Before 2050, America is a Third World nation

Originally posted by plaetorian
America is no way the most advanced technologically.

Who is then?

First of all, countries such as Germany and Russia gave America everything they have today.

Your proof for this? Typical anti-american response..

Your intel agencies back then stealing information (industrial spionaje)

And your point? This has been happening sense the begining of time. The USSR had a massive espionage ring. Its usually what the weak rely on, and the strong use to exploit said weaknesses. The US is not the ladder half of those two.

kidnapping the best scientists and so on this is no secret.

Paying them higher, better wages is kidnapping them?

Every advanced fighter jet you have to day was invented by the germans decades ago,

Utter twaddle with no proof backing what so ever. German designs were vastly superior to anything the allies had just after WWII, many german designs (such as aerodynamics) were used and employed on both russian as well as american aircrafts. That , however is not the case in todays world.

I can proof you every single one is not the first time I do.

Dont let me stop you. please proceed to provide the "proof" you speak of.

The technologies most of them come from Mr Testla.... russian and Mr. Einstain ... german... then made american of course what else....

I dont think you quite understand what the american populace is made up of. For instance, did you know that many americans actually have german roots? Russian roots? Italian roots? Many of them ALL came from europa in other words...It is a diverse population...So, Einstein fit in quite perfectly in the american background.

a joke... this country was created by the use of long worked perfectionism of the other countries...

Again, you have supplied no proof, just a biased opinion that you spout as if it were fact..

russia has no money yet is years more advanced that the US.

O'rly? Care to go into greater detail, so we can then debate?

So are Japan

Actually, not quite, japan does lead in a select few areas, however not by as much as you think, and deffinately in not as many fields as america leads in.

and China will be soon.

Yes....one happy meal at a time, i suppose..The only thing china will be leader in for the foreseeable future is the toy making industry....

And this my friends has been told to me by top military personel.

I smell Bullsh#t. what "top military personnel" would these be..and what was there ranking?

I had to stop after I read that..Honestly, your an idiot. You cannot be taken seriously due to your dead set, anti american attitude. You cannot stand the fact that the US is and has been for quite some time, number 1 in the world in terms of technology, as well as education (17 of the worlds top 20 university's are loacted within the US) Many ppl from all around the world choose to come to the US to learn in american universitys, not russian, not british, not german or japanese universitys, but american ones. Also, American R&D spending accounts for some 40% of the entire worlds spending on R&D, sustaining, and assuring that the US is the leader in every major technological development in the world today. The computer you type on, is an american made invention, the internet you currently use to spout your hatred of amerika, is also an american made invention. the US was the first of humans, and the only nation to ever put a man on the moon, not russia, not japan, or china, etc.

Many ppl also migrate to the US mainland, more so then any other nation. Making the US the #1 most sought after destination. And despite what some would say on this site, america is still the land of opportunity. More so than any other nation on earth.

You seem to be under the impression the US has stolen every advantage it has, yet you havent explained why you think this, and this failed logic of yours does not explain why america could and continues, to 'do it better' than the nations you are implying it from having stolen from..

reply to post by Boondock78


I think your party is ignorance.

There's alot of great countries here on this planet that make it shine. People from all around the globe are educating themselves, including America, Canada, the bible belt of the south etc... You guys need to get out more and learn about real life instead of reading about it.

[edit on 11/27/2007 by Solarskye]

Much to my surprise, I find I agree with SOME of Buchanan's points.

However, I do not believe the U.S. will be a "third world nation" by 2050. Does he mean that all the immigration from Mexico and elsewhere will reduce us to living in huts made of scraps of tin with no electricity and no clean water? That all of our technological innovations will disappear? That a NAU will cause food shortages and inadequate healthcare? That's just xenophobic.

Then he talks about the so-called "culture wars" which are no threat to America's existence. That is a concept some people have trumped up to try and divide a population that just has differences of opinion. There are disagreements within all countries and cultures. There are disagreements on this website, but that doesn't mean all the members are going to go to war with each other.

reply to post by manson_322


Except for one thing, we Americans arnt injesting lead with our water intake the way the romans did. Which IMO is the single most decideing factor which doomed the romans frame of mind and lead to thier defeat and the burning of thier empire. America is down.... but dont for one second count us out.

reply to post by West Coast


West Coast, for decades we know this at least the ppl who like researching such. You country even advertizes such. I was once in England, watching the History Channel at the hotel, when they show started talking about all the so invented techonolgies and giving proof of being invented either by Russia or Germany well before. Mostly in military tech, if not all. Pretty amazing. That was not an Anti-american comment is fact... I have a lot of good things to say about America I have live there over 6 years, but no it is not as technologicaly advance as they show you in tv. The fact that other countries dont go around making tv shows on what they have intenved is a diff story.

The indstrial spionaje is not new.. right... both russia.. germany and the US have been part of it. True... the fact is those two other countries have been around for as far back as we can date humanity, the US has not. A country created by that same immigration that you now exclude. A few centuries ago, for thats all your country's history can provide. These two other countries have been developing and discovery well before the US was even planned to become a nation my friend. Yes, such spionaje gave the US the advantage that to other countries meant centuries of inventions and improvements on such... you are lucky those were provided to you when they were finished, discovered, invented, indirectly by those that came here, or copied by those agencies created for such, giving patents to american companies. Good enough, for the winner is the smartest one fine... but the fact is what it is.

Yes, lots of scientists, the ones that did not agreed to come, the ones more patriotic to their own homeland were kidnapped, helped develop whatever technology it was and then dissapeared without a trace. Those that did not have food to eat in thy countries tht could not support them financially "russia" came along no problem. Better wages, etc... the fact is they arent american, although given american citizenship.

On the planes copied and all that... I will provide proof of many as I have said. My brother has the info on his own research which did before entering lockheed and too bad he cannot explain about this issue himself... he is the one to do so but I will provide you with such as soon as i retrieve those.

About the american populance being made of foreginers... right... in fact america as an origin does not exist. Every single person came from somewhere else... true... but dont speak such stupidity. Einstein was german. As much as you want to claim it was american what a joke... just dont say that kind of things man it was going fine until your wrote that. HE was german, brought to the US, given american citizenship so that he could boost american science... and of course please let us use your nuclear bomb invention and why not join the manhattan project that we created for you to mmmm share your secrets with us. But german my friend... the fact that american is made by many other countries does not mean in the case of Einstein he was american backgroun haha thats the most absurd thing ive heard so far.

The next quote... same thing already explain. Countries of the world whave been around, exploring, learning, discovering, inventing well before america was even discovered... this countries have invented most of the stuff around today... work on it perfectionate it, and then came along birth of the US, and all these milleniums of knowledge came to the US with immigration for the luck of your country... bla bla... the navy advancements... war ships, geez we could go for ages. Most of the rich found in american soil a place for new ideas thus the huge investment mostly jewish into this country. Families such as the Rosthchild and Rockefeller to namea few...

continued...

reply to post by West Coast


in the russian issue... for those fascinated with militarytech and history, we all know Russia has been the pioneer of most of the war techonolgies used to day. Most of those tech you claim america has were either invented by Mr Testla himself, or studied to further improve it. Obvious no need to go to school for this to make sense... thus this country was already inventing well before yours was a country. BUT, they had no money, the best fighters, the best missils, radars, special ops, the best submarines, so on... all lost cuz they couldnt keep up with production.. too bad... but the american sharks were there ready to start copying every single one of those projects or techonolgies that were left there like that... Russia to this date is at the fore front on techonolgy, and fortunately for them, they are fixing their monetary and economical issues at a faster rate than expected so lets wait a bit more and see what they will be able to do when they actually have money to waste like the US.. in R&D.

China making toys... it would be funny to think china will become the number one economy, taking your lead of your hands by making just toys haha... the funny thing is your companies are fostering this by going there to manufacture the before manufactured in american soil by american workers products. If china wasnt coming a power, your government would not be so damn scared. To the point where most of the military cosntructors are working their asses off because of it. As an example, my brother which was coming home for xmas cannot... because now lockheed needs to work everyone's ass due to china coming out with a new satellite attack system that has been proven to be the most advanced to date... too bad now the US is to scare of the fact that the "toy maker" can put satellites in low and mid orbits to dust no prob.. including those so famous "spy" satellites... I guess they are not just making toys huh... appart from the fact that they have the largest army in the world... begin to manufacture their own weapons, and buy the best russia has... is not a good thing either..

MMm lets see... so you spend huge amounts of R&D yes that all your country do. THey go to schools to tell your young kids they need to go to war,,, or poor kids dont worry we will pay your school and all trust us... isntead of putting money to work for their citizens.. but nobody cares because this is not even an american issue we all know the hidden government's agendas. Your country's debt is so huge, it will never be able to be paid back. Of course you have so much money to waste in R&D cuz you dont pay your dues..

The world top 20 universities?? mmm dont agree... most of them not 20. UK and germany has many as well of course those same making those surveys are americans. You bring the best minds to study in your system??true... very smart... then you offer them good jobs in military companies, greencards and # what else.... it happened to my brother, freshman, with full scholarship to come to this country and already had an offer from many military companies in the aerospace community ended up with lockheed... you do that with every single good student there is in the world i dont blame you but thats is why you have the best education lets put those facts on the table. same with those same professors teaching those good classes lets see where they are from... mmmm hindus... asians.. german.. russian.. and jewish sicences speaking of course... i remember asking my teachers how they got here.. if i start on that subjetc we all gonna laugh.

BTW that top officil from many, is a former colonel from the US army, others are Navy and just a few air force i have met. I remember the chief of special forces for the army explaining to me that the delta force was so embarraced by the british SAS that they had to hide the incident...

You should all calm down.

There is not one single person on the globe capable of predicting what is going to happen till 2050. Not one.

And remember. We live now in a global world. And if the beat of a butterfly's wings in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas...

reply to post by plaetorian


Actually the US civil war was the first modern technological war.

As for the Germans/Russians developing the first military devices, it was all based on American inventions like:
The airplane,
the maxim gun or the first machine gun
the car
power tools
the steam engine
nylon

Though I will give Germans/Russians props for making better use of them at the time.
And no offense to China or Japan either( I love the Japanese, and thank you for Ninja Warrior, and I can't wait to visit), but they are just good at reverse engineering. They wait till a European or American invents it, tear it apart, make it a little better and different, and get kudos for it. And they won't admit to any wrongdoing.

Americans have themselves to blame for the feverish driven consumerism. Wanting a lot for nothing tilll we get dangerous garbage from China. But it is also no wonder, I heard today that the average American gets advertised too on average of 1200 times a day.


The fact is that I don't know why everyone insists on bringing the US down. Yes, there is a lot of trouble right now. But as a pp pointed out, who hasn't screwed up at least once?
Everyone acts like the US is the big kid on campus yet we have never been listed as the #1 place to live. Usually about 10th. We rarely have the highest GDP. We don't get top education. But we work more then anyone else. So why all the anger?

Yes, you see a lot coming out of Hollywood. You see a lot of tv and commericalism. But people don't stop to consider that entertainment is OUR export. Since it is not a actual material, not many consider it thus. But it is true. We export entertainment. Iran has pistachios, France has wine and cheese, Germany has cars and beer (yea!) Belgium has chocolate(and I REALLY thank you for that) and we have entertainment.Problem is that the export only benefits the elite.

We have been through a whole lot worse and made it through. The civil war and the depression nearly did us in.

Which is why people have to realize that the next election is SOOOO important. Who we elect will either make us or break us. which is why I think so many Americans just don't know who to vote for and staying mum till February. Waiting to see who is still flying.

The only way the US can be a third world country is if some major catastrophy hit the entire USA, like nuclear bombs, massive global earthquakes, or solar flares frying the earth. All in which will effect the entire world.

As for the national debt, who cares don't pay it. What can anyone do?Stick a gun to us? It's the biggest scam on the planet! We just borrow and not pay. And no one can do a dam17 thing about it. When they figure we will never pay them back. What can they do? Not give us a loan anymore? Or better yet go home and cry about it. "Boo hooo... I got screwed... "

We have enough reserves and supply to be temporary self sufficient. But we choose not to because things are cheaper from China, India, or even the middle east, which is the main reason why their economy is growing so fast. When things become more expensive in other countries, we can just re-route business back to our homeland. Results? More business and oppurtunities. We benefit both ways.

Come on people, we are known for sucking the worlds resources. And when all the worlds resources runs out. We'll be the last one standing. U call it scandalous. I call it ingenious.

Originally posted by plaetorian
reply to post by West Coast

 

in the russian issue... for those fascinated with militarytech and history, we all know Russia has been the pioneer of most of the war techonolgies used to day.

As pointed out above, we were the one's that invented the machine gun and heavier than air aircraft. I won't deny that the Russians have contributed quite a bit, but the US put out a substantial amount of original ideas.

Most of those tech you claim america has were either invented by Mr Testla himself, or studied to further improve it.

So what about Tesla? Does it really matter that he was born in Eastern Europe? He came to America and became an American citizen by his choice, I think that says a lot about the kind of people we attract. Contrary to the loud mouthes you may see on TV, the good majority of us don't particuarly care where a person is from and Tesla is no exception. Like all legal immigrants he worked hard to become a citizen, he contributed much labor to the US, and we respect him as an American citizen as a result.

Obvious no need to go to school for this to make sense... thus this country was already inventing well before yours was a country. BUT, they had no money, the best fighters, the best missils, radars, special ops, the best submarines, so on... all lost cuz they couldnt keep up with production..

Best fighters? I'm really going to have dispute you on that one. The Russians haven't had a better fighter since the MiG-15, and even that was matched evenly, if not surpassed, by the F-86 which was introduced the same year. Other than that American fighters have consistently proven to outperform and outlast the Russian fighters. And although I understand that for the most part Soviet fighters were piloted by less skilled pilots in proxy wars, so far actual combat has painted a picture highly in favor of the American made fighters.

Missile strength, radars, and subs are all debatable as well. Special ops especially I think you're mistaken on. While I respect Spetsnaz, they're not as good at hostage rescue. Simply put, they tend to leave a real bloody mess wherever they go.

too bad... but the american sharks were there ready to start copying every single one of those projects or techonolgies that were left there like that... Russia to this date is at the fore front on techonolgy, and fortunately for them, they are fixing their monetary and economical issues at a faster rate than expected so lets wait a bit more and see what they will be able to do when they actually have money to waste like the US.. in R&D.

Let's not forget where exactly the Soviet atomic bomb designs came from. Stolen from the US via espionage. Hell, where do you think the design for the Tu-4 came from? That particular bomber was a direct reverse engineer from our B-29.

China making toys... it would be funny to think china will become the number one economy, taking your lead of your hands by making just toys haha... the funny thing is your companies are fostering this by going there to manufacture the before manufactured in american soil by american workers products. If china wasnt coming a power, your government would not be so damn scared. To the point where most of the military cosntructors are working their asses off because of it. As an example, my brother which was coming home for xmas cannot... because now lockheed needs to work everyone's ass due to china coming out with a new satellite attack system that has been proven to be the most advanced to date... too bad now the US is to scare of the fact that the "toy maker" can put satellites in low and mid orbits to dust no prob.. including those so famous "spy" satellites... I guess they are not just making toys huh... appart from the fact that they have the largest army in the world... begin to manufacture their own weapons, and buy the best russia has... is not a good thing either..

First point, China only has that manufacturing base because of the US. If their currency wasn't kept artificially low, and if it weren't for our corporations the Chinese wouldn't be capable of producing much of anything.

Secondly, the idea of shooting down satellites isn't anything new. We've been able to do that with an F-15 for quite a few years now.

Third, having the largest army in the world means nothing if it doesn't have the proper support. They aren't as mechanized as the US, and they don't have any way of moving large portions of that army anywhere outside the region. Without a proper navy or strategic airlift capability the Chinese army is only useful as a defensive one.

MMm lets see... so you spend huge amounts of R&D yes that all your country do. THey go to schools to tell your young kids they need to go to war,,, or poor kids dont worry we will pay your school and all trust us... isntead of putting money to work for their citizens.. but nobody cares because this is not even an american issue we all know the hidden government's agendas. Your country's debt is so huge, it will never be able to be paid back. Of course you have so much money to waste in R&D cuz you dont pay your dues..

If it weren't for our military R&D the world would be a lot farther back technologically. It just so happens that some rather extraordinary breakthroughs in emergency medical treatment is coming a long way thanks to our medics over in Iraq. Those techniques alone are likely end up saving more lives than the total amount of deaths as a result of the Iraq War. Even computers and much of the internet is a result of military R&D. You have more to thank for our R&D than you may think.

And did it ever occur to you that we'd never be able to pay off any of that debt if we didn't have that high tech industry. Without that R&D we'd be looking at a lot less progression, and America thrives on moving forward.

The world top 20 universities?? mmm dont agree... most of them not 20. UK and germany has many as well of course those same making those surveys are americans.

Actually we do have seventeen of the top twenty, and that's not written by Americans. This is coming from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Institute of Higher Education of all places. Rankings can be found here;
ed.sjtu.edu.cn...

You bring the best minds to study in your system??true... very smart... then you offer them good jobs in military companies, greencards and # what else.... it happened to my brother, freshman, with full scholarship to come to this country and already had an offer from many military companies in the aerospace community ended up with lockheed...

We offer that to quite a ton of indigenous students as well. In this country we for the most part reward based on merit, and we don't really care where a person is from.

you do that with every single good student there is in the world i dont blame you but thats is why you have the best education lets put those facts on the table.

We have the best universities because they rest on the foundations of experience. And considering how much it costs to go to college, they make more than enough money to provide excellence.

same with those same professors teaching those good classes lets see where they are from... mmmm hindus... asians.. german.. russian.. and jewish sicences speaking of course... i remember asking my teachers how they got here.. if i start on that subjetc we all gonna laugh.

Hindus and Jews are members of the religions of Hinduism and Judaism respectively. Seeing as our Constitution respects the freedom of religion, and as we have no state church there is nothing prohibiting Americans from being Hindu or Jewish. I see no problem with having Hindu or Jewish professors and I'm curious as to what your point was.

[edit on 11/27/2007 by cyberdude78]

Originally posted by j_kalin
Well, some of us are not very concerned with this. Why should we care if a racist, homophobic, environmentally destructive, imperialistic nation falls apart? I would love to annex my part of the US, New England, to Canada as would the northwest. Leave the south and midwest to the bible-belters. With their lack of interest in science, education, and environmental responsibility they deserve third-world status.

This is a laughable statement. I live in New England and it is one of the worst most pathetic places in the US to live. It is already a third world country here.
The transportation infrastructure is in shambles. Money is thrown at it but nothing ever gets done. Remember the big dig? That repeats itself all over the state. Corruption is rampant and most small towns are overrun by drug gangs. The lib.s are still releasing criminals out on to the streets and crime and home invasions and muggings and rape are all up exponentially throughout MA.

Thanks to globalism, fully supported by all the MA legislators jobs are fleeing overseas with all our manufacturing. Real wages are down but costs continue to skyrocket. As the towns go bankrupt the liberals, knowing only one socialist response to all problems, keep raising taxes. Naturally people are leaving here as fast as they can get out. Where are they going? To the Bible belt of course, trying to spread their liberal infection to any decent crime free neighborhoods the god fearers have created.

That has to be the first time anyone has ever referred to the Bible belt in a positive light!

In all my travels, the Bible Belt is the one place I never felt safe.

reply to post by plaetorian


All your posts are ripe with paranoid propaganda. I don not know who feeds you the tripe you are peddling, but it is completely off the map of common sense. Maybe the engineer you mentioned is disgruntled because the same class of people I know feel as I do and collectively can determine that the US is the technology leader and has been so since the late 40's. Yes, every region of the world has has some success in science, but you cannot dispute that the most significant and far reaching are from the United States (moon landing, space shuttle, fastest aircraft, stealth technology, medical technology, living standards, ect, ect ...) Yes, America is going through some tough times and we are not perfect but we have to work it ou. We always have been able to in the past.

[edit on 27-11-2007 by eagledriver]

reply to post by SevenThunders

I couldent have said it better ... same story here on Long Island. Our entire transportation and transit system is stuck in the 1960s. Crime is going up and up, etc. And dont even get me started on the cost of living and the corruption in government, just go to Google and type in Pete McGowan and you will find the ultimate politicrook.

I think we can make examples of the destroyed neighbors and government corruption and ineptness all across the country. Most of it can be attributed to illegal immigration, but beating a dead horse will do nothing to get the Federal Govt to do anything about it. We need to elect like minded, uncorrupted officials. Hillary is the most corrupted of all of them, so she's not electable.
We have to stop the robbing of America by the illegal freeloaders and the corrupt government officials. Let's let our taxes work for us for once and not the 3rd world freeloaders.

Hello,

Thank you Cyberdude for calling out Plaetorin on his racist rhetoric and false facts. He or she is full of hate and envy. Both mortal sins. Good work.

Also I'd like to note to the group that a lot is two words. No exceptions.

I don't know how Pat B. gets the media attention he does. He is full of hot air and should go the way of the dinosaurs. His views are frozen over in time. Lets move forward away from people like him.

Several good points have been made in this discussion. The world has issues but they all can be overcome. One issue is Debt. The U.S. debt is not impossible to repay. Firstly government debt is not payable to some person or some super rich entity. If we need more money we print it. That's it. This debt is payable to ourselves. In essence we endorse our own debt. We loan it to ourselves. It is looked upon as a debit by bookeepers but it is highly artificial. As for making it up to ourselves that is possible as well. The Canadians had a 33 billion dollar debt 15 years ago. They now have a surplus most years and a strong currency. Canada's population in one tenth of the U.S. so in retrospect their debt was 33 trillion and they wiped it out in 15 years. The U.S. can as well. By the way Canada army is heavily involved in the Afganistan and their house is still in order.

Another person noted that the U.S. Military is The U.N army. Thank you USA. Who else is going to do anything. Atleast the U.S. has paid its' financial obligations to the U.N. Most countries that are members haven't paid their dues for decades. The U.N. is not perfect but it's the best thing we have presently. A fourm where all nations can talk can't be a bad thing. Everyone needs a voice in this brave new world.

I'll leave it here because I want to reread some of the things people have said but please don't give Patty B any serious thought. He's done and not relevent, never was and never will be.

LGF.

Pat Buchanan has been talking about our demise for years, not just recently. Although I've been agreeing with him more lately.

Why do you think the oil industry gives money to environmentalists? Environmentalists say not to drill in Anwar, great for the oil industry. The less drilling, the less supply. Do the math. It's just a game. I remember the 70s and how oil was coming to an end. There is plenty of oil and I don't believe they are fossil fuels. How can fossil fuels be 4 miles below the surface? That is what the military/petrochemical/pharmaceutical industrial complex wants you to know. Forget about peace; forget about cures; forget about free energy. It's a chess game and we are the pawns. I hate to sound so cynical but I don't see another explanation.

As long as we're divided between left/right, democrat/republican, etc., we will be weak. It's time to bring the American or Constitution party.

Someone said we are asleep at the wheel. Well, the new Congress was elected to act. Have they acted? How can they possibly be at a lower approval rating that the president? Someone is calling the shots and it's not us (I mean, our representatives). There is a more powerful force behind the scenes giving form to our tomorrow.

[edit on 27-11-2007 by manticore]

I do not agree with this guy on alot of stuff that he says either but I do think he is right on this one....We can have all the technology in the world but look at what China did to one of their own satellites with just a mere battling ram......Also talk about third world go take a look at New Orleans now and tell me that isnt pretty darn close....Also parts of New York and LA it isnt goingt to take much to slide over that hump.....Our economy is shot and people keep saying our dollar is falling our dollar fell along time ago everyone knows that it is not worth the paper it is printed on.....Backed by nothing but debt and they just keep firing the old printers up and making more.....Kinda like what George Noory says imagine if you went out and just kept putting stuff on an IOU how long do you think that would go on before the collectors starting calling you for payments.....

Heck you may even take a look at Detroit which now has the highest crime in the nation..Why??? They lost all their good jobs the auto and steel....It wasnt always like this....But it went to hell in a hand basket....I dont remember a time ever that I have heard of so many family murder/suicides going on....I think that is just the beginning....Sorry to sound like a dooms dayer but I do live in the "show me state" and I see alot of stuff changing not for the better......

Yeah, it really is unfortunate.. I think 'most sensible americans' can see whats at the end of the path we are going down. The other half, doesnt care.. Put on your ipod, lets watch a movie... jack in the box sounds good, hey whats on sale at walmart? You get it. On the dark side, the only way I actually see a large change is ...of course, another war.. that being, a civil war.

Yes we have ghettos and poverty in the U.S. You can count on 10% of people to have a rough time. This is a terrible thing that again can be overcome. Now if your an anti Socialists your not going to lke what I have to say but my notions make for long term solutions rather then the overwelming attitude these days where people solemly feel that we only have to take care of ourselves. This rampant selfishness, uncaring reality today. "We're all in this together folks". Most of you probably only pass by these areas on the beltway. Complacency is at the route concerning change. As for the causes which have to be part of the solution they are environment, education, hard drugs, mental health, poverty or a lack of oppurtunity. Racism also plays a role here as does illegal immigration. The lack of hope should also be noted.

As for solutions public opinon has to shift first and yes we need to spend a lot of money. This is a can of worms that can't be talked about here in any detail but investing in schools and community centers is obvious. Other factors like the ruthless media outlets being so intent on creating an atmosphere of gangsterism, sex, power and drugs for our kids has to stop.

Remember we're all in this together.
LGF.