15 signs American society is coming apart at the seams

NOTE: This is NOT a thread intended for the bashing of President Obama or former President Bush, since none of this is entirely their fault, separately or combined. They are merely Two players who, while each bare some responsibility for being participants, neither are the architects.


I thought this was an interesting perspective.
More along the lines of what most of us already know, but few have any real solutions for, aside from the usual partisan mudslinging.

Are we nearing a tipping point as rapacious elites push a heavily armed populace too far?

The economic elite have launched an attack on the U.S. public and society is unraveling at an increased rate. You may have missed it in the mainstream news media, but statistical societal indicators are reading red across the board. Let's look at the top 15 statistics that prove we are under attack.

Source

Which is an edited excerpt from this piece.

Original source's Source.

Sounds about right...

S&F

How are americans going to address inequality of wealth?
By redistributing wealth???

A really good find I have to say, S&F.

"Millions upon millions of Americans are poor, broke, struggling, starving, desperate... and armed.

We are sitting on a powder keg!

We are now witnessing the critical unraveling of U.S. society. "


I love that article; I mean how all of that info was laid out. And that ending I just quoted says oh so much.

Thanks for posting this. Flag.

One other thing I wanted to mention. You wrote:
"I thought this was an interesting perspective More along the lines of what most of us already know, but few have any real solutions for"

It is an interesting perspective.

We don't have real solutions for it because the problem is too big right now.

Also, many Americans do not handle it very well when you present such powerful truths about the state of our country, so ...

Don't think twice if the flamers come on here and start telling you that you just hate America, that you are only pointing out the bad things here , that you should be focusing on the solution.

Anyone talking such dribble is ignorant. I know you have posted this thread to bring these things into peoples' awareness.

The blindness and ignorance I see among many Americans on this site makes me fu#$ing sick. If people give you sh#$ on this thread then f@#k them.

Thanks for writing.

Indeed - we are foooked!

Originally posted by SquirrelNutz

Indeed - we are foooked!

Thats true, like so many of us all over the planet.

reply to post by Rhetoric


Good Find, I wish they'd inginte that powder Keg now, While I am young, Vibrant, and ready for war.

That entire article is about one thing... GREED.

When I was a little boy, I was a real pest...my mom would tell me to stop doing something and I would just keep at it... finally she would grab me and give me a whack on the rear..and say "Don't you have any stopping sense?"

STOPPING SENSE!! Lack of it is the downfall of Capitalism.

What is going on in the U.S... and in the entire world for that matter can be explained by one simple scenario:

Seal 100 people into a room...in the room there is a table with seats for 10 people. The only rule is that in order to eat you must have a seat at the table. In a short time there will be 10 people at the table and even if you come crawling up starving...those 10 people who have fought their way to getting a seat will gorge themselves while you starve to death.

That is as simple a way I can think of to describe the situation in the entire world today.

The people who are at the table will stay there while millions starve and die of disease... They accumulate Billions of dollars..and for what?? Exactly how much is enough??

The problem is that nothing anyone can say or do will change that mentality.

So what will happen?? The same thing that has happened over and over again... wealth will become concentrated in the hands of just a few.. over time finally the masses will go from admiring the wealthy to despising them. At a point when they have had enough they will storm the walled enclaves of the wealthy and murder them... and the cycle will repeat over and over again.

There is a way to break the cycle... maybe thats what will happen in 2012.. God will wipe the slate clean and try again to get it right?

One out of every two children in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA need food stamps in order to eat!!!! IF that's true (and i'm going to look into that number), then SHAME on the United States!

It means that measures need to be taken by the PEOPLE as a whole in this country RIGHT NOW to get the system we've had for centuries back on track.

reply to post by expat2368


I unfortunately agree with both your analogy and solution. It's disgusting, but sometimes I feel like we need another Great Flood soon to wipe out all that is and start over again. It's like the present civilization is in the same predicament that the previous civilization was in before the Flood - so much evil in the world and just so far gone. Good somehow doesn't have the will or desire to counterbalance Evil and to do what's necessary to maintain a fair and proper balance in the order of things, and total destruction always seems to result.

Some interesting views, thanks.

I see it as being simple in recognition, impossible to resolve.

Greed, as one poster aptly put it, is the cause, while Corporations use to utilize the law, work within it to their best advantage, but there were always safeguards in place, or we believed there to be.

Now the vast Corporate giants are actually structuring the laws to favor them and to allow them unfettered access to the lions share of the resources.

You can see it in the way a few agriculture companies control the vast majority of our entire food supply.

You can see it in the way a few Corporate giants control all of the major media markets via television, newspapers and magazines, only now venturing into the web based news markets as well.

We see it in the way a few Corporate entities control basically the entire defense industry, supply, logistics and even manpower.

Lately we have seen how a few select Corporate financial bodies control pretty much the entire investment and speculation of financial instruments market.

One great example is the way credit cards were allowed to write the new bankruptcy laws for the United States, and nobody screamed "conflict of interests".

The few have stacked the deck against the many, which might have continued working out just the way they wanted it to, if we the people could never run out of money, and if they could only be satisfied.

But we did, and they can't.

Originally posted by Jazzyguy
How are americans going to address inequality of wealth?
By redistributing wealth???

A really good find I have to say, S&F.

No, you don't have to redistribute wealth .. If 1% has MOST of the wealth in this country the best solution is, imo, to get rid of the 1%. Income equality is thus greatly increased. It redistribute the wealth would destroy the currency anyways, so that plan is shot to hell. How do we get rid of that 1%? .. Well, I leave that to your imagination .. but simply taking their money and destroying it would be adequate imo. I know, it's very anti-Libertarian of me to say .. but quite frankly predatory practices, manipulation, fraud and treason serve no place in our society.

America's number 1 enemy: Mega Banks.

And those many newly formed militias know this. The average middle class American who's out buying all those bullets know this. The typical American screwed over and left to rot at the bottom wrung of society clinging to their guns and ideologies know this.. I don't advocate violence, but I don't think America can sustain a significant period of time without SOMETHING happening, we are not immune to the problems many other countries face. This is just my opinion, as a realist, that indeed this country IS sitting on a ticking time bomb.

reply to post by Rhetoric

... The economic elite have launched an attack on the U.S. public and society is unraveling at an increased rate ...

The Elite (who are they led by?) would they be?
Federal Reserve, especially the NY Branch,
US Treasury,
Goldman Sachs, and the cadre of Primo Bank/Investment firms


yes the elites are going to great lengths to 'get theirs'...but the common man's government is still desperately trying to cobble together programs that help the masses....or those known as the former 'middle class'.

see:

from a unk. source...
MarketWatch asked the right question but the economists quoted came to the wrong conclusion.
100% of this so-called "Nascent Recovery" is due to government stimulus, housing credits, cash for-clunkers, and other wasteful spending.
Extending the home tax credit was exactly the wrong thing to do. It adds to the deficit and does little but push demand forward and/or give money to people who were going to buy a home anyway...

The Pres. the Congress, are all left feet with just what to do that will work about the fallout (to Main Street) from the financial crisis which both Gov't and the predatory capitalist Banks let loose on the populace & economy. The turmoil we see is the clamoring for wealth & profits by the running scared Elites... the wails & moans are not from the working class,
'we' are keeping our heads while the rich are the ones stripping the walls of its fine drapery & rich paintings, elegant statuary, & pulling up the carpet, ripping out the hardware...of the former Home of the Brave, America.


it is currently reported that some 400 recently created self-protection groups (years ago the Gov't declared War on homeland Survivalist groups)
and gun & ammo sales are increasing by degrees of magnitude...

hmmmm?
save-your-ammo... the elites will hang themselves in the rush for greed-

I think it's more that reality finally kicked into to most of the US populace and there mentality.

The idea of "The American Dream" has been proven to be propaganda in order to make US citizens feel on top of the world. Now they're in the sh*tter and the so called "American Dream" is an example of a nightmare that no society want's to be a part of.

A great novel that would examine this very scenario is called "The Tipping Point" it examines how trends go from one locality and quickly sweep a nation. Hush puppies for example started as an eastend trend in New York and within a year were doing sales in the millions, there is a scientific tipping point and an apex at which the "rogue" thinker becomes the prevalent thinker. We are increasingly getting closer to that point, everyone says it is one event, one triggering event. I do buy into that theory i am just not sure what that event would be, my hopes is that it is not a violent event that starts it off, because any movement that begins out of Hatred and not Betterment is doomed to be taken down by the revers pendulem of that hatred.

Lest we forget that society's deterioration has been driven by its own Government and Global financial interests working in tandem. It has only just begun. They know we are armed. They want the fight and will drive the populace to a "no other choice" scenario.

#1 AMERICAN MORONS WAITING IN LINE FOR 36 HOURS FOR ANY RETAIL STORE! My god what's wrong with the American psyche! I make more money and probably have more financial stability than 50% of the Americans out shopping today and I'm NOT shopping because I can't afford to go out and plop down half a grand for a flat screen or a new lap top. American society has turned into nothing more than an ever consuming machine of gluttony and materialism. It's disgusting. WalMart was open on T'giving? If these are the virtues of capitalism maybe we need to rethink these virtues.

Once upon a time, a single wage earner, could support a family of three or four on a modest middle income. Then women rejoined the work force, to help push their income levels higher, so that the family unit, could then afford some of the extras, that one income couldn't.

The extra incomes, helped American families achieve a living standard, that had never been obtained before by middle America.

Commerce took notice of the extra income...and not all that long afterwards, began a steady pricing increase on nearly everything. Soon, what used to be affordable on one income, was now a reset living paradigm that needed two incomes just to get by on.

Unions then began demanding more for the workers, as industry increased prices to consumers. Costs continued to escalate.

After a while, wage earners couldn't make enough fast enough, to afford all that they wanted to buy, and credit companies began to surface, making it easier to buy on time...everything your heart desired.

Now, people have lost sight of reality. They cannot stand to be the one without. They cannot stand to be told "NO", or that you have to wait for it.

It is a society with an Instant Gratification complex. Everyone is owed the "High Life", and they deserve the best of everything...no matter the long term consequences. I'll buy it now, and worry about paying for it later!

I often wonder what is wrong with the brain of someone, like a low brow rube bagging groceries, who is telling the cashier that he is going to buy a NEW Mustang, as soon as he can get a co-signer for his loan! Especially, considering the fact he had a mouth full of bad teeth. His priorities were totally screwed up.

It is common for someone to have 10,15 or more credit cards, most carrying a balance out of proportion to their incomes. People regularly purchase new vehicles, that are a financial burden them...yet, they refuse to buy a five year old or older used car...because it is beneath their status.

Peoples priorities are just totally out of whack. Far too many think they should be financially rewarded with huge incomes, benefits, and a bonus Porsche to boot, just because they have a Bachelors Degree....

Listen to the new college graduate hiss and piss when they can't land the big time fat paychecks of someone who has worked for 25 years doing something similar. They want the very same pay, NOW!

Why have costs of living went insane? Such as;

A two bedroom apartment that cost $ 160. @ month in 1970, is now more than a $1000 @ month for the very same unit today! Something is very wrong with that picture!

A modest but nice home that cost $ 17,500 in 1970, is over $190,000 today, for the same home... without any modern upgrades.

A brand new 1977 Plymouth ,Grand Fury with every option was $5,500...today, a vehicle of an equivalence to it, would be in excess of $50,000+. And no longer American made.

Everything is geared to the dual incomes of working couples. The dual income paradigm is also geared to the college degree holding worker. They tend to be paid more than non degree holders...so therefore, they are the ones, who have set the standard prices we all pay.

For the single person, who is living alone; "Good Luck" with that situation today! Unless they are making $35,000+ a year, they will be living mightily frugally.

The Me-ism of America, a society deluded by it is desires of Instant Gratification, and that everyone is owed a fat cat life on E-Z Street...has pushed the whole nation towards financial chaos and it ultimate demise.

Americans are owed nothing, but one huge comeuppance. It is finally here, and now listen to everyone blubber and sob about losing it all, when they were ones who lived above their means for over 40 years...

It is time to pay the piper...and his fee is going to hurt!

Originally posted by Jazzyguy
How are americans going to address inequality of wealth?
By redistributing wealth???

A really good find I have to say, S&F.

This brings to mind a 1960's slogan:

EAT THE RICH

Originally posted by Rockpuck
How do we get rid of that 1%? .. Well, I leave that to your imagination .. but simply taking their money and destroying it would be adequate imo.

And another 1% will immediately take their place. Reminds me of the fable of Animal Farm.