9 Signs of America in Decline

What goes down must come up

This may be something to be concerned but not something to be afraid of. I still believe America is still the only democracy where over time things will tend to balance out, i.e. there are checks and bounds in the system not found with other countries. May be this decline is what it takes for the people here to realize they really need to get their life in shape, i.e. whether get themselves out of debt, loosen weight, find a better job or stop building up on greed and start caring more about what's going on.

JQ Smith of CA @ Nov 15, 2009 21:28:41 PM

The Reason for the Decline?

It's simple. We have the least progressive tax system compared to all those Scandinavian and other developed nations that are ranked above us. In all those other countries the wealthiest 2% does NOT own more than the bottom 80% as they do in this country. Our highest income tax rate is the lowest. We need to raise taxes on those who can most afford to pay, those executives and the multi-million dollar bonuses. Nobody is that smart or works that hard, except maybe underpaid health care providers.

Kirke McVay of VT @ Nov 15, 2009 15:33:13 PM

The facts are hard to swallow

Talk about "sampling..weed", it seems some (Cletus P Nunn) do more than just sample it. Rick, and his co-writers, have written a peace that is wholly based on facts, facts of which can easily be verified with a little research. Because somebody does not like the facts, they attack the messenger with no evidence of their own to support their position, but rather just a bunch of scribble with absolutely no thought behind it at all. It has often been said, "a picture is worth a thousand words", and this is evidence of it's truth. It shows, very clearly, how the uneducated, undereducated, and/or socialistic educated present their side of a disagreement, with unending rambling of no consequence. This, my friends, illustrates better then any other words could, one of the two root causes of Americas demise, the wholly uneducated and ignorant.

Now, after getting that unpleasant task out of the way, I must take issue with one of the sources quoted in this article. That of the UN. The UN has an agenda, that of a one world government with, or course, it being the head. This is no conspiracy theory, but rather a well documented and verifiable fact. Everything, right down to the most minute detail, that this organization of dictators does or says, is designed for the achievement of that goal. It is in their best interest, given this goal, that the "well being" of 1st world countries, especially true for America, be poor and falling. The claimed diminishing "well being" of prosperous countries, can and is being used to justify the change of governments taking place today, as a solution to the "problem". It is imperative to the UN that, people in America and other similar countries, believe they are not as well off as they could be if only smarter people had more control. Masses of people in third world countries must be convinced that America is to blame for their poor living conditions, and masses of Americans must be convinced to blame themselves for these poor peoples lives. What better way to do so, than to give Americans (or make them believe so) a little taste of the life of the poor in the world, if even just in their minds.

The extremely scary reality is, all too many people in both type countries have been and are falling for this con job. It goes back to the greed of those in power, and the ignorance of those who are not. Hitler did not have to manufacture crisis, as is being done today, as he had it already in place, allowing him to pursue his quest for power, and resulting in the deaths of 50 million human beings. Greed and ignorance are the only two things necessary for the destruction of an entire people, or even the world.

The only solution is for the masses to wake up, to educate themselves about history, about liberty, and about how history has shown over and over again, that liberty is always lost by the greedy using the ignorance of the masses, or by force. It shows that more people have lost freedom from the first than from the second.

Omegaman of AL @ Nov 15, 2009 12:06:47 PM

What If.....We Implement Bohdansz Plan?

What if we, starting next week, ended all imports until our local economy recovers? Utopia, or a godsend? I say, let's do it, for my plan will work! Let's employ every idle and willing to work citizen, to produce what we now import! Lets monitor the results, daily. I say, in a year, we will have a solid taxation base, and a record national growth that will enable us to export for profit! By the way, to make this transition more effective, we should simultaneously repay all Chinese debt, starting next week, even if it means printing money! Nations take such drastic actions in extreme times of great need. Once we recover, we can welcome an authentically fair trade once again!

Bohdan Szejner, STL of AK @ Nov 15, 2009 11:28:53 AM

It's not that complicated...........

While I can't disagree with "No On In Particular" (example - watching all the "cool" and "beautiful" people glued to their cellphones and ipods without any understanding whatsoever of how or why they work, and contemptuous of scientists and engineers, who are regarded as "nerds", while they worship entertainers).

China and India are indeed emerging quickly from the recession, powered by all the manufacturing, IT and service jobs imported to them from the United States. They are doing well by taking jobs stolen from american workers.

We can thank "globalization" and so-called "free trade" for screwing the american worker, and putting him/her in the current situation. The republicans (and yes, the Clinton Administration as well) sold us a pack of lies to enable passage of so-called "free trade" legislation), knowing all the time that their american corporate backers wanted access to low cost labor in the third world.

So they got what they wanted. Now we ship natural resources overseas, they make products for american companies, and ship them back here to sell to americans. How extreme is it? Just look at chicken farms. It's (so far) illegal to import chicken from China, but Perdue raises chickens in the USA, then ships them to China to be processed and packed, and then ships them back here to sell to americans! But now there is a problem. With all those american jobs shipped overseas, so many americans are out of work that they can't afford to buy all those things produced overseas.

But I imagine that the managements of american corporations are not particularly worried. All those american jobs in China and India will produce so much prosperity there, that they will simply start selling all those products in the countries where they are produced.

When that happens those so-called "american" corporations will simply transfer their headquarters to the same countries to which they transferred the jobs, leaving americans to "rot". It's the largest transfer of wealth in human history, and will result in the United States changing economic places with China and India.

At least that is what likely will happen if americans let their corporations (and their political lackeys) get away with it. After all, a people generally gets the kind of government (and economy) it deserves.

Geraldo of FL @ Nov 15, 2009 01:16:23 AM

Time Out! Stand in the corner.

Sounds like Rick has been has been sampling the bitter weed again. Hate to see his sour pus in the mirror every morning, has to be depressing. No pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for Rick, just an old lump of coal. Can't see the rainbow for the purple haze I'm sure brought on be the other squeamish folks of like mind who never dreamed of spacious skie's and amber waves of wheat. Get a life Rick like Tiny Tim, tip toe through the tulips.

Cletus P Nunn of OK @ Nov 14, 2009 21:32:14 PM

Just a thought

America - Stole land from the Indians; enslaved another race with consequences to this very day, berated the Mexican government into selling nearly a third of its country which was more land stolen from native Americans; scare the crap out of the rest of the world because your only answer to war is to obliterate everyone with nuclear weapons, destroyed Southeast Asia over a fishing boat accident; allowed the greedy to deregulate and control every last private industry or government agency so they can literally get away with murder; propogate hate and fear with your extreme Christian fundamentalist or zoned out far left looney toons; allow corrupt politicians get away with breaking every law; believe that guns are a 'right' and crap on your starving neighbors bankrupted by medical bills; believe everything you see on television; allow one or two vile corporations to control the entire food chain and its content while destroying every last family farm; fat from eating too many cows; glorify fake on line university degrees; number one export is pornography or realy bad Hollywood movies; complain about everything; use the most inappropriate grammar; too lazy to learn another language; buy your way through every sports achievement; poluted and destroyed every last natural wonder; suck down legal and illegal drugs like they were candy; argue with, criticize and ostracize anyone who doesn't agree with you and find every way imaginable to get around the definitions of governement set forth by your founding fathers who intentionally wrote documents to leave all these things vague and wonder why the rest of the world with all its problems are afraid to sit next to you or engage you in a conversation.

No One In Particular @ Nov 14, 2009 20:09:25 PM

Blaming unions...?

Xeno77777: Unions have been on the decline in this country for 30 years, and you're blaming their "increasing...power" for us falling behind? Please explain sir why then the 1950s is considered a "golden age" of American economic prosperity when union membership was at it's peak, and the income tax for top earning individuals and companies was far higher than it is now.

In fact, the only things that have happened essentially since the late 60s in this regard is that union power has decreased, membership declined, taxes (esp. on wealthy individuals and capital gains) have gone down drastically, many industries have been deregulated, and after all of that? Whoops, economic decline. Your argument simply does not make sense.

John of TX @ Nov 14, 2009 19:04:40 PM