Is the US a country of whiners?

Yes

the trouble is... those with the least to give seem to end up losing the most.
ie reduce wages to make manufacturing more competetive. Profits dont fall, dirctors reimbursemtns dont fall.

Thats not a purely American problem either it is a feature of capitalist society and human greed.

That's what Donald Trump said too, and once he's president (in his mind)
he'll make sure that America will get the deserved respect back (provided it
ever had it in the first place). We only forgot to mention that he's the biggest
bully there is....

Yes, the greed factor has definitely escalated to a point where business and personal ethics are completely absent.

When the citizens of a country have the freedom to voice their concerns with out repercussion, should it be considered extraordinary when they do? I think not. Whether their concerns are valid or not is an entirely different question.

America has been a country of whiners since its founding. Who were the revolutionaries of 1776 but a bunch of whiners?

Thank you dadpad for writing the best possible answer.

We are a nation of patsies. We stand by while companies drive down wages and rake in bloated profits. We stand idly by while all entitlements are pared away, as military and other spending goes unchecked and unquestioned. On and on.

EB? How should these issues be combated?

Writing letters to our congressional representatives and senators don't seem to fix the problem. Elections in general (even if one throws ones vote away to the most progressive and unelectable candidates) don't seem to work.

Not sure how to openly start a revolution but that option seems to be getting more attractive every day.

All I know is, we elect people who serve others than us. Then we accept what they give - or take from - us. Only a movement as big as the Civil Rights and Peace Movement of the 60s can begin to get their attention.

I'm not from Chicago, so I'm wondering if he was an advocate of spending cuts while he was in office?



He's pretty good. He managed to say all that without once using the word, 'sacrifice'. Politicians usually love to use that word. He'll do well on the public-lecture circuit.

Buy shares in the companies that screw you.

Yes and no. He was never a big believer in spending cuts, but he made cuts when he ran out of creative ways to raise revenues.


Clearly you've never actually heard him speak:

Yes, we have become a country of whiners, but that's a natural response to what has happened during the past thirty years - where the rich got richer, and the middle class and poor got the short end of the stick.

Once every week, the San Jose Mercury News publishes the officers of companies who make stock option trades, and they "earn" millions in one trade. When Ellison did that not too long ago, his options were worth over $100 million.

This has been going on for too long where the so-called "captains of industry" rake in millions while keeping the workers pay and benefits barely competitive in the free market place.

Our country lost site of sharing the wealth with the rest of society, and the conservatives want this shift to get worse, because they think taxing the wealthy more is tantamount to taking away from the rich to give to the poor. They fail to look at the increasing national debt that will hurt everybody in the future. Their politics is blind and stupid, because they are hurting themselves as well. Believe it or not, even republicans are losing their jobs and homes, and they also want to take away unions - the last bastion left to protect workers.

Can't get any dumber than that! Being a masochist must have some rewards; they win the political fight.

edgar, You have it spot on! Even during the past ten years when US productivity continued to increase, their pay and benefits remained stagnant, and the CEO and officers end up getting the bigger piece of the pie.

Ha! Very entertaining! He can't spell and I apparently can't read. We should both consider running for Congress!

I suppose it depends on your definition of "whiner."

For me the term implies a an unwillingness to do anything about the source of the whiner's complaints.

The Founds, under such a definition, were anything but whiner's.

To answer the question, we're not a nation of whiner's, but the whiner ranks have been swelling over the last 50 years, and now represent a real threat to what is thought of as the American way of life.

Eff you bot clown