We're the dumbest nation in the world . . .

Sal wrote:
"if that's how they're behaving when the shelves are full,  how in god's name are they going to be behaving when the shelves are empty?"

If this is where you think we're heading, things can accelerate downhill rather quickly.

lol

Bob wrote:Me and threadbear are gonna go see that movie you mentioned at the Bayou Carmike at 1 PM today,  teo.  Why don't you join us.

Bob wrote:"The Road" portrayed the aftermath of an unexplained apocalyptic event.

TEOTWAWKI wrote: the computers we created

Bob wrote:"In math, 18 countries scored higher, with only two (Italy and Spain) scoring lower."

Hmmm.  Lessee now.  Spain and Italy are bankrupt because those countries have been living beyond their means.  The "experts" relied on for economic policy in those countries obviously didn't comprehend basic math.
Must just be a coincidence.

Bob wrote:You and markel are so much alike,  sal.  With merkel the answer to everything is the republicans and with you it's the democrats.

markel believes if we can just get ted cruz and rush limbaugh into office our problems will be solved.  With you it's obama.

All I say to both of you is:  grow up.

Bob wrote:

But in the last election I couldn't stomach either one.  And I likely won't be able to stomach either one the next time either.

Bob wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote: the computers we created

Our generation can't really take credit for that.  That credit goes to a man who was born in 1927 and many others of his generation.
He's the man who is rightfully referred to as "the mayor of Silicon Valley".
And yet not one in ten thousand (maybe a million) Americans has any clue what his name is or what he accomplished.

TEOTWAWKI wrote:every generation is assumed to build on the one before but what is being built by the generations after the boomers?

TEOTWAWKI wrote:On top of that our infrastructure is crumbling more everyday and this bunch probably won't care or know how to fix it....

Sal wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote:On top of that our infrastructure is crumbling more everyday and this bunch probably won't care or know how to fix it....

Why is "our infrastructure crumbling more everyday"?

You're awesome at identifying dots, but you sure is hell can't connect them.

Sal wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote:On top of that our infrastructure is crumbling more everyday and this bunch probably won't care or know how to fix it....

Why is "our infrastructure crumbling more everyday"?

You're awesome at identifying dots, but you sure is hell can't connect them.

Bob wrote:Here's the thing that worries me most about the future of our country.

Overall,  my parents's generation amassed a fairly good amount of wealth.

My generation not as much but some.  

It wasn't because my parents' generation was smarter or better.  Or that my generation is smarter and better than those which have followed.  
It was because their generation and my generation lived during the peak years of American economic prosperity.  
BEFORE America had to get in competition with the emerging regions of the world.  
Following that, our country found itself competing with literally billions of others in those emerging nations.  And as a result of that,  our slice of the pie has over time gotten smaller and smaller.

The wealth of those earlier generations is significant because it continues to prop up what's left of our economy.  It supplements the dwindling incomes of the present.  But for how long?

Once that wealth is depleted,  our country will then totally rely on those lesser incomes for it's survival.  

Where are the revenues then going to come from.  For education.  For health care.  For defense.  For retirement.  For capital investment and economic development which is the only thing that actually could create future jobs.  For infrastructure.  For leisure.  For anything and for everything.

I'm afraid the answer is continual decline.  It's goddamn depressing to face this reality.  But putting on rose colored glasses just makes that dismal future rose colored.  It doesn't change a thing.

Markle wrote:

Wordslinger wrote:Check this out:  http://news.yahoo.com/asian-nations-dominate-international-test-100159386.html

In an international test for reading, math and science, the "greatest country in the world" has teen agers who rank 24th in these key subjects.

China was number one.  In reading:  US 498  China 570  
In math:  US 481  China 613  Science: US 497 China 580.

One therefore can safely conclude that we will or have ceased to be the "greatest country in the world," within a decade or less.  

Unfortunately parents of teenagers weren't tested.  If they had been, it's unlikely the Americans would have done any better.  

What else would you expect from a society in which at least 30% still believe the earth is less than 7,000 years old, woman was created from a man's rib, global warming is a hoax, and that homosexuality is a product of the devil.

What else could you expect from a country where the government is owned by the military industrial complex, and sports contestants -- not writers, teachers, researchers or inventors -- are our national heroes?

Yessirreesir, unfettered capitalism and prayers in schools is all that we need.

Screw Amerika Inc.!!

Must be difficult for my far left Socialist good friend Wordslinger to accept that his beloved, benevolent Union Bosses are the direct cause of our failing schools. 

National Education Association General Counsel Bob Chanin stated in July 2009. 

Chanin: "It is not because we care about children. And it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwxiRXqH_hQ&NR=1


Says it all, does it not?

Sal wrote:

Bob wrote:You and markel are so much alike,  sal.  With merkel the answer to everything is the republicans and with you it's the democrats.

markel believes if we can just get ted cruz and rush limbaugh into office our problems will be solved.  With you it's obama.

All I say to both of you is:  grow up.

That's only because you see everything in such simplistic, black-and-white terms.

I'm not an Obama worshipper.

Never have been.

I voted for him twice for a single reason - I thought he had the best shot at beating the candidate from the poisonous, retarded group that passes itself off as "conservative" these days.