Quote:
Originally Posted by jimjamuser
I partly agree. About 1975(and on) things economically started going south in the US (and hope gradually went south). Tax breaks and tax brackets began to favor the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class. Recent tax changes favoring the wealthy 1% did not even throw a bone to lower-class taxpayers. After 1975 the average person ACTUALLY
lost money even if their wages stayed the same - due to loss of spending power, due to inflation. Not until about 2010 did average workers start to get small wage increases that moved them slightly ahead of inflation. And today due to Russian war aggression and Chinese Covid stupidity, the US is, likely, moving toward a DEEP recession and high inflation.
.........Before 1975 parents would always say that the NEXT generation would be better off than the last. After 1975 that could no longer be said! Today the US has the 1st world's most significant wealth disparity by far. US upward mobility is less than the UK. US health care outcomes (like birth fatalities) are ranked about 30th in the world.
........Face it folks........we are NOT the world leader that we were in the 1950s. We just remember it that way - the good old days of true US supremacy.
........Part of the cause of the US today leading the world in Mass murder IS the slow decline and today's disappearance of the middle class. And outsourcing to China to max out profits for greedy corporations was NOT very patriotic. Now we are so stupid that we can't get the parts we need from China to finish building US cars. The US allowed labor Unions to all but disappear. Funny, they seem to work in Germany, where management and the workers cooperate with each other. There are a lot of factors that have weakened the US middle class.
...........Up until recently, the US always was PROUD of its STRONG middle class.....no more. A strong middle class gives a country maximum STABILITY. The weak middle class and unresolved racial issues tear at the fabric of the nation. For further proof of instability look at the HUGE increases in US suicides and drug overdoses. The US has the highest wealth disparity in the world AND the highest, by far, amount of GUNS circulating in Civilian hands, AND WE may have the highest amount of dangerous drugs circulating in society and among young people. It seems LOGICAL that those factors would equate to more MASS MURDERS.
.........And, Oh yes, we DO lead the world, by far, in MASS MURDERS!
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A lot of good points by you and the post you replied to. I'll just add a couple more, hopefully good points. I came from a broken home. Father took off when we were little kids, and we were raised by my mother. 4 kids, one parent who worked 10-12 hrs/day, 6 days a week. Yet we all turned out okay. Why? A big reason was because there was still an infrastructure in our schools to support kids like my brothers, sister, and me. There were counselors who actually knew who I was and who I could see without waiting weeks.
Fast-forward 30 years and there I am, a single parent with a son in High School and starting to get in trouble. I call the school to see if I could talk to a counselor - for 2000 students there is ONE counselor on staff. When I finally do see this poor frazzled guy, we tells me honestly that he has about 5 minutes to devote to each student and if I really care about getting my son help, I need to get him outside help. Luckily, I could afford it - many cannot and are just out of luck.