Do you think America's best days for the middle class are behind us?

[Super_Lantern]

I wanted the USMB crew to weigh in on this

 

[Dr.Traveler]

No. But I think social mobility is getting tougher. This means that if you're in the middle class moving up is tougher, or if you're below the poverty line moving up is REALLY tough.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

America's best days in general are behind us

 

[westwall]

I wanted the USMB crew to weigh in on this

Sadly, yes. The policies promulgated by both the democrat and repub politicians are geared toward entrenching the wealthy elites. Look for ever more of your civil rights to be stripped away from you until finally, they are able to defang the 2nd Amendment, and then we will quickly descend into a fascist totalitarian government.

 

[Agit8r]

I doubt it.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

America's best days in general are behind us

I have mixed feelings on that. I think that for America, we will continue to be one of the bright spots in the world.

Problem is, I think that humanity probably has its best days behind it. Or another way around, we'll be Sean Connery in the retirement home. Coolest guy around, but still old.

 

[konradv]

America's best days in general are behind us

I wonder how many times that sentiment has been expressed over the millenia. Every generation there are those who think the problems of the day are so overwhelming they can't be overcome, yet civilization marches on.

 

[westwall]

America's best days in general are behind us

I wonder how many times that sentiment has been expressed over the millenia. Every generation there are those who think the problems of the day are so overwhelming they can't be overcome, yet civilization marches on.

And every major civilization has always....ALWAYS fallen. Looks like the people sounding the warnings, were correct.

 

[konradv]

And every major civilization has always....ALWAYS fallen. Looks like the people sounding the warnings, were correct.

How many times has it been said compared to the number of times it happened? That's the point. I can say "watch out, something bad is going to happen". Everyone will applaud when I'm right and promptly forget all the times I was wrong.

 

[westwall]

And every major civilization has always....ALWAYS fallen. Looks like the people sounding the warnings, were correct.

How many times has it been said compared to the number of times it happened? That's the point. I can say "watch out, something bad is going to happen". Everyone will applaud when I'm right and promptly forget all the times I was wrong.

Every single time. The length of time that it takes for the fall to occur is the only question. The second that a large number of people start telling you there is a problem, you had better listen.

 

[Katzndogz]

Of course, the way this country is going, only disaster is ahead of us.

 

[Brain357]

I wanted the USMB crew to weigh in on this

It is at a low point. Eventually the majority will force changes and it will return.

 

[JimBowie1958]

America's best days in general are behind us

I wonder how many times that sentiment has been expressed over the millenia. Every generation there are those who think the problems of the day are so overwhelming they can't be overcome, yet civilization marches on.

And yet for each civilization, one generation finally gets it right, lol.

Your comment is like that of the folks who defended all the mortgage backed security sales built on subprime loans who would laugh at the nay-sayers and bark, "Real Estate has never lost value!" or "No major bank has ever failed without it being a case of criminal fraud."

OR even better, the man who jumped off the Empire State building being heard as he sailed down past the 50th floor, "Well so good so far!"

 

[JimBowie1958]

And every major civilization has always....ALWAYS fallen. Looks like the people sounding the warnings, were correct.

How many times has it been said compared to the number of times it happened? That's the point. I can say "watch out, something bad is going to happen". Everyone will applaud when I'm right and promptly forget all the times I was wrong.

No warning is correct EVERY SINGLE TIME.

That is not how warnings work.

I knew a guy who was stacking newspapers in his dorm room he had stayed in for three straight years. He was nuts, literally, and when I spotted him carrying a can of gasoline into his room I reported him. The first and second time I did, the wing steward did nothing. The third time he talked to the guy who denied everything, I told him that if he did not get something done about it I would. I would take it up the chain of management to the Dean if need be, but this moron was not going to keep newspapers and gasoline piled up in his room.

Finally they went in and carted off all the kindling and gasoline and newspapers. Seems he had some firewood stored too.

Now my warnings did not result in a fire, but eventually there would have likely been a fire had this moron been tolerated much longer.

The fact that there never was a fire does not prove my warnings wrong, either, but only proves the value of warning people itself.

Got it?

 

[JimBowie1958]

I wanted the USMB crew to weigh in on this

It is at a low point. Eventually the majority will force changes and it will return.

From your lips to god's ear.

 

[Moonglow]

What we need is a big world war to knock out manufacturing in the majority of the Earth but not here..

 

[JimBowie1958]

Every single time. The length of time that it takes for the fall to occur is the only question. The second that a large number of people start telling you there is a problem, you had better listen.

That again reminds me of the Roman Empires system of fortifications that they had built behind the Rhine and Danube rivers. The Roman Republic of old did not need such fortifications because every Roman was a soldier and would do their duty when called upon to repell the barbarian invader or the capricious Carthaginian.

But by the fifth century the Roman legion was a shadow of its old self and few people regarded themselves as Romans. Their race had died off years before that and only the name itself had survived. But all would be dandy because the Rhine and Danube rivers would hold back the barbarian hordes long enough for the local frontier forces to drive them off as they crossed.

Then in the winter of 406 the unthinkable happened; the Rhine River completely froze over so that entire tribes of starving German hordes could simply walk across the river defences. Crossing of the Rhine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh shit said the Tribune.
God damn said the Pontiff
Holy fuck said the whores
and everyone was cut down like weeds in the wind
the innocent bled out along with the criminals in and out of power.

More than their corruption, their immorality blinded them to perversion, and the perversions fed their greed and their greed blinded them to the very fragile ice they had placed their empire on till it finally melted beneath them.

 

[westwall]

Every single time. The length of time that it takes for the fall to occur is the only question. The second that a large number of people start telling you there is a problem, you had better listen.

That again reminds me of the Roman Empires system of fortifications that they had built behind the Rhine and Danube rivers. The Roman Republic of old did not need such fortifications because every Roman was a soldier and would do their duty when called upon to repell the barbarian invader or the capricious Carthaginian.

But by the fifth century the Roman legion was a shadow of its old self and few people regarded themselves as Romans. Their race had died off years before that and only the name itself had survived. But all would be dandy because the Rhine and Danube rivers would hold back the barbarian hordes long enough for the local frontier forces to drive them off as they crossed.

Then in the winter of 406 the unthinkable happened; the Rhine River completely froze over so that entire tribes of starving German hordes could simply walk across the river defences. Crossing of the Rhine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh shit said the Tribune.
God damn said the Pontiff
Holy fuck said the whores
and everyone was cut down like weeds in the wind
the innocent bled out along with the criminals in and out of power.

More than their corruption, their immorality blinded them to perversion, and the perversions fed their greed and their greed blinded them to the very fragile ice they had placed their empire on till it finally melted beneath them.

Yes, our Senate is remarkably similar to the Roman Senate...before they were all killed and Rome became a totalitarian Empire.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Every single time. The length of time that it takes for the fall to occur is the only question. The second that a large number of people start telling you there is a problem, you had better listen.

That again reminds me of the Roman Empires system of fortifications that they had built behind the Rhine and Danube rivers. The Roman Republic of old did not need such fortifications because every Roman was a soldier and would do their duty when called upon to repell the barbarian invader or the capricious Carthaginian.

But by the fifth century the Roman legion was a shadow of its old self and few people regarded themselves as Romans. Their race had died off years before that and only the name itself had survived. But all would be dandy because the Rhine and Danube rivers would hold back the barbarian hordes long enough for the local frontier forces to drive them off as they crossed.

Then in the winter of 406 the unthinkable happened; the Rhine River completely froze over so that entire tribes of starving German hordes could simply walk across the river defences. Crossing of the Rhine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh shit said the Tribune.
God damn said the Pontiff
Holy fuck said the whores
and everyone was cut down like weeds in the wind
the innocent bled out along with the criminals in and out of power.

More than their corruption, their immorality blinded them to perversion, and the perversions fed their greed and their greed blinded them to the very fragile ice they had placed their empire on till it finally melted beneath them.

Yes, our Senate is remarkably similar to the Roman Senate...before they were all killed and Rome became a totalitarian Empire.

Isnt it amazing how history can so often rhyme?

 

[westwall]

Every single time. The length of time that it takes for the fall to occur is the only question. The second that a large number of people start telling you there is a problem, you had better listen.

That again reminds me of the Roman Empires system of fortifications that they had built behind the Rhine and Danube rivers. The Roman Republic of old did not need such fortifications because every Roman was a soldier and would do their duty when called upon to repell the barbarian invader or the capricious Carthaginian.

But by the fifth century the Roman legion was a shadow of its old self and few people regarded themselves as Romans. Their race had died off years before that and only the name itself had survived. But all would be dandy because the Rhine and Danube rivers would hold back the barbarian hordes long enough for the local frontier forces to drive them off as they crossed.

Then in the winter of 406 the unthinkable happened; the Rhine River completely froze over so that entire tribes of starving German hordes could simply walk across the river defences. Crossing of the Rhine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh shit said the Tribune.
God damn said the Pontiff
Holy fuck said the whores
and everyone was cut down like weeds in the wind
the innocent bled out along with the criminals in and out of power.

More than their corruption, their immorality blinded them to perversion, and the perversions fed their greed and their greed blinded them to the very fragile ice they had placed their empire on till it finally melted beneath them.

Yes, our Senate is remarkably similar to the Roman Senate...before they were all killed and Rome became a totalitarian Empire.

Isnt it amazing how history can so often rhyme?

No, what's amazing to me is the greater fool who thinks they can ignore the lessons of history. They seem to proliferate at times like these.