Quote:
Originally Posted by aznpoopy
um, yeah. it doesn't matter which party was in power or who was president. completely irrelevant. the seeds of this were sown before bush. before clinton. before reagan. hell they were in place when the US took over as leader of the world in 40s and 50s.
labor going abroad was inevitable. as standard of living rises, costs rise. with globalization, corporations now have access to global labor pools. on a macro level, any company that doesn't send labor abroad will be outcompeted. any hypothetical government protectionism at best delays the inevitable; it makes the protected corporations fucking weak, like small child.
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^^^Gets it.
Honestly, I've had the opportunity to travel a lot in the last few years and I have to admit the US is lagging behind in a lot of areas. I feel like this country is resting on its laurels and has subsequently has become complacent.
America has become myopic and it's come back to bite us in the ass.
The OP's article reminded me of a quotation that I read a while ago. It's attributed to a Scotsman by the name of Alexander Tytler, though there's some debate about whether he is actually the author. In any case, the treatise has become known as the Tytler Cycle:
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
* From bondage to spiritual faith;
* From spiritual faith to great courage;
* From courage to liberty;
* From liberty to abundance;
* From abundance to complacency;
* From complacency to apathy;
* From apathy to dependence;
* From dependence back into bondage.
Do I think the US has hit rock bottom? No.
The US is still the richest, most powerful country in the world.
But our dominance in declining relative to the rise of other nations.
Unfortunately, instead of accepting this as a matter of fact, and looking for viable solution to the problems facing our nation, a lot of people in this country prefer to put on blinders and pretend like all is well.
Ignorance is bliss, after all.