Americans see a US in decline, finds Pew survey

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

Perception is everything.

Obama has not cut the deficit in half.

The US national debt has increased exponentially ever since he has been in office. How much do you get paid to post this shit?

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

He has cut the rate.

Republicans and the Bush Tax Cuts.

The two unfunded wars.

The movement of millions of jobs to China.

The crash of the Deregulated economy.

What has Obama spent the money on? All these things go back to the 6 years the GOP held the entire government hostage. Then they handed that big bag of shit to the Democrats and Obama.

True, Bush made sure the tab for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars went on the 2009 books. He and Cheney charged their wars to the national credit card.

 

[Kondor3]

Thanks to the Tea Baggers.

The Tea Party is only the latest 'rash' that American Partisanship has broken-out into.

Our decline has been decades in the making and cannot be attributed in the main to those Johnny-come-latelies.

The Tea Party - a metaphor for ultra-Conservatism in today's usage - might very well be responsible for a handful of developments in the past couple of years, but...

Neither they nor their predecessors nor their 'kind' were responsible for the other 98.5% of 'The Decline' as a reasonable person would look back on history and define that.

Hell, in truth, there's PLENTY of blame to go-around on BOTH sides of the aisle, and you know that just as well as I do.

The longer we posture and play games and do nothing more than point the finger at the OTHER guy, rather than manning-up and identifying and accepting our OWN share of the blame as well, the longer it's going to take, to get started in working towards REVERSING that Decline.

Both Right AND Left have VERY dirty hands, in connection with responsibility for The Decline, as it's defined here, spread over several decades, and I, for one, think it's delusional to believe otherwise.

Or so it seems to me.

 

[Kondor3]

"...And yet the truth of the matter is that the United States is still the most powerful country on Earth with a military force unequaled in human history..."

Agreed. Our decline begins from a very high-up point indeed, so that even years or decades into The Decline, we still come-off looking like the Big Dog.

"...Al Queda isn't the biggest threat, we are. Al Queda doesn't have drones or 500 Minuteman missile silos buried in the ground and ready to fire. We do..."

It's how we stay alive and relatively safe and dominant in a dangerous world, in modern times.

"...The U.S. still has the largest economy in the world, too, despite the fact that we think it's China. We are still a major manufacturer and exporter (in the top 3 worldwide) of goods and raw resources. And the U.S. dollar is still the international reserve currency..."

True. But 'decline' means 'slipping', which means that some of the above may not hold true for much longer, as history measures time, unless we pay better attention.

"...Want to take your country back, because we are slipping? Turn Congress upside down and shake. And then kick their lousy asses to the curb..."

Quite probably true.

"...Take the money out of politics and start putting people into office who don't have PACs. Make all the lobbyists inside the Beltway go home. That's what we call a good start."

Ditto.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Perception is everything.

Yea, sure thing Troll...........

Obama became president in January 2009, the total federal debt stood at $10.6 trillion. It now stands at $16.7 trillion — an increase of 57 percent.

You're wasting your time... Nuttley sees $7,000,000,000,000 in new debt and sees debt decline. Enough said.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

What is the next headline? Most people think the Pope is Catholic? That bears shit in the woods?

No shit the US is in the decline. It is a third world, degenerate, corporatist police state.

Have you ever lived anywhere else?
We're hardly third world....yet.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

A fish rots at the head....Obabble be da big tuna!!!

And a snake rattles at the tail. Wow, we're so deep.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

What is the next headline? Most people think the Pope is Catholic? That bears shit in the woods?

No shit the US is in the decline. It is a third world, degenerate, corporatist police state.

Have you ever lived anywhere else?
We're hardly third world....yet.

Nobody said that we're third world... but we are definitely declining in almost every aspect.. socially, economically, militarily.....

 

[Kondor3]

"...Nobody said that we're third world... but we are definitely declining in almost every aspect.. socially, economically, militarily..."

Sounds right.

 

[Iceman]

That's what "educators" are to you? Philosophers?

Oh my God.

Try to figure out how the computer you are typing on "happened".

Plato and Socrates were philosophers, and teachers as well, for example.

So that's who dragged us into today's "MODERN" world? People dead thousands of years?

Greece is the cradle of Western Civilization, so yes, they played a part.

 

[Iceman]

What is the next headline? Most people think the Pope is Catholic? That bears shit in the woods?

No shit the US is in the decline. It is a third world, degenerate, corporatist police state.

Have you ever lived anywhere else?
We're hardly third world....yet.

I live in Los Angeles, a third world city. I ought to know.

 

[Kondor3]

"...I live in Los Angeles, a third world city. I ought to know."

Well, Eastside, mebbe...

 

[JakeStarkey]

A decade of neo-imperialism will do this to Americans.

 

[Kondor3]

A decade of neo-imperialism will do this to Americans.

Well, it's been a decade-plus-change of SOMETHING out-of-whack, that's for damned sure, but I'm not sure that I'd call it 'Imperialism' - new or old.

Unless my old understandings on this subject were incorrect or being remembered incorrectly, to be 'Imperial' in nature implies an 'Imperium', and incorporating conquered territories into that Empire.

In Iraq: We came, we conquered, we stayed too long, and then we left.

In Afghanistan: We came, we conquered, we stayed too long, and we're preparing to leave.

I don't see the 'conquered territory' nor the 'advantages' that one would ordinarily associate with conquest undertaken with Imperial (-like) designs in mind.

Maybe I locked-in that definition in a faulty manner, years ago?

I'm not arguing that the past decade and more have been wrong-directed.

I'm just not sure so that we've got the right label at-hand.