Can America be fixed?
The question to which we return like a sore tongue to an aching tooth is whether the current doom and gloom in America is cyclical or structural.
Will most of the jobs which have disappeared in the Great Recession ever return? Is America being eclipsed by India and China? Or can all the things that are wrong with America be fixed by all the things that are right with America, as Bill Clinton once said.
These questions of decline and fall underpin the desperate nostalgia of the Tea Party movement. They surely haunt the president as he tries to breath new life into his "Yes, we can" mantra of 2008.
Fareed Zakaria's column in Time Magazine is one of the best things I have read on this subject.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)
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The Tea Party is strictly a reaction to the prostitution of both political parties, in the US. Although leaning to the right (as far as the size of the government and its spending is concerned) the Tea Party has members from all walks of life and from all ideological backgrounds. To put is simply, it's a reactionary movement, a reaction to the current state of affairs.
India and China are not something the American voter is concerned with, at least not directly.
The upcoming mid-term elections will paint a clearer picture of what most Americans (Tea Partiers included) are concerned with and will be illustrated by the choices they make at the ballot box. I think your questions will be answered, shortly.
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I have read so many articles and books and watched so many shows and films about the inevitable doom of the United States and the bottomless evil of Americans that they no longer have much of an impact. This has been going on since Vietnam, and yet another diatribe is not likely going to add much to the discussion.
Yes, we probably are on an irreversible course of decadence and decline. But meanwhile we go with our lives.
Zakaria's breathless praise of India is more than a little ironic as he is a successful journalist making a nice living off criticizing Americans in the US.
He has every right to do so, but he must expect a certain amount of scepticism as he seems to be unaware of the irony. Is India really the paradise he describes? Is China truly a beacon of hope for the world? Or is Zakaria indulging in foolish hyperbole to build his case against the US?
It will be nice when the trend of the last few decades begins to change. Surely there are other nations sinking irrevocably into the mire of misery - to borrow some of the more lurid metaphors?
As for Mr. Frei - please try to find titles that are less like middlebow tabloid headlines. Perhaps it is an attempt to condescend to the 'stoopid' Americans. Well, now is your chance to help us up the cultural ladder.
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My view: The -causes- of the current doom and gloom are systemic and structural. The doom and gloom -themselves- are not.
I'd also mention that about 15% of our population is neither gloomy or doomy: they're doing better than they ever have before, and want things to stay that way. At the end of the day, this state of affairs is what American "conservatives" seek to conserve.
It remains to be seen whether the American people will turn their attention to addressing the country's problems (the causes), or will stick with their current prolonged whine (the effect). I think the tide of history will force the country -eventually- to quit whining and roll up its sleeves.
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#3 Curt Carpenter
"It remains to be seen whether the American people will turn their attention to addressing the country's problems (the causes), or will stick with their current prolonged whine (the effect). I think the tide of history will force the country -eventually- to quit whining and roll up its sleeves"
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Indeed? It is this sort of rubbish that Zakaria indulges in.
There are literally millions of people in the US who have lost their jobs and/or homes. They are not 'whining'. They are working at going on with their lives. They do not receive publicity.
It is impossible to fight the smug and condescending posturing of those who know with certainty how others should behave.
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4. At 01:28am on 22 Oct 2010, TimR1944 wrote:
"There are literally millions of people in the US who have lost their jobs and/or homes. They are not 'whining'. They are working at going on with their lives. They do not receive publicity."
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Oh I agree with this wholeheartedly. The people that are doing the whining still have their homes and their jobs. That's why they still have the energy to strap on their sidearms and attend TEA party rallies.
The unemployed, being pretty much divested of taxable wealth and income, at this point really don't have much motivation to join in on a "Taxed Enough Already" rant.
"It is impossible to fight the smug and condescending posturing of those who know with certainty how others should behave."
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Indeed.
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"Is it even possible to fix doom and gloom America?"
Oh yes, it is. Of course it isn't possible to do so by trying to turn the US into a socialist or communist country. Maybe, that's why the Oblather Admin is having trouble...
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Can The United States of America be fixed?
No.
The demise of this great country looms; she will become something like a banana republic with massive inflation, an elite upper class, and a lower class that can only work itself to death (for very little money) and decrease the suplus population.
The current doom and gloom in America is structural. It is built into a Federal Reserve that is bankrupt. It is built into the imbalance of trade. It is built into the lack of real difference between politcal parties, and the very fact that the average citizen can get as mad as Hell...and do nothing about it!
Will most of the jobs which have disappeared in the Great Recession ever return?
No, the United States chose to ship out its factory jobs, its manufacturing jobs, its dirty jobs to countries of cheap labour like China and India. Who wants to bring them back, the corporations that shiopped them abroad in the first place to increase profit margins?
Is America being eclipsed by India and China?
Yes, especially China, which holds the bulk of American loans in the form of bonds.
Can all the things that are wrong with America be fixed by all the things that are right with America, as Bill Clinton once said.
What's right with America?
Unemployment, 13 trillion in debt, lobbyism, lack of regulation, slow/painful stripping of Constitutional Rights, printing money that is fundamentally over-valued, infact worth-less...
Does anyone really believe that the Tea Party Movement can generate meaningful or smart change? Is this what the United States of America has come down to - not a democracy, but a plutocracy where the elite take care of themselves while the NOT elite works and dies?
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A good measure of what is wrong with the United States and why it cannot be fixed is being presented at the G20 in Seoul where the finance ministers are struggling to find common ground.
Their first-day discussion focused on a United States proposal to set caps on account balances as an option to resolve imbalances and circumvent foreign exchange arguments. Does this seem right to you? Lets cap current account balances so that the United States can avoid all these bothersome foreign exchange disputes? Hmmmm...
The two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors is the last talks before the G-2 actually begins on Nov. 11-12.
Developing nations are skeptical of the proposed trade balance cap, and they should be. Developing countries are growing and prospering. What has the United States every done for them, except ship them the dirty jobs in manufacturing and factory employent, and subsequently complain that China emits more greenhouse gases!
Japan’s Finance Minister, Yoshihiko Noda said that a US proposal for setting a current account target is “unrealistic”. Imagine Japan taking a stand against the United States. “We need to talk about this first," he said, "but numerical targets seem unrealistic.”
A US senior official (?) said the G20 will discuss setting targets for current account deficits or surpluses at 4% of gross domestic product. Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to the G20 finance folk, urging the nations to “commit to undertake policies consistent with reducing external imbalances below a specified share of GDP over the next few years.” Okay, Tim, as mentioned above, let's talk...In fact, talk yourself blue!
The letter was focused on in-debt nations to boost savings and meet credible targets to reduce their debt levels. Ah, doesn't Tim know that the United States of America has more debt (13 trillion) than any other country in the world and has done not one thing about it except QE, printing more and more worth-less money? Doesn't he know this makes the rest of the world look elsewhere for real financial wisdom?
A central part of the dispute concerns mounting pressure on China and other Asian members, including Korea, to appreciate their currencies; I'm guessing for the benefit of the United States. This is not likely to happen either.
Oh, oh - Early in the morning, finance ministers of the Group of Seven RICHEST countries held a closed-door meeting = US, Japan, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. Don't you get tired of these closed-door meetings with their private wheeling and dealing?
EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said the G20 must avoid the downward spiral of competitive devaluations of their currencies. (Good for the EU!) He also said, however, there is a possibility of nations failing to cooperate on economic policy. Jeez, I wonder which country(s) he's referring to.
Belgium Finance Minister Didier Reynders said that exchange rates must be aligned with a nation’s economic strength. Right on!
It seems the G-20 will move towards more market-determined exchange-rate system. Well, I'm beginning to see the benefits market-determination, supply and demand and all that good stuff.
France is due to discuss the framework for strong, sustainable and balanced growth and BANK REFORMS Saturday. Do I see additional squirming among the American contingent?
Do you think, from reading the foregoing, that the United States holds enough international sway to get its way? Without meanful financial regulations and without meaningful econmic policies, in my "STOOPID Party" position, I see America's future and it is bleak.
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If the so-called Tea Party hadn't emerged, it would have been quite remarkable indeed. These sorts of movements tend to emerge wherever you have an economic disaster of the kind that Obama inherited. But the important thing to bear in mind is that this so-called party is a mere collection of freaks, weirdos, fruitcakes and outright racists, whose only proposal is to "take back our country." If you pressed them further for solutions, the partly sane ones might offer the very same policies that resulted in the mess in the first place. The rest - the majority - would simply remind you that Obama was not born in America and so shouldn't even be president.
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Americans are some of the most optimistic people on earth. If others are detecting an atmosphere of doom and gloom perhaps it just that Americans are finally starting to get serious about addressing some very serious problems we face but we will persevere; there is nothing wrong with this country that can't be put right by hard work and a renewed sense of civic reponsibility. Americans are not going to let their country go gentle into that good night and it's not too late to turn things around.
Have a little patience, it's going to take some work and a bit of belt tightening but the doom and gloom will disperse and the sunny optimism will return.
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A message to Matt Frei:
Two months ago, I wrote a report for a Canadian investment bank which I sent to Fareed Zakaria-GPS and which is remarkably similar to Fareed's article in Time magazine. If you give an e-mail address, I can forward it to Matt Frei.
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Like all good operations America needs a continual update and a regular maintainance schedule. You are familiar with the old adage: If it is not broke, don't fix it! Like everything else in the modern world that is run on technology and electronic systems, we need to keep after the repair and upkeep, otherwise it will break down. Americans need to go around and make notes on what needs updating and repairing and then impliment the repair process, without asking, just doing it.
This country is a population holder of 300 million. If these people are alive and living they should all be contributing to the work load and putting their backs into maintaining the upkeep of the country. This can mean roads, water systems, transportation, food supplies, water supplies, basic necessities of life, real estate, farms, factories, businesses, subways, trains, boats, ships, airplanes, schools, universities, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, nursing facilities, health workers, insurance compaines, entertainment companies and communities of human beings...if something is left out, you can fill in the blank.
Why should anyone really care about fixing America? Shouldnt they be more concerned about fixing or examining their own countries, cities, towns, and families and individual selves? America is a nation that was born and breed on the idea of innovation and self reliance and independence of human beings...we just need to focus and put forth the same energy that our early settlers did when they first moved here from where ever they came from. our early ancestors came here and saw a fertile green tree'd forested landscape, filled with animals and plants, and billowing while clouds and blue skies and vast stretches of blue waters unbounded by social structures of every kind. They created New York City and Los Angeles and San Francisco and Chicago, and Las Vegas...the most marvelous cities in the world were created and shaped by the same inherited social structure generation after generation after generation, until we gather all across the country, shoulder to shoulder astonished by our modern accomplishments, from whence nothing we came.
If the worse we are scorched and burnt by is financial, then maybe we need to examine our own personal integrity and fix ourselves, because if we have a problem that means we need to each own it and make it right. We all know enough to not be hiding from this task, nor close ourselves away in a house of fear, and make a stand to committ to self responsibility.
America is not a separate unit of collective consiciousness...but it can be easy to disappear in this concept, and what is necessary is to look into the mirror and ask the face we see exhibited to help make things right in the life of that face. Talk to yourself! Evaluate you. Fortunately the answer is in each persons behavior and their decisions...that makes self help easy because wherever you go, your face goes.
My solution makes more sense than expecting an esoteric solutions from an abstract political party or an abstract tax system, or from an obscure investment system locked away somewhere in a remote vault. Step up and get a grip on yourself!
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Can America be fixed?
Can all the things that are wrong with America be fixed?
Obama better be prepared to put a lot more action into his famous words: "Yes, we can!"
Why now?
US faces first scrutiny by UN Rights Council.
Filed Under: Human Rights, Treaties & International Organisations
GENEVA – The United States for the first time will face the United Nations' Human Rights Council.
The 12-day session of the 47 member council (starting on Monday) have a review of the United States on November 5.
@ 300 US civil liberties groups called on the Obama administration to bring American "substandard human rights practices" in line with international standards.
The United Nations' Network has produced a 400-page report criticizing "glaring inadequacies in the United States’ human rights record," including
- "discriminatory impact" of foreclosures,
- "widespread" racial profiling and
- "draconian" immigration policies.
Across American cases have been documented demonstrating (rather) claring examples of substandard human rights practices which have persisted in the US for years, but especially those that reflect the erosion of human rights after 9/11.
The United States has also faced criticism by UN rights monitors over its "handling" of terror suspects & suspected torture, while concern over the conduct of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (with the extraordinary number of civilian casualties) has come under criticism.
So, what was your question?
Can America be fixed, or is the United States on a human rights' downroad trend towards third world country status?
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The first 13 comments mention nothing of manufacturing. Just a bunch of views about esoteric values when the heart of the matter is that the middle class was sold out by the elitist and manufacturing was moved offshore. Brazil has a 33.3% tariff on anything not produced there. A good start would be for a approach that would allow Americans to benefit from America's consumption. The means work. Work for all people's. Not a country where there are rich and poor, and no one in between.
America isn't broken. It's been betrayed, and is battered. There could still be a revolution in this country. One based on the constitution. The right wants to batter all immigrants (illegal or otherwise) and the left wants to give it all away (there's nothing left to give, thanks to the Republicans). I was a Republican, a long time ago. I am now independent. We need an independent party. The moose from Alaska, called Sarah Palin is not the answer, neither are the "Tea Baggers".
I wouldn't count America out yet. Time to turn in and tune out. We need to spend here and reap the benefits. Not one T.V. manufactured in America. Virtually all cell phones and the like manufactured in on3e factory, (not in America, or any other western country). That should be illegal.
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Isn't it funny how when unemployment is high every start screaming about immigration, but when the economy is booming, nobody cares. All this fear and hatred about immigrants is just a symptom of our current economic crisis. Saying that, there needs to be a better policy, enforced consistently and with human rights in mind. What can be done to improve the countries these people are fleeing from? Let's get to the source of our problems...the real sources like poverty and start tackling those! America can be fixed, no question, the first step is admitting there is a problem. We are shaking that out right now and what to do about it. I am not overly concerned about jobs going overseas. America is already a post-industrial economy. We have already moved heavily into services and technology, our universities are still the best in the world. America is going to help solve global energy problems and world food production etc. But we have to get our formal education up to scratch so our population en mass can actually get and advance those jobs. As far as trade and finance, I actually think it will benefit the whole world if America has to come down a few notches and not railroad other countries into giving them preferential treatment or strong arming their decisions. All nations need to be on more of an equal footing in all areas of negotiation, think what the world could accomplish if power was even a little bit more shared! As for India and China rising, when the stardard of living and civil rights of their people can rival those in America, then we can start worrying. These countries still have a long way to go as nations that can provide infrastructure (sanitation, energy) and choice and prosperity.
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