Message to all Americans: your time is up

[VictorCharlie]

I am ignorant? Perhaps you are somewhat ignorant, VC. Maybe you are doing okay, but as far as I can observe significant swathes of your country would disagree with you. All of the things I stated above are true and are easily backed up. It is a fact that the middle class is shrinking, that wealth inequalities are huge, that health care is expensive, that more people are on food stamps, that manufacturing has been shipped to China, that higher education requires serious debt etc. Do you disagree with any of these obvious things? Is Elizabeth Warren also ignorant? As far as I can see she says the middle class is struggling and being pushed to its limits. Also you talk about being middle class, but how did you do it? You served in the military and went to Iraq which is a war that you have admitted was a mistake. Are those the kinds of sacrifices other Americans need to make? Personally, I don't think that is a very fair thing to ask of people.

I always bring up this lecture by Warren to articulate statistically what has happened to the middle class. Give it a view, VC and tell me how well the middle class of America has been faring since the 1960's. The American elite have been carrying out a constant attack for 40 years. This lecture is from several years ago and things have only deteriorated.

I'll bookmark your video but I just don't have time right now to watch and hour long lecture. While I wouldn't call Warren ignorant about the US it should be noted that she is a politician belonging to a party that panders to low income people. It is her business to tell working class people it is someone elses fault that life is hard. W/o watching the video I can't address her issues but I'd want to see her sources and lets be honest she has a history of being dishonest.

Now to answer your question, yes, when it comes to the United States I think you are pretty ignorant in the same way I'm pretty ignorant about the dynamics of Korea or the UK. Of course, I don't spend an exorbitant amount of time posting about those countries and telling their citizens what it is really like in their nation and then dismiss their responses by either saying their statements are invalid b/c of their employment or b/c they are obviously just indoctrinated by a inferior education system. In multiple postings about the US you have failed to provide supporting sources for many of your assertions and I have in turn provided sources showing that some of your statements of fact are actually not accurate. It is not really something to get bent out of shape about. You have never been here much less lived here. From what I can gather you have never really interacted with many Americans other than some randoms at your local pub. Why would you be expected to really understand the US, its people or how things work here? You have probably gotten more American interaction here than anywhere else but of course we are all a bunch of fat neocon zombies.

I don't disagree with you that higher education prices are going up exponentially but this is a problem caused by public policy that is promoted as a means to help middle and lower income families. These two videos overlap some on their ideas but Dr. Lin of American University does a good job of explaining how bad policy has more to do with high tuition than anything else.



The healthcare issue here is more complicated than the tuition issue but it has similar themes. Here is a pretty good video and article about the actual problem and necessary solutions
What's Really Wrong with the Healthcare Industry - Vijay Boyapati - Mises Daily



Now you said

It is a fact that the middle class is shrinking, that wealth inequalities are huge

So lets tackle the stagnation of wages here



and before you tell me that costs are far outpacing even rising wages...



just in case your next point was to say "yeah but the poor are getting even poorer..."



now you are going to tell me "Ok VC but the US has no economic mobility"...



Your last point about the large number of Americans using some type of social safety net....well yeah we are coming out of one of the worst economic downturns in our nation's history. I'm not sure why you'd expect something different.

You said

Also you talk about being middle class, but how did you do it? You served in the military and went to Iraq which is a war that you have admitted was a mistake. Are those the kinds of sacrifices other Americans need to make? Personally, I don't think that is a very fair thing to ask of people.

For starters after college I was a teacher like you making around 65% of what I do now. Then I ran a bar making more than I do now. I chose to be in the military b/c I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life and I wanted a challenge and I took a pay cut to do it. I don't look at my deployments as a sacrifice but rather just part of the job. The sacrifices my wife and I made were more in the lifestyle we lived. For starters once we had children she didn't work which was a significant pay cut. It was important for us that she be at home with at least our first two until they went to school. We went w/o a lot of luxuries we had become accustomed to and in some areas still do. These are the sacrifices I meant. Middle class America needs to do less whining and simply plan better, save more and work harder. The ability to live a good life and improve oneself is still there but it takes these things called discipline, personal accountability and drive.

Tangentially, you have made a lot of posts about two working parents causing the deterioration of the homelife. My wife has worked the last 4 years which is most of my youngest child's life and at least half or more of my other two. My children are well behaved, do well at school and respectful. Two working parents can make a family work just fine. It just requires a little more time and effort on their part.