You know, with the economy being in the shape it's in and everything going on here, why isn't there more public outrage? My theory is, deep down we all know America is going down the drain and we've reverted to survival mode. How many agree
127657
That's funny that you say that, I just read the other day that "survival mode" is what insiders are calling what the Bush Administration is doing right now.  They are tanking all across the board, polls are way down, Iraq is a mess...\n\nI wouldn't say our country as a whole is in bad shape, but our leadership in Congress and in the Whitehouse needs to change for sure.  A question I ran across the other day, which I though was very astute, do people of the world think of the US like most of us think of Microsoft?  Or Wal-Mart for that matter...too powerful, too crappy, to mundane, a bully? How did our great country get to this point?
502157
According to our government it hasn't reached that point yet.  According to those on the ground over there it's almost in full swing.  Who to believe?  I think I'll believe those who are in the middle of it, rather than the Administration that has been dancing around it.
603988
Given the situation, there's a high chance that America could fall into an economic depression. Looking at it now, it seems almost impossible to pay off the debt. I believe that America will collapse if it suffers from severe depression and attacked from numerous outside forces. But then again, America's suffered two depressions and it managed to survive, so we'll see.
639741
Because, we're falling apart! If we could only help our own people & keep our noses out of other countries bussiness. First we go in and cause problems, and then we have to go back and fix them! which usually makes them worse. If more people would get involved here & know whats really going on, we could be better examples.\n\nI'm glad to be American, but, I'm truly disappointed in our people, stand up for yourselves & do something, look at our economy, look at our educational system, look at the poverty & hunger, yes hunger, the rate of malnutrition in Americas children is rising daily. More people complain about flag burning, religion in schools, having the nativity in their town, then the well-being of our people. GET A GRIP PEOPLE, lets make something to be proud of.\n\nWe are truly blessed, but, driving a luxury car, living in a house thats better then your nieghbors, being seen in the right places, by the right people, wearing the latest styles, is that all we're about? \n\nIt's not so hard,  let's start with our own families, talk to each other, it will have a snowball effect, do somethig unselfish, pass it on. Then, maybe we will give everyone something to be proud of.
627456
because we the americans have an attention span this --------- long. as long as we vote like we do....we need to throw out all the lifetime goverment babies and start new. As long as we continue to drive like we do and pay ....its not going to change... we need to stick together as one {which will never happen, and they know it} we cant even stick together, with out the communist ACLU breaking us apart...as for the price gouging that is supposedly going on every week......how does the price of gas jump up 10-15 cents on the weekends. To say its the right of the company is b__sh__. its price gouging when you buy a piece of lumber in the northern state and sell it after hurricane down south for a profit. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?
433223
They will try and say the economy is already sinking like a rock and that is why they won the election, just like Clinton tried to prevent 9/11. The election sweep was because of Bush's refusal to deal with illegal immigration, and of course all the whining about every soldier who was killed being counted nightly on the evening news. I'm not discounting their sacrifice but it only encourages the enemy to kill more, and if they gave the same media attention to the people killed here at home by drunk driving EVERY DAY, would it keep the Kennedy clan sober behind the wheel? Back to your question, no one has ever taxed and spent their way to a better economy, it's just a short term gain. Look at how the myth of FDR's "New Deal" has taken hold, people think those programs pulled the country out of the "Great Depression", but all it did was boost morale a little. The developing world war and demand for raw materials and armanents is what slowly picked up the U.S economy by late 1936, if you go back and examine contemporary economic data and financial journals. But democrats control the history textbooks, and much of what is taught today is irrelevant crap and it's easy to see how the younger generation is disillusioned with a country whose heritage they learn little about, just the "pc" stuff. That is why we are doomed to repeat past mistakes, and after democrats really foul things up, there will be another "1994" and maybe this time the republicans will get "term limits" into law, so they won't get too complacent and voted out enmasse? If we aren't being dictated to by Russia and China by then, odds 50/50 in my book.
427639
Because the American public has no understanding of reality.  They are led by emotion.
317218
greed........ it will be the undoing of us all. It's probably too late to do something, the hippies of the sixtys have sold out, gave up and are now part of the problem. \n\nI doubt we will ever see such a socially conscience generation again.\n\nThe giant corporate pigs have taken over almost every free country on the planet. It's over unless money goes away. Otherwise, corrupt attornies and corporate turds will rule, and milk us for our blood. \n\nThink about it. Govenments give BILLIONS of dollars of tax breaks to ONLY the richest. Working class people are DOOMED.\n\nI must add RIPPER IN THE SHADOWS, you and YOUR attitude are the problem... go to he ll you idiot. You're LOST dude.
349483
Pre-empting daytime TV for endless hearings and investigations while they accomplish nothing in Washington, the economy begins to wane as taxes kick in and expenditures on social programs increase at the expense of defense and national security. Not wanting to deal with the terrorists in their backyard just means they will come to play in ours. And probably illegal aliens will get amnesty making those who applied legally for citizenship look foolish. At some point someone will realize our international influence has a great deal to do with our food production in this country, and the UN will try and take control of our farm produce. We already have lost most of our freedom of speech if it doesn't agree with the left. The careful avoidance of the gun control issue by democrats just means they have learned their lesson not to take on the NRA. the question will be can they last two years, until the Presidential race, before going liberal? I hope I am completely wrong, but I remember what the democrats were doing before 1994 when they had been  in control of both houses for decades. Had the "rising tide" of eager young republicans  kept the last of the pledges of the "contract with America", "term limits" and rotated out of office then they might not have been defeated as badly by the "change" attitude, or as complacent with status qou. The success of illegal immigrant and private property rights ballot measures in states that went democrat prove the republicans weren't paying attention to what were traditionally middle class values, democrat or republican. I think most people are just hoping for PROGRESS, low taxes, lower energy costs, some kind of peace (isolation is a utopian dream, 9/11 reminded us), so that life and prosperity can go on. But the influx of illegal immigrants to work cheap and demand benefits and exodus of good jobs, must be dealt with.
138395
Yes we are in a crises! And if something is not done it is only going to get worse. I don't know exactly what needs to be done but Americans need to make a stand against this and say enough is enough. It is all over the news, on the net, talk shows and so on. That suggests to me that something is wrong. I don't know what Americans are going to do. The price of everything has went up and continues to go up. And we are not getting any cost of living increases either. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And no help from the government because they are some of those getting richer over the oil. When Exxon goes above Wal-mart we have a problem.
548491
time to quit gloating over the mistake basically good people made while in a state of extreme stress and high anxiety.  Bush/Cheney et al did an excellent job of exploiting the valid fears of the American People to their self aggrandizing advantage. it's wrong to continue to blame the American People for being so fearful since making and keeping them fearful was the campaign tactic.  give the majority of Americans some credit for having finally shaken off the Rovian thrall and coming to their senses.\n\nPS. reply to edit.  i did say the MAJORITY of Americans as evidenced by the recent Dem wins.  the neoCONNED will never admit they've been duped.  honesty (even with themselves) is not a neoCONNED strong suit.\n\nPPS.  just so you know... i do understand your frustration and disappointment with that majority, how long it took for them to recognize the neoCON job.
19464
In my not-so-humble opinion, I see the standard of living in the USA taking a dump.  Look at the actual quality of life, the hours spent in a commute, the elimination of affordable housing.  In this age of online degrees, imported doctors, and idiotic health care, duplicitous Enron executives, can the system still function when more and more people are added?  To be frank--my concern is that America is becomming 2nd world.  Our time has come and gone.  I guess it will be interesting to see what happens in China....\n\nNot to mention places like Africa, where HIV has made such an impact.  How is the world going to care for all those people? Or will the suffering continue????\n\nMy theory is things never get better until they hit absolute rock-bottom.  Nature will have to step in and trim the trees so to speak.  We will never, as a race of beings, voluntarily reduce population.  Humping is just too darn fun and easy....\n\nI guess to summarize, I think the resources are not enough to maintain the standard of living we have.  The more and more people that are added, the lower and lower the living standard goes.  You will end up with an elite rich class which owns everything, the middle class will be abolished, and everyone else will be scraping by.
39396
The whoal thing is a joke...Reduce deficit..lol...WAKE UP AMERICA...I dunno what the heck you guys are doing...but...get off the couch and do something about it..Bush is killing America and its freedoms..and his sights seem set for  the world..that will not happen...the world will not tolerate as much as America does to its own...
415666
No.\n\nRepubs are on the way out because people have finally figured out that they have nothing to offer the vast majority of Americans.
104959
so? can you explain to us how that effects the average working family in this country? The stock holders make money when people get laid off as well as when there are expansions. It is a meaningless point to quote one aspect of the economy. A better question would be: who is going to have to pay back the world's largest recorded deficit ? Who is paying the interest on that right now? Where could all that wasted money be going other than financing our ever sky rocketing debt? The stock market is the biggest pyramid scheme ever conceived. Every once in a while the market plummets and the big fish gobble up all the little fish and start over again. It is a vicious cycle for anyone that is not of mammoth proportions when hard times hit. It may as well be the lottery. All the things that you point to as good for right now are artificially held in limbo until all this fiscal irresponsibility comes to bear, then we are all in for a world of pain.\n\n  The average working family already has jobs, or they woulf be unemployed, you must be a brain surgeon I guess.\nwho was talking about social security....bait and switch debating is ineffective.\n\n I noticed you skipped mentioning about the debt (the main point). Your have no point except for the sound of your own voice (in your head as you type). \n\n When I hear a fascist call me a whiner, I get goosebumps.\n\nwatch LOU DOBBS if you want the truth about our economy and the real problems that swirl around your head while you stare blankly in the darkness that is your own ignorance.\n\n  I believe it is you who is the hypocrit. If you look a little closer than you would care to, the facts might come out and bite you. Fact....the 5 million jobs you refer too are replacing jobs that were lost by downsizing, at a fraction of the pay of the original jobs lost. Shrinking the middle class. Fact....you cannot single out the dow jones and stock market as an acurate indicator of our over all economy because it is one sided. So you would rather dwell on a possible positive for your side than to delve a little deeper and see what is really going on. I suppose I can't blame you there....it gives your argument more flash, but very little substance. You are only looking to prove your own point here, so I will leave you to it in your little bubble world that you call right wing denial. Good luck with all that money you must have rolling in. Where do you keep it all...there must be truck loads.
350537
Don't sweat the idiots hon...  NO ONE in this country understands poverty that grave and that kind of desperation is foreign to the people who say such things...\n\nI'd feel bad for this country if anything were ever to happen that we couldn't get ourselves out of... (I'd be on my way to Japan personally)   and being that there are madmen with weapons all over right now...  I'd think rather than yap.  Never know how life is going to go.  If we were ever on the balls of our asses...  I would imagine Mexico would be a country we would go to for help in fighting?  \n\nPeople go nuts when we have gas shortages, can you actually imagine any american (one having known nothing but a lifetime of privlidge and freedom) having to revert back to their more primal human structures? It would be laughable to see how a good golf game works in with having to get dirty and defend your country...\n\n Most americans can't even plant a garden, or filter water or do very much of anything needed to survive in case of a war or an emergency.  We are all interdependent and trust the government exclusively to keep us in our decadence and our luxury.  Therefore we have no right to judge another country that lacks that kind of government support.  It is not the common working Mexican citizens fault that they are oppressed to such an extreme.  We should be happy to help them considering.  \n\n"To whom much is given,  much is required..."  The Bible\n\nWhen people talk, and observe and live closer  to what they only otherwise judge from distances.  Then they come to understand.  We need more social experimentation like the guy that does those 30-days shows and less accusation and blame.  \n\nPersonally...  I woud love to see the rich fall a notch or two.  It would be rather interesting to even things out again like in the crash in the 40's.  Im certain it was the rich that jumped out windows when the market fell...  The poor just sucked in their guts, tightened their belts, adjusted  and hustled... they were used to it.\n\nPeople have got to remember...  Not all citizens ancestors came through legal channels and if the country was so very concerned with border patrol, they would have more policing along the coast of Oregon and California...  There is 1 border officer for the ENTIRE state of Oregon!  \n\nIt is rediculous all around.
466322
The public should tell the media to go and take a dive of a really deep cliff, or bring us something that is important. We the public is being treated like dimwits, and their presumption need to be changed. We should turn off the TV and not purchase the newspapers who don't get it. Money talks!!