I am exasperated with my Country

SeniorBen said:
I've always thought that Latino and Hispanic were the same thing. After reading your post and doing a bit of research (I Googled it), turns out, I was wrong.

We call most of the Americans south of our southern borders Latin American countries. While true, they could also accurately be called Hispanic American.

The problem is, the most prosperous countries in the Americas are those without Hispanic majorities. The reasons for that are varied.
  • Hispanics tend to be more religious than non-Hispanics, which handicaps their cultures.
  • The U.S. has intervened in the governments of several Central American (Hispanic) Countries, deposing democratically elected leaders who had ties to communism, mainly because those leaders didn't cow-tow to corporate American interests (see United Fruit Co. and others). We replaced those leaders with corrupt dictators who did what corporations asked them to do.
I don't know if there's something inherent in Spanish cultures that inhibits modernization. Probably not. Spain is fairly modern, although they did have a dictator until the late '70s. Portugal is more modern as is the Basque region of Spain, which seeks independence.
Click to expand...

Having owned a home in Southern Spain for the last 20 years I can tell you that Spain is very modern.. as modern as any western country...and more than some
 

SeniorBen said:
The problem is, the most prosperous countries in the Americas are those without Hispanic majorities.
Click to expand...
That is true, and the causes are not something I understand. As you say today's Spain is a prosperous democracy, but most of its Spanish speaking former colonies are not. With England its a mixed bag, some of us former colonies are more fortunate than others...
 
SeniorBen said:
Spain has high-speed rail transportation, which makes it more modern than the U.S. in that respect.
Click to expand...
certainly does.. and it's not only fast it's always on time, and it's cheap.... unlike the Uk where altho' we have high speed trains, they're expensive, and rarely on time... that's when the drivers aren't striking for more pay.. which they're currently doing now..
 
Alligatorob said:
Do you see a connection?

They are also prominent in Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Malta and other prosperous democracies. Though not a majority they are pretty prominent here too.
Click to expand...
All I know is that the former Spanish colonies were forcibly settled and Catholic missionaries played a large part in 'civilizing' the indigenous peoples, who did not share full status as human beings, as they were not European.
 
Nathan said:
All I know is that the former Spanish colonies were forcibly settled and Catholic missionaries played a large part in 'civilizing' the indigenous peoples, who did not share full status as human beings, as they were not European.
Click to expand...
We were also forcibly settled by the English, and various Christian denominations were a big part of that.

At some level you could make the case that the Spanish were not as hard on the indigenous people as the English. Most Latin-American countries have a higher proportion of Native and partially Native peoples than we do. They did not kill them off as effectively as our ancestors.
population.jpeg
https://www.statista.com/chart/19633/countries-by-indigenous-population-in-the-americas/
 
Alligatorob said:
Do you see a connection?

They are also prominent in Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, Malta and other prosperous democracies. Though not a majority they are pretty prominent here too.
Click to expand...
Altho' Catholicism is the most prominent religion in France, there's only 4 percent of practicing Catholics out 84 % of Catholics ... Unlike 36% of practising Catholics in Ireland.. ( out of 78 % Catholic population) In Malta 92 % of the population identified as Catholic but only 40% attend mass every Sunday..
In Spain.. 62 % define themselves as Catholics down from 95 % in 1975... 14 % attend church weekly... 17 % go every few weeks..

In Italy.. 74 % are Catholic..

Every year the number of Italian believers attending religious services becomes lower and lower. In 2020, there were about 12 million citizens attending church at least once a week. The majority are those over 75, the least attendees are those between 18 and 25
 
Yesterday I was listening to KGO talk radio from San Francisco. The host had the mayor of Sacramento (the capital of California) on as a guest discussing the homeless crisis. This mayor mentioned that more tiny houses and manufactured homes should be built and then said something like "I don't know how we do that. " I was like 'WTF, you are the mayor of a major U.S. city and you have no idea' to myself. This is what us, the people, are dealing with. Everywhere.

But I've been informed by members of this forum, that housing is built for profit, not the needs of the community. It's a real bleep show and I am more and more convinced that politicians, from small towns to Washington DC, are all crooks, crooks, crooks. And around the world.
 
Paco Dennis said:
People are starving, or have no shelter in the places they are coming from. The homeless problem is infecting most of our cities now. This problem is due in large part because big $$$$$ runs the whole world's economic system. If you want to fix this you will have to put lawmakers in your government that make laws based on human well being rather than the candidates who promote more manipulation of the $$$$$$.
Click to expand...
I could not agree more. Yet I fear this will never happen. Money just rules everything. Greed before humanity in the minds of too many. Look how rich many of the big politicians are.
 
hollydolly said:
In Italy.. 74 % are Catholic..

Every year the number of Italian believers attending religious services becomes lower and lower.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I kind of knew that, but not the statistics. I used to do a lot of work in Italy, all of the people I worked with were Catholic, but I don't think any had been to church in many years. I suspect that in the poor Latin-American countries church attendance is higher.

Do you think there is any kind of cause and effect there? If so which way, do people attend church less as they become more affluent, or do people become more affluent by skipping church?
 
Alligatorob said:
Thanks, I kind of knew that, but not the statistics. I used to do a lot of work in Italy, all of the people I worked with were Catholic, but I don't think any had been to church in many years. I suspect that in the poor Latin-American countries church attendance is higher.

Do you think there is any kind of cause and effect there? If so which way, do people attend church less as they become more affluent, or do people become more affluent by skipping church?
Click to expand...
There's for sure evidence that people become more affluent when not attending church. The percentage of their salary that they tithe to the church is then saved or in fact chosen to be donated to causes of their own choosing..

I too lived and worked in (Northern) Italy .. where were you ? :D
 
hollydolly said:
I too lived and worked in (Northern) Italy .. where were you ?
Click to expand...
Never lived there, but for about 10 years I traveled to Italy probably 100 times. Spent the most time in the Milan area, did a lot of work on the Trecate Oil well blowout. Also did work in or near Venice, Florence, Genova, and on Sardinia. Went to a few meetings in Rome, but never got further south than that.

Where were you?

Trecate blowout
trecate blowout.jpg
hollydolly said:
There's for sure evidence that people become more affluent when not attending church. The percentage of their salary that they tithe to the church is then saved or in fact chosen to be donated to causes of their own choosing..
Click to expand...
The Mormons here may be the exception to that, they have a very high church attendance record, and most tithe 10%, and yet are very successful business people. Think of the Marriot or Romney families.
 
This is a stray and admittingly simple observation from someone who has lived in Arizona for a very long time but it seems like when the economy is in the tank then the illegal immigration issue is under a microscope. But when the economy is doing well then the subject is not such a hot button topic. The most recent example of it happening here in Arizona was over a decade ago when the housing crunch hit and the economy bottomed out.
 
@hollydolly, teatime news earlier reported that almost 1,300 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats on Monday - a new record for crossings in a single day. In my area it was announced recently that 500 new homes are going to be built locally; all those homes will bring vehicles so roads will be busier (we live in a village but between two large towns) with more people registering at the local health centres/hospitals/dental surgeries when its already near impossible to get an appointment anywhere or even speak to a GP these days. And we too have our concerns about current homelessness levels and families struggling to pay rent/mortgage and facing cost of living crises fearing they will end up on the streets. We've heard several reports over the past few weeks about how local food banks are struggling to feed people, farmers unable to harvest crops because there are no workers since Brexit, small businesses folding for same reason. Some of our local areas look so run-down and empty, its heartbreaking. So many horrific grooming scandals and sex-trafficking crimes committed by gangs of Pakistani men, Albanians, and others. Life as it is now is not the life we knew even 2 years ago. And not all because of Covid. We don't like what has become of the UK and wonder where the future, if any here, will take us...
 
Last edited:
Bretrick said:
Australia accepts 160,000 migrants year.
Of these, 109,900 will be skilled migrants, 50,000 families and 100 special eligibility places.
This figure is set to rise to 235,000 migrants by 2025.
My chagrin comes from the fact that Australia is seeing a huge rise in homelessness.
Families are being thrown out of rentals so greedy landlords can exploit the shortage by having exorbitant rents.
Every one of the migrants will be housed. How?
There are not enough places now, how is it possible that all these immigrants will have somewhere to live?
Click to expand...
You have my sincere sympathies, Bretrick, and I share your exasperation and concern.
 
Bretrick said:
Australia accepts 160,000 migrants year.
Of these, 109,900 will be skilled migrants, 50,000 families and 100 special eligibility places.
This figure is set to rise to 235,000 migrants by 2025.
Click to expand...
Is this what the majority of Australians want, or is it just due to default disorganization? Like I think it is here?

We are both democracies where the majority should rule...
 
Alligatorob said:
Is this what the majority of Australians want, or is it just due to default disorganization? Like I think it is here?

We are both democracies where the majority should rule...
Click to expand...
I am sure if you ask dinkie di Australians about this set up, the majority would say, "House our locals first"
The business community is behind the upsurge in immigration numbers.
For what ever reason, there is a dearth of workers here and many businesses are losing money, or closing down.
Many, many people have retired early or simply stopped looking for work during this era of Covid disruption.
Maybe this is part of a workers revolt. For too many years businesses have exploited workers, grudgingly giving pay rises only after the Fair Work Commission has a review and orders pay rises.
Very rarely does a business offer workers pay rises unprompted.
 
Alligatorob said:
That is true, and the causes are not something I understand. As you say today's Spain is a prosperous democracy, but most of its Spanish speaking former colonies are not. With England its a mixed bag, some of us former colonies are more fortunate than others...
Click to expand...
There does seem to be something in the mind-set of white people which makes our countries more prosperous. If there is a predominance of non-whites, who end up ruling America and European countries, those countries will end up in the same state as those these people left! With the gold and diamonds, Africa could have been extremely rich and prosperous. Yet it was white people who opened up the mines and became wealthy.
 
Bretrick said:
I am sure if you ask dinkie di Australians about this set up, the majority would say, "House our locals first"
The business community is behind the upsurge in immigration numbers.
For what ever reason, there is a dearth of workers here and many businesses are losing money, or closing down.
Many, many people have retired early or simply stopped looking for work during this era of Covid disruption.
Maybe this is part of a workers revolt. For too many years businesses have exploited workers, grudgingly giving pay rises only after the Fair Work Commission has a review and orders pay rises.
Very rarely does a business offer workers pay rises unprompted.
Click to expand...
Australians have always been xenophobic until they become more familiar with the newly arrived people with unfamiliar customs and appearance. We have also been rather slow to recognise the contribution these people make to our economy and society in general.

Right now we are experiencing serious shortages of skilled and unskilled workers and governments and businesses are crying out for migrant workers to solve the problem. They do not look at the problem from a local perspective - lack of investment in skills training, insecure employment contracts and poor pay are a big part of the current crisis.

Right now we have a number of (so called) illegal immigrants who actually have asylum seeker status who have been incarcerated for many years at great expense to the taxpayer. If even half of that expenditure had been devoted to settling them and training them for work in Australia we would not be in such dire straits. Many of them came here already trained but have not been permitted to contribute to Australia in any way.

Australia has always been underpopulated and much too choosy about who should be allowed to settle here. The White Australia Policy was still in operation until 1966 but it remains alive in some people's thinking.

End of the White Australia policy | National Museum of Australia (nma.gov.au)
 
Capt Lightning said:
Supported by a bunch of 'bleeding heart' liberals, the UK has become the trash can of Europe, and the government hasn't the guts to do anything about it. It disgusts me that the lifeboat service is being used as a free taxi service for criminals.
Click to expand...
Exactly that! ...and what's worse is that there would be no problem having a ferry to take those illegal migrants off the boat they arrive on and deposit them right back where they arrived from.. but will our govt do it ?.. no... yet the govt screams about them arriving in their droves

There's one easy way to stop them coming and that's to ensure they don't get dole or housing.. but I have to stop there because we're now entering into Politics.. and we'll get knuckles rapped..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top