Has U. S. society/culture deteriorated beyond repair?

[pat grimshaw]

That's unusual. Does that high roof help cool the house? What are those two seats on either side of the gate?

 

[KariRandall]

You know what. I am wrong.

I pulled the U. S. Department of Commerce Inflation Calculator http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ which allows you to compare current dollars against the value of dollars against dollars of other years, and comparing that to median and average income in the 1950s the average American has a higher standard of living today than we did in 1950. I stand corrected. That is certainly cause to review some political opinions, including mine!

 

[pat grimshaw]

^ Kari, I think your point about our selfish society still stands…and about the lazy parenting.

 

[Ozymandias]

You know what. I am wrong.
(...) I stand corrected. That is certainly cause to review some political opinions, including mine!

Wow. Rare to see that in any forum. Someone's got balls!

@ Patgrimshaw:

I guess the high roof is to make the room larger, and, yes, cool the house down.
As for the seats, I guess they're for sitting on. If that is one's thing.

 

[london12]

As a 20 something, you can blame previous generations too. Of course my generation is bad too. But kids today are horrible. Ipad this. Iphone that. I see kids with cell phones at 8 or so!! Are you serious!?! I didn't get my first cell phone until high school. I think salaries are way too high for CEO's and not high enough for us little people. Sports players are treated like Gods. All politicians and leaders are corrupted or get corrupted by power. Quid Po Quo is to blame.

The main thing is parents do not know how to say no. I do think a few things might have turned for the better such as drugs and cigs but more kids are getting arrested because of that failed war on drugs compared to the Vietnam area.

There is tons of advertising pressure though I don't buy something just because an ad tells me too. Peer pressure too. Everyone wants that latest thing.

 

[KariRandall]

^ Kari, I think your point about our selfish society still stands…and about the lazy parenting.

Well, we were kind of off on a tangent when I lost my point. Thanks.

 

[KariRandall]

Wow. Rare to see that in any forum. Someone's got balls!

@ Patgrimshaw:

I guess the high roof is to make the room larger, and, yes, cool the house down.
As for the seats, I guess they're for sitting on. If that is one's thing.

It was kind of interesting, and I wanted to see what would happen. We all have our intense moments, and I was pretty sure I was wrong. I guess I had always figured that if I lost an argument the whole website would take a victory lap around me, but not so this time.

In 1950 the average income was about $3,000 a year. The Commerce Department inflation calculator kicked that out to about $30,000 in 2012. I saw recently on television that it is closer to $50,000 today. So, I am going to have to perk up my ears. Could it be true that we Americans have a standard of living that is about 66% higher than 1950? Not being that sure of my economics or my math or my forumla I am waiting until I see a guy I know who is more knowledgeable than I. I mean I am a businessman, but I am advertising and we tend to live in a world of our own anyway.

What if we Americans, (and damn I should know this part advertising works with discretionary income all the time, but we only go back maybe 20 years) actually have 66% more discretionary income than we had 60 years ago? Wouldn't that mean our politicians have actually been doing a good job, but for some reason no one is telling us about it? Makes no sense.

Ed Schultz, MSNBCs Ed Show constantly shows a graph that since 1980 the income of the 1% has skyrocketed while the 99% has stayed the same for 30 years!

Privately I have wondered as we look at the poverty around the world, if things are so bad where are Americans getting the money for RVs and Super Bowl trips? Who is buying all those new cars GM is selling? Someone told me once the economy is all "smoke and mirrors." Is John McCain the kindly old Wizard behind the curtain?

 

[Adrock-JD]

Blame Canada.

 

[yeahright1991]

^ No....We haven't tried to wall Canada out. I think we place blame more to the South.

HOWEVER. I will not be responsible if this opens up the immigration debate, the debate about putting up a wall, debates about impressions of mexican-americans, etc. So if it does...I'm not in it.

 

[pat grimshaw]

^ I blame Affluenza. America is at the forefront of the race to decadence (Cf Wacko Jacko's face and the fattest people in the world).

 

[birddog7]

^ I blame Affluenza. America is at the forefront of the race to decadence (Cf Wacko Jacko's face and the fattest people in the world).

Exactly! Greed, pride, and self gratification. All the other stuff mentioned here is caused by these, including the immigration thing. Corporate, government, and personal greed has caused it all. We did it to ourselves. Like every other society before us that attained greatness, then fell. The Egyptians, Romans, Mayans, British, etc., etc.

 

[pat grimshaw]

^ Yes, you are right.

 

[yeahright1991]

Exactly! Greed, pride, and self gratification. All the other stuff mentioned here is caused by these, including the immigration thing. Corporate, government, and personal greed has caused it all. We did it to ourselves. Like every other society before us that attained greatness, then fell. The Egyptians, Romans, Mayans, British, etc., etc.

The World cannot remain uni-polar forever. However I doubt that America will end up like the Roman Empire. (And I have read Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - it took me 6 months...but I read that Sh*t). We do however need new, younger people in our legislature who are more connected with society as it is...and not with antiquated notions. I of course believe that they need to gain the right qualifications (and that does take a while) - but 30 and 40 year olds are much more in touch with society as it is as compared to some of our 60-80 year old members of congress (and I do value their service).

 

[birddog7]

The U.S. probably won't fade out completely like the Roman empire. It is going to collapse economically, and industrially. Bringing great suffering and hardship to it's citizens. It will only be a shell of it's former self afterward, and no longer a major world power. We're actually no longer a super power now, most common people here just don't realize that yet...

 

[pat grimshaw]

We're really living through is the decline of the West.…That dysfunction is very human, very normal and very simple. The central driver in the decline of the West is indulgence.

The US - telling itself it was special and different and better and, in any case, it had the genius Alan Greenspan - made exactly the same mistake. It got the same result.

The most famous American subsidisation of a special interest is its wasteful spending on military programs. In the early 2000s, the US accounted for only 5 per cent of world population but just under half of all global military spending.

As these great Western powers grew richer, they grew flabbier and more indulgent to the point of collapse.… It's a very old story in the history of civilisations, told anew in our time.


—Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald
Link: Spoilt West invites its own decline

 

[yeahright1991]

The U.S. probably won't fade out completely like the Roman empire. It is going to collapse economically, and industrially. Bringing great suffering and hardship to it's citizens. It will only be a shell of it's former self afterward, and no longer a major world power. We're actually no longer a super power now, most common people here just don't realize that yet...

The question is....How long do we think this is going to take....IF it happens at all. I doubt it will happen....and hope it does not.

 

[Callum]

It will only be a shell of it's former self afterward, and no longer a major world power. We're actually no longer a super power now, most common people here just don't realize that yet...

Really? America still dominates global popular culture, diplomacy, education (private), innovation...well, pretty much everything aside from China creeping up with their economy. So it's no longer a super power? Jesus Christ...armchair political scientists make me a sad panda...

Some of you doomsayers sure love repeating your swan songs for America...

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

usa ans roman empire?
HAAAAAAAAAA

now fa diet doughnuts

if UN read this post ya alls got sit da test again

thankyou

 

[Swellegant]

Culture and society cannot deteriorate any more than they can grow, they cannot be repaired or destroyed... culture and society simply are. They are paradigms and phenomena that develop organically as people change and situations change. You can look back historically and call one age more progressive than another, one more warlike and one more artistic; more scientific discoveries will happen at one time and geographical discoveries will flourish more in another... but it's always in retrospect.

Rome had no idea it was declining and falling until Gibbon said so nearly a thousand years later. The Dark Ages weren't called the Dark Ages during the Dark Ages, they were called that by Renaissance thinkers who didn't know they were Renaissance thinkers (though some did, coining the term in order to feel more important than the Medieval thinkers who preceded them), since they weren't really so called until the Enlightenment came along.

So kids don't mow lawns any more. I used to mow my lawn when I was a teenager for pocket-money; but I haven't seen anybody but small mow-and-blow crews push a lawnmower in my neighborhood in years; the neighborhood is more affluent, and mow-and-blow crews are cheaper than teenagers in most respects (I got five bucks just to mow, thirty years ago, and another five for pruning or spraying chores; in today's money that would be almost $20 a week for what our garden crew does for $15).

Kids do other things for their pocket-money, or do nothing at all, just as they always did. Most of my friends got allowances that were higher than mine and didn't have to do anything for them; some of them even got paid for good grades. My parents could probably say the same thing. My niece and nephew can, too. It's just the world turning around... maybe faster than it used to, but that happens sometimes.

 

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

if unis read this ans check ya got mama note ta read this cause

da no 1 eva civilzation top doggy is - not humans

yea is hear ya go ooh we so wet twats waste eons make books full a crap

ans nows da conclusions

guess wot? NO is no can say it too easy ans ya alls so cleva so ya figa it out

thankyou

no walnut strain readin this post

if ya unis fodda ya life still a meanin on elections days casuse