Thread: America Is Bankrupt

This article makes a lot of good points about how far our country has fallen in the last 30 years of globalization, but sometimes I think these articles make us sound like we're all hopeless losers.

It seems like the MSM likes to always emphasize stories about how uneducated or lazy we are... By doing so, it helps to justify labor importation and job exportation... The corporations say "well, we can't find the workers, because American test scores are too low.".. Or they say, "Americans are too lazy to do these jobs, so we need to import illegals."

In states like Iowa which don't have a large underclass of illegals, the test scores are fairly good... Also, using data from the year 2000, the U.S. is the most educated country in the world in terms of average years of education.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/edu ... sch_of_adu

We seek higher education more than any other country in the world.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/edu_ter_enr

(On the other hand, I just learned on Lou Dobbs over the last week that by some measures we're no longer at the top... I'm not sure how they define "most educated").
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... dt.01.html

DOBBS: The assault on this country's middle class just doesn't quit. Turning to education, four out of five college-age students in this country attend our public universities. But nearly every state has cut funding for those public schools, forcing students to pay even more money every year for their public education.

Bill Tucker has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The United States of America is no longer the most educated country in the world. We once were. Now it's not even close.

Canada, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Norway and Switzerland top the list. We're down at seventh, tied with Belgium, Australia and Denmark. And as we've fallen down that list some dramatic changes have taken place. Seventy-four percent of all kids in college come from the top one quarter income group.

RICHARD KAHLENBERG, THE CENTURY FOUNDATION: We are cheating our low income and working class kids. And we'll have a society where the very well off, the children of the very well off become highly educated, and then the rest of us don't have those same opportunities.

TUCKER: During those last five years, 48 of 50 states have cut spending to public universities by a combined 16 percent. In Colorado, the state covers just eight percent of its university's operating budget. The state pays for just seven percent of Michigan's public colleges. It doesn't take college math to understand that what the states take away, the schools must replace.

The university systems in Colorado, Kentucky and Michigan all announced double-digit increases this year. For middle class families that rely on the public college system to educate their kids, the tuition increases come at precisely the wrong time.

SANDY BAUM, COLLEGE BOARD: Increases in college tuition are cyclical. So that when the economy is not doing well and state appropriations for colleges and universities are down, then tuition rises rapidly.

TUCKER: Public colleges in need of funds are also sacrificing their independence in exchange for money.

KATHARINE LYALL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: And then they discover that in that process, they now have not one or two masters, but they have six or seven different kinds of constituencies driving what they do.

TUCKER: Unlike the state, those private donors want something in return for their money, buildings and sports complexes with their names on them, generating higher operating costs and increased tuition.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCKER: Now, the problem has attracted the attention of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. This week she launched a commission on the future of higher education. The commission has a deadline of August 1 of next year for making recommendations on making colleges more affordable and, Lou, making them more accountable to policymakers.

DOBBS: That's great. We've got another commission. I suspect it will be made up of those university educators.

And we should be very clear here, as we report on the rising cost of those tuitions, in good times and bad, they have been rising faster, faster than the inflation rate. And frankly, there's absolutely no excuse for that, period.

Also, we have more engineers per capita than any country in the world, with the exception of Israel.

Now, sometimes you hear how China is producing roughly 80,000 engineers per year whereas we're only producing about 60,000... But China has 1.3 billion people, whereas we only have 300 million... So, they have 4x more people... So, you'd expect they might have more graduates each year, just by virtue of their larger population.. Also, our population's average age is higher... So, we have a lot fewer people of college age who are going to graduate each year.

Also, China and India often avoid some international exams or they only include their best students... Also, some of the 3rd world countries train their students to take the exams/competitions in order to advertise their country's excellence.

In India, the literacy rate is 59%, whereas the U.S. literacy rate is 97%... Of course, there are many nations which have even a higher literacy rate, but I wonder if these statistics include all the illegals we have here.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/edu ... pop&int=-1

But it seems like the media is always trying to tell us that we're so hopelessly uneducated and unskilled... I think this is done for several reasons... One reason may be because this viewpoint reflects the attitude that the elites have toward the American middle class... And the elites control the media... (Just about everything we read, see, and hear is produced by 5 major media corporations... Even 70% of the websites that people frequent are controlled by the 5 major media companies.)..

Another reason may be that the elites need to look down on the people they're exploiting, in order to justify their "assault on the middle class".

Another reason is to justify exporting jobs to cheap-labor markets and to justify importing cheap labor... (This is the old excuse "We just can't find any qualified Americans who are willing to do the jobs.")

Another reason may be that the elites want us to believe we're on a team of losers, so that we stop fighting... I mean, if you believe your fellow American is a basket case, then you might feel it's hopeless - that we will never be able to get our act together.

In addition to being a reasonably well educated country, we also have access to plenty of information... For example, Americans are more on-line than any of the 10 wealthiest, developed countries in the world... In the month of Sep, 2005, 69% of Americans used the Internet.
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Also, the Internet is available to just about everyone... 75% of Americans have Internet access in their homes... Just about all public libraries have Internet access and most have free classes.

So, we have greater access to information that ever in the history of our country... As Thomas Jefferson said, "information is the currency of democracy."

Benjamin Franklin was one of our Founding Fathers who had little formal education... In fact, he had no formal education after the age of 10... Yet, he was a world-famous inventor, scientist, author, businessman, statesman, diplomat... He educated himself by reading.

And I always detect in the MSM, some kind of implication that we're all lazy bumbs... I mean, we've all heard the pro-illegal crowd claim that we need illegals, because they do the tough jobs that Americans just won't do.

Yet, of the 10 wealthiest developed countries, Americans are the hardest working... We work 7.3 hours per day, tied with Germany... This includes time spent on the job, as well as unpaid work such as in community service and household activities.
http://www.globalismscorecard.org/votingSystemStats.htm

Also, it seems that many think that the average American is apathetic... But I don't think that's true... There was a UN report which showed that Americans were #2 among a whole list of developed countries with respect to time spent in community service.

I realize this all sounds a little bit "rah, rah", but I feel the need to emphasize that we have pretty good team here... We're reasonably well educated, we have access to info, we're hardworking, and we care about our communities.

So, I believe that Team Citizen America can defect Team Corporate America... We're not Team Citizen Loser, like the elites believe and the MSM tries to encourage us to believe.

Yet, there is one thing we have to be ashamed about and that is we haven't been working very hard on our government... We've let the "corporate supremacists" (as Lou Dobbs calls them) steal our country.
Lobbying Against America - Lou Dobbs - Aug 12th, 2005

So, we need to get more involved and encourage others to get involved.

During the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine wrote "These are the times that try men's souls... Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered.".. But we prevailed and we shall prevail over tyranny once again (provided that we get cracking and work together).

(By the way, Thomas Paine was another Founding Father who had little formal education, but educated himself through reading... And he was the Founding Father who coined our country's name "The United States of America".)

So, we're on a good team, folks!.. Don't let the MSM make you think differently.

Here are some comparisons of the U.S. with other countries:
http://www.globalismscorecard.org/votingSystemStats.htm

I admire your optimism, lost_mummy, and I really wish I could share it but it is NOT just the MSM that portrays a gloomy picture of the state of this country. I live in a small county that has lost almost FOUR THOUSAND furniture manufacturing jobs in 5 years. AND, there have been no decent jobs created to replace these good-paying, decent benefits jobs. And, then we have the defection of the Senate Judiciary committee voting to allow EVEN MORE H1B visas next year for the really good, high-tech jobs. Globalization is going to destroy this country and we need to really watch China or, within the next 20 years, we won't be worried about having to speak Spanish. We'll be forced by a COMMUNIST CHINA to speak Chinese.

You mention the education level of the people in India and I'm sure the figures are correct but what that fails to address is that we are exporting HUGE NUMBERS of technical jobs to India. Now, is our government going to try to convince us that "these are jobs Americans won't do"???

It is just too easy to blame the MSM for the woes of our nation. You only need to look in your own backyard to see that the jobs that are left for Americans are the service jobs that pay little, have no benefits and no hope of upward mobility. And, as long as this administration is controlling our economy, this is what we need to get used to. Unemployment statistics are very deceptive. People might be working but they are NOT working in comparable jobs to the ones they've lost.

Remember the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. All great civilizations in the past have failed because they've become complacent and refused to see the reality of what is going on right before their very eyes. Our government is selling us down the river and the current is swift.

America is not "going bankrupt". America IS BANKRUPT. It is a mathematical certainty.

1) largest national debt in US History

2) largest trade deficit in US History

3) largest personal credit in US History

4) lowest personal savings in US History

5) rising costs on all essentials (housing, interest, fuel, energy, utilities, insurance, local property taxes)

6) declining wages and salaries

7) illegal population growth over-burdening all fundamentals including medical, education, subsistence, and flooding the precious labor market

There is no way to reverse it under the present scenario. Free Trade has to grind to a halt. Illegal immigration and excess Legal Immigration have to grind to a halt. Wages and Salaries have to be restored. Credit card interest has to be usuried at below 15% (it's now almost 30% in almost all the states). Bankruptcy Law change passed this year has to be repealed. We have to bring the majority of the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by Thanksgiving and stop this spending. We have to get alternative energy sources to the market with incentives to install them in homes and encourage new automobile purchases that use alternative fuels. We have to get manufacturing back to the US...Whatever It Takes. We have to stop all this Nonsense with 501 C 3 organizations being used to lobby the US Congress and fund anti-American activities.

We are in a Total Breakdown. We are already Bankrupt. All of the above has to happen immediately or the consequences are irreversible.

We can Hoorah all we want. But, until WE, the People regain control of the White House, the US Senate and the US House of Representatives....in 2 years more than of the US Population will be broke on food stamps and America will be no longer be the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

You are not Free when you're broke.

You can not be Brave when you're broke.

When you're broke, you have no power to regain control of the White House, the US Senate and the US House of Representatives.

Folks, it is now or never. It is a mathematical certainty.

Couldn't have said it better. The picture is BLEAK indeed and anyone who believes otherwise is just living in a dream world. The is not the America we have known and loved and worked for and defended all of our lives. This is an America that, slowly but surely, is being dismantled by those that we have elected to serve US. And, the scariest thought is the fact that we can't AFFORD two more years of this insanity. It will be just about impossible to recoup what we've lost. AND, we have lost it so FAST. This country is barely recognizable as the same country we had only 10 years ago. And, the decline is on EVERY FRONT. I can't think of even ONE area in which things are better since this administration assumed their mantle. I just can't and it breaks my heart.

You bring up a very good point, Judy, when you say that, when we're broke, we will no longer have the POWER to regain control. AND, we will no longer have the WILL.

Originally Posted by Bootsie

I admire your optimism, lost_mummy, and I really wish I could share it but it is NOT just the MSM that portrays a gloomy picture of the state of this country. I live in a small county that has lost almost FOUR THOUSAND furniture manufacturing jobs in 5 years. AND, there have been no decent jobs created to replace these good-paying, decent benefits jobs. And, then we have the defection of the Senate Judiciary committee voting to allow EVEN MORE H1B visas next year for the really good, high-tech jobs. Globalization is going to destroy this country ...

You mention the education level of the people in India and I'm sure the figures are correct but what that fails to address is that we are exporting HUGE NUMBERS of technical jobs to India. Now, is our government going to try to convince us that "these are jobs Americans won't do"???...

No, these companies claim that they cannot find the people with the skills they need, it is just a load of dung. Phooie on them, they just want to save a buck, and not hire chuck that has a family and needs a certain wage and benies. To me it just seems to get harder to afford to live in these United States. Greenspan raises the interests rates to keep inflation down, but Corporate America does a good job at that by pushing all our wages down.

Originally Posted by Judy

5) rising costs on all essentials (housing, interest, fuel, energy, utilities, insurance, local property taxes)

6) declining wages and salaries

7) illegal population growth over-burdening all fundamentals including medical, education, subsistence, and flooding the precious labor market

IMHO, 5 directly cause 7. We as a society have been seeing 6 happen for some time now, therefore we cannot buy as much junk as Corporate America wants us to, and they see this in their spreadsheets. So their answer is to bring in another source of income, which is the illegals, which in turn causes MORE of number 6...


What a fun ride

EXACTLY right, rakishoner! Corporate America does not WANT to find American workers. They might have to actually PAY them for their skills. They would rather take a bunch of foreigners and MOLD them at OUR expense. SAD, SAD, SAD.

Bootsie, you are so right. And the reason is an Economic Spiral. This of it like a computer virus. It's exponential, just like a virus that takes over a computer. They have set it up on "every front", so that as wages and salaries are either stagnant or decling, all the costs those wages and salaries have to cover rising. It's not in the cost of goods, it is in the cost of fundamentals...those things essential to a roof over your head, a car in the drive-way, a job to drive to, the cost to get to the job, the interest rates that dictate your cost of housing, the price of housing pressured upward by the illegal demand of an illegally growing population, the increase in property taxes to support local government which always needs more more more because of the population growth, increases in crime, and increases in Medicaid and social services. Wages and salaries decline because the good jobs are leaving the country through "free trade agreements" (NAFTA, CAFTA, Most Favored Nation Status with China, a Communist Country, Singapore Free Trade Agreement, Carribbean Free Trade Agreement...there is actually 38 signed into law by this Bush Wacko and he is planning to have one with every country in the world and soon the FTAA--delayed slightly by the close and controversial vote on CAFTA, problems in Iraq, and problems with the voters via his poor ratings and apparently less than successful fund-raiser last weekend).

Rakishoner--"It's just Phooie" referering to our companies claiming they can't find workers. You are absolutely right it's Phooie, the Biggest Phooie in American History. They are nothing short of a bunch of Liars, Cheaters, and Thieves and all need to go to jail.

It's the White House Phooie, the US Senate Phooie, the US House of Representatives Phooie, the US Supreme Court Phooie, and yes Indeedy, US Business Phooie.

Phooie is out, I mean out. There is no time at all to listen to or accommodate this Phooie ONE MORE SECOND.

We've sold all our stocks. We are done with these corrupt corporations. We've paid off all our personal credit cards. Some business debt we're stuck with until we find business solutions but when I do all business debt and home mortgage debt will be no more. That's a tall order, but I'm working on it. My car just turned 100,000 miles and I'll drive it until she stops. I'm not buying anything and haven't since I said "Don't Spend, Save" months ago except food (and I'm on a diet); cat food; litter; coffee and cigarettes by the carton with coupons and the MVP discount which together is $11 off a carton. Wish I could quit smoking, but I just enjoy it too much. I let my health insurance expire too. Since I've never used it all it appears to be doing is covering the cost of medical care for illegal aliens. I'm practicing "No speaka Anglai" in case of a medical emergency.

I'm 110% fed-up with what's going on and I'm not underwriting it any more.

We're in Deep Twit and this requires Drastic Deep Twit Response.

Do Not Spend, Save.

We can call until we're hoarse; we can fax until they can't count them any more; we can e-mail until our little fingers callous--THE ONLY THING THESE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND IS GETTING YOUR MONEY.

Stop giving it to them and we'll have them eating out of our hands and having to shoo them away to leave us alone.

Until then....we're cabbages. Peggy Fleming the famous ice-skater had stage fright when on the ice. She overcame the problem by pretending all the people in the stands were just "cabbages". Well, I do believe that's what our Government thinks of US, the American People, just Cabbage Heads to be ignored. Well, we need to be the Cabbage Heads with all our money in our hands, not theirs. Then, they'll start to see that We are the People they are paid and elected and appointed and hired to SERVE.

We can do this, but We have to do it NOW.

Dry it up. Keep all your money. Drastic Deep Twit Response to this national crisis. You can not keep from going bankrupt AFTER you are bankrupt. You have to keep from going bankrupt NOW while you still have an income; while you still have options; while you can still make choices; while you still have the POWER.

I came SO CLOSE to cancelling my $665 a MONTH health insurance last month that it was SCARY. Now, remember--this is BREAKING me. BUT, at the very last minute, I decided to call and price just ONE of my medications if I was paying as a private pay person and it was going to be $456 a MONTH. Of course, after I priced two more, I was already over the cost of the Blue Cross so I wrote a check PRONTO. I would do the exact same thing that you plan to do and pretend I was either hispanic or some other minority when I ended up in the ER BUT I have a FEW assets other than my home left and, PRESTO, there they would go. I'm in a Catch 22 situation. No longer able to work full time, getting a small Social Security check, don't qualify for disability, trying to live off of a DWINDLING brokerage account that I used to be able to live pretty well from just the proceeds of investments. Now, every month, I dip into the principle just to pay those damn premiums. What I PERCEIVED, even 5 years ago, as financial security has been SAPPED by this economy.

BUT, I'm still having to pay taxes so these illegals can get quality, FREE health care on my nickel. Could I qualify for that?? NO. A resounding NO. My brother has said the same thing about speaking Spanish when he ends up in the ER. He did the same thing that you did when he retired early after making his fortune! But, I told him they will come after everything he's worked so hard for until they wrung every last cent out of him because he is NOT an illegal immigrant or a minority. He is a successful businessman who finds it appalling that his health insurance was going to cost $1100 a MONTH! And, he is 57 and extremely healthy.

I agree with you about not spending. Like you, I have to have my cigarettes but that is my ONLY luxury now. I don't eat out. I buy my clothes at Wal-Mart rather than Belk's. I wouldn't buy those but I need to go on a diet so I could get into the clothes stuffed in my closet waiting for me to lose that 20 pounds that I gained sitting here twiddling my thumbs because I can't afford to GO anywhere!!!

YEP. They've screwed us at every turn and all we're doing is clawing our way up from the abyss. Or, at least, trying to hold on for dear life.

Oh please do not anyone cancel their insurance because of what I did. I was able to because I am very healthy. I have no idea why I am so healthy, I do everything wrong, but so far so good. I'll not feel comfortable doing it too much longer but while I can play American Insurance Roulette, I'm going to.

If I had ever used the policy even once in now almost 20 years I would not have cancelled but I have never used it, not once...so heck with it.