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That said, given economic development momentum, and negative changes which were gradual, much of this decline wasn't noticeable to a large segment of the population until the early 90s, and even more so until the early years of the past decade. To some, in a few places, however, the decline wasn't noticeable until the economic downturn of 2007.
China has a long way to go. There are still a large percentage of Chinese who want to immigrate to the US to escape the ills of China.
Many Chinese go to other countries as well like Canada, some Latin American countries and there are are some even in African countries, where in recent years the Chinese have been using some of the resources there.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 12-26-2011 at 12:02 PM..
As for a decline, I think it is a matter of what type of decline a person is talking about. With that said, history has a way of repeating itself and there isn't really anything new under the sun. So, things occur in cycles.
The United States have went through a lot of growing pains in a short period of time. The war ended in 1945 as thousands of young soldiers returned home. The economy was stronger than ever before. The Great Depression left a bad taste for many people. Manufacturing increased, homeownership exploded with the FHA backed 30 yr mortgage and babies were being born. The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) grew up in a turbulent time. The 1950's saw a change in social standards in music (Elvis' hips, rock and roll, etc) and in movies. Other social changes occured over the next decade- The Civil Right's Movement, The Feminist Movement, Gay Rights Movements... Throw in the Vietnam War and hippie culture too... By the mid 1970's the USA was tired. Social standards dropped, along with people who had courtesy and were polite.
So I would say that America started to decline in the late 1970's/early 1980's. The United States had become commercialized, bland and bored. Manufacturing declined. That was the last big recession. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll had become less taboo and more accepted. In a 35 year span the United States ended a World War, jump started an economy, created suburbia, had a bunch of babies, had another war (Korean), had 4 major political figures assasinated (Malcom X, MLK, JFK, and Bobby Kennedy), had a civil rights, feminist, gay rights movements and ended that time with another war (Vietnam).
The 1990s was a nice reprieve with a booming economy, technology explosion and hardly no wars.
If you are in the top 15% or so (upper-middle class) in terms of income in America, then you will most likely not think that America has declined. The rich and affluent are better off now than at any time in American history - even the 1990s.
That's why most people strive to become at least upper-middle class in this country.
If you are in the top 15% or so (upper-middle class) in terms of income in America, then you will most likely not think that America has declined. The rich and affluent are better off now than at any time in American history - even the 1990s.
That's why most people strive to become at least upper-middle class in this country.
I think the rich were better off in the early 1900s, pre-income tax days.
I think the decline started some time after the post-WWII boom period. Development became more and more auto-oriented and wasteful, American industry began a long, slow decline as multinational corporations shipped jobs overseas, people with money abandoned many of the cities for the suburbs, allowing them to decay, the culture became more disposable where cost of living may have decreased but so did quality of goods and pride in our country, healthcare became too costly to afford on minimum wage earnings, leaving viable healthcare options only available to the "haves," whereas lately jobs and health benefits have become scarcer. The middle class has been shrinking for decades. House values have plummeted in many communities. Whereas that is an opportunity for first-time buyers, many of the communities with affordable homes are long past their glory days. You only need to visit somewhere like Steubenville, Ohio, to see the long-term effects of America's decline.
Reagan and Clinton lead us out of a national Malaise, only to be tanked by the severe ineptitude of the Bush Administration. The Obama is being stifled by a republican party that would rather play politics than try to get the country out of a mess.
This whole idea is foolish. Look at places like North Korea, which was once on par with South Korea economically. Where is is today? It's a backwater and the laughingstock of its hemisphere. If America has declined at all, it's as a result of all the over-reaching laws put in place in the name of the "war on terror" (pretty hard to fight an abstract concept, but hey, nobody ever accused Bush of being unimaginative). Materially, we're doing as well as ever. Our technology is still the envy of the world. We still have universities that attract people from every continent. Yeah, we suffered a housing bust, but it's not like the market wasn't overheated in the first place.
The basic structure of our country is still intact, it's the asinine policies coming out of Washington (from both left and right) that have caused any real decline.
The Obama is being stifled by a republican party that would rather play politics than try to get the country out of a mess.
Bull****. Barack Obama had two years with Democrats in charge of both houses of Congress, and it was during this period that Congress approved a bunch of unpopular and unaffordable programs that Obama wasted no time signing into law. There's a reason why Obama's popularity is in such decline, and it's the same reason why the Democrats lost the House in 2010, and could lose both the Senate and the White House in 2012.
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