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Have you checked out life expectancy, infant mortality, personal debt, and our atrocious social mobility which just 30 years ago was the best in the word but now lags behind every other developed nation in the world?
The reason there is less social mobility now compared to 30 years ago is because nearly everybody who had the ability and put in the effort back then have moved up to the upper-middle class.
Most people have now reached their maximum potential socioeconomically. So, there isn't much room left to advance further, except what comes naturally from overall economic growth of a country.
The reason there is less social mobility now compared to 30 years ago is because nearly everybody who had the ability and put in the effort back then have moved up to the upper-middle class.
Most people have now reached their maximum potential socioeconomically. So, there isn't much room left to advance further, except what comes naturally from overall economic growth of a country.
Naw, if you've studied history and especially if you've studied genealogy, you'll see that families and countries have their ups and downs. It's not straight up and keep going up. It's not straight down either. It's ups and downs. I think in general, we're going down even though a lot of people have made money and bettered themselves. When you look at upcoming generations, they are not going to have the advantages that the boomers had, for instance. Job opportunities aren't there so much, China is rising and becoming very competitive, the world is changing. USA is falling down.
The reason there is less social mobility now compared to 30 years ago is because nearly everybody who had the ability and put in the effort back then have moved up to the upper-middle class.
Most people have now reached their maximum potential socioeconomically. So, there isn't much room left to advance further, except what comes naturally from overall economic growth of a country.
This makes perfect sense if you believe that no one has been born or immigrated to the US in the last 30 years.
The reason there is less social mobility now compared to 30 years ago is because nearly everybody who had the ability and put in the effort back then have moved up to the upper-middle class.
Most people have now reached their maximum potential socioeconomically. So, there isn't much room left to advance further, except what comes naturally from overall economic growth of a country.
And what of the ones who did not have the ability or opportunity 30 ago and their offspring? Unless I am mistaken somebody still works retail, blue color jobs, medical support, ... . Who are those people and their families?
Everything is much faster today than it used to be. Powers come and go faster as well. China and India will be two additional world powers soon, motivating each other due to their disputes.
And the US utterly depends on the goodwill of other countries like those in Europe or wherever. Once the world decides it is fed up with the US and those 96% of the world population start to work together, the US is gone pretty fast.
One reason the US is much more vulnerable than ancient empires is that the US has virtually no culture to offer, culture-wise other countries have much more to offer. Rome on the other hand was ahead of its time.
Everything is much faster today than it used to be. Powers come and go faster as well. China and India will be two additional world powers soon, motivating each other due to their disputes.
And the US utterly depends on the goodwill of other countries like those in Europe or wherever. Once the world decides it is fed up with the US and those 96% of the world population start to work together, the US is gone pretty fast.
One reason the US is much more vulnerable than ancient empires is that the US has virtually no culture to offer, culture-wise other countries have much more to offer. Rome on the other hand was ahead of its time.
I somewhat agree with the first two points, but not the third one. The US has tons of culture.
I can certainly see the United States collapsing sometime in the 21st century. The demographics are really lousy. There will be lots & lots of poor people. It's a democracy. Those poor people all vote. Rupert Murdoch and Fox News have fought a delaying action by brainwashing stupid poor white people to vote against their economic interests but you can't have that kind of wealth & income disparity and expect long term political stability.
It's a representative republic, intentionally designed to avoid a tyranny of the masses. People in Wyoming are better represented at the federal level than people in California, New York or Florida.
I did not come to this conclusion until I traveled all around the country. Should I have not done that?
I have traveled all over the country and disagree with your conclusion. It is far more cohesive than any other sample of 335 million people from any place else on the globe.
And what of the ones who did not have the ability or opportunity 30 ago and their offspring? Unless I am mistaken somebody still works retail, blue color jobs, medical support, ... . Who are those people and their families?
Nowadays, the people working menial jobs in the United States are largely unskilled immigrants from 3rd world countries who came here in the last 30 years or their children. This is especially true in the larger metropolitan areas.
You will not find that many people whose families have been in the United states more than 2 generations doing menial jobs in large metropolitan areas. They have moved up into the middle class or higher pretty much across the board with few exceptions.
I somewhat agree with the first two points, but not the third one. The US has tons of culture.
I don't think so. What would it be?
To me the US is one big illusion. Politically, the US is considered a flawed democracy by the renowned Economist magazine. Culturally (music, movies etc.) the US is also a shadow of what it used to be. Not to mention the gun and violence culture, the hateful society, racism, rampant inequality, etc.
There is nothing to emulate, nothing that could serve as an example for other countries, except for those that are even worse, but frankly there are better examples for those to follow.
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