China 2nd Largest Economy

it will if you just forget about those made up numbers.

My brother tried that, didnt work out so well for him. haha

yeah I know but hell when the top 1% of people in this country hold 43% of it's wealth to me it shows that some definate changes should be made to better the lives of every american. But what gets cut first in a recession funding for schools police, fire and rescue services and health clinics for people who can't afford to go to the doctor.

US just has to strongarm the world with their nukes.
Be like "we don't owe anybody ***and if you have a problem with it *** you."

To bad a few others have some as well, would just create a standoff until someone pushes a button and then everything would be 'forgotten'.

the US strongarms and gets into stuff they need to stay out of =/ how we got into this mess in the first place. Epic Fail US, Epic Fail...

throwing that number around when considering part of that number comes from bailing out other countries in their times of crisis seems irrational.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_the_European_Union

This specifically relates to the taxes for the EU.

The laws part is in the main article, i'm not pulling out the individual sections that cover this.

Whoa whoa whoa. The US was intended to be more like how you describe, but in practice it is anything but. Individual states (as in US provinces, not countries) are restricted much more than the members of the EU. There is much more than the shared currency, open borders and mutual protection. Most glaringly is the fact that no US state can oppose any US Federal Law (on paper, anyway.) And just about everything that is regulated is regulated to Federal standards. Governors of US States do command the National Guard of that state, however they can only use them for emergency response - natural disasters, or riots. They cannot form any kind of treaty or alliance with a foreign nation. They don't have any kind of citizenship particular to each state.

I don't know whether it's appropriate or not to count the entire EU as a single economy. But US States are no more sovereign than individual Canadian or Australian provinces.

Fair enough but it's still the same for the EU. As a member you agree to use the federal laws of the EU and have your own state laws. Just because they are less intrusive than the US doesn't mean they are not the same.

I lol'd at their projected budget in comparison to UKz expenditures.

That's the point. We aren't talking abou

In order to figure this out, I think two questions need to be answered:

1. What percentage of laws are shared by all members? (Excluding culture on purpose, but language would be included in laws if any members have an official language.)

2. At what point does each member lose its individual sovereignty and become "just" a member of a larger whole?

Yeah, I like to think I own a piece of a grass in estonia somewhere for my money (don't even know if estonia is a member)

I beleive you argueing purely because you don't see how little power our states have individually

They act as a deterrence nothing more. They can't considering the fact that pretty much anyone could eventually build one given time and some money

I think you hit on something worth mentioning, and I bolded it. The way I see it, the EU compares much better (organizationally- I am not making a joke) to the US in 1800 than than it does to the US in 2000.

I'd say it's never good to make commonsensical arguments here for the most part when trying to make a point here.
especially when your point is about a country you know nothing about, and especially when you don't know necessarily enough about your own.
Just makes people think you are dumbass when you link to wiki to prove your points.
Being right is only satisfying when you are right(not wiki).
and the legitimacy of wiki is questionably in all honesty.
I own about 2 or 3 families on welfare.

Not to mention that something like seven or eight countries have nuclear weapons, not one.

Oh I know.
I need to not speak in serious conversations or spell out my sarcasm, maybe that's why I watch the Colbert Report for my comedy news and not John Stewart.
Other than that google news all the way lolol.
In all honesty I think China could pretty much make us their *** any day of the week.

Exactly. We used to be like that. Several things changed that. Wars helped alot especially helping to promote a sense of country.

But alot of it has been hashed out to fix all the problems that arose from having a country that didn't have as strong a central government and all the interstatial problems that rose.

So wait...

Is it fair to compare the entire US and the entire EU economically?

I don't know how or why this turned into "I am better than you!!"

Oh wait... this is the internet, that's why. Still don't know the how, though.

I really think it's silly to compare it at all when we have a global economy.
But then that viewpoint would make this thread a bit besides the point.
WE STILL BEET U AND WUN R INDEPENDENCE U TEE DRINKIN YUPEEZ.
that's the general uninformed American opinion tell ya hwut.

I'm have certain that with a decent job and a little trial and error with my current lvl of knowledge maybe a little looking stuff up I could build my own by myself. I mean it is 1940s technology lol. And it's not that hard to get/make fissible material

Lol yeah. Everytime any country looks like they are doing bad economically everyone panics around the world

Do you mean this part @EU or @US?

I dunno about that.
You could make some pretty big conventional bombs though.
Core materials would be the gray/risky area.
Could probably do it in the western hemisphere.
What radioactive chem would you use as a base lol

Cold war anyone? No one is nuking anyone. There are no countries in the world that are completely independant from foreign trade and imports. All countries are far too entwined in the import/export game to ever get into a world war again anytime soon.

US... though who knows the EU might get there. Probably faster than us

North Korea wants you to join them in their holy war against capitalist pigs.

To be fair I have a little more knowledge about nuclear fission than most people. Not that most of it isn't on the internet which is of course how I get credit for knowing it since what I was taught is technically classified lol.

While not a bomb The Radioactive boy scout proved how easy it was to get/make the materials for a reactor with no formal training even. There is radioactive material all around you.

I think I like the way you think!

Did you ever hear about the guy that was arrested for buying/stealing tons and tons of smoke detectors? I don't remember the details, but supposedly that was his end goal.