AMERICA; DECENDING TO 3rd WORLD STATUS?

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Can anyone reading this provide a cogent rebuttal? I doubt it.

November 27, 2007 at 10:31:02

America; Decending to 3rd World Status?

by Mike Folkerth Page 1 of 2 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

Good Morning Middle America, welcome to your King of Simple News Network, where the news that concerns Middle America is reported daily while we still have a Middle America to report to.

This is one of those mornings that I wish I were blissfully ignorant. I find myself understanding far too much about America's precarious condition.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, an Arab investment group, bought a stake in Citibank yesterday. The Chinese, Arabs, East Indians, Japanese et al, loan us approximately $3 Billion per day in an attempt to keep us treading water. More than 3 Million jobs have been lost in industry and farming continues it's slide to corporate ownership.

There are between 12 and 15 million known illegals in the U.S.. Medicare is slated to fail within 10 years. Personal savings remain negative for the third consecutive year (never before seen in our history). The first of 78,000,000 baby boomers become eligible for social security in about a month.

The national debt has increased by 1000% in the last 25 years to $9 Trillion and we have become the largest debtor nation on earth. Middle America is being selectively wiped out by our own countries trade policies, and it appears that Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani are the candidates we will have to choose from for President. What have we done?

Some how, some way, we have to awaken Middle America; life as we know it for this class of Americans is in the balance. If either of the candidates mentioned above are elected, I truly believe that we are finished. Neither of them have any intention or any viable plan for saving Middle America. They are totally and completely beholden to special interestsrich special interests.

Many, many years ago a good friend who is very bright and very realistic, explained to me that the U.S. could become a third world economy in the blink of an eye. I wanted to believe that he was crazy; but I knew better.

He explained that once a person loses his or her job, it's a short trip to 3rd world status. That being said, employment then, is all that separates us from that unfortunate state. That, and the social safety net that currently exists to supposedly create a floor for the level that one could sink.

But waitwho supports that safety net? The remaining job holders; so with no jobs is there a safety net? The short answer is no.

I want you to do something for me. Come on, pacify me for just a moment. I want you to pretend that you are unemployed. Not only unemployed, but unemployable, as in there are no jobs available. How long would it be before you reached third world status?

Don't just dismiss this as, "It won't happen to me." That is what the 25,000 people being furloughed (as we speak) from Chrysler thought. Or the 30,000 from GM. I could go on, but it's plain that industry is leaving the U.S. daily. See the first paragraph of this post.

What would you do? Where would you go? I can tell you; in a short time you would go broke and reach third world status. Scary huh? But you say you're in management and life is good. Here's a prediction. I hope I'm wrong. I believe the next huge round of layoffs in the U.S. will be in upper middle management. Companies in trouble (like say banks) jettison their heaviest baggage first.

The #1 job in the U.S. is that of a sales clerk. Number two? A cashier.

The basic employment in the U.S. is not creating wealth, it's creating debt!

Think about all that I've just said. These may be dark thoughts, but unfortunately, all too true. Third world status is just a pink slip away. And what are your main stream politicians doing for you? They're helping you pack for the trip!

We need a radical leadership change. Consider Congressman Ron Paul, or another candidate that expresses some hope for Middle America.

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seven, actually.
in two words:

ross perot.

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Ron Paul is a great place for your vote.

Even more important is that people with your political persuasion will mount a third party candidate in the general election.

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I think we need Hillary, who, working with Bill, will get this country back on the success track.

I don't even know if Ross Perot is still active, not having heard about him for years. Ron Paul is a fanatic, and a dangerous and reckless one at that.

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" Three characteristics common to poor, Third World countries are a high level of debt, an income distribution concentrated in the top 1% of the population, and an economy based on export of raw materials and import of manufactured products. By these three measures alone the United States is slowly but blithely marching toward Third World status. The U.S., aside from its military hardware that is sold for the better destruction of whole swaths of the world, is increasingly becoming a junkyard nation that exports its trash and raw materials in abandon and imports all the goodies it no longer produces

Yes, there are other factors that contribute to Third World status, like for instance the state of education, health care, the infrastructure, a large middle class, etc., but even the US education and health care systems are gravely lagging behind practically all other First World nations. Middle class? "Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households." (Source: CIA Factbook.) As to the infrastructure, simply take a look at New Orleans, our falling bridges, or our inner cities. (Keep also in mind that the USA is now a net importer of foodstuff -- another characteristic of Third World status -- that is, more than 50% of the food we eat comes from foreign countries. Even Trader Joe's garlic comes from China!)

We have not yet fallen into downtrodden status, but we are certainly headed that way, at least if the 80% of American households are unable to take back the power that they have gradually lost over the past 45 to 50 years. I'm afraid the odds are against the vast majority, which is in the financial minority.

http://www.swans.com/library/art13/ga238.html

USA POSTAL SERVICE WORSE THAN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES
http://ambergriscaye.com/BzLibrary/trust290.html

Hurricane Katrina exposed three ugly aspects of modern America: a crumbling and inadequate infrastructure, the inadequate response of an uncaring government to Americans in dire need, and a growing population of Americans living in poverty. In short, the hurricane revealed that the United States is slipping toward Third World status

http://www.liberalavenger.com/2007/03/02/third-world-usa/

You hear the comment all the time, from people on both sides of the political fence, that it seems as if the United States' basic structure and service capability has declined - that "things are going to hell in a handbasket." They'll make vague complaints that "nothing works anymore," or that things have degraded to a "Third World level" (meaning the level of a country that lacks the resources to maintain its basic functionality.)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003226851_fragile26.html

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Advocate,

This article is arguing that we should vote for Ron Paul (who I agree is an extremist). Of course dire predictions of doom are the way to justify extreme measures.

You then say you will vote for Hillary Clinton. Hillary is a moderate candidate who supported free-trade agreement such as NAFTA and moderate approaches to education, health care and foreign policy. Hillary is not the type of candidate for those who believe that America is going to hell in a handbasket.

Personally I am upset with Hillary for her support of NAFTA and her unwillingness to this day to clearly oppose the war. This with her moderate stances on other issues don't, in my opinion, make her a good candidate for the middle class.

There seems to be a basic contradiction in the stances you are taking.

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ebrown_p wrote:

Advocate,

This article is arguing that we should vote for Ron Paul (who I agree is an extremist). Of course dire predictions of doom are the way to justify extreme measures.

You then say you will vote for Hillary Clinton. Hillary is a moderate candidate who supported free-trade agreement such as NAFTA and moderate approaches to education, health care and foreign policy. Hillary is not the type of candidate for those who believe that America is going to hell in a handbasket.

Personally I am upset with Hillary for her support of NAFTA and her unwillingness to this day to clearly oppose the war. This with her moderate stances on other issues don't, in my opinion, make her a good candidate for the middle class.

There seems to be a basic contradiction in the stances you are taking.

I don't necessarily agree with everything said in the article. A Ron Paul presidency would, I think, be a disaster.

Hillary is problematic, and I probably won't vote for her in the primary. I would vote for her in the general election, were she the Dem nominee.

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I am curious about who you are supporting in the primary.

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ebrown_p wrote:

I am curious about who you are supporting in the primary.

Who are you supporting, any why?

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I saw a map at the last election and, if I have it right, the red states formed a continuous bloc with sea access and the blue states were on the edges. Did I have it right?

I've also seen an article which said that smart Americans were moving east so as to be able to get to Europe more easily if the balloon goes up in smoke as Dylan's movie predicts.

Spengler continually bangs on about the city laying waste to the countryside with its urban values and now with control of media.

I've seen great properties for sale in the US for prices that wouldn't buy a broom cupboard in some places I could mention not far from here.

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Advocate wrote:

ebrown_p wrote:
I am curious about who you are supporting in the primary.

Who are you supporting, any why?

I am strongly supporting Obama-- for several reasons.

He is a clear and different voice on foreign policy. He is right about the war. He has made a very clear promise to close Guantanamo and ban torture.

He is very strongly pro-labor. Unlike Clinton he opposes NAFTA. He is a strong supporter of healthcare reform and education.

But the biggest thing that I like about Obama is the fact that he is willing to take stands and show leadership-- in contrast to Clinton's apparent need to blur her stands to some muddled center.

Obama's disagreement with Hillary over whether we should speak with our enemies is a good example of this. He is taking a courageous position, but he is right.

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Quote:

He explained that once a person loses his or her job, it's a short trip to 3rd world status. That being said, employment then, is all that separates us from that unfortunate state.

You are talking about an individual here, but your title refers to a Nation.

When it all comes down to it, wealth is assets. Money is also an asset (or rather, it is representative of an asset), yet it is a fluid/temporary one. What separates the west from the 3rd world, is assets, and the ability to produce assets (which includes the knowhow, and ownership)

(A question arises out of this. What makes the job of a service industry person in the States 1000 times more valuable than in Africa?)

When you measure the US's ability to produce (and it's production of) assets, then America is still good ways off from 3rd world status.

There is : Boeing, the Arms industry, Silicon Valley (Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Google etc), Hollywood, Mobil (and other Oil companies), GM (and other car companies), GE and I'm sure many others I haven't thought of off the top of my head.

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Chinese banks??

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Vikoor, some of the companies you mentioned are outsourcing in a big way. Boeing, for instance, gets its tail assemblies from abroad. Many of the parts in GM's autos are outsourced. There are even inroads into our agriculture sales.

I think the writer, in general, presents a good argument.

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Hi Advocate,

I'm aware of outsourcing. I tried to stay away from the major ones that do it, but I guess almost all companies do it to some degree (and some in that list were just a guess).

Outsourcing does help companies become more competitive, but on the flip side, the end result is that the money that is made is kept in the hands of the very elite. There are other issues involved of course, including loss of industry skills in the US (or any country that outsources).

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The elite are doing extremely well. They get much of their income and wealth through the stock market, which is doing well. This is because corporations are increasing profits by outsourcing, employing illegal immigrants at slave wages, etc. They are also cleaning up on real estate holdings.

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AMERICA; DECENDING TO 3rd WORLD STATUS?

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