Are the best days for the USA behind us? (Ron Paul, unemployment, CNN)
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I tend to plan ahead. So I look ahead to the direction the country is going. I was wondering if anyone thought that the USA can pull itself out of the mess its in, and the decline that seems apparent over most of the country.
What are the signs of decline?
1. Continued budget stimulus from the Fed, 4 years after the end of the last recession.
2. Continued drop in the birth rate.
3. A recent article on CNBC's web site indicated that the "recovery" has only been a recovery for the top 5% percent on the income bracket. All the rest are still stuck in a recession.
4. Another recent article indicated that the recovery has only been regional, in the middle of the country.
5. Massive budget deficit by our government that continues to grow.
6. 14% unemployment/underemployment rate.
7. 80% of new jobs are part time.
There are other signs of deterioration, breakdown of the family structure, immorality and demands for more and more money from the government.
I am fully in the Blame America First crowd. The rich abuse the poor and take every advantage they can because they control the power. We fight worthless wars for profit, have a screwed up sense of morality, we are racist and uneducated and proud of it. We have been. We continue to be.
I wouldn't want to live anywhere else though.
Any time you start to think that America is bad, that you have no rights, no voice, and no power, consider what it is like living in Syria or Egypt right now. Consider what problems Russia faces with its leaderships and civil rights abuses. Imagine living under the rule of a brutal warlord in Africa. Picture yourself with no prospects of a job in a crime infested, dilapidated, crumbling Detroit.
I am an optimist and think that the US (not India and China) is the only hope for all of humanity.
Yes, the economy has problems. But you should not worry about temporary and ever fluctuating metrics like unemployment and birthrate. For a better idea of the future ...... look at the US economy in terms of output and you will very soon realize that it is greatest economy in the world.
US Economy Output (all very recent):
- World changing modern inventions like the Computer, GPS and Internet (impact on world-wide jobs)
- Almost all the world's TOP tech companies: Google, Microsoft, Apple (future is here)
- Leader is medical research. Almost all innovations in medicine happen in the USA (e.g. sequenced genome)
- Best universities doing the best research in the world (most Nobel Laureates)
- Leader in space technology (sent man to the moon). Now Mars. Private Co. Space X (colonize space?)
- Unparalleled military technology
- Huge defense budget that keeps the world safe (e.g. this week ---> All countries looking to US to stop genocide in Syria). Also allows huge amounts of foreign aid.
This list can go on! And you have to realize that most of the things listed above have been shared with the world. For example, 'the computer and internet revolution' in the USA spread to the entire world. All innovations in medicine in the USA benefit non-Americans as well. The movies made in Hollywood are seen world over.
And it is the US economy that will create conditions that will allow people/ companies to solve many of the technical challenges facing us in the 21st century: like solving energy crisis, curing diseases like cancer, etc.
Sandman: Interesting comments. But keep in mind. Much of the economy is being sustained on borrowed money. How long can that keep going? Can you imagine the impact if the govt. stopped borrowing money to pay its bills? Plus, keep in mind, Empires like Rome rotted from within, and we only conquered later. Remember the USSR. Couldn't pay its bills anymore, and in one night just disappeared.
Sandman: Interesting comments. But keep in mind. Much of the economy is being sustained on borrowed money. How long can that keep going? Can you imagine the impact if the govt. stopped borrowing money to pay its bills? Plus, keep in mind, Empires like Rome rotted from within, and we only conquered later. Remember the USSR. Couldn't pay its bills anymore, and in one night just disappeared.
Like I said, things like ability to pay bills are trivial things when you look at the bigger picture. CNN and the rest of the media would like you believe that the fundamentals of the country are flawed. But I think that their system of evaluation is flawed and purposely skewed.
You are trying to predict the future. To do so accurately, look at the current potential, not current problems. The potential far outweighs the impact of the problems.
Rome/ USSR are false analogies. This is the 21st century where global economies evolve every 5-10 years and new technologies are bound to change the face of the civilization in the next 20-30 years.
The whole world has probably seen their best days. The air, water and soil have so many toxins. The sun acts like a light bulb on its last legs lately. I think the economy of the world fell a long time ago and they are just pretending that it didn't. The worst of times are yet to come but we are definitely on the slippery slide doing down along with the rest of the world.
This is something that I have become more concerned about over the years. I really believe America needs to get its fiscal house in order and think that this issue of overspending is the greatest threat to this country. Ron Paul has been warning America for years about the threat of overspending. If you don't believe me you can watch YouTube videos about him and his predictions. He has been spot on. I think if our government workers got serious about drastic spending cuts we could solve our budget crisis. Let's hope it isn't too late.
I tend to plan ahead. So I look ahead to the direction the country is going. I was wondering if anyone thought that the USA can pull itself out of the mess its in, and the decline that seems apparent over most of the country.
What are the signs of decline?
1. Continued budget stimulus from the Fed, 4 years after the end of the last recession.
2. Continued drop in the birth rate.
3. A recent article on CNBC's web site indicated that the "recovery" has only been a recovery for the top 5% percent on the income bracket. All the rest are still stuck in a recession.
4. Another recent article indicated that the recovery has only been regional, in the middle of the country.
5. Massive budget deficit by our government that continues to grow.
6. 14% unemployment/underemployment rate.
7. 80% of new jobs are part time.
There are other signs of deterioration, breakdown of the family structure, immorality and demands for more and more money from the government.
So are there any optimists in the crowd?
<raises hand>
Sure are a lot of whiny, self-pitying Americans it seems.
Maybe it's due to a lack of perspective. I don't know. I do know that being born an American is an incredible advantage in this world. And being born white adds to that advantage. I've been in 3rd world countries. I am SO fortunate to have been born here in the USA and to enjoy the comfortable lifestyle that goes with it.
The worst of times are yet to come but we are definitely on the slippery slide doing down along with the rest of the world.
If your mind is already made up, why did you bother inviting discussion in the first place?
I'm reminded of James Howard Kunstler, a "peak-oil" and environmental-issues writer who, every single year for the past 6 or 7, has been predicting an apocalyptic SHTF scenario for the following year. The Dow will crash to 3000! Total economic collapse! Food riots! Panic panic panic!
And yet we somehow still manage to muddle through.
I'm not saying we don't have serious problems -- the concentration of wealth among the .01% and its attendant systematic political corruption might well drive us into the ditch. But I don't buy into the prepper/Armageddon mindset at all.
Anywhere: I couldn't disagree more. If you study history, you find that empires come and go. Egypt is over, so is Rome, Germany, Moscow, England, and now it is the USA's day for saying goodbye to their power and wealth. China is on the rise, and will take over as the number one power before too long.
I'm no economist but I can never understand why people constantly point to China as the new model for economic and world supremacy. Economy wise, China isn't faring much better than the U.S. these days. In fact, the Chinese government in just the past few days has had to reassure the public and foreign companies that the health of their economy is improving after their recent downturn. Sure China has been going through somewhat of an industrial revolution and as a result enjoyed pretty good growth from the late 90's until about 2010, but most of that growth was due to heavy reliance on trade and investment which isn't sustainable for the long haul. For those who think that the U.S. is the only country floundering in debt; over the last decade China has run up a tab of $1.6 trillion USD in debt. Up until recently, there were many economists who thought that China's economy was on the verge of collapse. Some economists still think that it's possible if the country can't find a way to make a definitive change.
My point is that yes the U.S. is going through some tough times, but if you pick up a newspaper you'll realize that it's not just the U.S. economy that has been struggling...it's the GLOBAL economy that has struggled. Economies go through peaks and valleys, it's been like that for as long as this country has been in existence. I still think that this country's best days are in front of us. We just have to understand that we're going to need to be more competitive and embrace the fact that other countries are gunning for our top spot rather than look for reasons to jump ship.
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Are the best days for the USA behind us?
