America's Best Days - behind, now, future

Where are the USA's best days?

  • Behind

    Votes: 33 58.9%

  • Now

    Votes: 4 7.1%

  • In the Future

    Votes: 17 30.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 3.6%
  • Total voters
    56
dex

dex

Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Joined
Oct 28, 2003
Messages
5,105
Rasmussen Reports™: The Most Comprehensive Public Opinion Data Anywhere

Nearly one-out-of-two U.S. voters (49%) now say the nation’s best days are in the past, a five-point jump from last month and the highest level of pessimism on this question in a year.

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Dates - start to end - yes, they overlap

I think they are and it is an important aspect to ER planning. I think I will be OK - maybe a bout of high inflation and another stock market crash in the next 35 years. But I will not be subject to the higher taxes and lack of opportunities as those younger - under 50 let's say.

A simple way at looking at the USA Empire is the pattern of other empires:

Asendancy - Manifest Density/Empire building/ - 1776 - 1945

Peak/Mature/Plateau - Mercantile period - Business a driver - 1870s - 1970s

Decline - Administrative - increase in laws, government, debt, social welfare programs, loss of empire - 1970s - 2100

We are in the Administrative period. This is why I do not think the POTUS is important in this regard - the course is set. He or she can only increase, or delay the decline but not reverse the course.
 
I don't know that a decline needs to be permanent and terminal, but for the time being, yeah, we've collectively overpromised too many things to too many people, and once the economy and stock market started to chronically underdeliver, well, that's where we are now.
 
Maybe the best days are behind us. Let's face it; the world does not have enough resources to provide everyone on the planet with the current American (or western European) standard of living. This probably means that as a whole, our standard of living will likely drop as others rise. I don't think this means a poor standard of living, just more thriftiness and a lot less waste and extravagance.

I still can't think of any place else in the world that I'd rather live.
 
Future. Otherwise I would be planning on moving somewhere else and learning more than Namaste or Ni hao.
 
Those who think they know the answer to this question are probably the same folks who think they know what the market will do in the coming months and years....
 
IBWino said:
This probably means that as a whole, our standard of living will likely drop as others rise. I don't think this means a poor standard of living, just more thriftiness and a lot less waste and extravagance.
Click to expand...
Good point. Even if there was a moderate decline in the standard of living in coming decades, we'd still be blessed compared to MUCH of the world's population based simply on where we were born.

I try to keep that perspective when I think things really suck.
 
Now that I live across the river from Kansas - I watch reruns of the Wizard of Oz when it comes on cable.

I voted now. Mainly cause I'm above ground and here - now as it were.

heh heh heh - :LOL: :whistle:.
 
Now.

We are still the third largest country in terms of population. We have more natural resources due to our land mass. We continue to lead the world with innovation, because our culture encourages entrepreneurs and individual enterprise. We have the most military toys of anyone.

We trip ourselves up with our past successes that have created a view of entitlement: one of the world's largest economies (California) cannot get past its legislative problems, one of the world's richest nations cannot see the path to more efficient health care for all citizens, one of the world's most educated nations cannot assure that all teenaged residents get decent basic education.

-- Rita
 
REWahoo said:
Those who think they know the answer to this question are probably the same folks who think they know what the market will do in the coming months and years....
Click to expand...
Easy answer. The market will fluctuate.
 
Depends what you mean by best. If best means civil war, world wars, depressions, segregation, robber barrons, then maybe the best is behind. If best means more equality, military intervention only when it's absolutely necessary, fewer booms and busts, meaningful participation from the average citizen, then I hope the best is yet to come!
 
For those that voted "now".... I want to live in YOUR world!!:D Things do look a bit more grim than that from where I sit.
 
It depends on one's perspective and priorities. From a financial perspective I think the country is in deep doo doo - The Piper Will Be Paid and there is simply no way around that. The Piper can be paid by reducing spending (unlikely) or more likely by devaluing the dollar via inflation.

I perceive a lot more pessimism than in years past because some of those bills are coming due that seemed so far away before. Something is gonna give on Social Security, Medicaid and the rest. We have a Vice President who says "We have to borrow money to avoid bankruptcy" - why does that have the same ring to it as "We had to destroy the village to save it."? Somehow the logic escapes me, but maybe I'm just slow.

Personally, we're in good shape. We're long past the point of having to think about whether we can afford a new coffee table, and when DW and I can feel comfortable dropping $12k on a toy like a motorcycle that speaks volumes about our optimism.

However, I do think that people ages 20-40 are going to have a much harder time than we did. To turn all this around is going to take almost a Depression-era mentality and I don't think the country as a whole has the stomach or unity for that. Hope I'm wrong though.
 
I suspect how a poster responds to this poll has more to do with their own financial and emotional circumstances than any other factor. Many of us were battered and bruised by the market over the past 18 months and I'd wager a substantial number of those who voted "behind" would have voted differently prior to the financial meltdown.

Cheer up you bunch of SadSacks!!! :flowers:
 
REWahoo said:
Those who think they know the answer to this question are probably the same folks who think they know what the market will do in the coming months and years....
Click to expand...

Wild guess here: You voted "Other", didn't you? :)

Sam
 
We've seen the fall of the Soviet empire. In 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist, splintering into 15 separate republics.

For years it was said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire." Its member nations spanned the globe so that, at all times, the sun was shining somewhere on that empire. It controlled enormous wealth and territory. The burden of policing and protecting the world was too great, and after the staggering cost of World War II, the British Empire dissolved within a few decades.

Going back further, we see the rise and fall of other empires: Napoleon's French Empire. The Ottoman Empire. The Islamic Empire. The Roman Empire. The Hellenistic Empire of Alexander the Great. The Persian Empire. Babylon. Assyria. Egypt of the pharaohs. The Aztecs. The Mayans. Ancient Greece.

At their peak, all of them were probably certain they'd be "superpowers" for all time. America will follow the same path as previous empires that have gone before, none have ever persisted forever.

The 19th century was Britain.
The 20th century was America.
The 21st century will be China?
 
This is a difficult question for USA citizens to answer. It requires an objectivity while living the history. The USA is like all empires it will/has decline and the pattern can be found in previous empires. Those who do not think this is the case can respond in option 4 and describe why the USA will be the one empire in all of history not to decline.

It is easier to see the decline, when looking back at the Roman, Spanish, English and USSR Empires. The USA parallels are there.

I think the next phase will be one of regional empires as the USA declines, weakens and pulls back from the international scene.
China
India
EU/Russia
USA
 
dex said:
This is a difficult question for USA citizens to answer.
Click to expand...

Right, so I'll chime in, being a citizen of Canada and the EU.

dex said:
It is easier to see the decline, when looking back at the Roman, Spanish, English and USSR Empires. The USA parallels are there.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I think you're right.

dex said:
I think the next phase will be one of regional empires as the USA declines, weakens and pulls back from the international scene.
China
India
EU/Russia
USA
Click to expand...

IMHO the 21st Century will be China's. There are lots of things wrong in China, but sheer size, work ethic and tolerance for LBYM are going to propel China to a preeminent position.
 
Meadbh said:
Right, so I'll chime in, being a citizen of Canada and the EU.



Unfortunately I think you're right.



IMHO the 21st Century will be China's. There are lots of things wrong in China, but sheer size, work ethic and tolerance for LBYM are going to propel China to a preeminent position.
Click to expand...
On Veteran's day, I noted that there were probably more veterans in our Megacorp office of the People's Liberation Army than the US Army.
 
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