How will the typical American be affected? Will our standard of living suffer?
211106
You know, services are already being outsourced by developed countries due to the obvious cost advantages. Next in line are manufacturing jobs. \nIn short, any country which outsources intelligently has a very bright future. As economists say, resources are limited, so smart countries should invest their resources in  sectors of the future such as IT, space, biotechnology, etc. where the main input is human intelligence, where there is maximum value addition and maximum profits (and minimum pollution). \nManufacturing on the other hand is not as profitable as it once was compared to the "knowledge" sectors.
286226
Helping you out with your homework huh?  Well I will not make it 4 or five sentences long but will give you something to think about.  \nThe impact it has on the American history is it started the rebellion against taxation and the mother country.  The second thing is that Americans decided to govern themselves and form a new government.  It also lead to no one ruler will govern America, judicial system, legislative branch and the executive branch.  It lead to a revolt and to the rights of our civil liberties.
309764
The pros are: We know we have a huge problem in America.\nThe cons are: We know we have a huge problem in America.
50153
The biggest problem facing America in my view is a creeping insecurity that causes people to be unreasonably fearful and, as a result, more selfish and less open to knowledge and understanding. This fear might arise from a lot of different events - the war in Iraq, 9/11, layoffs, crystal meth in smalltown America - but it has turned into a chronic condition all its own.\n\nWe're all marshalling our metaphorical soldiers around us, trying to keep out the unfamiliar, pile up some money against the uncertain future. We're not taking care of each other because we're so afraid.\n\nIn a way, we're much like the people rioting against the West in the Muslim world. From the Western European/U.S. perspective, people are getting all bent out of shape about something that we take for granted. But imagine that we could remove ourselves from our own perspective and watch our responses from some TV screen in another world. Would our fear-based reactions look any more rational? I'm not sure they would. They seem reasonable because they're familiar. But think about the way gang violence destroys poor communities. Think about the way that sports fans torch cars. Of insurance fraud. Of deep-seeded, insidious hypocrisy in so many aspects of our lives.\n\nI'm not sure we should be afraid; politicians of all descriptions have been exploiting the fear, though. We don't have a sensible, sensitive, and rational voice that doesn't belie self-interest.\n\nI don't know what we can do now. Maybe each and every one of us can give up something unnecessary and wasteful - driving an SUV, smoking cigarettes, watching reality TV - and take time to learn as much as possible about the people we share the planet with.
240049
I don't agree with you, but Americans will suffer if these illegals are given amnesty. There will be more encouragement, not less, for more illegal immigration meaning less jobs for American citizens. There will be more social security and identification theft. There will be even more infringement on American rights as we are forced even more to cater to their demands. Our children will suffer even more as the nonEnglish speaking children slow down the class curriculum. This will basically say once again that our laws mean nothing. More and more Americans will be jobless or working poor and forced into poverty. We will continue on our path to becoming a 3rd world country.
178066
as a european i see the same problem in america....  can you imagine when it gets to the stage that one of these delinquents is going to be president of the usa, being voted in by people with no common sense who have been given everything they want without working / earning it...  that's going to be some harsh times
541741
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/16801/effects_of_the_american_revolution.html\n\ngood luck!
425506
Depends.\nIt is a rather small amount if you're living in a developed country.\nHowever, if you are living in a developing country or less developed country, then it can change the standard of life quite dramatically.
496723
Our economy would collapse.
255155
being in America is being spoiled, high taxes.. yes few benefits from Government .. education and sometimes health coverages... but over all American people are never satisfied .. never have fun.. fun to them is drinking and sex... .Not a fan of America.
381866
The economy is getting ready to crash.  Congress has enacted several laws in the last couple years that are having a direct effect on our future economy.\n\nIt is now legal to charge nearly 40% interest on credit cards (that used to be called USARY, but now, it's called first step to bankruptcy) Our interest rates have gone through the roof, the fees financial institutions are allowed to charge are breaking us, with the rise in prices for gas, heating & insurance, and the falling home values, there are going to be many, many people out of jobs in the next year.\n\nAnd meanwhile, what are elected officials worrying about?  Crap, gay rights, abortions, their own paychecks, retirements and health care.  Sure as hell not us.\n\nAnd I would hazard a guess that there are very few people who own their homes outright.  In fact, many people owe more for their homes than they can sell them for.\n\nWe are in for a rude awakening my friend.  \n\nWhile we continue to sue and tax American companies out of business, we sit back and wonder where are all the jobs going.  And don't tell me "service industry" that line only works if there are people with money to buy the services.  Here in Metro Detroit and Michigan, even McDonalds is starting to lay off.\n\nAs my company does business with other companies all over the country I can tell you this, we are headed for a serious recession.  Many small industrial companies are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.  70% of the jobs in this country are directly related to small business.  While our local and state governments give all the tax breaks to the large corporations for the benefit of the unions and their foreign suppliers they now buy from,  the rest of us are drowning and losing our incomes.  Yet our cost of living has shot through the roof.\n\nBelieve me, or not, it's coming and it's going to be as ugly as it was in the early 80's.  History is repeating itself and no one seems to notice.\n\nGood luck to us.
369852
The US isn't maintaining its past lifestyle now.  There are more homeless than ever, with the rising cost of housing fewer people are able to own their own homes, more young adults are having to move back in with their parents because they can't afford their own homes or apartments. People are working more than ever but are still falling farther & farther behind.  Spiraling costs in healthcare are putting it more and more out of reach. Between less money being available for primary and secondary education, school closings, and larger class sizes, a decent education is getting further out of reach. Manufacturing and production jobs have been exported to other countries where the labor costs are cheaper, so there are fewer jobs in these areas for all of those people who can only get that limited american public education. The only sure place where there is anticipated growth is the prison industry.  It ain't just for black folks any more. \n\nThe american standard of living is quickly going straight to hell NOW. It's not going to take 100 years.  And all you teens & 20 somethings...you should care, this is the world you're inheriting, and you have a long time to be stuck with it.
12674
i dont know that I see it as the next third world.  But I do see it slumping close to it.  We are as a nation losing power, wealth, reputation.  I have been abroad and I can tell you the picture that Europeans paint of us is not always nice.  Economically we are losing our footing.  Banking, cars, products in general.  People in america and abroad are buying European products, Jananese proiducts.  It doesnt do our economy any good and yet as far as I can tell they have done nothing to change this.  We are busy fixing the lives of others however we havent taken the time to take care of our own citizens lives.  And you have other countries offering us help becase we are unable to do so because of the mess we have created else where.  I truly believe we are losing our super power status and becoming just another country that exists on the planet.  Living abroad I dont like telling people i am from america because it starts up alot of contoversy.  Alot of arguments as to what it means to be an american and what we have become.  I agree with you when you wake up and smell the coffee. you arent smelling folgers any more.  Its just the reality we are forced to swallow as americans and it isnt easy for us I think.
209295
We won't go into a depression.  We could go into a recession though, a really bad one.  If the economy ever took that type of tailspin again (I assume you are referring to the great depression of the 1930's), it would be devastating to our country!  It would also affect the world economy is a big way!!  Back in the 1930's, the U.S. nor other countries, did business together (loaning money) the way they do now...so it is nearly impossible to compare what happened then to what would happen now...but it would be very very bad.  Interest rates could shoot WAY up...at recent as the 1980's interest rate for even home mortgages were in the middle teens...what do you think would happen to the average American that carries mortgages, huge credit card debt, etc....the interest on these loans alone would way surpass what people are paying right now on principle and interest.  Many people would lose EVERYTHING!  But as in the 30's, the folks who have lived conservatively and have money saved would make out like bandits.  Their money would be accruing interest at those high interest rates and all the items that are repossessed would be able to be purchased at a fraction of their worth.
453584
It would create a huge underclass in the US.  This would in turn be a huge burden for the American tax payer.  The country would probably collapse.  Many educated Americans would move out of the country to protect their money.  I know I would.\n\nCheck out WWW.Numbersusa.com
654907
I say their drop will not be one as a whole, yet rather a change in expidentures on what we consume. It all depends on how we will handle the dilemma on the most contraversial scarce resourse- the upcoming energy crisis.\n\nAlthough what is occuring right now may be reducing (or will be) how much we spend on commodities and leisure, we can solve this with alternative methods that will provide new moarkets for the economy.\n\nBecause most Americans are not realizing how economically ineffecient they are at the moment, by wasting energy, they are not realizing that it is effecting their lives at a far greater amount. In the 1950's, the nuclear family had one working member with more than enough to support the entire family. Now it is taking two struggling adults just to make ends meet. This is a result in private costs.\n\nAs long as fuel prices are high, marginal costs will reflect them. When we find alternative methods to reduce energy costs and/or usage, a change in income will only benefit those who control the new markets (hybrids, boilers, solar energy, etc.).\n\nPerhaps it is time that Americans beign to improve their lifestyles by being more econmocially efficient (as in not driving 15 mpg SUV's) and valuing things that will return to them such as education or local economies, rather than complaining that they lost their just above minimum wage job to an illegal immagrant and then having to out source. It's time for our money to be recycled in the economy, that way rising incomes out weigh a drop in expidentures.
249314
That is called inflation.  Many countries have been throughout that and coming out of it is hard.  But we are still not at the worst level of it-depression.  So lets hope that our leaders do not let it slide to there.  Hang in there-for now if we reduce to only necessary needs and purchases we can still survive.  And those needs are a lot less then what typical americans had to live by.  I have been through depression back in my birth country-when a fruit yogurt was a luxury and we could get one only on payday as a reward for something.