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No, I said nothing like that. My point was the US will continue to be powerful on the world front even if they allow our lives to go str8 to hell. My message was not one of support. My message was one of reality. I don't want or desire war. Most common people do not want war. But our leaders do and as long as we are one of the most powerful military nations in the world, our presence will remain at the top of the worldwide foodchain. And the thing is, in desperation money ceases to be a factor. We already have the weaponry and we have the manpower to us it. If push comes to shove people will do things without the benefit of money. Money is really nothing in the end. It is just paper that is used to control our lives. If the day comes we can't borrow money to pay for our military, we will simply go on without money and use the gigantic stockpile of weaponry we already have. Take money out of the equation because there may come a time when it really isn't much of a factor. The thirst for power far exceeds the thirst for wealth and the poorest man may hunger for absolute control.
If that's the case, then the Federal government has to go back to its original purpose: to provide a common defense. Everything that has been turned over to it subsequently: education, interior, environment, agriculture, health, human services, etc. will have to revert to the states, or collection of states that form a pact, such as California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona for example. The governors will act as a Board of Supervisors and one will head the Board.
We definitely are in a bit of a low point right now; it is just hard to say whether we move forward and continue to prosper or whether we are beginning a slide that might be irreversible.
We certainly have some problems. One one hand we have one group in society who technically "work" at jobs but who really only contribute dangerous ideas and bad information to other members of society; this leads to problems within our society. On the other hand we have another group in society who don't really work jobs or contribute to society but are instead almost completely reliant on other members of society for their own well-being.
The rest of us are stick in the middle: sane people who are working and actually doing most of the contributing day-to-day in society but who are actively hated by the other two groups.
I am an older millennial and maybe it's just nostalgia for the past but the mid and late 1990s were the peak anecdotally in my opinion.
The early 1990s weren't all that good it seems especially in the inner-cities, but the late 1990s seemed to be a nearly perfect time.
I do think the late 1990s was a very socially conservative era compared to now or the generation before it.
I don't if it's the state I was raised in, but it was a more balanced, clean era.
I would say the era from 1997 to 2001 was as perfect as it gets in my opinion based on observations and what I have read.
In general things were more fair and reasonable. The prices on a majority of things back then were a good balance.
Economically it seemed like real growth that wasn't based on government and consumer debt.
Home prices and Rents were reasonable overall compared to wages.
The atmosphere across the country seemed much better. It seems as though the nation's mental and physical health was far better back then.
In general there was sense of contentness in America society, not seen today at all. Even though the late 1990s were just over 20 years it was a much, much more laid-back era.
People just seemed so much nicer back then also. Just from my anecdotal observations the manners that most individuals have in public seemed to have changed around 2005.
Last edited by lovecrowds; 07-04-2020 at 10:52 PM..
Every empire has it's peak and demise. New creditor nations come in and take over.
We took top dog spot from England after WWII as England was loaded with debt and we were the creditor nation.
It's a tossup between India and China as to who will be next. My money is on China as they are making rumblings and they are a creditor nation and have been building up their middle class and can produce goods for the world. IMHO China is today where the USA was after WWII.
England and the rest of Europe and Asia were devastated and destroyed in WW2 whereas America was completely intact.
Covid19 is bad for the world and to America, but it is no where near WW2. Our economy took a hit but it will bounce back after COVID.
The biggest problem with China in the next 10-20 years is their aging population due to their one-child policy in the 80s. In 2030-2040 a good portion of China will be in or near retirement age.
I am an older millennial and maybe it's just nostalgia for the past but the mid and late 1990s were the peak anecdotally in my opinion.
The early 1990s weren't all that good it seems especially in the inner-cities, but the late 1990s seemed to be a nearly perfect time.
I do think the late 1990s was a very socially conservative era compared to now or the generation before it.
I don't if it's the state I was raised in, but it was a more balanced, clean era.
I would say the era from 1997 to 2001 was as perfect as it gets in my opinion based on observations and what I have read.
In general things were more fair and reasonable. The prices on a majority of things back then were a good balance.
Economically it seemed like real growth that wasn't based on government and consumer debt.
Home prices and Rents were reasonable overall compared to wages.
The atmosphere across the country seemed much better. It seems as though the nation's mental and physical health was far better back then.
In general there was sense of contentness in America society, not seen today at all. Even though the late 1990s were just over 20 years it was a much, much more laid-back era.
People just seemed so much nicer back then also. Just from my anecdotal observations the manners that most individuals have in public seemed to have changed around 2005.
I think the mid to late 1980s were better and the last peak, at least in most suburbs across America.
I remember an America in my early teens that dominated the world in innovations, had incredible economic growth, and produced some of the greatest music and culture ever. That decade saw the fall of our only rival (the USSR), and two wildly successful wars with few casualties.
Since 2000 our stock market is down 30%, average incomes are down slightly, life expectancy is declining in many areas, and our economy has been losing huge amounts of jobs for over 2 years. After thousands of dead soldiers we are at best in a stale mate in two wars and China is about to pass us as the world's largest economy. Eight years after 9/11 we still haven't rebuilt the WTC site with anything.
Is it fair to say our civilization has peaked and is now declining?
You'd have to define your measurements to be able to determine when they've peaked. (ie: is American civilization defined by statistically-measured moral character, relative wealth, etc).
I'd offer that American Civilization peaked before the communists infiltrated the Bureaucratic State and from then on were able to stymie any ability to root them out and otherwise counter their influence. That's the last time that the most important policies made any obvious sense.
I feel like it started with the fall of the USSR. Without a second superpower everyone was looking to us for money, a place to live, and to be the good guy who got screwed.
It also stopped having a rival to push us to do better.
We need to start withdrawing from our superpower duties.
Did American civilization peak in the 1990s and now we're in a long term... (NAFTA, Reagan)
Reagan left the office in the 1980s, but NAFTA was his idea.
Yes, the 1990s economy was off the charts good. I remember salaries going up 10+% per year, and the phones were ringing with headhunters trying to persuade people to switch employers.
We bottomed out in the 1990s, worst period in human history.
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