ANZUS Treaty Annoyances (America and China and Australia)

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/no-reason-to-get-even-closer-to-uncle-sam-20111114-1nfgn.html

I'm not so much frustrated with the idea that we might have to trade with China in future, I'm not stupid enough to not know the difference between Asian-Australians like my piano-playing pal Angus who's Chinese and the PRC Government.

Thing is, this whole ANZUS Treaty and its one sided-ness towards American gain for the most part is what's been a bee in my bonnet for some time. I've heard rumours that if the Republicans win the next US election, us Aussies will be dragged into more wars we don't want any part of because of this ANZUS Treaty. And the whole redraft of the ANZUS Treaty to cover cyber attacks just scares me to be honest. It's like they're trying to stamp out Anonymous without even trying to hide it.

It is a question to be pondered upon a troubled brow, Conan style. Other than that I got nothin' to add on the issue other than my dissatisfaction with my politicians making choices their voters don't want, considering a lot of folks down under don't wanna vote for either of the two parties because neither represent where we're at politically.

Hell Hasn't Earned My Tears

Yet another two of the Big Five that no longer want anything to do with the US...

~sigh~

USAF713 on his phone or iPod.

@New Geek: So you're suggesting Australia goes neither way?

edited 14th Nov '11 7:01:30 PM by Erock

If you don't like a single Frank Ocean song, you have no soul.

Yep. but our politicians didn't get that memo cause they stopped listening to our voting public years ago.

Hell Hasn't Earned My Tears

Ah, that's what all the hoopla over TPP is about. I wondered where that came from all of a sudden and the very conspicuous absence of China from it.

@USAF 721

This surprises you?

Honestly, if the Pubs get into majority power and implement all the crazy shit they have in mind, the rest of the First World is going to finally get tired of us and start with sanctions and/or just pulling their business from us and putting the economic pressure on. ...and that's if they're nice in dealing with us.

I think the US is pushing on the limits of how much people are willing to put up with from the 900-pound gorilla before they finally say, "Screw it" and start pulling out the nets, lifting crane, and tranquilizers.

Apparently I am adorable, but my GF is my #1 Groupie. (Avatar by Dreki-K)

Well, see the TPP mentioned in the article? Apparently Canada got fed up with selling oil to USA because of delays and government-lobbyists blocking it. So apparently the oil will now be sold to Asian countries (such as China) instead. For Canadians, the problem is the environmental cost of selling oil so I think we're killing ourselves for selling it at way too low a price to USA. Canada should be selling it at, for at least, 5x the price to China.

edited 15th Nov '11 5:57:38 AM by breadloaf

@ New Greek: That's amazingly similar to what we're feeling in Britain too, even down to the Politicians (As You Know, we've also got a Coalition Government — for the same reasons).

Keep Rolling On

@Jeysie,

No, it's just depressing.

USAF713 on his phone or iPod.

Agreed. I wish our politicians and businesses would get their act together, but as long as citizens let them get away with it...

I'm torn. In the short term it's going to hurt us when we're already hurting, and as usual it's going to be the people who did the least damage who suffer most. But in the long term maybe we'll finally learn we can't keep acting like dipshits unless we want the people we need buying and selling from us to say "Seeya!"

edited 15th Nov '11 7:07:50 AM by Jeysie

Apparently I am adorable, but my GF is my #1 Groupie. (Avatar by Dreki-K)

The Trouble is, that point might be approaching faster than you can Get A Hold Of Yourselves — Closer Military Alliance? Maybe? A Trade Alliance? No.

I mean, pretty much all of America's Allies are slowly distancing themselves away from them...

There's only so much Idiocy one can go through. And well, maybe some Break the Haughty might do some good.

Keep Rolling On

Well it's not just the American government. The lobbyists hurt trade with America quite a lot. USA is supposed to be part of NAFTA so why all the myriad of tariffs against Canadian and Mexican goods? There's hardly any tariffs going the other way. Heck, that's actually one of the primary reasons publicly stated by South American countries refusing trade deals with USA.

Well, I can't argue with tariffs entirely... our relying heavily on outsourcing and imports versus domestic production is part of our job problems. That being said, our protectionism currently isn't that intelligently implemented.

Apparently I am adorable, but my GF is my #1 Groupie. (Avatar by Dreki-K)

...and it does't help that some products (particularly cars and other vehicles) don't have a good reputation abroad*

— which makes Exports from America difficult to achieve.

And another problem is thatmakes so-called "Import" producers like, say, Honda and Volkswagen, design and produce models specifically for the American market, and produce them in the USA or Canada (such as the Toyota Tundra), since it is such a different market to everywhere else. In other words, some "Imports"...aren't.

edited 15th Nov '11 7:51:56 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

Wow, I tried looking at tariff rates and my god are those websites horribad. The US government website only lets you look at one HSN (some kind of international number for identifying a type of good) at a time. The Canadian website gives you a 1800 page PDF with EVERYTHING in it. Sadly, that pdf is actually easier/better to look at than the US website that has a lookup database.

Anyway at a cursory glance, I noticed US has 25% tariff on steel (as an example). In comparison, Canada had 0%.