jammy

I have made this topic without realizing it was coinciding with a vote on gay marriage in New York state. I am surprised that New York wasn't one of the more progressive states on this issue (I know New York City is very liberal) but I am unsure about the rest of the state. Again, California, I would have expected to have being more progressive on gay marriage. The argument from a religious perspective is something I cannot easily respect. 'God wouldn't want it'. At least in the USA, this should not be a stand point as is it not in the American constitution that religion and politics are meant to stay separate. Amendment 14, 7/9/1868 - All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Surely this piece of the constitution states that gay marriage is illegal as denying gay marriage 'denies a person loss of liberty and does not provide equal protection under the laws of marriage' ? Another argument is that 'gay marriage will damage the concept of marriage and create a situation damaging for children' I believe this argument to be nonsense.

I agree that it is wrong to believe that the economy can forever grow and prosper as quickly as it has done in the past. The Great Depression was a particularly huge downturn, which, being only 18 I can not fully appreciate and therefore will not claim anything but ignorance to the matter. I did however live through the 'Great Recession' which was by no means on the same scale as the Great Depression but I do believe there are comparisons. The Great Depression happened when there was little to no globalization, infant technology, little welfare, little integration and in a period where the vast majority of Americans where employed in manufacturing or primary industries such as agriculture. (Combined with a severe drought) This caused intense unemployment and was also met with the tragedy of WW2 at the end of the Depression just as the economy began to recover from the 1937 double-dip depression. The Great Recession have shown this can happen. There is a saying that 'a recession is when you neighbour loses their job, a depression is when you do'. Basically the concept is that you and your family may have suffered tragically along with many people in the more severe recession experienced across the western world (I am aware you're Canadian and therefore it is ignorant to refer to 'American' all the time. But, that is not to say that countries in a similar economic position during the 2000's recession as Canada and the USA were during the 1930's suffered the same consequences of little to no disposable income, merging households with families and growing your own food. A larger fall in incomes and GDP would be required nowadays to cause the same suffering due to the welfare systems in place (if none of the unemployed received relevant unemployment benefits the 'Great Recession' would have being indefinitely worse. Relating to the housing crisis, the average house price across the USA has fallen by 31% since 2006. This is now more than the house price fall witnessed in the Great Depression. Unemployment stands at 9.1% as of May 2011, far lower than the 20% peak during the Great Depression but the globalized world has kept American exports strong to China as well as unemployment benefits keeping some degree of social, housing, food extra security to a population which otherwise would be experiencing much higher unemployment. In summary, yes, severe recessions can happen and it would be as you put it 'to live in a dream world' to accept anything different. What I see as debatable is the scale at which these situations will affect the world. Greece, if it defaults, will experience severe consequences internally with a little spillover to the EU but today's globalized, sophisticated economic system filled, linked in trade and resources world will mean that the global consequences cannot be expected to be compared to the Great Depression or even that of the Great Recession. Back to the housing crisis as I feel this is going a little off topic. House prices, like I have said in this post, have fallen by nigh on 33% and are showing little sign of slowing any time soon. This is simply a supply issue in my eyes with unemployment most certainly creating a problem with demand but supply takes the overall lead. There are too many homes for sale rather than too many homes in existence. The snap back in prices is going to be over representative if the USA is not careful and does not begin constructing new homes at a suitable rate (which in turn will lower unemployment, improve confidence and as a result improve housing demand anyway)

Really? I can think of dozens of more pressing issues than same-sex marriage. But I live in a country that legalized it years ago. I was struggling to introduce it. I have edited it to make it more appropriate. Which country do you live in out of interest? I know there is a difference between the legal status and the actual tolerance of the issue. South Africa have legalized same-sex marriage but the majority disapprove.

Same-sex marriage is currently one of the world's human rights issues which comes with a wide variety of dates with routes in education, religion, civil/human rights and many more. I would like to know what people's general standpoints are on this issue, with backing and reasoning for your opinions and reasoning. Of course this will remain completely civil. Countries that allow gay marriage (and the year in are): 2001 - Netherlands 2003 - Belgium 2005 - Canada 2005 - Spain 2006 - South Africa 2009 - Sweden 2009 - Norway 2010 - Portugal 2010 - Argentina 2010 - Iceland (Iceland also has the first openly gay leader) Mexico City (Mexico) as well as Connecticut, Washington DC, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire & Vermont have all also legalized gay marriage. Many other countries, including Brazil, Germany, UK, Franc and Colombia also allow civil unions between homosexual couples, a phase often gone through before allowing same-sex marriage. So, what are your thoughts and opinions?

Even so, a large contraction in the Greek economy and a default can't cause that much of a problem, can it? A weak euro may benefit countries within the EU that use the Euro, particularly our export powerhouse Germany. The UK will be relatively less worse off due to our different currency but I accept we will have an economic slowdown (and due to the fragile nature of the UK economy I would expect a contraction also) Living here however, not much has changed... all the systems still run, the protests in Greece seem to be sensationalised as they don't get widespread media coverage in the UK. If Greece defaults.. we will be in a worse position but I don't believe it will be as terrible as many people believe it will be (particularly the media).

I agree society isn't ready. There are always pros and cons of such massive decisions as legalizing drugs with the stance on drugs differing around the world. Many countries in the Middle East (mainly due to religious reasons and the Muslim stance on alcohol) ban alcohol, but this is changing in the UAE where Dubai is located due to western influence. Alcohol is legally available but heavily regulated, no drinking problems exist and only people who want to drink do drink. I believe it should be similar to the use of drugs. Drugs should be heavily taxed, highly regulated and illegal to consume in locations such as near schools/hospitals etc. I more than accept that some drug crime is bound to exist, but the crime rate will obviously fall due to the legality of drugs as well as a reduction of the amount of people incarcerated (a particular problem in California where the standard of prison accommodation is deficient and even against human rights (prisoners are expected to suffer a reduction in rights, but many people in prisons do not pose a risk to society and therefore should be fined/educated rather than incarcerated which is more expensive then it would be to educate and rehabilitate)

Excuse me if this sounds ignorant but I don't see why Greece defaulting will create such a big crisis. I live in the United Kingdom (with an interest in American economics hence this topic). Argentina defaulted in 2001 with little effect to the global economy, despite Greece being comparable to the size of Argentina in terms of economic power. The United Kingdom is facing significant austerity measures (with little risk of default anyway) and people are taking them very well, yes, people don't like services being cut but the general consensus is that they NEED to happen. The major flaw with Greece is tax avoidance and evasion whilst the people of Greece (generally speaking) unable to accept that their economy is no where near the size or significance of its stronger EU peers (France, Germany, UK) yet still expecting the same level and quality of service provision. If Greece was to default, I accept the stock markets will have a complete nose dive and the EU will be shaken the worst, but within 6 months with acceptance that global economies continue to grow, the rest of the 'PIGS' (Portugal, Ireland, Spain (and Greece) do not default therefore eliminating the contagion fears the global economy will not implode. In summary, a Greek default is highly likely and will cause slower EU growth, a stock market contraction (and a commodity price reduction, which in the global economy's current state may be no bad thing) and the Greek economy shattering (though Greece is only 2% of the EU's total economy so even if Greece was to vanish from the world the effect on the EU economy would be minimal) The USA economy is quite separate from the EU. The USA needs to experience a rise in house prices (and possibly even inflation to encourage higher wages as well as reducing the overall size of the USA's debt burden) and yes, the USA economy will slow down but I do not believe contract on a Greek default.

All drugs should be made legal. They should be heavily regulated, legal and instead of arresting millions every year and overcrowding jails which can cost up to £50,000 per inmate per year in the UK they should encourage education and rehabilitation which would cost around £10,000 a year and keep the jails much more free for people who are actually a threat to society. The amount of tax revenue would balance the books. The problem with drugs policy is that the wrong drugs are illegal in my opinion. Tobacco, for example, in an idealistic world, would be illegal as it is much more damaging to health and much more addictive than so called 'class A' or the worst band of drugs such as ecstasy. I do not think taking drugs is a good idea, just like binge drinking, smoking excessively etc. isn't a great idea. It should be down to the individuals prerogative to whether they take drugs. Legalizing heroin (a very bad drug which I personally am strongly against) lowers the chance of needle-transmitted infections, as seen in Portugal, which had a high heroin use and high HIV prevalence due to needle use. Now it's legal, education is available and needle exchanges have being set up. The use of heroin has actually fallen, the number of people in jail has fallen and the HIV infection rate has fallen considerably.

In our household there is my HP Pavilion dm4 which I have had for about a month, to replace my HP G60 which I still do occasionally use though. My dad replaced his Sony Vaio with an Apple Mac and my sister replaced her Acer something or other with a Apple Mac also. My mum has a HP dv9 None of that meant anything to me but I'm bored and avoiding revision to hope it is of interest to you

If by affordable you mean affordable on an average income (less that £40,000?) I would say that my dream car would be an Alfa Romeo Giulietta, they're only available in Europe I believe (which is fine for me as I am unlucky enough to live in the UK!) but if I lived in the USA where I'd like to live I would really like a Ford Edge Sport or a brand new Dodge Durango. (If petrol prices keep going up though I would LOVE a Nissan Leaf!)

There are a wide variety of problems with the USA housing market which unless things improve soon are going to lead to further and differing problems. The obvious one is the collapse in house prices since they peaked in 2006. Is this an overall good thing or bad thing? +Many people who could not afford to get into the housing market can now afford to, such as first time buyers and young families. -Negative equity or 'underwater loans' are sucking the money out of people's wealth meaning that the 'wealth effect' is lessening, in turn leading to less consumption The house price run from the late 1990's through 2006 was a bubble that was utterly unsustainable, with house prices back to 2003 levels they're arguably back to where they should be. Average USA population growth of 0.95% per year, properties that become damaged and changes in household size lead to a demand of around 1.2 million homes a year. Through 2002-2006 around 1.6 million homes were built on average leading to a significant oversupply that caused a naturally deflationary affect on house prices, an overall supply and demand problem in the USA. Through 2008-2011 this has turned around with around 1.5 million homes breaking ground compared to a demand for 4 million new homes. Although the run up in the supply of homes and a price bubble encouraged a huge unsustainable home building boom, there is now a considerable undersupply of new homes being constructed. It will probably take until 2012-2013 before there is a net shortage of homes in the USA assuming house building doesn't pick up, will there be a pressure for home prices to rise then? The main problem with the perceived 'oversupply' of homes at the moment is due to the amount of distressed and foreclosed properties going on to the market at significantly discounted prices. As long as house prices continue to fall and people fall into negative equity, the more likely they are to go bankrupt when they have a cash flow problem (losing their job). I have a good understanding of the problems with the USA housing market but would like to discuss it further to find what else is systematically wrong with the market and when you think it will recover/what will happen to make it recover? Please feel free to discuss anything else related to the world economy today

No one has posted on here for a while.. but gas/petrol prices are shooting back up with the problems in Libya, rebounding world economy and the Japan earthquake. Petrol prices in the United Kingdom have hit a record of £1.38 a litre for unleaded petrol (regular gas) which equates to around $9.00 a gallon. My little 1.2 litre Fiat Punto now costs $74.00 to fill up

Capital FM. It is a nationwide radio station in the United Kingdom playing chart music

Countries that currently allow same sex marriage include... Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain & Sweden. Along with US States... Connecticut, DC, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and now of course California Countries that currently allow civil partnerships of same sex couples include... Austria, Australia, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Hungry, Ireland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Slovenia, Switzerland, United Kingdom & Uruguay

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walke has overturned the ban on gay marriage in the US state of California. The reason behind the ruling is that 'Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license' Opponents of same sex marriage condemned the ruling, with South Carolina Republican James Demint saying 'another attempt to impose a secular immorality on the American people who keep voting to preserve traditional marriage' What do you think about the decision? Personally I'm happy with the decision... why should gay people be denied the right to the freedom of marriage? Several countries are way ahead of what is supposedly the most forward thinking country on the planet.