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A sorry state of affairs.

One thing I don't quite understand about the motivation for all this, is that even a self centred, fully signed up member of the Kleptocracy personally benefits from living in a country with a functioning public sector.

Surely they don't actually think the UK would be a better place to live if we emulated the disastrous situation in the US?

Six Ways America Is Like a Third-World Country
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ne ... y-20140305

The government are hitting local government too hard. The aggregate cuts are not that far off, but the details have flaws.

This is a typical national civil servant vs local government officer dispute. Neither are fully truthful, but on this occasion I side with local government moreso than national.

clv101 wrote: Six Ways America Is Like a Third-World Country

That's a bit unfair to Third-world countries. On another issue, I happened to be looking up some stats on Costa Rica today, which is certainly in the Third world. They stopped having an army in 1949 but have a higher literacy rate, better health care and a longer life expectancy than the USA. And the ranked top in the NEF Happiest Nation table a couple of times!

biffvernon wrote:That's a bit unfair to Third-world countries. On another issue, I happened to be looking up some stats on Costa Rica today, which is certainly in the Third world. They stopped having an army in 1949 but have a higher literacy rate, better health care and a longer life expectancy than the USA. And the ranked top in the NEF Happiest Nation table a couple of times!

Yes, Costa Rica seems to be an oasis of calm in the middle of some very volatile and disturbed countries - Honduras, Mexico, Guatamala, Nicaragua etc.
They're a great story, but certainly aren't reflective of the region and can't be held up as a typical example of a 'Third-world' country......