Who is to Blame for the Sorry State of the USA?

I am a citizen of a third-world country. I am fond of the USA and its people as long as they are the civilized, non-racist kind.

I am heart-broken to see the sorry state the USA is in, and I wonder if it would help to identify the sources of evil that now plague the US. A mere account of how bad things are is to no avail, therefore, identification of the main troubles that plague your country is of utmost importance, since it may lead to corrective measures.

I live outside the US; that helps me see America from the outside, and helps me identify its evils without any prejudice from nationalism, patriotism, race, economics, or educational background, but I do it with the respect my country deserves and get by those civilized, and with love for my many friends who live in that great country.

The multiplying troubles for America I can identify are:
1. Economic woes;
2. Rising prices of gas, food, and shelter;
3. The increase of credit versus use of cash;
4. The decrease in value of real estate, i.e., the motor of the economy;
5. The indescriminate increase of deficits by the US Government;
6. The deteriorating infrastructure of roads and bridges;
7. The signing of Pacts, -for example, SPP-, laws, rules, and regulations that undermine the Constitution, the basic rights of the American people without taking in consideration the consent of the people in a "Democracy".
8. The creation of intelligence to start wars to steal resources from thrid-world countries, based on pure and unadultered lying.
9. The death of Democracy present everywhere and the institution of a Police-State. Just see the way your police behaves, nowadays.
10. The assurance to a secure future (Social Security, Health, etc.) is almost gone.
11. Climate change is at its worse in the US.

I am sure there are many I missed.

I understand that denying the problems exist will not solve anything. My question is: What is the source to all of your troubles, and what are you going to do about solving the problems? What type of country will you leave for yout children?

It's called Obama mainia Igna.

Obama will fix all our problems - he has much experience as a community organizer in one Chicago district. Granted, he was tied up in real estate scams with Tony Rezko and other slumb lords, but at least they made alot of money.

Because of Obama's mortgage scandal experience, he will help pardon those 400 people who are now indicted for the large Countrywide Mortgage scam involving Democrat Senators.

What we need are higher taxes and social programs. Obama even recommends a Gas tax, making the current price of Gas even higher.

I don't quite get that, but I never question Obama the great one.

reply to post by jetxnet


I would not be so fast to put all my hope in one single person, especially a politician, regardless its party of affiliation.

Besides, I didn´t read the source of all the troubles I pointed. The first step to overcome a problem is to accept there is a problemñ the second is finding the source of trouble to be able to eliminate it.

*HINT*
4. The decrease in value of real estate, i.e., the motor of the economy; - HOW ABOUT GREED?
2. Rising prices of gas, food, and shelter; HOW ABOUT LIVING WAY ABOVE YOUR MEANS?
5. The indescriminate increase of deficits by the US Government; HOW ABOUT CORRUPTION IN THE HIGH SPHERES OF GOVERNMENT?

Very good points Igna ..

The rising costs of food and gas is a global economic problem though, not just in America. Driving and eating less are not going to lower the gas and food prices.

In simple terms, developing countries like China are placing a large amount of stress on the current Oil supply chain. The more China's economy booms, the more Oil it will require for energy.

It was fine before, but now you have a nation of 1.2 Billion people striving for the same quality of life we have here in America and the EU.

The countries who are not affected by the rising costs are the Middle Eastern countries at this time. It is because they have the current Oil supplies.



[edit on 6-7-2008 by jetxnet]

this is really interesting.
what third world country are you from?
whats your daily life like, I mean do you have decent
housing, running water?How about food, is it clean, do you
have all you can eat?

anyway, most of the problems here are that people lived
beyond their means, huge houses, big cars, lots of stuff in
their houses.
not all people, but a lot.
let me tell you, I'm in california, there was a time a house couldnt
sit on the market longer than a day. I was like, where are
the people getting all this money, I make about the same as them,what
a loser I am, until this housing slump started happening, now I know they
were getting those fancy arm loans. cheap now, expensive later.

I would say that the cause of the mortgage meltdown was the banks being extremely greedy and giving mortgages to people who absolutley had no business borrowing that much money. I feel this is a symptom of the 'politically correct' nonsense now occuring in our country. "You can't hurt those people's feelings....give them a loan". Yes it is many peoples dreams to own a home.....but now look at what happened.

During the Clinton years our national debt was refinanced, so people thought he had lowered it. It also became very common to live above your means. This was in stark contrast to the Reagan years where we were allowed to make more of the money that we earned. Obama is going to come in and pull a Jimmy Carter and create one big mess.

reply to post by josephine


I am your neighbor to the South. I live in Baja California, in Mexicali.

We have clean water, food is rising, but not as bad as in the USA, as far as I know. I am a Certified Translator for the State and make about $50K a year.

However, the current crisis in the US is beginning to slump the local market. The Americans who comw over to my office used to be abnoxious, proud, and somewhat arrogant. They used to ask questions like Do you have a Laudry mat here? The city where I live is nearly a million unhabitants. LOL.

So far I have no problems of affordability. I rent a 2 bedroom apartment for $300 a month and own two cars. One is a small, very economical KIA and the other one is a middle sized car. Gas is $7.35 pesos per liter. a gallon is 3.78 liters and dollar is down to $10.15 pesos. You do the math. Americans come to get gas and Diesel like there is no tomorrow. They used to nag coming to Mexicali because they said the city smelled like #, but suddenly they´re here and smile, and wave.

My wife and I live below our means. We save and hold no dollars. I saved up our money in Silver since the dollar is going down even against the Mexican Peso.

I have no credit cards. I buy what I can afford, and sometimes not even that. I ask myself if I need to buy something before I buy it. I have no 5 sweaters of the same style, different color, or any of that. I don´t buy 5 items of something because they are supposedly cheap. Nover done it, never will. Houses are selling like there is no tomorrow here. I know what is coming. I won´t jump on the wagon because of greed.

I am blessed. There are families living on $80 a week. Good thing is families are a social fiber that hold society healthy. One vamily member helps another.

Does that answer your questions?

reply to post by jetxnet


The official story coming out of the USA is that China and India are to blame for the increase in prices. I disagree.

I say it´s the US dollar. The deeper the dollar falls, the more dollars are needed to buy gas, food, and anything else. The solution to end this world crisis is to dump the dollar as the currency of choice to set prices. If the prices were set in Euros, we´d see a downward trend, and a strenghtening of the Euro without touching on deflation.

To set prices ub dollars as the dollar falls is to import INFLATION from the USA without needing to.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


I know GREED is the problem.

Sad thing is when one has not been greedy, not hold debt. I and millions of people all over the world have been responsible, and are now paying more for food because those in a few nations are greedy as hell, and have lived above their means, and have invaded countries to steal resources.

In Mexico, Bush wants to install a Plan Colombia and just change its name to Plan Mexico. That would bring a Poilice-State to our peace-loving nation.

That may be true, but you can't expect 1.2 Billion Chinese people to have the same quality of life as you do. The more China's economy booms, the higher the standard of living and thus a higher demand for current resources to fullfill it.

reply to post by jetxnet


Good point, Jet.


At the same time that the United States is going down, China and India are going up. However, the U.S. are accostumed to buy for no reason, and China and India are like me: they buy when necessary and remember to SAVE, therefore, they don't spend all they make. On the other hand, a Chinese or Indian worker don't make buy a very small fraction weekly of what an American worker makes a day. Does that make sense? I think it is propaganda to point the finger somewhere else.

We, the American people bear full responsibility for the current, and future state of the nation.

It is we, the people who have become complacent, who have come to let government control us instead of us controlling them.

It is We, the American people who have allowed this corrupt, criminal government to advance to its current stage. It is we, the American people who have decided American Idol, sports, and each and every other diversion are more important than the thing that makes us unique: Freedom.

It will be once again up to We, the American people to correct this problem. My only fear is the will to do it is no longer there.

1. Economic woes;
MISMANAGEMENT
2. Rising prices of gas, food, and shelter;
DOLLAR DEEPLY WOUNDED BY $53,000,000,000,000.00 DOLLARS IN DEBT
3. The increase of credit versus use of cash;
IRRESPONSABILITY BY LIVING ABOVE ONE´S MEANS; GREED
4. The decrease in value of real estate, i.e., the motor of the economy;
GREED ON THE PART OF THE BANKS AND ON THE PART OF THE BUYERS
5. The indescriminate increase of deficits by the US Government;
CORRUPTION IN THE HIGH SEATS OF GOVERNMENT
6. The deteriorating infrastructure of roads and bridges;
THE DIVERSION OF FUNDS FOR WAR AND NOTHING ELSE
7. The signing of Pacts, -for example, SPP-, laws, rules, and regulations that undermine the Constitution, the basic rights of the American people without taking in consideration the consent of the people in a "Democracy".
G.W. BUSH DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE; ILLUMINATI AND TPTB
8. The creation of intelligence to start wars to steal resources from thrid-world countries, based on pure and unadultered lying.
GEORGY W. BUSH HIMSELF AND COMPANY.
9. The death of Democracy present everywhere and the institution of a Police-State. Just see the way your police behaves, nowadays.
GEORGY W. BUSH AND HIS FAMILY. NORTH AMERICAN UNION
10. The assurance to a secure future (Social Security, Health, etc.) is almost gone.
THE DIVERSION OF FUNDS TO WAR, WAR, AND MORE WAR.
11. Climate change is at its worse in the US.
YOU TELL ME.

The problems with the USA began a while ago,

Oil Prices


- This is affecting EVERYONE, not just the USA. Its a direct cause for interest rate rises here in Aust.

So the decline in the American economy, ultimately means oil is more.
Irans leader is right, OIL needs to be in EURO's

The way I look at it, is back in the day a barrel cost $60 American dollars.
Now, the American dollar is worth bunk, lost so much value that barrel of oil now takes MORE American dollars to buy it. because 60, well it isn’t much any more, but $144, yeah that’s about even.


SUB PRIME Issue:

Some predict this war, the cost, reconstruction, army medical, etc etc will end up costing $3,000,000,000,000.00

That’s a lot of money to just take out from a countries savings... even if you are the USA.. that sort of money makes a difference.

extract from below:

The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.

The US government urged the banks to approve more loans, to pump the US economy...

Professor Stiglitz told the Chatham House think tank in London that the Bush White House was currently estimating the cost of the war at about $US500 billion, but that figure massively understated things such as the medical and welfare costs of US military servicemen.

The war was now the second-most expensive in US history after World War II and the second-longest after Vietnam, he said.

The spending on Iraq was a hidden cause of the current credit crunch because the US central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit.

"The regulators were looking the other way and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system," he said.

That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout was plunging the US economy into recession and saddling the next US president with the biggest budget deficit in history, he said.

As for credit/cash?

Thats easy,

If Im hungry, and i have no fuel, and pay days a week away.. throw it on the credit card.. pay it back another day.
.. problem is you get paid, and keep that mentality.. bah ill pay it another pay cheque.

before you know it, you’ve got a $6000.00 credit bill, and the card no longer works.


Infrastructure

Basically, instead of spending trillions on destroying and rebuilding another country, why not spend some of that investigating, replacing or fixing bridges, levee's, roads, tunnels.. civilian aspects of society?

Democracy/Rights/Intelligence Agencies

Heres my take..

Bush and Cheney ensured moles were in the CIA, Pentagon, NSA
They corrupted intelligence so it stayed quiet when it didn’t agree, and so it investigated what the government wanted.
Bush and Cheney never intended to take on Iran, they also never thought that Iraq would last this long.

I honestly believe they believed their own '' liberator's '' hype.

6 months, the Iraqi's would love them, and let them setup..

They have completely lost all control of the situation, and basically are preying nothing big happens before they leave office...

America's on Autopilot at the moment.

Your banks are crashing, The world doesn’t trust you, You’ve bogged down 150,000 odd army types with all the equipment in a region where everyone wants to kill you.

You cant leave because it will totally destroy world confidence in you.
The world will believe you cant win wars any more, but that will be the wrong mentality to have.


Problems with the united states are unsolvable, they began 8 yrs ago and have moulded into today’s world crisis.

Wonders never cease

'' what is the cause of the problems in the USA ''

'' obama... never mind he hasnt actually been president.. but we'll put him upfirst ''


What a load of rubbish, thought you vanished jet after the whole fake birth certificate think turned out to be rubbish.

But who am I to judge, your suggesting someone who hasn’t stepped into office, I tend to blame someone that’s been running the show for, what....

EIGHT YEARS?

reply to post by slackerwire


So far, this´ been the best response.

I fully agree with you, Slacker.

Im proud to see a PATRIOT here.

Originally posted by slackerwire

It will be once again up to We, the American people to correct this problem. My only fear is the will to do it is no longer there.

We, the people of the world, can help.

But you are the leaders.

Once you put things in motion, then the rest of the world will step in line.

Others have become jealous of you, because of this...

reply to post by Anti-Tyrant


Jealous may not be the word.

Many countries have been wrongfully invaded to force policies that will benefit the invader. Take Nicaragua, a small third-world nation, for example. Nocaragua has been invaded 13 times by the United States. That is 13.

I doubt such a weak country would be a threat to the all mighty USA. You get foes gallore in no time by acting in such a arrogant way.

[edit on 7/7/2008 by ignaciobeltran]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but a rant of a sort was inspired by the posts above and I must let it out, because these happen so rarely with me these days.

Slackerwire has it right, it is our own fault, we the people...

We became complacent in the mid and late 90s, back when things were still sort of ok. But even then it could be seen how bad our country was getting. Employment was decreasing, and the numbers for unemployment only reflected those collecting "unemployment checks".

What was happening is they stopped counting those people no longer collecting, and were still with out a job. So, the numbers were superficially made to look like our rate was less than it actually is. Because many are still out of work.

Then, outsourceing took the biggest toll on our nation. Sending much needed jobs over seas, only to save a few $, all the while creating more unemployment. A sham and a shame, because the very people to first hired US workers for their quality skills stabbed them in the back for profits and quantity over the quality we once were known for.

We as a Republic, because that's what America is, not one democracy for which we stand.

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

I also swore an oath, "that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same", multiple times have I reaffirmed that oath, and am still honoring, some thing I'll do until my last breath.

I have urged my countrymen, to pay more attention and become active in our Nations dealings. Years have passed from my first appearance here on ATS, and still my path has unwavered in it's direction. Just look over the older posts ans threads where much of my heart felt and deepest motives have been laid out for the community to see.

I once again urge those of you who want to see the US of A be what it can, because as it was said;

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island

Let me leave off for now, with this reminder from an age past, lest it never be forgotten, this is a government not of Haliburtons, or oil barons, or the corperations who pay into the coffers of such.

Our government is; "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863
Abraham Lincoln