America is Regressing into a Developing Nation for Most People
Comments? Observations? Uninformed Rants from Folks Who Didn't Read the Article?
Comments? Observations? Uninformed Rants from Folks Who Didn't Read the Article?
-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
America is Regressing into a Developing Nation for Most People
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
By "ticking time bomb" do you mean it's going to "explode" some day?
Yes. It can't stay like this forever. I hope it doesn't, anyway.
Opinionated Crap.
I disagree. The linked to article is a brief report (with some editorial content) of the conclusions reached in a scholarly book. It is not the book itself.
"The story started just a couple of years after the ’67 Summer of Love."
Seriously? It's a bit like claiming that germs were created by the microscope.
I'm no expert, but I agree that the events and indications around 1970 (Powell Memo, division of wages from productivity, etc) surely were symptomatic of longer running causes.
BSM1
What? Me worry?
Doesn't this happen every time there is a technological or industrial change? Look what happen to the mill workers of the 19th century when the mills started using steam power instead of man power. There was no great lasting upheaval. Same thing when the farms became industrialized. Sure some people suffered but over all this was a good thing. The same thing is happening in relation to the FTE movement (anybody remember "dial-up").
The article was very transparent about taking digs at "the rich" without pointing to a single person. Seems someone had an ax to grind. Also, the article was posted in April 2017. Maybe the author should re-write a bit of now that the unemployment rate has dropped to below 4% and the manufacturing jobs are on the up sweep.
I agree there is a gap but it's (IMHO) more of an educational or awareness gap which is being quickly closed by my children's children (my three year old grandson is already 'puter literate and he can't even pronounce it). However, I filed this in the same drawer that holds my global warming files.
The article was very transparent about taking digs at "the rich" without pointing to a single person. Seems someone had an ax to grind. Also, the article was posted in April 2017. Maybe the author should re-write a bit of now that the unemployment rate has dropped to below 4% and the manufacturing jobs are on the up sweep.
I agree there is a gap but it's (IMHO) more of an educational or awareness gap which is being quickly closed by my children's children (my three year old grandson is already 'puter literate and he can't even pronounce it). However, I filed this in the same drawer that holds my global warming files.
Then we disagree.
Underhill
Well-Known Member
The book sounds about right. I would add that we are turning into a developing nation with a pile of debt. This makes fixing the problem that much harder to deal with. It's akin to trying to repair a sinking ship while moving and with pirates closing in.
The article sounds just about right. Oddly enough, it is also fairly descriptive of Brazil's current situation, despite many very significant differences.
It seems to me that the situation is very much irreversible already. There will be some serious social turmoil before the necessary will to change is nurtured.
It seems to me that the situation is very much irreversible already. There will be some serious social turmoil before the necessary will to change is nurtured.
Underhill
Well-Known Member
Okay but below 4% bit ignores a pretty big farce. People are working but where? And manufacturing is slightly on the up sweep. No where near recovering even a small percentage of what has been lost.
The article title is right in another way it doesn't even address. The inequality of location. My home town has 3 major employers. One closed last year, one has announced that it is closing in a year. And the third, where I work, isn't all that far behind. But don't worry, service jobs are a-plenty. Every gas station has a help wanted sign in the window.
You read it.
You evaluated it.
You interpreted it.
You saved me the trouble.
Thank youl.
Someone's always predicting armageddon...be it a religious
one from the right, or a secular one from the left. Meh.....
We will persevere, address our problems, & perhaps even
progress.
Last edited:
tytlyf
Not Religious
The disappearing middle class is due to republican policies. Take the last tax bill for proof. Did the middle class worker get the majority of the tax benefits? No. Republicans gave it to the wealthy, because that's their normal MO.
If you want to see the middle class stop vanishing, stop supporting the party making it happen.
If you want to see the middle class stop vanishing, stop supporting the party making it happen.
dfnj
Well-Known Member
The article is okay. I think this video has more information about the problem:
I think the biggest reason why we lost the middle class was manufacturing jobs. The Chinese have pegged their currency the Yuan 6 to 1 against the dollar. The dollar is a unit of labor cost. This means a CEO can buy products manufactured in China at 1/6 the cost (it's probably 1/3 the cost when you take into account the cost of shipping). But maybe all the manufacturing jobs moving to China is not a bad thing. When all the textile jobs moved out of Connecticut to the South it really did not matter. Connecticut is probably the richest state in the union.
You would think with all the productivity gains from automation and using cheap Chinese labor we would be able to provide our population a very high standard of living. But we can't. I think this has to do with greed. There is no end to people's greed. Lobbyists are paid to create monopolies and cartels. Wages are depressed and prices are fixed using data analytics.
I'm an FDR Democrat. In my way of thinking, government is the only place we can turn to for addressing grievances around wealth inequality. Here's an FDR speech. The words seem more true today than they did in 1936:
"An old English judge once said: 'Necessitous men are not free men.' Liberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for.
For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor - other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.
Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of government."
Speech before the 1936 Democratic National onvention
dfnj
Well-Known Member
Here's why we will always have debt and never get out of debt:
It's long and really fascinating. But just watch first 2 minutes of it to get my point.
P.S. This country is run by pirates. Skull & Bones.
I trust BSM's evaluation.
Is this about the 9/11 conspiracy argument?
A disagreement over an issue isn't worth causing upset.
Is this about the 9/11 conspiracy argument?
A disagreement over an issue isn't worth causing upset.
Last edited by a moderator:
dfnj
Well-Known Member
More like a frog in water brought to a boil.
dfnj
Well-Known Member
Too late.