Doom and Gloom or Reality

[Wolf]

Commentary: This is not your father's country anymore
By Jack Cafferty
CNN

Jack Cafferty says America has to rethink its aspirations in light of the growing national debt.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- I think this time, it's different. I have this uneasy feeling our country is in the process of changing forever, and not necessarily for the better -- unless our perspective changes with it.

........

People weren't in debt buying things they couldn't afford, and neither was the government. There were recessions along the way -- relatively mild downturns of short duration -- but nothing like this feels like it's going to be.

Commentary: This is not your father's country anymore - CNN.com

 

[Toro]

The debt was much, much higher after WWII than it is going to get over the next several years, so it is more like your grandfather's country.

 

[auditor0007]

The debt was much, much higher after WWII than it is going to get over the next several years, so it is more like your grandfather's country.

The difference is that we could afford a population boom which doubled our economy many times over during the next few generations following WWII. Can we or should we attempt to, or want to, have the same type of population boom again? Do we have the resources to support a population of one billion people? Is it in our best interest to go that route, or should we look toward the type of changes that can support our current population with a much slower growth rate?

 

[Truthmatters]

You sound like a liberal here.

 

[auditor0007]

You sound like a liberal here.

I'd say I'm more of a pragmatist.

 

[Toro]

The debt was much, much higher after WWII than it is going to get over the next several years, so it is more like your grandfather's country.

The difference is that we could afford a population boom which doubled our economy many times over during the next few generations following WWII. Can we or should we attempt to, or want to, have the same type of population boom again? Do we have the resources to support a population of one billion people? Is it in our best interest to go that route, or should we look toward the type of changes that can support our current population with a much slower growth rate?

We did not have a population boom that doubled our economy many times over. The economy grew slightly faster each year in the 50s and 60s than it did in the 70s and 80s, which was due entirely to population growth. So we don't need a billion people.

 

[editec]

Yeah, I think Auditor's observation about how demographics makes what we faced in the 50's v what we face now is sage.

We are cooking now, significantly different kettles of fish than my father generation was cooking.

Every generation faces unique circumstances which make their challenges different.

And while I do think we can learn from history, history cannot write our gameplans for us because each era is so very very different.

I believe that America would be best served by pulling in its horns, and becoming more nationalistic in its policies.

Obviously, that puts me completely out of step with both the Republicans and the Liberals which control this nation's grand policies.

I believe that the current plan is seeking to reconstitute the same gameplan we had for the last 30 years, and ththat gameplan is flawed for the era we are facing.

I'm like one of those people who goes to a really good New Jersey diner and select something from the breakfast menu and something from the lunch menu, and something from the dinner menu, too.

The Libertarians have some great ideas. I find traditional conservative thinking also has good points. And liberalism likewise offers us some goals and solutions.Socialists also have some good ideas.

There is NO SINGLE solution for how to run a nation that will work in EVERY case.

There is no political or economic philosophy that is correct in EVERY case.

So, I beleive that the wisest among us will inevitably be pragmatists rather than ideologues...even if we are basically leaning toward one school of thought or the other when it comes to our goals.