We Are AMERICANS Damn It! (credit, debt, tax, income)

[KevK]

As I scan these boards and see the doom and gloom scenarios in post after post, I am honestly beginning to wonder if this country has become so fat and so lazy and so dumb that it cannot function anymore as a free democracy and economy!
I sit here and I read about how our economy is going into the toilet (leading indicators and DJIA are UP, unemployment is DOWN BTW), how the Chinese are going to take us to the cleaners and how we will not be able to drive our cars anymore because of high gas prices.
Gawd some people just love to brood! You folks need to get the American sprit back! This country has been through a LOT of turmoil in our short history. We have been through wars, depressions, recessions, oil shocks, earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks (foreign and domestic) and a Polio epidemic. And we have ALWAYS come out a BETTER and SMARTER and STRONGER nation!
Do you think the men that charged the beaches at Normandy had an easy task? Do you think the farmers in the dust bowl and Great Depression had it easy? We have always walked the hard path as a country and we are better for it. As one state flag says "To The Stars Through Difficulties". That should be on our national flag because it describes what kind of people we are!
No matter what we might be going though now with a slowing economy, a war and high gas prices PALES in comparison to what those who came before us have endured!
People- let's get some GUTS and start rolling up our sleeves and working on our problems. We are AMERICANS!

[Huckleberry3911948]

yes but we gota start acting like it. we have gotten pretty fat and spoiled in the last 40 years. most serious spare tire goin is this awful selfishness masquarading as rugged individualism. how we guna do it? pray really hard. thanks for the part about normandy, thank you servicemen and veterans. you said the magic word, "we" the more we use that word instead of me, the healthier we will get.

[Rakin]

I always judge today by what my grandfather would think & do and I can imagine what that generation would think about this one. Maybe it needs to get rough to get better.

Our grandparents that survived the great depression became a tough breed.

[tallrick]

The problem is that what grandfather would do is probably illegal now. Big Government has taken away our freedom and innovation. Those who continue to try and improve themselves do so without the approval of Big Brother.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by KevK

As I scan these boards and see the doom and gloom scenarios in post after post, I am honestly beginning to wonder if this country has become so fat and so lazy and so dumb that it cannot function anymore as a free democracy and economy!
I sit here and I read about how our economy is going into the toilet (leading indicators and DJIA are UP, unemployment is DOWN BTW), how the Chinese are going to take us to the cleaners and how we will not be able to drive our cars anymore because of high gas prices.
Gawd some people just love to brood! You folks need to get the American sprit back! This country has been through a LOT of turmoil in our short history. We have been through wars, depressions, recessions, oil shocks, earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks (foreign and domestic) and a Polio epidemic. And we have ALWAYS come out a BETTER and SMARTER and STRONGER nation!
Do you think the men that charged the beaches at Normandy had an easy task? Do you think the farmers in the dust bowl and Great Depression had it easy? We have always walked the hard path as a country and we are better for it. As one state flag says "To The Stars Through Difficulties". That should be on our national flag because it describes what kind of people we are!
No matter what we might be going though now with a slowing economy, a war and high gas prices PALES in comparison to what those who came before us have endured!
People- let's get some GUTS and start rolling up our sleeves and working on our problems. We are AMERICANS!

to sum it up, americans have become fat, lazy & dumb. the ppl that fought the War and lived thru the Depression were tough ppl who knew how to do without luxuries. just witness the way that kids these days groan and moan if they don't have an Ipod. and do you REALLY believe the statistics that the gov't puts out: low unemployment because ppl have stopped looking and the most ridiculous claim of all, 4% inflation!!! when everybody knows it's more like 10-15%, gasoline alone is 27% higher than 1 year ago. The gov't used and business used to be on our side, but haven't been for so long. how can we ever trust the gov't and what it is telling us?

[AnthonyB]

Well, I can promise you that previous generations didn't deal with adversity by trying to pretend it wasn't there.
First you have to admit there is a problem before you can deal with it.

[Wild Style]

^^

meh

tried to give you rep for this! Great point.

[Waterlily]

All I can say is 'Amen' Kevk. I'm not old enough to have lived through WW11 but I've lived through some things. My parents lived through both WW2 and the depression era. I got to hear an earfull about those days when I was young.

No the economy is not wonderful right now. Does that mean we should all panic? I don't think so. We have had recessions and depressions. Still here we are.

[k350]

The economy is not near as bad as the media would love you to think. We still had growth last quarter even.

Now, on the flip side, I think that growth was credit based.

[One Thousand]

I'm of the opinion that the economy is lurching and a major fall is due at any time. The immense national debt and impending debt due to Medicare and Social Security over the next years is precipitating irreversible damage. That compounded with the numerous correllations between now and 1929 and the incredibly tax burden we all face, bad times are here and are only going to get worse.

In regard to the "we are Americans" claim, I just don't feel it. I feel like I'm a guy who's oppressed by taxation. I feel like the harder I try, the more I'm charged for it.

I'm a former business owner who shut down because of taxes. Why try? If you can get by with doing the bare minimum to make an income and produce your own necessities, why bother?