Can this country get back on track

[Juche]

I'm worried about this. Here is a list of reasons off the top of my head.


Our infrastructure is underfunded and falling apart (rails, roads, bridges, grid, etc)

The middle class is shrinking and our Gini coefficient keeps rising

Entitlement spending is going to cost 100+ trillion over the next 100 years (not that I support cutting these programs, but we should increase taxes and efficiency in healthcare)

Health care, education and (probably) real estate will grow at 6-10% a year while wages grow at 3%, leaving people further in debt.

As the country becomes more of a plutocracy, the wealthy can buy more and more politicians who can enforce their agenda as well as think tanks and media outlets to convince working class people to vote for the agenda of the wealthy.

The national debt is growing more and more. Most consumers are in debt too.

We've lost something like 10 million jobs we aren't getting back (7 million, plus 3 million in cut hours). It'll take years to get those back.

Peak oil is going to hit soon.

Problems with infrastructure and healthcare put us at a competitive disadvantage with foreign nations.

China has cornered the market on rare earth metals, so they might control global manufacture of consumer electronics and alternative energy soon.

Our political debates are full of misinformation, simplistic slogans and catch phrases (on both sides) rather than rational attempts to determine what is best for the nation.

Despite all these problems, a huge, huge number of Americans think someone like Sarah Palin (who is a grossly incompetent, superstitious dimwit) is 'just what we need' to fix things. Its like if someone told you you are addicted to alcohol and you responded 'well, a little meth will fix that problem'. I'm not ragging people for disagreeing with me on policy, I'm ragging them for being so intellectually lazy that they would rather have an openly incompetent person in charge just because they like his/her personality. The fact that despite all our problems (war, terrorism, economic collapse) tens of millions of people want someone who is openly incompetent in charge is scary. Say what you want about Cheney (evil, conspiratorial, autocratic), he wasn't an idiot. He knew how to get stuff done (wars, torture, possibly other things). Combine Cheney's autocratic evil with the right wing's simpleton foot soldiers and you get Palin.




There are reasons to be optimistic. The US still has the best tertiary education on earth, and as a result we can play a big role in advances in energy, nanotech, biotech, robotics, communications, etc over the next few decades. Advances in manufacturing will make consumer goods higher quality and lower cost. Alternative energy investments will keep growing rapidly (wind alone is supposed to make up 20%+ of our energy by the 2020s). We may get universal health care soon. People might emerge from this recession with a better sense of thrift. Medical advances will keep coming. Advances in communications (cell phone cameras, blogs, etc) will counteract authoritarian government oppression by shining light on it.

However, I don't think we should ignore the bad things out there, and I think a lot will start hitting over the next 10 years or so. I'm not saying we shouldn't work on them (health reform could save trillions in entitlement spending, the Obama admin is working on jobs creation and stimulus bills to improve infrastructure, the Gini coefficient might stabilize under progressive leadership).

Give me a reason to feel I am overreacting to these threats, or that they are more manageable than I assume.

I wonder if I've posted this before. It feels like I have.

[cali]

1. I can';t give you a reason

but what's the point of freaking out? Where does it get you?

[yodoobo]

2. It is back on track.

And has been for almost a year now.

Things are still broken but are being fixed at moderate pace.

Sure I've love to see things progressing faster, but they ARE progressing.

[madokie]

6. You got it

Any step in the right direction is a big step at the juncture

[C_Lawyer09]

3. I can appreciate the content of your post

My thinking is that the 800lb. gorilla in the room is the decaying infrastructure, especially the outdated power grid that you pointed out. The two others being crazy weather events and resource scarcity. Amazing how many challenges we face.

[CanonRay]

4. No, because 1/4 of the population wants to take us backwards

Some back to the 1880's. Some back to the 12th century.

[madokie]

5. One more election cycle and we should have enough votes

in both the house and senate so as to stop the 'just die' party dead in their tracks. Most American want our country back and most of us can see what the problem is since the election of Barack Obama has made it so obvious. The :puke: party has no answers to our problems and to make matters worst they have no questions either because they don't see the problems to start with. America will rise again a much stronger nation because as soon as we can, votes, we'll be putting in roadblocks to all this thievery thats been going on for way too long. I have faith

[izquierdista]

7. What's an "entitlement"?

The noun "entitlement" carries around with it the adjective "unjust". Even when it's not printed on the page, the human mind jumps to fill in the information of whether the entitlement was justly or unjustly earned. Now you can't resent someone for getting their just entitlement, as they would be doing if after a lifetime of paying FICA taxes, they signed up to collect Social Security. But there sure are a lot of questions to answer to make sure it's not an "unjust entitlement".

Right now, the Pentagon dishes out money to defense contractors who feel entitled to the money in the federal budget. I would say they have far less justification to claim that entitlement than people who made a bargain with the government to keep them secure in their old age and who want to make another bargain to take care of them in illness.

[KG]

8. not till there's an end to the 2-party political system.

[arcadian]

9. Yup, this.

[tom_paine]

10. The country IS on track...to finish becoming a Corporate NeoFeudalist State

And Obama, if he ever had any intention of actually changing that track, can do nothing.

Hell, the Bushies STILL control the military, judiciary and Law Enforcement.

The voting system is still a laughable fraud and the worst Reality Show on TV.

Obama is working to stop none of it, and has signalled his complete lack of intention to do so.

What happened to him? Who knows and who cares? All I care about is the fact that he's another Clinton, a DLC Corporate-Neofeudalist who is giving us a brief rest before the Bad Cop comes back to show us that Bushler was merely an early step in a long process.

Enjoy the rest, everyone. It won't last a whole lot longer. Mayve even seven more years, but I think Obama has fufilled his purpose for the Corproate Neofeudalists, and they are in an awful hurry to finish transforming America into a docile model of Corproate Totalitarianism.

We shall see. Maybe I am wrong, but I doubt it.

Oh, there's some change coming up - Good Cop Obama is about to be replaced with Bad Cop Palin (or whatever ignorant medeval lunatic can be found - any will work since all are working off of the same Game Plan).

And THEN we will see once again more clearly exactly what future the Corporate NeoFeudalists have prepared for us. This period is a diversion ro make sure we keep docile and believing in the dog-and-pony show that Corporate Neofeudalism puts on for it's modern "plugged-in" Subject Populace.

But enjoy it. Diversion or not, it's a lot better than Palin or whatever Nutsy takes the reins next.