This country is really a depressing place. Each day something else comes up

[RKP5637]

from republicans and RW loonies... or other problems. It just goes on and on. As this country continues to slid into being a third world country, especially if the republicans are back in it's really going to become unfit for human habitation for the majority of us.

I was just thinking and reading, and when you start to sum it up, it's really a hell hole for many many people through no fault of their own. I have no idea what the count is, but if one could sum it up I bet it's amazing.

Well, I just felt like ranting

[stray cat]

1. Not like those countries where women and chuldren are raped by gangs of soldiers

Others know a misery and hopelessness far beyond any thing most of us endure

[RKP5637]

5. No, not at all like that, fortunately, but we could do so much better, far better. Many do not

work together for the benefit of the country, but rather their own selfish interests. Often I wonder if some of this is so ingrained into our society that it's beyond a political change.

[Common Sense Party]

15. Use the term "hell hole" sparingly and judiciously.

Calling our country a hellhole is to minimize the many REAL hellholes there are in the world.

[RKP5637]

20. Very good point!!! n/t

[depakid]

8. Many third world nations are relatively secure and stable

yet are defined by their wealth disparities and relative poverty among a large proportion of their citizens.

See: US poverty on track to post record gain in 2009

Interviews with six demographers who closely track poverty trends found wide consensus that 2009 figures are likely to show a significant rate increase to the range of 14.7 percent to 15 percent.

Should those estimates hold true, some 45 million people in this country, or more than 1 in 7, were poor last year. It would be the highest single-year increase since the government began calculating poverty figures in 1959. The previous high was in 1980 when the rate jumped 1.3 percentage points to 13 percent during the energy crisis.

Among the 18-64 working-age population, the demographers expect a rise beyond 12.4 percent, up from 11.7 percent. That would make it the highest since at least 1965, when another Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson, launched the war on poverty that expanded the federal government's role in social welfare programs from education to health care.

Demographers also are confident the report will show:

_Child poverty increased from 19 percent to more than 20 percent.

_Blacks and Latinos were disproportionately hit, based on their higher rates of unemployment.

_Metropolitan areas that posted the largest gains in poverty included Modesto, Calif.; Detroit; Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.; Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100911/ap_on_bi_ge/us_poverty_in_america

[RKP5637]

12. What concerns me is, if we slide downhill for the

status quo, notch by notch, and accept that as the new norm, many will accept that as just the way it is... young kids, for example, will be far worse off, but they will see the new norm as just the way it is.

When I look at the opportunities I had as a kid, for example, and the opportunities my parents had, I think many youth today would find that a real stretch as the middle class falls. Many of us had opportunities decades ago because one had to really try hard not to be employed. Now, the tables have completely turned.

Educational opportunities are far out of the reach for many today, many youth are left in debt for years trying to get an education, as just one example.

Thanks for the statistics you posted on poverty. When I go through parts of the city here it is blatantly apparent what is occurring, but all I hear mostly is about the middle class falling. It seems to me the lower class of this society has been pretty much written off as a loss. And that is quite pathetic.

[rucky]

2. Don't let the terrorists win!

but I totally hear ya. It's depressing.

[Quantess]

3. Every day, there are stories of personal losses in the local newspaper.

Just think of all the tales of woe that don't get written about.

And yes, I'm sorry to say, I think it's going to get worse. We are witnessing the end of an empire.

[Drale]

4. I get through the day

by repeating this phrase "Remember how much better you are than them" over and over. It makes me feel so much better, that and laughing at the tea bagging losers who are always trying to "protest" things at my school. (the "" mean its not really a protest but more of crying over spilled milk and being racist. Also people always through stuff at them, which is pretty funny cause it makes them cry more.)

[RKP5637]

16. Good way to deal with it, laugh at them. Others have said similar, it kind of

deflates a teabaggers whole thing if you just laugh at them! Good point!

[mjane]

6. maybe to you

I've lived elsewhere. I love living here, and having lived elsewhere I don't see any more "depressing" news here than many other places. I see decidedly less than many other locales.

Yea, our economy is sucking right now, though.

[MineralMan]

7. I know. American children sifting through garbage dumps looking

for food. You want depressing? I can give you the names of 20 countries where things are really depressing.

[RKP5637]

9. Yes, agree, but we could do better. n/t

[MineralMan]

10. Every individual can do better. Every nation can do better.

There are many more depressing things than the state of this country. Find something good you can do for another person. I hate to say, "Count your blessings," but that's the phrase that comes to mind.

[RKP5637]

13. Yep, you make a good point as always! n/t

[Quantess]

27. Mineral Man, I do make an effort to count my blessings in an attempt to stave off Depression.

A few months ago I liked to say, "let's all be thankful we are not Haitian or Chilean". And recently, "let us all be thankful we are not Pakistanis."

I do realize there is much to be thankful for, but, where does one stop being thankful, and start realizing that your homeland is being gutted, robbed, and ransacked by greedy corporate thieves?

[HughBeaumont]

14. Ah, the "yardstick". Equivocation. Amazing

"No matter how bad you have it, you're not as bad off as (insert country here). You're not as poor as someone who eats bugs and lives in a mud hut; therefore, you're not poor. So count your blessings."

And no matter HOW many times I hear that, it's ALWAYS stupid.

You think dumpster/landfill diving doesn't happen here? Squalor is squalor, and to pretend it doesn't exist in America to the degree that it exists in other countries is not only delusional but despicable.

[MineralMan]

17. Not equivocation. Perspective.

Perspective is a good thing. It helps us understand many things. Enjoy your evening.

[Quantess]

29. This is the standard response when women express any complaints about sexism / sexual harrassment /

/gender inequality:

You should thank your lucky ass you are not a worthless sudanese whore getting beaten daily, or some muslim woman in a full burqa who is forbidden to drive a vehicle.

Who would accept that kind of equivocation?
:hi:

[depakid]

19. You think American kids aren't sifting through trash cans & dumpsters every day in America's cities?

Your point is aw, come one now- Bangladesh is worse.

Sort of like setting the bar at the Bush era for this and future administrations down the line.

[MineralMan]

21. Perspective, depakid. Perspective.

Always worth considering.

[depakid]

28. I have a ton of it from travelling (and living abroad)

And like my new countrymen, look to set the bar a lot higher and improve against that- rather than look back at the bottom third and say gee, at least we're better than that.

Once upon a time, that was an American virtue too.

[KillCapitalism]

30. It's not like that yet...

if things continue on like they have in the past decade, it could get like that though. In 30 years you might see the grandchild of someone who was formerly a member of the extinct middle class doing the same thing in a city like Cleveland.

[opihimoimoi]

11. Relax.... help is on the way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp72a6rx9-M&feature=fvsr

calm down

[RKP5637]

18. That was absolutely beautiful! Thanks!!! n/t

[opihimoimoi]

22. try this one....great shots of People having FUN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8qLp2r7lkk&feature=more_related

Peace and Stability is missing

Get out the Rescue Squad

Come, we go volunteer...have fun at the same time

[RKP5637]

26. Thank you!!! n/t

[galileoreloaded]

24. Help in the form of a guy in a tux playing a recorder?............friend, I need work

holy crap.

[opihimoimoi]

25. Think act Posititive...so much better for the heart...Negative is no way to go through ones life

Life is too short for Hatred and Bitterness

come, we find ways to enjoy life....smiling as we search

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8qLp2r7lkk&feature=more_related

[lonestarnot]

23. Heh. Sad sichiation.