Americans no longer invest in their future

[Turborama]

By Mike Thurau, Columnist
Published: September 16, 2010


What's the matter with America?

The very question is regarded as offensive or incoherent in many circles, but I suspect you'd be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't asked themselves this question in their heart of hearts at least once. For those of us who keep their ear very close to the ground when it comes to the permutations and vagaries of American culture and politics this is a question that we ask ourselves constantly.

I'm not asking what is the matter with America in terms of the economy or political process (although ample examples can be found).

For starters, why do we have the worlds largest prison population and the world's highest rate of incarceration? Why is a baby born in Puerto Rico more likely to survive into adulthood? Why does 10 percent of the population control nearly 80 percent of the wealth while 3.5 million people are homeless every year? Or, why are students in former Soviet prison states like the Czech Republic and Latvia consistently scoring better on achievement tests than American public schools despite the billions of dollars we invest in education?

These are all problems that you wouldn't expect the richest country in the world to have, yet they are all very real, however numbers and statistics aren't what interest me. After all, raw data doesn't explain what its cause is, it merely measures a phenomenon. The sources behind these phenomenon are likely much more difficult to uncover than the numbers quantifying their effects, however I think a good place to try and look for the roots of our political and social realities is what is going on in our culture.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why I'd like to talk about the highest rated television show for viewers between the ages of 18 and 30 ... "Jersey Shore." Three-quarters of the top rated television shows right now are all in the reality genre with "Jersey Shore" sitting on top. What's interesting is that the same TiVo surveys show that reality TV is the most likely genre for viewers to mark as "overdone".

Full article: http://bgnews.com/opinion/americans-no-longer-invest-in-their-future/

[tama]

1. Americans eat their children

ie. debt based economy consumes the futures of future generations. Americans and all other participants of the global hoax of capitalism are doing the same. You can do that only by trying very hard to remain stupid and ignorant and unloving.

[RKP5637]

2. And damn proud of their ignorance. Fools! n/t

[Raster]

4. People only invest and save for their futures when they believe they have a future to invest in.

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin

[ihavenobias]

3. Lucky # 13. n/t

[OhioChick]

5. Kick

:kick:

[TBF]

6. The wealth of the "richest country" is held by the top 10% of the top 1% -

the rest of us just try to keep above water. There is no investment because we have little money to live with, much less save.