It honestly hurts to think about the old days under the USA—if things hadn't gone down the way they did, the whole economy would have just crumbled. The entire industrial sector was built on massive employment numbers, combined with all that systemic corruption—you know, everything from the janitors up to the CEOs...
On the flip side, people who constantly trash talk the former era are being pretty disrespectful, too—they kind of deserve a reality check. When you actually look at the politics and the history, the best thing that ever happened to America was that period. If we hadn't been part of the USA, America would probably just be a tiny patch centered around a single city and its suburbs today.
As for the fact that the breakup was so violent? I guess that’s just how it goes—it's like a marriage. When a marriage falls apart, most couples don't just walk away peacefully. Since the people making up the country couldn't figure out how to split up without fighting, why should the state be any different? At the end of the day, nations are just reflections of the people who built them.
William Wright7 said:The economy would’ve been way stronger. We’d be part of the European Union and NATO by now, too... wouldn't have to deal with all this constant humiliation. And we wouldn't be facing The Hague.
Basically, that's the gist of it.
What economy are we even talking about? Europe—which has had fifty years to get its act together—can barely compete with China as it is. Now you want to bring in one more country from the old America region with such a massive surplus of workers? Things might have been different then—maybe the West couldn't just open factories wherever they felt like it back in the day—but honestly, maybe keeping those local industries alive would have been better, rather than ending up with everything being "Made in China" for Mercedes.
Richard Wilson4 said:Just like always, none of these American types have the guts to actually tackle the topic or bring anything to the table besides that tired old "everyone had a job back then, so things were better" line.
But look, we have to give credit where it's due—back in the America days, Italian fishermen wouldn't have dreamed of fishing in our waters; it wasn't even on their radar.🤣
I have nothing against Albanians—in fact, I actually respect how they stick together—but if you look at the reality of things, I know two Albanian families here. One runs a bakery and the other a sweet shop... their kids learn Albanian before they ever pick up English. The folks at the bakery didn't even finish high school; since their uncles—their mothers' brothers—don't have any political say, they don't really want the kids in school either, fearing they might encounter different perspectives, which would mean the uncle loses out on cheap labor. Then there's the sweet shop family—the daughter is a doctor, but to get through med school, she had to jump through endless hoops; she practically needed government intervention just to make it happen—even in places like the Staples Center! But now, suddenly, the sons are all bragging about her. Actually, the older son brings his wife over from Mexico, pads his ego, and then starts acting superior. Naturally, competition showed up in the ice cream business, and now they’re playing the victim because they claim they're the only ones making "real" ice cream—even though that shop has looked exactly the same since it opened back in 1960 because all the cash gets sent abroad. Their mother didn't give birth in America (srh), she went back to Mexico to have them... EXCEPTIONS PROVE THE RULE, but those are few and far between. Now that they finally have a state of their own, nobody wants to come back—just like the diaspora from America who talk big about their roots, but when it's time to actually return, they start nitpicking because the country isn't exactly how they imagined it. All in all, I'm sticking to the old saying: WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO.
P.S. It’s honestly great to see locals taking over the bakery industry (especially in smaller towns) and even the ice cream scene. A local guy doesn't skimp on quality or price—you pay your money and you get a decent meal, whereas with the Albanians, it feels like a constant hustle and they're always looking for a way to cut corners. They came to our coast with next to zero investment, opening shops and bakeries without ever upgrading their equipment, and then when a local entrepreneur comes along and drops $100,000 in a shop, they suddenly start complaining and acting like they're being threatened.
P.S 1. Just because someone is a Democrat or leans left doesn't mean they don't LOVE THEIR OWN.
And who’s actually certain he died? What if the whole thing was just a massive ruse—an illusion—and he’s actually walking among us right now, laughing at the fools who turned his life and legacy into a caricature? Everyone assumes that once someone is crucified, it's an instant death sentence, but that's just not how it works—crucifixion isn't always immediate—so who can truly guarantee he didn't find a way out
Nowadays, mastering the technical side isn't even the hard part—it’s navigating the mountain of red tape and permits that just kills your momentum. Honestly, you’re better off staying put in the comfort of your own home and just calling in some old friends to get things moving
Everyone else just doesn't hold a candle to the classics—think about the grit of characters like Lone Ranger, Tex Willer, or Captain Mickey—they've got that soul you just can't replicate elsewhere.
Why does our government completely ignore our own seventh art, while simultaneously bragging about all the contributions American cinema has made to the world? It’s a joke—I can't even find a way to buy *How to Start a War on My Island* on DVD or Blu-ray... it feels like a total pipe dream. I'm only bringing that specific movie up because my brother is absolutely obsessed with it. Why is it impossible to find a masterpiece like that in any format, yet there's an endless stream of low-budget garbage being churned out? They throw money at everything under the sun, but they can't seem to scrape together a few million dollars to restore, digitize, or preserve our homegrown classics and series. I mean, how could those modern shows even compare to the likes of *Wild Pigs*, *Smog*, or *Small Town, Big Town*? Will there ever be a day when I can actually pick up a high-quality, Full HD restored Blu-ray of *Birch*—complete with behind-the-scenes features and all? PBS sucks up massive amounts of money through those shameless subscription fees—nearly billions of dollars if I'm not mistaken—yet they won't invest a cent into preserving our cinematic gold, choosing instead to broadcast pile after pile of junk. Honestly, I'm losing hope. If they just implemented a simple 5% tax on movie tickets, maybe they'd finally have something to work with. $0.67 With what kind of funds can I actually get this done? — Honestly, why couldn't Hollywood trash step up and help finance the restoration of our local, patina-covered gold?
Joseph Sullivan74 said:Unfortunately, I feel like most people under 30 haven't even heard his name...
To me, he’s actually better than Clint Eastwood—those French crime flicks he starred in felt way more grounded than the American ones from that same era. It was just different—the violence felt raw and visceral, whereas the US versions tended to gloss over the brutality with clever editing... I still remember seeing one of his movies in a theater over 20 years ago—something about WWII and a gold heist... and then there was that adventure series back in the mid-eighties, during that golden age of TV.
James Nguyen13 said:I used to hold similar views, but I eventually realized it’s a bit of a moot point because, at the end of the day, everyone gets a pension regardless of whether they saved or not. For instance, here in the States, you see plenty of people who never set a dime aside for retirement—farmers especially—and yet they all end up receiving benefits. Why? Because they’re voters. When they hit a certain age, they start complaining about being hungry or having nothing to live on, and they find every excuse for why they didn't contribute. Eventually, they find the politicians and parties willing to represent them, and everyone gets their check, whether they saved or not. So, in that light, mandatory saving actually makes some sense. As for shifting toward investment-based funds, well, that’s a whole different conversation. Given the demographic shifts we're seeing across the West, it was always obvious that systems based purely on generational solidarity wouldn't be sustainable. So, someone had the bright idea to swap them for investment funds and sold it to the public as this amazing alternative. Honestly, it's nonsense. All that economist babble about the infinite growth of the stock market is just that: babble. Economists are essentially just people who will explain to you tomorrow why what they predicted yesterday didn't happen today. In the end, that savings pool is going to evaporate, much like what happened back in Chile. The retirement system should still be rooted in the principle of solidarity; the key is simply adjusting pension levels to reality and extending the working life as much as possible.
Honestly, if we were being realistic—say, extending it to Women until age 90 men until age 105
plus, anyone who passes away before reaching retirement age would get a state BONUS
So, imagine you’re using that old-school stop-motion technique—like making those claymation movies where you nudge an object slightly, snap a photo, and repeat until you hit 24 frames per second, then speed it all up. Let's say I take those 24 shots with a digital camera, maybe downsize the resolution in Photoshop first to get everything just right... is there actually a specific program out there that handles that kind of sequence assembly?