I agree with you... I'll point out that he's just as bad as Sangetsu though.

yep i love australia, been here since i was 1 years old.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/D...rces/GNIPC.pdf This lists gross per-capita pay in dollars and purchasing parity, which takes into account things like health care and other expenses. Where is your country located on this list?

Think before you speak. School shootings make the world headlines frequently enough, but what is less often reported is that rates of violent crime in England surpassed those in America some years ago. Telegraph | News | Britain the most violent country in western Europe The numbers have only increased since this article was printed.

Obesity in England has quadrupled in recent years, and England is closing the obesity gap with American very quickly.

As for being a selfish country, how much did the UK spend in foreign aid last year as compared to the US? As for health care, an illegal immigrant from Mexico can swim across the river and go to an American hospital for $150,000 worth of bypass surgery. He will be treated immediately, regardless of his lack of citizenship or ability to pay. We have hospitals that are treating illegal immigrants with drug resistant tuberculosis, at a cost of one million dollars per year per patient. Illegal immigrants in America receive much more timely health care that legal citizens in the UK do, and these immigrants are not forced to pay so much as a single cent.

no :P (damn, minimum 10 characters)

Why are you two fighting over this as if the UK or US are ranked 1st...

A quick sum up of statistics;

Quality if life ranking 2008; 1st - France (however, should double check this), 2nd - Switzerland/Ireland (these have been first for past decade)

Per Head of population - Richest = Luxembourg

Highest concentration of rich people in any City - London, UK

Highest number of billionaires - USA

So, the point I'm making is, it's absolutely silly to fight over which country is best because no country out there is the best or has the most of EVERYTHING... Both the UK and US are great countries in their own right...

I don't suffer fools gladly.

Before coming to Japan I lived in Florida. Do you know how many people from Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic have drowned trying to get to America? Mexico is in bad shape, but it's a paradise compared to many other countries.

As for Texas, El Paso has the lowest violent crime rate of any American city. I asked a police officer why this was true, his answer was "because everyone has a gun". El Paso is separated from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, by the Rio Grande river. Violent crime has exploded there in recent years, Juarez has seen more than 900 murders so far in 2008, and there are still 3 months left in the year.

This thread is not for bashing other peoples countries, but talking about what you like and dislike about yours, please.

I am actually really surprised how close the poll is. I would have thought that 'Yes' would be a lot further ahead. Clearly, there are issues with people not trusting politicians, and so on, but I wonder how much they really know about politics, or are they just jumping on the 'We hate [insert politicians name] here' bandwagon.

Yes I am. Portugal has a lot of history, for example, we were the ones who brought guns to Japan, we were the first european people to arrive there.
We had half of the world (Spain had the other half) even though I think that's bullshit.

I'm proud of Portugal's history, however I am not proud of what we are today, the country sucks at the moment, politians are stealing from us, by charging more and more unnecessary bills.
It's really hard to get a job in here these days, at least for people in its 40's and 50's, and the lack of jobs is one of the main reasons for me to get the hell out of here.

I'm not on Bureda's side... But that's a lot of spin you're doing

-The gross pay per capita list ignores the benefits that a socialised health care system as you can't really put a dollar value on them. Not to mention that the idea that because Americans get "paid the most" and are therefore the greatest nation in the world is a stupid one.

-America may contribute the most net aid but as a percentage of it's GDP it actually ranks near the bottom only contributing 0.1% compare that to a country like Sweden near the top of that list which gives 0.35%.

Also I've heard that America's health care system is a shambles. It's definitely the most expensive system but I've also heard that it's the most inefficient as well. A visit to the doctor and treatment for a working class American on minimum wage can often total more than he or she earns in a week!

I think the people who voted no are not necessarilly ashamed of their country. Just not proud of it.

I think you should have put three options.

-Yes
-Not particularly proud
-No I'm ashamed of my country

I fall into the second group.