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Why America is Dying...

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posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 06:19 AM
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"Politicians may claim America is on the upswing, but in fact, it’s in freefall.

People are working longer and harder and aren’t staying afloat. In 2004, 1.6 million families will file for bankruptcy, an all-time high.

It’s not surprising we’re having to work longer and harder. According to the Tax Foundation, in 2004, the average taxpayer worked from Jan 1 until April 11 just to pay taxes. As a result, today, it usually requires two incomes to make ends meet, especially to own a home.

Among the 10 wealthiest nations, the US has the highest violent crime rate. And it's not because of the US's weak gun control laws. Brazil and Malaysia have very strict gun control laws and their murder rate is almost triple the US rate. Switzerland and Israel have high gun ownership rates but much lower crime rates than in the US.

Not so long ago, civility and integrity was assumed. Today, they are often considered quaint ideals to be ignored when expedient. For example, have you noticed, that when you phone or email someone, you increasingly don’t even get the courtesy of a reply?

If our children are our future, prospects are bleak indeed. Schools ratchet up the standards, but most students graduate high school without even basic skills. Despite four decades of increases in education spending and the US spending more per capita on education than any of the 25 leading industrialized nations(!), the respected National Assessment of Educational Progress reports that fewer than 20 percent of 17-year-olds read at a “competent” level. In major cities, so-called "job illiteracy" is rampant. For example, in Los Angeles, 53 percent of adults are unable to read a bus schedule or complete a job application.

The question is why are we becoming a third-world nation and what should do about it?

Here are five central causes of America’s decline and recommendations for their amelioration. "

www.martynemko.com...

Take the time to read this article it is full of very good data and solutions.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 06:27 AM
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Dr. Strange love has tha answer..

It's the commies coming to suck your vital fluids...

Commies? Sorry what era am i in..

Terrorists coming to suck your vital fluids...



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 06:30 AM
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I can't say I disagree with anything he said n that article. Good find



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 06:41 AM
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It's not America. I live in America yet I live in the Caribbean how's that???



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 06:48 AM
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Wasnt the US built and designed as a capitalists venture playground?
Wans't the immigration of the poor, illiterate and hopeless encouraged, inorder to feed the growing factories and stop clever ideas of workers rights and conditions sepreading?
Isn't that why intellectualism is discouraged by names like nurd, and pencilneck.. where as musclehead jock-ism is encouraged by glorifying sports and the army?

This is what the US was built for.. this is what youre getting...



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 08:01 AM
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April eh ! Canadians have to work until July before their taxes are paid and we don't have a military. Capitalism = good, Socialism = bad.
Solution: Stop watching sports, start playing them yourself. Encourage a childs intellectualism, remind them nerds make more money, money = power, power gets the women! More women = survival of the fittest.
The higher the corprate ladder one climbs, the less one actually has to work while recieving more money.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 08:40 AM
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Hmmm.

It's war and military expenditures that pushed the national debt into overwhelming levels. ...Now at $7.7 trillion dollars, interest payments at $2.2 billion every day. ... and rising.

...and that's before we re-calculate for the falling USD.


Military done it DrH. Not compassionate liberalism. The debt was under control and Public Debt Clock was unplugged until just recently....



.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 08:49 AM
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Originally posted by soficrow
Hmmm.

It's war and military expenditures that pushed the national debt into overwhelming levels. ...Now at $7.7 trillion dollars, interest payments at $2.2 billion every day. ... and rising.

...and that's before we re-calculate for the falling USD.


Military done it DrH. Not compassionate liberalism. The debt was under control and Public Debt Clock was unplugged until just recently....

.


First of all the "debt" was never under control, it was all paper BS. It was based on "projected" revenue. Smoke and mirrors from the start.

Military spending is a small part of the overall budget. All social program should stop, right now today. No one penny................

The only thing the constitution allows is national security and military.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 08:51 AM
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Wow, thats America scrubbed from my list of places to live!

Im in Nursing training at the minute, and my fiancee is a trained emergeny Nurse, and we were thinking of moving to the United States to live...

After reading about all of your problems, crack downs, and the massive influx of disease and criminals, that article has sure made me think twice!

But, all said and done, i still think Americans are some of the nicest people on Gods earth.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 08:54 AM
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This just goes to prove that democracy is a failure just like every other political system. And its all becouse of greed. And who suffers first? Low class citizens
Its better to do nothing for free than to work for free. And its all the same in the newly adopted democracy countries like my own, the gap between rich and poor
is getting bigger. The people are smelling the stink underneath and theyre piling up for the winter



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 09:06 AM
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As a 16 yo highschool student I am having a VERY hard time believing this many people are illiterate. Are you sure these numbers are correct?



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 09:13 AM
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Originally posted by CosaNostra
As a 16 yo highschool student I am having a VERY hard time believing this many people are illiterate. Are you sure these numbers are correct?


Based on "where" the sample took place, yes.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 09:39 AM
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I agree with the good Doc.

In America, we abhor violence, yet violence and crime statistics are staggering.

In America, we see sex as 'nasty', and indecent, yet we produce more porno movies a year than any other country.

Television isn't allowed to show one square inch of breast, but can show a person getting their head blown off.

Some Columbine parents, after the shootings, tried to blame the influence of 'Marilyn Manson and his lyrics. Yet, people all over the world listen to him, and this type of shooting happens, for the most part, only in America.

We really need to get down and be honest; Yes, we work too many hours. We need to, to survive. No parents are at home, leaving the 'latch-key' kids to fend for themselves. We love violence. We love sex. We get the smallest amount of vacation days and holidays a year in the Western Industrialized Nations. Our basic family unit is being destroyed.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 09:45 AM
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Originally posted by nukunuku

This just goes to prove that democracy is a failure just like every other political system.





NOT TRUE! This what 'they' want you to believe - but it's not true. Democracy has been hijacked by corporate interests, that's all.

Time to take it back.


.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 09:46 AM
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Originally posted by nathraq


In America, we abhor violence, yet violence and crime statistics are staggering.


Because for some reason, many people get of on violence....my person belief is that is is stemming from violence in the home, children are brought up with it, so it's no big deal to them...to see it or commit it.


In America, we see sex as 'nasty', and indecent, yet we produce more porno movies a year than any other country.


Because while many people are spouting off that this is nasty and that is nasty, they are secretly doing it....."almost" every person I know that spouts off about how "evil" porn is, watches it, or their significant other does
Many people are into violence and sex, while yelling how bad both are



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 10:05 AM
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when i was my stepsons age i was reading the dictionary for fun. my stepson cant read yet. why?

1. he missed the state cutoff when we lived in arizona by 14 days and had to start school a year late. i already was in 1st grade.

2. hes just not inherently as intelligent as me.

is this bad? no, it just means he slower at me in school.

i graduated from high school with a 1.3, i currently work for intel. its because i decided to straiten up and fly right and get a degree.

i can honestly tell you, it boils down to one thing. personal motivation. some of the people that graduated in my class were pretty dumb, but got jobs anyway becasue they had got the degree. I could easilly do the job i have now without my degree, no questions asked.

so you see, its ALL ABOUT THE BUERACRACY!

i am 2 steps below engineer. to get that engineer job, i would need a 4 year degree instead. i could get the job above me (engineering tech) with no degree, but not the job above that. (engineer)

Now, i have a friend that has the same job as me but is a grade level higher, but only has a ged. why? becasue he got hired when it was not required to have a degree.

My boss does not have a degree. she got promoted from within, and has been with the company for years. she is not an engineer however, just a manager.

there are engineers in good standing with no degree also becasue they had prior experience as an engineer b4 the rule was made.

so obviously, something changed within the system as a whole. You used to only have to be good at your job to get promoted, now you dont have to be good, you just have to have a degree.

its pretty annoying when someone standing next to you has a bachelors and they get paid more than you because of their education level, but you outpreform them on a dialy basis. i deal with it becasue i have what most would consider an exellent job and lots of people are out of work nowadays.

but anyway, i wonder what it is that made this change? was it huge government kickbacks to companies under the condition that they hire only college grads? thats what would make sense to me.



posted on Feb, 23 2005 @ 10:10 AM
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For this topic and for your many excellent posts:

You have voted DrHoracid for the Way Above Top Secret award.


DrHoracid says:

Schools ratchet up the standards, but most students graduate high school without even basic skills.

I must respectfully disagree with this. At least the first half. I don't see standards being raised. When I was in school 93-100 = A; 85-92 = B; 79-84 = C; I can't remember the D and F because I rarely got them. But, I KNOW the grades are much more lenient today.
And, consequently, more and more students merely vegetate through school and can barely read or write.



posted on Feb, 25 2005 @ 09:57 AM
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Originally posted by Corinthas
Wasnt the US built and designed as a capitalists venture playground?
Wans't the immigration of the poor, illiterate and hopeless encouraged, inorder to feed the growing factories and stop clever ideas of workers rights and conditions sepreading?
Isn't that why intellectualism is discouraged by names like nurd, and pencilneck.. where as musclehead jock-ism is encouraged by glorifying sports and the army?
This is what the US was built for.. this is what youre getting...

Ehh, actually it's liberal teacher unions, various 'diversity' and 'toleration' lecturing that gets in the way of kids getting basic skills. It's not like education system is occupied by capitalist or right-wing types.
This name calling of nerds geeks etc. has not much to do with conspiracies and is present just about anywhere in the world. It's just a way how jealous 'jocks' call those smarter than them.

Because US people work hard, its economy is growing at 3.8%, unlike that of Germany (and other more socialist countries) which is falling at -0.3% rate, that translates into twice as many unemployed than in US. This can be contributed in large part by their long vacations and limitations on work hours. Laziness just doesn't pay off.

[edit on 25-2-2005 by Megaquad]



posted on Feb, 25 2005 @ 11:27 AM
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Then why are there so many dreadful predictions over the economy of the United States being made by economic experts?



posted on Feb, 25 2005 @ 11:38 PM
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Originally posted by TheBandit795
Then why are there so many dreadful predictions over the economy of the United States being made by economic experts?

Well, since you ask, I will shed some light on this. Keep in mind that all those doomsayers have their own special interests that motivate them to spread such nonsense.
From article in that thread:

Could the falling dollar mean we're in for a major financial disaster? Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, thinks so.

Europeans are scared of weak dollar because it means that USA will buy less of their goods, weakening their entire export-based economy (which is falling at 0.3%).

news.bbc.co.uk...
"German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has suggested that the European Central Bank (ECB) should cut interest rates to reduce the strength of the euro."
You can see why Europeans are worried, their economy is in shambles and US has less to spend on their products. You can bet they wouldn't complain if situation was in their favor.
US is slowly rising interest rates as expected, this is nothing alarming and it may have an effect on boosting dollar.

Softer dollar is key for strengthening competitiveness at global market for US companies, while at the same time reducing trade deficit. This especially matters when dealing with poor countries who are manufacturing extremely cheap priced products.

I suggest you don't believe these "experts" from left-wing media.
Microsoft's (news is from MSN) chairman Mr. Bill Gates unfortunately hopes that US will adopt European model of high regulations/trade protectionism coupled with higher economic aid to poor countries that he is so concerned about, concluding from many comments he has made.
Truth is, free trade helps poor countries in a way that donations never can (they end up in politicians pockets usually), thanks to US investment Chinese/Indian economies are rising at nearly 10% rate.

Now, on to debt/budget deficit issue. I will tell right away that US economy can handle twice or triple budget deficit of this one. Although it would affect inflation somewhat, things would still function. Japan is 3 times as indebted as US and it hasn't collapsed neither I hear 'experts' running around claiming world will end tomorrow.



This graphic displays US debt as a percentage of its entire economy, with US being the fastest growing developed country you can see that *growth* alleviates debt over time making it a non-issue at a present time. Bush has pledged to decrease deficit about 50% to $250 billion in next 3 years, which makes this issue even smaller. When growth is high, it means that govt. can reap more money for its budget, even if it introduces tax cuts (which in fact encourage growth).

US doesn't put much barriers on import/export and this is why it remains amongst the most free economies in the world. Economic freedom always leads to prosperity. If I want to buy Japanese car, and government imposes various tarriffs and restrictrions, then this is a major infringement of my personal freedoms, and it has effect on depressing the entire economy since I have less wealth left for other things afterwards.

US business firms enjoy considerably greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to entry in their rivals' home markets than the barriers to entry of foreign firms in US markets.
www.cia.gov...

US economic philosophy is somewhat different than the logic other countries are following, once you start to understand it you see why it's working so well in comparison.



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