America Is Beginning To Resemble A Third World Country.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

After finally getting use to seeing rows and rows of shuttered stores and empty office complexes I am now seeing middle age women with Santa hats holding going out of business signs for Blocbusters that are liquidating their furniture.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Argentina without the tango

We don't have an artful way out of this. We need to get back to making some money and imagining that we're really rich. It's our only hope.

[Jim Sagle]

2. Or we could bring back manufacturing and make actual STUFF.

Then we wouldn't NEED to imagine.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. We do make actual stuff.

We're still the largest manufacturing economy in the world. Soon to be surpassed by China, no doubt, but then they've got a few more people than we do.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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[Cessna Invesco Palin]

35. Because any person with a few brain cells to rub together can run an injection molding machine...

...or stitch together a pair of cheap tennis shoes.

Glass is a lot more cost-effective to produce locally than plastic, because glass weighs a lot more, is fragile, and isn't as easily stackable - all of which make long-distance shipping more problematic.

[Name removed]

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[boobooday]

58. As the daughter of a retired glassmaker

From a glassmaking town in the Midwest. I agree. It's recyclable, and it could all be done locally.

Remember how good your soda tasted when it came out of a vacuum sealed glass bottle?

[Jkid]

46. Then why we are more focused on a service economy?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

48. Because there's a high demand for services? n/t

[whathehell]

55. There's a high demand for THINGS too.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

57. Yes. For cheap things. n/t

[whathehell]

107. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

Cheap things started becoming important when salaries began stagnating...If we brought back decent jobs, including manufacturing jobs with union wages, the "cheap" things would be a lot less necessary.

Don't know about you, Cessna, but I actually remember when the above situation of manufacturing jobs for union wages and not-so cheap things made here were a reality...It's now referred to as "the golden age" of America...A time when everyone did well".

[Jim Sagle]

51. Maybe if you took yer head out of Rahm's ass you'd notice things.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

63. What a silly post. n/t

[bertman]

110. so, Jim Sagle, it sounds like you are advocating that we start manufacturing Emanuel cranial-

rectal extractors. There's a sound business opportunity.

;-)

[Jim Sagle]

123. Identifying web targets would be easy.

Search for positive comments on free trade, outsourcing, insourcing, bank bailouts, etc. - the usual but painfully obvious targets.

[Name removed]

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[Cessna Invesco Palin]

24. What sorts of items were they, if you don't mind my asking? n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. What's Odd And Sad Is At One Time Wal Mart Really Emphasized "Made In The USA" Products

I also noted that Wal Mart is refurbishing their stores. Their refurbished ones are almost as nice as a Target.

I think that's because people who never shopped there before the economy turned south are shopping there now and they want to keep them as customers when the economy recovers.

[Name removed]

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[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. I Understand The Demise Of Blocbuster-It Was Inevitable

Why go out to rent a movie when you can get it on demand.

But I would hope there are better job prospects for middle age women. At least it's warm in Orlando.

[BeyondGeography]

10. Technology obliterates jobs, led by our friend the Internet

It's the thing that nobody is talking about, and it's making this recession much tougher than it would otherwise be.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

15. Why are you supporting a job destroying technology? n/t

[BeyondGeography]

19. I only moonlight as a supporter, by day I work for a print magazine

hasn't been pretty. I love the Internet, but it has been very destabilizing to a lot of businesses. Nothing historically unusual about that, but the absence of a plan pre-Obama at the macro level to deal with the dislocation hasn't been helpful.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

22. Yes, as another example TV and the VCR were destabilizing to the cinema industry.

We didn't have a "macro plan" to deal with that either, but it hasn't been the end of the world. The problem is that it's extremely difficult to predict where technology is going. Developing some sort of macroeconomic plan that won't be outdated in a year is nearly impossible.

[BeyondGeography]

41. But now we're talking about armies of entry-level type jobs getting wiped out

at the retail level. Much bigger problem. The smooth talkers in my industry can move on, unless they're older, and then they can still get project work. Not the case at the lower levels.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

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[DemocratSinceBirth]

32. Because People With Signs Grab Your Attention

It's a good gig in Florida's warm climate but you better wear sun screen.

[enid602]

104. Argentina

Funny you should mention Argentina. I´ve been living in Bs As the last 2 years. The population of the Federal Capital is officially 3 million, but that does not include an additional million that live in Villas Miserias (large communitites of homemade houses and lean-tos), one-half of a million who live in abandoned buildings, 200,000 who live in SRO hotels and 100,000 who live on the streets. This is just in the Capital; it´s much worse in Provincia, the suburbs. Visiting recession-torn Phoenix this past July was like going to the Hamptons.

[Selatius]

3. The local Movie Gallery video rental place where I live went out of business.

That video place had been in business since I moved to this place back in 1994. It used to be Knight Time Video when I was a kid and got bought out. And the local Taco Bell outlet down the road just went out of business. I drove by the other day and was surprised to see the windows all boarded up where Taco Bell used to be. It is bad.

[LuvNewcastle]

14. Damn, Taco Bell?

I figured they would be one of the last ones standing.:D

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. Yeah- You Can Eat There Cheap

~

[kenny blankenship]

20. Like the way cockroaches will laugh off global nuclear warfare, while we vanish?

[LuvNewcastle]

37. Exactly like that.

We'll have nothing to show for our existence but Wal-Marts and Taco Bells.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

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[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. Only The Hits

~

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Autumn Colors]

59. You're kidding, right?

The massive selection of foreign films and small indie films is one of the main reasons I love Netflix. Never mind the convenience factor. Their selection put Blockbuster to shame.

EDIT: Oops .... guess that person had to leave to get their pizza.

[Incitatus]

127. Video rental stores are going extinct. I don't think it's necessarily the economy.

Cable services such as on demand and Icontrol are hurting their business. There there is Netflix and the pirating of movies. There are also video rental machines that work basically like vending machines popping up in stores.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. The alleged "recovery" hasn't "trickled down" to the people yet.

But, if the bankers and politicians approve it might..someday...maybe...if the conditions are right...and pigs fly.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

6. No it is not.

Hyperbole much?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. You Muit Not Get Out Much

You can go to any big city and see folks living in squalor that would match that of Mexico City, Havana, or Buenos Aires.

The whole Third World isn't like Calcutta.

[laughingliberal]

11. Maybe not exactly, yet. I did see a malnourished woman nursing her baby on a sidewalk in Juarez

Here, they'd arrest her.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

21. Uh, yeah. I do get out. Much.

I lived abroad for nearly five years. I've travelled more of the world than most Americans I've met, and I've found exactly what you are describing in nearly every major city in every country I've visited.

[cherokeeprogressive]

125. "You can go to any big city.." I have news for you. You can go to any city, big or small

in any country, on any continent, on this whole planet, and find much the same thing.

Disagree? Is there a city or town on the planet where you couldn't?

[Democrats_win]

12. Tent cities indicate that for some it really is a third world country.

A lot of people are beginning to wonder if this isn't a third world country, in an economic sense.

[girl gone mad]

50. No, it definitely is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WKMNmFsxM&feature=fvsr

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

62. And I could show you places in northern England...

...and the suburbs of Paris that are just as bad. Does that make them third world countries, too?

[girl gone mad]

71. Show me.

I've never seen that level of blight anywhere in Paris or England. What's more, Detroit isn't just a place in the suburbs. It was a major American city.

There are pockets of third world looking areas all across America, in and outside of every big city and definitely in the rural South and along the Border with Mexico, but what's happened to Detroit goes above and beyond this. A city that was thriving just a few decades ago is now in a state of extreme decay.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

90. Hey, go to Manchester. Go check out Salford.

Or some of the areas around Old Trafford that haven't been redeveloped. And that's just what you can see within twenty minutes' walk from Victoria Station. It doesn't even begin to encompass the housing projects or the really derelict areas. Or hey, go check out the areas downstream of central Newcastle. Really, really lovely places to see.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

106. Sorry, I've seen some pretty grotty places in the UK, and

they don't begin to compare to the massive scale of Detroit or Camden, NJ or East St. Louis, IL.

Not so coincidentally, the UK was the place where the perverse economic philosophy we call Reaganomics was first implemented by Margaret Thatcher, just a couple of years before Reagan.

[Drunken Irishman]

117. Then, Lydia, we've always resembled a third world country.

C'mon, folks. This is ridiculous. Go look at pictures of Detroit and Camden and parts of New York and Baltimore in the 1970s and you'll see miles and miles of area worse than today.

If we're going to suggest America looks like a third world country because of ghettos, then we've always been a third world country. :eyes:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

118. Yes, in some ways we have

I recall people coming back from Scandinavia in the 1960s and marveling, "They don't have any slums."

[Drunken Irishman]

119. Then this thread is useless.

Because we aren't beginning anything. We've already been there and continue to be there.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

120. Not really--the poverty is spreading

I know about a half a dozen people over 50 who are without jobs and unable to find anything new, despite life-long work records with good recommendations.

It may not LOOK as if poverty is spreading, but since our Stuff doesn't wear out immediately when our income drops, we can maintain the facade for a long time.

As I remarked in another thread, I'm seeing both large numbers of downscale and mid-scale businesses closing and, at the same time, advertisements for ridiculously upscale businesses for the rich.

[Drunken Irishman]

121. There is a huge difference between poverty and third world.

I grew up in a low income family. I find it offensive we'd be considered third world.

[butterfly77]

115. I guess a lot of people will now..

begin to feel what a lot of Detroiters have been feeling for years. No jobs,pull yourself up by your bootstraps..

[laughingliberal]

9. I'm thinking failed state is more accurate

They know it. They're just passing some laws to allow the corporatists to shake down the very last pennies we have in our pockets before they turn out the lights and move on.

[Guilded Lilly]

13. Parts of America

have always resembled third-world-style poverty and living conditions.

The mainstream citizenry just had an easier time looking the other way when the economy was much healthier.

peace,
Lilly

[Wounded Bear]

17. Beginning? Where have you been?

I'd say it has been going on for a while. I figure it is a secret ploy to end illegal immigration by making this country not worth coming to. They've already pretty much destroyed the job market. Why come here, legal or il- when there aren't any jobs to get?

[bemildred]

85. Props.

At least 40 years now. "Beginning" doesn't cover it.
:thumbsup:

[lob1]

18. You're right. Look at Olbermann's free clinic turn outs.

[provis99]

25. go to west Philadelphia

if that isn't third world, I don't know what is.

[alp227]

86. Or watch "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air"

The theme song includes these lines:

In West Philadelphia born and raised,
On the playground is where I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin', relaxin' on cool
Or shootin' some B-ball right outside of the school
When a couple of guys who were up to no good
Started making trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight, and my mom got scared
She said, 'You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air'

~ Will Smith

Obviously that part of town has been ghetto for a LONGGGG time.

[butterfly77]

116. Sheesh!! its a secret,,,

only Detroit is suppose to look like a third world country.

[freddie mertz]

30. It's pathetic. Lots of empty stores where I live.

Central PA.

[sabrina 1]

31. When I was at the airport in Phoenix a few months ago

at 2.30 A.M. the only people there, other than a few travelers, were elderly women and men, pushing cleaning carts. They looked so tired and obviously were way past retirement age. I thought it was so sad that at this time in their lives, they still had to work so hard just to survive.

America, Numero Uno no longer.

[treestar]

34. Where is this happening?

It still looks like a First World Country where I live. I guess I'm one of the filthy rich or something.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

39. Greater Orlando

Official unemployment is 11.2% . Unofficial unemployment or the famous UC6 unemployment is near 20%.

[FreeJoe]

70. Things still look good

...in my neck of the woods. I live in Texas and I haven't seen any major issues locally. Our housing market is a bit lower, but not that much. Unemployment is still manageable here.

It's actually a bit odd following the news. I keep hearing how terrible everything is, but it's like I'm living in a bubble. It's sort of the reverse of the 80s when everyone was talking about how great the economy was and we were dying here. I remember having friends that just disappeared and left their homes behind. Those were scary times. That experience helps me understand what other parts of the country are going through now.

It's Michigan that I worry the most about. I think most places will turn around soon. Michigan, on the other hand, appears to be in for an almost permanent decline.

[Le Taz Hot]

102. California's Central San Joaquin Valley.

Official unemployment: 15%. Actual unemployment: close to 25%. And more layoffs coming.

[HughMoran]

38. I grew up in the inner city

It looks so much better now than when I was growing up (was more or less a slum). Now the projects have been replaced with townhouses and crime is way down. What part of the country do you live in - this "Great Recession" is very regional, so you are not exactly speaking for the entire country in your opening.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. If You Go To Orlando, Miami, Or Tampa

You will see sacores of empty high rises.

[HughMoran]

44. I remember back in the late 70's when NYC looked like that

It was shocking to see deserted building after deserted building. A lot of that has been fixed up along with many of the horrible slums of Roxbury where I grew up. Guess ya'll have some work to do - you're enjoying the fruits of Republican rule down there - it's fabulous, isn't it?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

45. To Be Honest It's The Product Or Residue Of Rampant Speculation In The Real Estate Market

Which was one of the precipitating factors in the Great Depression.

[HughMoran]

52. Agreed.

But as a counter, let me point out that the speculation was not uniform across the country - my girlfriend did datamining for a lender (yes, an evil bank) and there were many spots where speculation and bad lending practices dominated. Here in the NE, we neither inflated the bubble as big this time (late 80's was a LOT worse) so we didn't "crash" as bad when the market turned. This Great Recession is not an equal opportunity destroyer. Unemployment is relatively low in NH too and it's actually somewhat difficult to find good people at this time - again.

[katmondoo]

47. Gainesville, Florida still looks pretty good

Some store closings. Still hard to get a good parking spot in the Mall. Ocala built an upscale outdoor type mall with a Dillards that has some expensive clothing and other things that are not seen in the Mall Dillards. Some people must have money to spend in Ocala, Fl.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

49. I Was In Ocala In Aug.

The main drag. There were parts that didn't look so good.


Yeah, there are folks with money just as there are in the Third World. My fiancee is from the Philippines and she teslls me about the large malls, the Armani stores, the Starbucks...

[rd_kent]

53. The you have not ever benn to a third world country.

Everything is relative, my friend, and while yes, things are not as good as they have been, its still pretty good compared to the third world.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

54. What's The Difference Between A Homeless Person In Bueonos Aires And Orlando?

I would think the family structure is stronger there and less people end up homeless.

[rd_kent]

61. I don't know. But thats not the point.

Because we have homeless people does not mean we are third world.

[cowcommander]

64. Uh, no. Ever seen the favelas of Brazil and the garbage mountains of the Philippines?

America isn't even close to that yet. Though it's definitely headed there if things don't "change".

[midnight armadillo]

77. A comment worthy of some pics

Favela in Rio:

payata dump, philippines:

[Profprileasn]

56. unemployment

is awfully high. Many doing best they can to get by.

[depakid]

60. Third world nations actually have bustling markets

with people hawking all sorts of things in the streets.

But they also have a small- and rather modest middle class, with a large gap between the wealthy few- and the large number of those (working or not) who have very little- and barely get by (or not).

That's where the trends show America heading- particularly relative to other western nations, which are far more egalitarian.

[upi402]

65. 3rd world countries I've been to have small business'

Not here. We sell 'God Bless America' hats that were made in China and can't understand that Obama is a corporatist.

Big business controls both parties and is allowed to crush small business here, not in 3rd world countries I've been to. It will get nasty here if there is not a radical change very very soon.

But there is no opposition party to support here, so good luck.

[stray cat]

66. I don't know about you but I have better prospects here than I would in Somalia

[DemocratSinceBirth]

69. Somalia Would Be Considered A Fourth World Nation

If ,say, Argentina or Costa Rica, is a third world country, it would be folly to say Somalia is a Third World country also, ergo:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_Developed_Country

[Kickin_Donkey]

67. Yes it is. The people out holding business' signs at intersections ...

remind me of men carrying sandwich-board signs during the Great Depression.

But that's no what reminds me of the Third World.

I see the Third World in America when I see the wealthy living in walled-compounds in gated communities. Private police forces. You have to pay for schooling as there is no public education system (where the conservatives and even some so-called liberals are trying to drive us in their zeal to privatize or charter all schools). The mentality of The Jungle. A lack of social safety nets including universal health care. A crumbling infrastructure. A police for that serves to protect only corporate profits. High infant mortality rates. A kabuki-like legislature run by largely one party where decisions are fixed. A state-owned media (in our case a media bought out by the corporate state). Dead bodies of citizens floating in flooded streets (Hello, Katrina). Private armies, e.g., Blackwater). An underfunded government that can't serve the public, but always has enough money for the army to go to war.

I've traveled extensively in the Third World, and yes America is beginning to resemble a Third World country. If you can't see that, you don't get out much -- either in the world or in this country -- or your head is in the sand.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

73. Yes, if you look at the comments on this article

which is Gail Collins and David Brooks talking about the American Dream

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/the-conversation/

you will see references to how shabby the U.S. looks when you come back from overseas, and the fact that most developed countries have NOTHING that looks like East St. Louis, Illinois or Camden, New Jersey or inner city Detroit.

[Kickin_Donkey]

76. I hear ya ...

I know you've spent a lot of time in Japan, as have I, and the kind of abject poverty and derelict buildings you see on the "bad side" in almost every city and town in the U.S. is unfathomable in Japan as well as Western Europe (maybe not the U.K., though).

Public facilities such as parks, libraries, and the railway system in Japan and Western Europe, and even countries like Canada and New Zealand, functioning well and beautifully maintained. Most Americans would be blown away by the train stations in Japan and Western Europe. That's the first world.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

81. The UK has bad stretches, but it doesn't have a Detroit, or worse, a New Orleans,

a city whose people were completely abandoned, at least not that I've heard of.

[Louisiana1976]

82. +1

[DemocratSinceBirth]

95. +2

~

[Deja Q]

111. +3

:(

[Lydia Leftcoast]

68. Some surprising closings I've seen lately

A Hollywood video store
A Burger King along an arterial street
An Arbie's along another busy street
More empty stores in the nearest mall, including the dollar store.

The rich are doing as well as ever, though. This afternoon, I happened to pick up our local "city" magazine, and it contained two full-page ads for two different health and grooming spas for dogs. And I'm not talking about your standard pet grooming place. I'm talking about a place that offers exercise programs, massage, and special diets for your pooch.

[Liberal_in_LA]

72. My nearest Hollywood video shut down, which wasn't all that near to me, long drive to

the next nearest. Don't see how they survive with so few outlets.

[theophilus]

74. It is very reminiscent of the Reagan years, imo. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

75. I Was In Grad School Then, Thank God

~

[Lydia Leftcoast]

83. Oh, it's worse

After the Reagan years, we still had a lot of our industrial infrastructure intact.

Many of the places I temped at when I was an unemployed Ph.D. no longer exist or have shipped production to the Third World.

[WeDidIt]

78. You have obviously never been to a third world country

You have no fucking clue what abject poverty really is.

[BeHereNow]

80. One need not leave America to see third world living conditions.

Been to many Indian reservations?
Try the Pine Ridge.

BHN

[DemocratSinceBirth]

98. You Don't Need To Travel That Far My Friend

All you need to do is live in any large metropolitan area and you can find pockets.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

99. You Don't Need To Travel That Far My Friend

All you need to do is live in any large metropolitan area and you can find pockets.

[Kickin_Donkey]

89. You have obviously never been to a Third World country ...

because not every country is Third World like Calcutta or Kinshasa.

If you think there is no abject poverty, you've never really been around the United States -- or the other side of town.

And there's no need to use gratuitous profanities if you disagree with someone -- of course, you didn't back up your claim with any examples, just getting in someone's face. Shows the caliber of your intellect was well as the new breed of jagoffs on this board.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

97. He Just Needs To Get Out More

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dLuYAbeEJE&feature=related

[DemocratSinceBirth]

96. You Have No Idea Who I Am At All .

I'm not upset by your comments. I'm blown away by the ignorance of them.

As far as there being no abject poverty in America, res ipsa loquitur.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJNEeI-lFM

BTW, I will tell the people at the Food Bank where I volunteer they aren't living in property.

[Union Yes]

79. Thank NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT. The culprits that impoverished a nation. knr nt

[douglas9]

94. Giant sucking sound

The "giant sucking sound" was United States Presidential candidate Ross Perot's colorful phrase for what he believed would be the negative effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which he opposed. The phrase, coined during the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign, referred to the sound of U.S. jobs heading south for Mexico should the proposed free-trade agreement go into effect.

Perot ultimately lost the election, and the winner, Bill Clinton, supported NAFTA, which went into effect on January 1, 1994.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_sucking_sound

[roamer65]

84. After spending yesterday in Ontario Canada, I would agree.

Very few empty stores and the places I went into were bustling. Canada is doing far better than us. We are not at 3rd world status yet, but we are heading there. We need to change course very quickly.

[alp227]

87. I've started reading Barbara Ehrenreich's new book

The intro of that book pointed out the disparities between the American superpower economy and lack of education, pathetic health care system, and high crime rate, some things she says are not something to be proud of. Besides the sights of Blockbuster video stores shutting down (have you ever heard of Netflix?) we should also consider education and other things.

Ehrenreich's new book is called Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

[Lars77]

88. One of my professors says the same

He is American but has chosen to move to Norway, where he teaches at the University of Oslo.

He says that the US is slowly becoming a third world country, at least in terms of the monumental difference between rich and poor (closing on Brazil), which is due to the way jobs are continually exported overseas, completely destroying the lower middle and working classes.
And this will continue as long as unregulated capitalism and empire are seen as core values in US society. Right-wingers are always trying to claim that these are core values from the founding fathers, but anyone with a remote understanding of US history (or the John Adams TV series box set) will know that it is not the case.

The US still manufactures a lot, but simply not enough. I think that in 50 years people will look back on Globalization as the era where the west finally lost its dominant place in the world.

Europe is headed the same way, but we will last longer because as the EU expands eastwards we will have a steady stream of cheap labour to exploit (which is what i believe the grand plan of the EU to be), so that we can continue living in a non-sustainable way. But if you look at countries like Poland, the migrant workers are starting to return to Poland because of better opportunities, which is why Romania was brought in. Eventually Turkey will join the EU despite an atrocious human rights record and massive corruption.

In the not-too distant future, i think we could start seeing the beginning of a profound wave of migration moving from the northeastern/rust belt US to Canada, while retirees who previously went to Florida might move to Latin America or maybe even Cuba.

[old mark]

91. Been that way for a long time. nt

[Raine]

92. Blocbuster near me went out of business

about 6 months ago. :-(

[Name removed]

93. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Le Taz Hot]

100. This middle aged woman will be on the corner selling oranges

from her tree just as soon as they're ripe. I have two college degrees. :scared:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

101. I'm Tapped Out But I Would Buy Some

I'm working for myself, barely hanging on, and waiting for divine intervention which unfortunately and much to my dismay, may not come.

And I too have a graduate degree.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

105. I'll add myself to the list

It's tough all over.

[santamargarita]

103. It's taken 30 years beginning with that Goddamn Reagan...

and I agree.

[applegrove]

108. Venezuela before Chavez. Where the rich have to hide in gated communities because

they don't want to pay any taxes. The distribution of wealth in the USA is right up there with Mexico and Russia.

[laughingliberal]

113. I can't tell you how often, lately, I have thought that

That we are sitting right where Venezuela was before Chavez. And the protests against him would be hilarious if it weren't so dishonest. Wealthy women out marching in their Jimmy Choo stilettos.

[Nikki Stone1]

109. Our wealth has been taken from us through the mechanism of the stock market, even if we don't play

It's as if a giant casino moved to town. Even those of us who weren't fooled by the cheap rooms and low cost buffets to play our last cent at the roulette table were connected to people who did. The people who held our retirement funds, our pensions, our savings at banks, our mortgages. Our individually small but collectively large stores of wealth, based on our labor, were put on the red (or the black) by those we trusted by social compact to care for it. In one fell swoop, with one black (or red), we lost everything.

Now we are told our collectivity (our local and state governments) has no money. And now we are told that our societal wealth has disappeared and that, worse off than before, we will have to pay for services that we once were proud to call public.

[leftstreet]

112. Wall Street Casino

[laughingliberal]

114. It is a big casino. At least when people lose it all at a casino they have some fun and free drinks

along the way.

[WT Fuheck]

122. the goal of the oligarchy

seems to be within their reach

[Capn Sunshine]

124. Better get used to it

because thsi is the result of eight years of republican rule, and from what I read here, they will be making a comeback.

So expect more of the same.

[JCMach1]

126. Nowhere close...

It's bad, but it can be a hell of a lot worse!

[David Zephyr]

128. This trend really accelerated when Reagan and Bush got their way with the nation for 12 years.

People lower their expectations more and more every year as the standard of living drops regularly now.

We sure know how to build weapons though, don't we?

Kick.