Is it Really that Bad?

reply to post by worldwatcher


I would venture to say that the sort of people who generally argue that everything is just fine and that there is nothing to worry about, are the same people who still have jobs and are completely brainwashed by consumerism. The people who are more concerned with the American Idol results than anything we might talk about here on ATS. The people who "would just die" if they had to drive a car more than a few years old and couldn't buy matching shoes for their $600 Coach bag imported from China.

Things are slipping. I am watching middle-class people now, being pushed over the precipice and into the abyss of poverty. I am not going to argue that poverty in America is quite as bad as in other parts of the world, yet, but there is no excuse for people to go hungry in the most powerful nation on Earth.

It cost me and some neighbors with comparable homes, and my son, an average of $600/month this year to heat a 3 bedroom house. They kill us here because they justify anything that has to be transported over "the bridge" as a luxury item in this penninsula.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

We actually have lower unemployment right now than we have had in recent years, let alone in the early 80s.

Keep in mind that those that were employed had better jobs. Much better jobs. Jobs with benefits. Jobs that paid a living wage. Jobs that you could retire from after thirty years. Jobs that you could support a household on at 40 hours a week instead of 80.

Also keep in mind, that those figures do not reflect the long-term unemployed. Got a chart for that? The number of people who are no longer counted as unemployed because they haven't been able to find a job in six months.

reply to post by burdman30ott6

If the stores closed tomorrow I have food stored, food growing, a river and lake to catch fish, and a mountain to hunt elk, rabbits, and deer off of.

And every starving person from the city will fan out to nice places like yours to wipe out your crops, drink your stream dry, and eat every piece of meat in the woods.

reply to post by Telafree

Should we give to food banks?

YES!!! I am living off of donated food once again this week, and it is running out...

reply to post by dgtempe


The Winter before the one that just passed, it cost me almost a thousand dollars to heat a crappy apartment without going over 55-degrees on the thermostat.

Here is how bad it was not too long ago, but it has gotten worse, and it is getting worse a lot faster now...

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 25 Apr 2008 at 08:36:57 PM GMT is:
$ 9,334,560,913,805.06

The estimated population of the United States is 303,874,811
so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,718.44.

$9 Trillion is a bargain!

Sadly, it's worse than that. Do an internet search for "53 trillion GAO analysis" and you will find pointers to a Government Accounting Office report estimating that our long-term total U.S. dept is a "minimum" of $53 trillion dollars (in 2006)!

That's a per-household dept of over $440,000 or $400,000 per full-time worker.

For the math-wise, a million seconds equal 12 days. A trillion seconds equal 32 thousand years. $9 trillion is a lot of money. $53 trillion dollars is a huge lot of money.

And the answer to the OP's question...No, it's even worse than that.

"Let Them Eat Cake!"


Codex Alimentarius (Mandate That Will Starve 3 Billion People to be In Place by 12/31/09)

A Bigger Picture (Rise of the NWO)

"Poor people don't pay taxes"

Poverty does indeed have a cure

The most important thing to realize, is that the collapse of our economy is inevitable. It is going to happen, in all certainty, the only question is when. The way our economy operates, there is simply no other way, and there is nothing that can actually be done about it. All we can do, is hope that no one ever installs this sort of economy again, and that some of us survive to remember that lesson.

Watch this video to understand how our economy operates...

Google Video Link

Here is the original thread I posted it in...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

...with a particulalry nasty debate across those pages.

Starred and flagged. I haven't even read your post yet, but your title says it all. I say NO! It is not that bad. I think people who believe that we live in the worst of times are ignorant of history, mired in their own sense of impotence and stagnation, both, or something worse. The fact is that we (especially America and Westernized nations) live in a time of extraordinary individual freedom. Technology has advanced to make our lives so much easier. We have air conditioning in our homes and work places, refrigeration to keep our (plentiful) food fresh, electricity, advanced modes of transportation, modern sanitation, indoor plumbing, irrigation, computing, mass transportation, civil engineering, the welfare state, healthcare (broken, but PRESENT), dental care, and SO MUCH MORE. One reason I'm so reticent to embrace the conspiracy culture with open arms is because of how innately pessimistic it is. Sure, it's not all good--atrocities seem to be as much a part of humanity as sex and money, but we all have so much to be thankful for for living in the here and now. Sure we also utilize our technology to kill ourselves, but we have the means--too--to use everything we have to preserve ourselves and steward the Earth. I'm glad I live in 21st century America and not 17th century Russia, 10th century England, 4th century Africa...where you were born into the wealthy, empowered, educated groups OR you worked poor and subjugated and died much the same way. We live in wonderful times. We should all turn off the (bad) news and reflect on that once in a while.

Since your post is strictly about America, I'll address that too. No, it is not. I imagine most people who will claim that these are the worst years of our country's history aren't blacks,women or gays, though. Or Chinese...Japanese...Irish...
Our Union nearly dissolved in the Civil War. Our nation almost never existed in the midst of the Revolution. Our nation (and the world) might have been annihilated in the midst of the Cold War. Information and education are abundant for those who desire it, as is entertainment. Jobs are there too (though I do believe we are in a full blown recession and the job market is not the best). Hell, thanks OP for making me pull these latent feelings from my mind, think about them, write them and smile about them!

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Threadfall]

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Threadfall]

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Threadfall]