth Court to address whether implementing the law in the 2012 general election would disenfranchise PA voters.

The Commonwealth Court decided today that implementing the law this election would substantially disenfranchise voters, and directed that the law not take effect this year. It appears that the law can still apply for future elections, but as for the 2012 election, Voter ID is dead in PA.

I think that Romney will campaign even in less in PA now.

This is hilarious. It's like "vote for me I'll do what the other guy is already doing". This is a middle finger to the base that was already iffy on Romney's immigration bona fides. I don't think this will cause anyone to switch their vote to Romney but it might make Kris Kobach and Jan Brewer stay home. It will be interesting to surf some right-wing blogs and see what the reaction is to this.

Romney supports Obama's deferred action on immigration

Salon and Drudge websites talking about Hannity airing an "October Surprise" tonight on FNC at 9p.

Well, that's good news I guess. But this whole picture id verification for voting is very interesting to me. How people were voting before? I mean how you go and ask for ballot where you are registered and prove your identity if not with a picture ID? Out here, our birth certificate must bear a photo and has a dedicated page for election stamps, that's how we vote once per person. And then we don't have voting registration process and can vote almost anywhere.

The birth certificate has a photo?
So I would carry this to the Secretary of State's office and say "No really that's me, you can tell by the dimples, see"

Seriously though, the states run the elections and not so much the federal government. So all the initial requirements vary but bottom line just be a citizen and above age and you're fine to vote. In the great state of Michigan this is the process for registering to vote.




A photo id rule has recently been added but you don't have to show photo id and can tell anyone who asks that they can go take a flying f*** at a rolling donut that you don't have photo id and sign something stating so.



Absence of photo id can not prevent you from voting.
Despite what may seem like an excessively open system there haven't been too many issues with non-citizens voting or people voting multiple times or things like that. Most of the actual elections themselves , Florida and Ohio, not withstanding, are roughly honest these days. It's what goes on before them-ie. finding out where your opposition is likely to vote and changing the rules-that is where the dishonesty and corruption is more likely to occur. Again...not counting Florida...

Well, I forgot to say, when you turn 18, you take your birth certificate with a photo and that's when it begins bearing a photo.

That's really a loose system. And how you prove you are a citizen if you refuse to show an ID?

PS: Just to clarify, our birth certificate almost looks like a passport. It has a stamp page dedicated to election stamps. There's a section that registers marriages and divorces, offspring, etc.

samples of first page:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VB0TIvi6Zjc/Tv..._16707837_n.jpg

http://up.lovedoni.com/FAEGHEATAFHIN.jpg

I recall a time not so long ago when someone proposed an national ID card the conservatives went ballistic, calling is a commie lot, etc.

DEBATE DRINKING GAME

ONE SIP

When either candidate refers to the "Great State of Colorado"
When Obama says "Look" or "Listen" followed by a clearly orchestrated sound bite.
When Romney says "Now look" followed by a stuttering/awkward sound bite.
When either candidate mentions "the middle class."
When Obama blames the past administration for the current ecoomic woes (even vaguely).
When Romney says "Obamacare."
When either candidate mentions taxes or the amounts they have paid or not paid.
Every third time either candidate says "jobs."


FINISH YOUR DRINK:

If Obama mentions the Mormon faith.
If Romney references Obama's Kenyan parentage.
If either tells a story about someone he met in Ohio, Florida or Virginia.
If either mentions 9/11 or the death of bin laden.
If either compliments the other (even if it is sarcastically).
If Obama mentions Bain Capital
If Romney says "lame stream media"
If either candidate mentions a Clinton.

TAKE BATH SALTS

If Biden and Ryan arrive unannounced and have a shirtless arm wrestling competition (best two out of three).

Afs, here in NY, you must show photo ID to register to vote. Then you go to your assigned polling place to vote each time, and you vote in an assigned voting district. They have your signature in a book, and you must sign in and the signatures must match before you can vote.

Since it's debate night, I thought I'd post this CNN story on 10 debate moments that matter, critiquing BOTH parties.

I remember many of them, from Reagan's "There you go again" comment to the "you're no Jack Kennedy" comment.
Looking back now at the clip of George HW Bush looking at his watch during debate, really seems like a huge blunder no?

For me, tho only a kid, the FIRST debates I remember watching were the Kennedy/Nixon. Partly because I remember my Catholic family/Catholic school all a-buzz over the first Catholic President, and partly because the guy was so appealing. I didn't understand the entire debates at that age but still stayed glued to the tv.


TIS


http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/02/politics/debate-moments-that-mattered/index.html?hpt=po_t1

That was really the first time that a candidate was undone by television. Kennedy was more attractive and a better speaker than Nixon, more poised (Nixon was sweating his ass off lol) and that debate won the election for JFK. It was truly the first time that TV played such a far-reaching role in an election. Like they say, today, nobody elects a man in a wheelchair.

The following is a quote from one of my student's papers the topic of which was What is Government?:

"Take for instance when the protesters killed our Ambassador, and then dragged his body through the riot-filled streets, hanging the Taliban flag and chanting “Death to America”. Our President apologized to them for our hatred and injustice. This is not acceptable in my opinion. That is not what government should be, it is what it has become. This President passing Executive Orders without Congress should be tried for treason. That is the basis of what our country is built on: consent should come from the governed, not through the threat of force or manipulation."

"Why are we allowing this man to slowly turn our country to this Democratic Socialism? When he threatened to stop paying our troops if the Republican side of Congress didn’t agree to raise the debt ceiling, it was appalling."

Did you give him a B+?

In Pennsylvania after you are first registered to vote, you are assigned to a voting precinct, which is a local place where you vote, often a church hall or school or public building. For your first time voting you present a voter's registration card, which was issued to you upon registration with some form of id, stating your name and address. You are then required to sign the voter roll, and your signature is kept on the books, so that it is compared for following elections.

Generally, the election officials working the booths know most of the people in the precinct. We have not had any instances of substantial fraud that could be rectified by the Voter ID Law, which is an admitted attempt toimpede certain segments of the voting population from casting a vote.