The Decline of the American Civilization

[MizMotown]

The near future... next 10-30 years... May have to disagree on that one.

Not that there are not bright, young, Americans that can have wonderful, successfu futures because there are. Actually some people have good, sane parents who raise and teach their children well.

Just sayin...

This week I'm watching "Jeopardy!" and the annual college tournament. As I watch those young folks, all I can say is America's future is bright as ever.

Just sayin'.

[MizMotown]

Futuristics Magazines Top 10 Forecasts for 2014 and Beyond

http://www.wfs.org/blogs/patrick-tuc...014-and-beyond

[rb336]

you pretty much nailed it

[MizMotown]

America Declining Same Warp Speed That's Minting Billionaires...

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/how-quickly-america-declining-same-warp-speed-thats-minting-billiionaires-and

[rb336]

interesting article

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-pol...titutional-era

[gazhekwe]

They interrupt each other in places of business, barging in front of others interested in only themselves. Cursing and speaking distastefully is the norm, and they find YOU out of place if you call them out on it.

Now, when I was growing up in the sixties and a young adult in the early 70s, the worst of the bargers and and grabbers were the ubiquitous "old ladies with shopping bags." They always seemed to feel they should be first in line. Now, that wasn't every old lady, just the ones that were pushy. Maybe they had a reason for it but they never said anything, just barged. DH and I, certified baby boomers, are not pushers, bargers or interrupters. I know lots and lots of people our age who are just like us, polite and considerate. Our parents raised us this way and we hope we raised our offspring this way, too. You cannot paint everyone with the same brush.

They expect something for nothing and feel entitled to it [[Their parents would have been humiliated!).

Nope, that is not our generation at all. We are the ones who paid all the taxes that supported the nation through the 70s-80s90s and early 2000s. We paid into Social Security and Medicare every paycheck, and we do deserve to reap the benefit of that hard work. If you think that was nothing, I got news for you. You are wrong.

They will drive for hours on $50 of gasoline to get a free $5 breakfast.

That would be just plain silly. Not many of us are that dumb, and if we want a $5 breakfast, we can find it a lot closer or make it at home. Or is that a FREE breakfast? Still counts, most of us wouldn't bother.

They will cut lines. I have never seen this happen, unless it was someone [[usually younger) being joined by a friend, and I am sure willing to cut them some slack.

They will strike the opposite sex [[after all, they're equal now, right?).

Wrong again. Equality has nothing to do with abuse. Most of the abusers fall into all age groups, not just baby boomers. Not all of us are abusers. That is a very blanket statement that you could apply to any age group and hit about the same small percentage of the group.

They will want you to work on Christmas and Thanksgiving for their convenience.

Not us, it’s the younger ones who want to shop their brains out. We probably have much of what we need already.

They are the last generation to have retirement and benefits at the expense of the following generations for their own financial gain [[retirement and good benefits are essentially extinct).

This certainly is not the preference of most boomers. I think you need to blame the corporate controllers for this one. Many may be boomers, but I think it is a small small percentage that has more to do with feeding the corporate system than the age of anyone. This system has grown more and more powerful as most of us struggled to fight it against long odds. Money will always win, it seems.

They turned the American household from one that could be supported on one income to a household that requires mom AND dad to bring home the bacon and stuff the kids in child care.

I don’t think you can pin that solely on us. The stagnation of income and the rising of the cost of everything began before we came of age. It continues to this date, so how are you fighting it, post boomers?

[Papasito]

Who said this: ??

We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe — the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

Some radical Right Wing Republican?
A bigot? A bible pusher?
One of those God lovers pushing their faith on you?

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.

What's this?
A leader who expresses Americans should be great and not depend on Government for every little thing?
What is this madness?

What this is is portions of John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961. By today's standards he would be considered a Right Wing Radical, but in reality he was our last American President who was able to make his own decisions, and gave his life for for having the audacity to do so.

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/ask-not.htm

[rb336]

By today's standards he would be considered a Right Wing Radical,

Cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans? Check
Get us into a war based on lies? Check

The rest of it? not so much

[Papasito]

Cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans? Check
Get us into a war based on lies? Check

The rest of it? not so much

The Democrat Party of JFK

• Country Before Political Party? Check
• Promoting American exceptionalism? Check

• Promoting a booming economy? Check

Today's Democrats?

• American patriotism = offensive

• A booming economy = too harmful to the environment! Let's let the rest of the world make energy and goods, and make the mess over there where we can't see it!

• American exceptionalism = no way. America needs knocked down a few notches. this country has been too pompous for way too long. it deserves to collapse!
• Political Party Before Country = that's right, we'll show those no good Republicans. Let the nation crash and burn and then the people will see that it's the Republican's fault!

And that's the modern Democrat party.

And this post is in no way supportive of Republicans. They suck too.

[rb336]

The Democrat Party of JFK

• Country Before Political Party? Check
• Promoting American exceptionalism? Check

• Promoting a booming economy? Check

Today's Democrats?

• American patriotism = offensive

• A booming economy = too harmful to the environment! Let's let the rest of the world make energy and goods, and make the mess over there where we can't see it!

• American exceptionalism = no way. America needs knocked down a few notches. this country has been too pompous for way too long. it deserves to collapse!
• Political Party Before Country = that's right, we'll show those no good Republicans. Let the nation crash and burn and then the people will see that it's the Republican's fault!

And that's the modern Democrat party.

And this post is in no way supportive of Republicans. They suck too.

Those are your ideas. but then I guess YOU wouldn't mind if fracking gave you flammable water, or if an oil pipeline burst near your property.

50 years ago, the largest employer in the country paid its workers the equivalent of $50/hour in today's money. Today, the largest employer doesn't pay its workers a living wage. American exceptionalism once existed. 30 or so years ago, our students were still tops in math, science and engineering, we had the fewest children living in poverty in the developed world, we had the wealthiest middle class in the world. Since then, we have had policies that marginalized our schools, a constant assault on the wages of working men and women at the same time that they were tripling their productivity increasingly lower taxes on the wealthy, public funds getting sucked dry by "privatization." What happened 30 or so years ago? Reaganomics became the dominant philosophy, the religious right developed a stranglehold on one party, bribing elected officials became essentially legal, etc. etc. THAT is what can be empirically shown to have precipitated the decline of American civilization.

[canuck]

Those are your ideas. but then I guess YOU wouldn't mind if fracking gave you flammable water, or if an oil pipeline burst near your property.

50 years ago, the largest employer in the country paid its workers the equivalent of $50/hour in today's money. Today, the largest employer doesn't pay its workers a living wage. American exceptionalism once existed. 30 or so years ago, our students were still tops in math, science and engineering, we had the fewest children living in poverty in the developed world, we had the wealthiest middle class in the world. Since then, we have had policies that marginalized our schools, a constant assault on the wages of working men and women at the same time that they were tripling their productivity increasingly lower taxes on the wealthy, public funds getting sucked dry by "privatization." What happened 30 or so years ago? Reaganomics became the dominant philosophy, the religious right developed a stranglehold on one party, bribing elected officials became essentially legal, etc. etc. THAT is what can be empirically shown to have precipitated the decline of American civilization.

Ronnelled Reaggin'. Sounds like a proper vehicle, running on jelly beans and brylcreem. Not the greatest moment in US history.

[Papasito]

Another Example of What's Destroying Our Culture

[Papasito]

[RaumVogel]

This whole "baby boomers are at fault" thing is BS.I've heard plenty of 20 somethings on Reddit try to argue the same point.

/Clueless

[old guy]

This whole "baby boomers are at fault" thing is BS.I've heard plenty of 20 somethings on Reddit try to argue the same point.

/Clueless

Thank you. The baby boomers weren't perfect. I can't think of a generation that was. I do think we did some good things that made the world a better place to live in.
I'd love to see the next generation change the world and make it a great place to exist in. Do more than we did x 10. Make us look poor in comparison to your generation. That would be the best thing that could happen.
P.S. It isn't easy.

[old guy]

One more thing from a baby boomer. Fracking is bad. It really is. Drinking water for you and your kids and their kids is good. You might want to start there if you're concerned about being a better generation.

[Papasito]

It doesn't take much research to see signs of what's
wrong with our modern society . . .

[Papasito]

There wouldn't be a fracking boom if developing accessible oil was made legal in the USA

[rb336]

There wouldn't be a fracking boom if developing accessible oil was made legal in the USA

What accessible oil might that be?

[Papasito]

FREE TRADE = BAD FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

The president’s call follows on legislation introduced earlier this month to grant him fast-track authority as a way of forcing Congress to speed up its consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation pact with Latin American and Asian nations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/30/op...drum.html?_r=0

When the US has free trade with another country, what does that mean?
It means that the US takes another step toward being equal to the nations we are trading freely with. If it's a 3rd world country, the equalization of trade brings up the standard of living with the 3rd world country, and brings down the standard of living of Americans.

It also means these nations stop paying trade tariffs.
Do you think that the US Government reduces spending to compensate for this reduction in revenue?
The answer is clearly - NO.
Who do you think makes up for this tax revenue shortfall?
YOU DO.

That's right - The American People make up for any tax revenue shortfall.

Every free trade agreement = Tax Hike.

[MizMotown]

Look Who the Folks Who Took Down ACORN Are Targeting Now

Right-wing operatives with links to big retailers going after worker centers like the Restaurant Opportunities Center.
http://www.thenation.com/article/179...-targeting-now

[Papasito]

Income Inequality?
More like ... the vanishing entrepreneur.


This is the reality to the great divide of wealth in this country:

President Obama focuses on the “wealth gap” as if that were the nation’s pressing economic issue. So long as there’s a disparity of ability, determination and luck, some people will be better off than others. The alarm to raise is not about the good fortune of some, but the bad fortune of the vanishing entrepreneur.

He’s rarely seen these days as hope for economic rebound fades. The bitter facts lie in the findings of a survey by the Brookings Institution that the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit is dying. The vision of Sam Walton, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and their kind has been punished to the point of extinction.

Strangled by endless spools of red tape and beaten down by taxes and government fees, businessmen are losing their zeal to convert an idea into a startup business or expansion of one already operating. It’s too much work and risk, to get approvals and comply with laws written by bureaucrats with no spirit or vision. Such rewards as there may be are consumed by taxes. That’s why there are fewer jobs to feed growth.

The Commerce Department had to borrow a microscope to see the minuscule 0.1 percent “expansion” in the economy in the first quarter. The Labor Department reported a productivity decline of 1.7 percent in the same period, meaning factories are less efficient, while unit labor costs rose 4 percent. Taken together, this means many businesses will continue to struggle to stay alive.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz31XLWO7B0
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[rb336]

Really? utter bullshit from the only news source that has been shown to be less reliable than Fox.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, entrepreneurship [[AKA startup businesses) was relatively flat from 2001-2005, when it started a decline that, with a slight upward blip in 2007, lasted through the Great Recession. Starting in 2010, entrepreneurship rose from its lowest point of the century to its HIGHEST in just two years. Growth in entrepreneurship has slowed its increase, but is still increasing over the last year.

[Papasito]

Really? utter bullshit from the only news source that has been shown to be less reliable than Fox.

AS IF any media outlet isn't bought and paid for as a propaganda machine. Left or Right. Don't hand me that attack the source crap. Besides, you didn't source anything in your response post.

How about the costs involved with a start-up software development company?
http://www.softwarebyrob.com/2009/01...ng-a-business/
Here's another brief rundown of some business start-up costs
http://www.papefinancial.com/info/startupcosts.htm
And they barely touched on Government costs, such as Obamacare, Worker's Comp, or even Local or State taxes, fees and regulations. What about liability insurance? What about cost of compliance to regulations? Meeting OSHA standards? Passing a Fire Inspection? And On and On and On....


Top these start-up costs of your local yokel trying to get on his 2 feet with banks that aren't lending.
These same banks that were so quick to take Government bailouts are being stingy with business and mortgage loans, which is stalling the economy to this very day and beyond.


This nation has become anti-entrepreneur. Your local mom and pop stores are disappearing at an alarming rate and are being replaced with Big Giant Box Stores and Franchises.

The big Box Store Juggernauts are the only ones left who have the money and power to wield in order to stay in business, and it REQUIRES sending lobbyists to Washington as well as fat campaign contributions to stay on the "good side" of those who run the show.

[Papasito]

Pretty Much America 2014