Also, China has no economic problems to speak of, it's the most powerful country, today.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=shanghai+composite+chart
Try googling "Chinese shadow cities" and tell me they don't have a huge bubble waiting to burst

^+1. I just met someone a couple of weeks ago who moved from Fuzhou in South China because her parents feared the housing bubble was going to collapse.

The Chinese government exercises a huge amount of control on the relative "freedom of markets". Their use of currency manipulation has largely kept them alive at the expense of other trading partners. Not to mention that the Chinese government can without question close down their entire stock market trading operations if the Shanghai Composite goes in the red too much.

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/chinas-monumental-ponzi-heres-how-it-unravels/

Besides the housing bubble, the Chinese have also engaged in dollar diplomacy with their huge treasury currency reserves (which were at $4 trillion at one point). Basically they use their state owned corporations to invest in strategic or small or poor countries that happen to be tremendously valuable for their natural resource deposits. They can then leverage their investments in the country's economy to gain essentially automatic locks to raw materials such as fossil fuels and minerals for their country's industrial production.

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/foreign-exchange-reserves

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/business/international/chinas-global-ambitions-with-loans-and-strings-attached.html?_r=0

Try googling "Chinese shadow cities" and tell me they don't have a huge bubble waiting to burst

There are ghost towns in America, there are ghost towns in China, there are ghost towns in Russia. Their beings won't be the end of these countries.

The Chinese government exercises a huge amount of control on the relative "freedom of markets". Their use of currency manipulation has largely kept them alive at the expense of other trading partners. Not to mention that the Chinese government can without question close down their entire stock market trading operations if the Shanghai Composite goes in the red too much.

They have an unfree market, so what? It's all the more stability for them, that's the advantage of unfree markets and governments: stability. Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and all the communist countries in the Cold War, they were in stable economic slipspace until the 1980s. Seems like an advantageous power to me.

Besides the housing bubble, the Chinese have also engaged in dollar diplomacy with their huge treasury currency reserves (which were at $4 trillion at one point). Basically they use their state owned corporations to invest in strategic or small or poor countries that happen to be tremendously valuable for their natural resource deposits. They can then leverage their investments in the country's economy to gain essentially automatic locks to raw materials such as fossil fuels and minerals for their country's industrial production.

And how is this Chinese economic weakness?

^They're investing in failed African, Asian, and South American states that are completely unstable and unlikely to repay loans and debts. They're throwing money at countries on which they won't get a return.

Edited 3/19/2016 01:44:17

It is illegal for the police to just check someone's house or person for something without a warrant. By the time it takes for a warrant the person could easily hide his gun or give it to a friend for safe keeping.

Well, for guns, forget a warrant, if you see a gun, you check who's holding it. Stop.

There are also many who simply wouldn't tell police or anyone they have a gun and keep it secret, it's not like the police will just randomly get a warrant for someone who doesn't even give suspicion.

Doesn't apply to those who don't show about their guns, just the guns the police see.

It will radicalize people who think it is their obligation to defend their rights. 1% of the population, ps, is 3 million. That would be a huge chunk of people willing to kill, bomb and attack the government.

Propoganda can change all that. Probably about 1.5% Americans hate the government as is; that's how many voted politic groups other than Democrats or Republicans in the 2012 presidential election (if governmental figures are to be believed).

They're investing in failed African, Asian, and South American states that are completely unstable and unlikely to repay loans and debts. They're throwing money at countries on which they won't get a return.

They're not stupid. There are no failed South American theodes, they are investing in these sites, though, and gaining international power and allies through these countries, even if some don't pay them back in timely. I mean, you can say the same thing about foreign help loans: they're throwing at money at countries on which they won't get a return, but they do want an alliance with.

Propaganda is at a high right now. How are you going to convince people any better when you already own the news corporations, schools, newspapers and radio stations?

Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and all the communist countries in the Cold War, they were in stable economic slipspace until the 1980s.

This helps prove my point. China, as a communist nation, is long overdue for its economic collapse.

There are ghost towns in America, there are ghost towns in China, there are ghost towns in Russia. Their beings won't be the end of these countries.

Yeah, but the American ones are Western relics, not the source of a housing bubble. They have shadow cities, not just shadow towns. You do realize the problems of investing huge amounts of money into something with no demand, right? It's could easily be even worse than '08

^The problem is not just that they constructed these massive cities. The problem is that the Chinese people actually bought them as a form of investment. The Chinese people believe due to State Run Propaganda that real estate prices will keep going up in China, when in reality they're bound to collapse in these areas where there is no economic development and just empty skyscrapers. What happens when the real estate prices collapse? The investors, mainly the middle class, will have their investment portfolio wiped out which will cause a full blown economic meltdown. And since China is a global partner and US-Chinese trade is at $500 billion, it will cause a global economic crisis.

This helps prove my point. China, as a communist nation, is long overdue for its economic collapse.

With communism came stability, not any kind of collapse. There are Berkadif waves in capitalism, with capitalism is freedom, but unstablity.

Yeah, but the American ones are Western relics, not the source of a housing bubble. They have shadow cities, not just shadow towns. You do realize the problems of investing huge amounts of money into something with no demand, right? It's could easily be even worse than '08

It's a waste of money, not much more. No harbinger of collapse. And you know, Canada, Canada supports some of it's north towns with money and food shipments every few months, and even though it's every few months, and economically unprofitable, it won't bring about Canada's collapse (though ideally, it should be stopped).

I don't get #4. What are these special licenses? How tough are they to get and is everyone in Austria eligible to get one or is there a quote on the number? Also are all guns allowed to these people with special licenses? Just curious :)

Technically, everyone who is not a murderer and is mentally sane can get a license. With said license you can get up to 2 semi-automatic guns. Those must be stored at home, locked away and unloaded.

With another license with is much harder to get, you can even carry them around (loaded) and are allowed to own more than 300 rounds.
In order to get full-automatic weapons you need a very good reason and/or the appropriate job or be a member of a guns-club.

Guns that are produced before the year 1870 are avilable to everyone above the age of 21 (if you are mentally sane).

In order to get the permission for more than 2 firearms, you need to extend you license and all guns must be registered and written down in your license.

Theoretically speaking you can get all guns, you can get in the US, in Austria too. It just takes a lot paperwork.

With communism came stability, not any kind of collapse.

Not any kind of collapse, just like the Soviets, right?

And I find it ludicrous you cannot realize how potentially catastrophic the housing bubble is. It just boggles me. I give up. Learn economics.

http://economyandmarkets.com/markets/housing-market-markets/chinas-unprecedented-real-estate-bubble-is-a-ticking-time-bomb/

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-14/could-chinas-housing-bubble-bring-down-global-economy

Edited 3/19/2016 02:08:08

Not any kind of collapse, just like the Soviets, right?

Soviet collapse was since the government started giving freedoms, and converting to capitalism. Gorbachöv "shock therapy" capitalism is what ended it.

And I find it ludicrous you cannot realize how potentially catastrophic the housing bubble is. It just boggles me. I give up. Learn economics.

Well, I can't say I'm good about economy, so I will be quiet for now. Economy is a fluid thing in which both sides will help you, and is very argued.

Theoretically speaking you can get all guns, you can get in the US, in Austria too. It just takes a lot paperwork.

Ah I see! Thanks for the information. Austria is pretty lax on gun laws then compared to the rest of Europe no?

*Western Europe

Edited 3/19/2016 02:32:48

That's how it works in the EU, I think.

^I'm pretty sure in the UK you can't get a semiautomatic even with a gun license. Although I know there are hunting guns that are allowed with a license.

All I know is that Automatic-guns are not allowed in Germany unless your job explicitly requests it.

And yeah, actually gun-laws are pretty relaxed in Austria, but thats simply due to the fact that practically no one owns one, apart from the Police and the military.
We just see no reason to waste money on one.

I'm pretty sure in the UK you can't get a semiautomatic even with a gun license. Although I know there are hunting guns that are allowed with a license.

I'm pretty sure you can get automatic rifles there, though they're pretty reluctant to give them out.

Frain to gun-loving Americans: Do you even have a fire extinguisher? I know you buy these guns for self-shielding, but you're much more likely to die of a fire than by violence in America - and a fire extinguisher in a fire is much more of a guarantee that you'll live through a fire than a gun in a firefight.

Edited 3/19/2016 03:15:01

My aunt, she owned about 50 guns , she had one.