We live in strange times...

[Ibrahim90]

When Jordan, an Arab Monarchy in the middle of the Near East, is 7th in economic frredoms in 2015 (Fraser Institue). At least I'm a citizen there, so can escape if the economy here totally collapses.


The US--"land of opportunity" is 16th. The only other country in the region freer economically is the UAE--5th freest. (Israel's 39th).

The Canadians here can have--for now--the satisfaction that Canada is 9th. So much for being the "Nirth Anerican Sweden"--Sweden is 42nd.

so why are many in the US voting for people who want to make a Venezuela (157th) of us?

[ArtemisVale]

When Jordan, an Arab Monarchy in the middle of the Near East, is 7th in economic frredoms in 2015 (Fraser Institue). At least I'm a citizen there, so can escape if the economy here totally collapses.


The US--"land of opportunity" is 16th. The only other country in the region freer economically is the UAE--5th freest. (Israel's 39th).

The Canadians here can have--for now--the satisfaction that Canada is 9th. So much for being the "Nirth Anerican Sweden"--Sweden is 42nd.

so why are many in the US voting for people who want to make a Venezuela (157th) of us?

Well as for the canadians im not sure how well the "Its the current year." Prime minister is going to keep it up.

[Ibrahim90]

Well as for the canadians im not sure how well the "Its the current year." Prime minister is going to keep it up.

Well, when the pope of progressivism rules, you know it won't last.

[evensgrey]

Jordan is a really interesting country in many ways, including having the only King I know of who's appeared as an actor on a US-made TV show.  (Back before he became King, the current Jordanian King got a bit part in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.  Apparently he's a big Star Trek fan, and Paramount has a history of giving bit parts on Star Trek shows to visiting non-actor celebrities.)

Right now, the current idiot Trudeau is discovering that all the ideas he put forward don't actually translate into anything meaningful.  For instance, he was talking about what amounts to fattening up the civil service again, but it now turns out he doesn't plan to give them any more money after all, and still wants to remove the incredibly generous sick leave program the previous government wanted to get rid of.  (Seriously, who the hell EVER had sick days that accumulated, year over year?  We've got civil servants who take YEARS of sick leave and then retire, instead of going on long-term disability like a person with a real job would.)

[Ibrahim90]

Jordan is a really interesting country in many ways, including having the only King I know of who's appeared as an actor on a US-made TV show.  (Back before he became King, the current Jordanian King got a bit part in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.  Apparently he's a big Star Trek fan, and Paramount has a history of giving bit parts on Star Trek shows to visiting non-actor celebrities.)

Yeah, I saw him in an episode, walking down a corridor: I remember going "the hell? that's the king!" 

I actually asked mom about it, and she confirmed it (she's REALLY into star Trek). Even dad, and Grandad when he was alive were shocked.

He's actually quite an interesting character: he rides his own helicopter, his own motorcycle--everything. People from outside the country are shocked by how down-to-Earth he can be. Guy even commented on blogs discussing IT and Jordan.

And for an Arab ruler? he's quite progressive (in the good sense, not the SJW sense: he's very pro-capitalist, and to a limited extent, pro-political freedom).

Right now, the current idiot Trudeau is discovering that all the ideas he put forward don't actually translate into anything meaningful.  For instance, he was talking about what amounts to fattening up the civil service again, but it now turns out he doesn't plan to give them any more money after all, and still wants to remove the incredibly generous sick leave program the previous government wanted to get rid of.  (Seriously, who the hell EVER had sick days that accumulated, year over year?  We've got civil servants who take YEARS of sick leave and then retire, instead of going on long-term disability like a person with a real job would.)

So in other words, back to square 1?

so again I ask (rhetorically): why did people elect him?

[evensgrey]

Yeah, I saw him in an episode, walking down a corridor: I remember going "the hell? that's the king!" 

I actually asked mom about it, and she confirmed it (she's REALLY into star Trek). Even dad, and Grandad when he was alive were shocked.

He's actually quite an interesting character: he rides his own helicopter, his own motorcycle--everything. People from outside the country are shocked by how down-to-Earth he can be. Guy even commented on blogs discussing IT and Jordan.

And for an Arab ruler? he's quite progressive (in the good sense, not the SJW sense: he's very pro-capitalist, and to a limited extent, pro-political freedom).

Jordan is widely known to be one of the better places to live in the region.  There are better regions to live in, but you don't always have the choice.

So in other words, back to square 1?

so again I ask (rhetorically): why did people elect him?

Politics goes like this in Canada:  Sometimes, the governing party will be replaced regardless of what the new governing party actually is.  In the previous election, the Liberal party got pretty much curb-stomped and fell into third place, mostly because people WANTED parties with policies that went beyond the Liberal's policy of "We shall be the governing party."  I'm convinced we'd be better off with the far-left NDP than with the all-over-the-map Liberals, since at least they have consistent (bad, but consistent) policies.  It takes a LOT for consistent policies to be worse than policies that change whenever the opinion poles change.