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Drama queen huh? wow, You must be a republican. Well if you haven't noticed as of late: The old "Doing a little better than my parents" gravy train ran out when Bush ruined our economy.
I'm not a Republican. I'm moving towards Libertarianism more than anything.
If there is one thing that I wish I could make everyone understand, it would be that our current predicament is due to too much government (on behalf of both political parties). Not "greed" and a lack of regulation or too much capitalism.
The "free market" can't fail if it's not "free" to begin with. Yes, we had a bubble and it burst. Instead of focusing on the fallout... where did the bubble come from? Government interference in the market.
Our government created it. Easy money policies on hehalf of our Federal Reserve created it. The bubble can't burst unless a bubble is created in the first place. The housing boom, everything, was all made possible by the government that you are now putting so much trust in. None of the Wall Street "excess", making money out of thin air, is possible without our Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low and feeding the fire. Not to mention that our government is highly involved in the loan process in the housing market as well. There is nothing "free market" about having a central bank with the power to set interest rates and huge government agencies that guarantee mortgages. (Oh, and by the way... they're still doing it! Prepare yourself for collapse #2!)
Why doesn't anyone talk about this? Because it doesn't play to the political advantage of EITHER party to fix the real problem. So we can all pretend that Bush ruined the economy, or that the Democrats ruined it. Unfortunately, the problem goes much deeper. What I do know is that the current policies aren't even on the same PLANET as the "change" that we really need. We need to go back to a truly free market. Not the pretend-free market that happened to fail while a Republican was in office. It was going to fail no matter WHO was in office, because they both do essentially the same thing.
I'm sure people are going to have a field day with this comment, but here goes...
If you want to see the "real" America, come here to my hometown, New York City. It just happens to be the real-world version of the melting pot that everyone always calls this country. Eight million people representing most of the nations on this planet (and America is a nation of immigrants, n'est-ce pas?) living and working in 320 square miles. You're not going to get any more real than that.
Then take a ride across the city on the subway. "Reality television?" Ha! New York City blows reality television out of the water, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
If you want to go by Historical reasons, then the 13 colonies are the Real America which include New York, most of the East Coast, and a few Southern states. I would say Hawaii is the least American because its only 50 years old and originally an island country.
It all depends on how you define authenticity. The West Coast is the most "typical" America, the Midwest is the most "quintessential" America, the eastern seaboard is the most "classical" America, and the South is the most patriotic.
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