Elections Is the US on the upward trend or downward?

[Blayt7hh]

Huh? She had a whole long list of proposed changes.

I know you feel like you have to toe the party line at all costs, but there’s no way you believe that she intended to make meaningful changes.

 

[Jack V Savage]

I know you feel like you have to toe the party line at all costs, but there’s no way you believe that she intended to make meaningful changes.

OK, but dumb and dishonest personal attacks aside, it is factually true that she had a whole platform with a lot of important changes that would have actually gotten through. You can say you wouldn't like the changes, but when you say there would have been none, you're saying something you know is false.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Right now, things are going good for most Americans, they are not that bad.

However, as a whole, America is on the decline and setting itself up for catastrophic failure. The country is not secured and is currently under attack at the Southern border. We can not survive this long term, as Rome did not survive against the attacks from the Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, etc. Financially, we are burning through money and increasing debt, this is also not sustainable. Culturally, our family units are under attack and our kids are even getting forced genital mutation procedures, our psychiatric institutions are going to be pumped full of messed up people. Excellence is no longer rewarded and people are being rewarded due to the color of their skin and sexual preferences. Criminals are no longer being prosecuted, crime is being celebrated.

I personally don't think America will survive long term and a new super power will emerge. Though the consequences of everything may take some time.

 

[Blayt7hh]

OK, but dumb and dishonest personal attacks aside, it is factually true that she had a whole platform with a lot of important changes that would have actually gotten through. You can say you wouldn't like the changes, but when you say there would have been none, you're saying something you know is false.

Uh I mean that's literally been you in our exchanges in this thread. I bring up health and you just dismiss obesity as a first world problem as if that means its not a problem and deny cancer rates. Never mind an explosion alcoholism, the opioid epidemic, and increasing mental health problems. Hell I just learned today that the number of young people needing liver transplants is on the rise. But hey, average lifespan should return to normal maybe

 

[Jack V Savage]

Uh I mean that's literally been you in our exchanges in this thread. I bring up health and you just dismiss obesity as a first world problem as if that means its not a problem and deny cancer rates.

What does that even have to do with partisan politics? It's completely crazy how obsessed people are with that. And, yeah, factually obesity is a first-world problem, and I didn't deny cancer rates, I cited them and encouraged people to look it up for themselves so they don't get into cheerleading. Age-adjusted cancer rates have been falling for a long time. No matter how mad that makes you, it's reality. I understand that if you're miserable, you don't want to believe good things about the world, but facts are facts.

 

[chardog]

that’s a really interesting way to frame the great replacement theory.

social security needs a population in order to exist, and fertility rates have been on the decline for a while, if the trend doesnt reverse, gotta populate the states somehow..... or should it shrink?

 

[blaseblase]

No it's not. The internet was non-existent for almost all of the 90s. Only right at the end (99) was it somewhat relevant, but only to kids using MSN messenger. The rise of the internet was very much a post-2000 thing.

Maybe if you lived in the middle of nowhere. I was on the Internet by the mid 90s. What y'all know about America Online?

 

[NoSmilez]

I think we are on the downward trend. We are fighting over stupid stuff. Tech wise we are behind China even though they steal from us. They get to implement it while we fight about it.

 

[Tatra]

Maybe if you lived in the middle of nowhere. I was on the Internet by the mid 90s. What y'all know about America Online?

Again, another post that doesn't prove me wrong.

 

[Tatra]

You are correct about the soul of the nation. America needs God. So does Europe.

I get it. It's written in the book of Revelation.

Christianity, like the two other Abrahamic religions, is boring. That's partly why there's such dysfunction across the West today. People don't want to be connected to such a miserable religion. It offers nothing of value.

 

[Copper Burner]

Christianity, like the two other Abrahamic religions, is boring. That's partly why there's such dysfunction across the West today. People don't want to be connected to such a miserable religion. It offers nothing of value.

 

[Hearse Lightning]

No, as a percentage of income, food has been getting cheaper pretty much non-stop at least since 1900.

As somebody who was an order writer at a large grocery store for 5 years, I 100% disagree. Sure you might catch things on sale but the base price always increased.

 

[Ruprecht]

Again, another post that doesn't prove me wrong.

Your timeline was way off. Napster was '99, not just kids on MSN, and the internet was well established at that stage. It certainly wasn't non-existent for most of the '90s. The "rise of the internet" predated the .com bubble obviously and that was 1999-2000. Very different to what we have now due to the speed and resulting content restriction, but equally a major step up from the dial up BBS and Usenet that dominated in the '80s. In '95 you could have seen Bill Gates go on the Late Show to promote Windows '95, try and convince the technologically illiterate Letterman that the internet was happening and doing his best to explain email.

 

[James Eagle]

In 1984 (earliest year with data for this metric), median household income was about $20K less than in 2022 (latest year with full data--even higher now) in 2022 dollars. Also, obviously no internet, much shittier TV, etc. Look at footage from the time. It's like a developing country compared to today.

how much was a TV in 1984, 60 bucks?

Things are more expensive, and people make more money. We adjust for inflation when we look at this stuff. As I pointed out to the other guy, adjusting for cost growth, the median American household makes $20K more than they did in the mid-'80s. Again, I don't know your personal situation (though people are even better off below the median on average).


Yes, healthier by real measures. Free, yeah. What freedom do you think we've lost in the last five years?

you spew nonsense

no, jobs have not increased for inflation, where are your FACTS? where is my raise?

 

[blaseblase]

Again, another post that doesn't prove me wrong.

"The internet was non-existent for almost all of the 90s."

You typed this right? This is wrong. AOL chatrooms were popping off. Everyone was making their own webpages with Geocities and Tripod. Yahoo, Altavista, Ask Jeeves were the most popular search engines. Browser based text games were popular back then. A very different world than today but very much alive.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

best time ever? do explain. this is gonna be hilarious

I think it's a bit misleading but almost every country is doing better nowadays than X years in the past.
I mean, Iran is probably a little better nowadays than in the 70s. Iranians in 1970 didn't have smartphones and nowadays they do. They probably have better healthcare, and probably some better food too.
It applies to literally every country that isn't at war or in a complete collapse, such as Venezuela.

However when thinking about societal decline a few other things should be taken into consideration. Political stability, rights and freedoms, for example.
They are now ruled by some crazy religious nut and his little police force that will beat you up if you don't wear a scarf correctly.
So, in that sense, they are doing terribly.

Is the USA, better in that sense since the 1970s? I will let the people that live there decide, but I wish they avoid the obvious(smartphones, MRI machines).

What I can say is that I think the US political system isn't as effective as it once was in electing the best people and hence being able to pass needed legislation.
The fact that a first world country elected grifter George Santos is fucking hilarious and it's due to gerrymandering. He also had a conviction back here but nobody cared either.

 

[Ruprecht]

"The internet was non-existent for almost all of the 90s."

You typed this right? This is wrong. AOL chatrooms were popping off. Everyone was making their own webpages with Geocities and Tripod. Yahoo, Altavista, Ask Jeeves were the most popular search engines. Browser based text games were popular back then. A very different world than today but very much alive.

I remember reading near future Scifi in the mid '90s (from William Gibson I think) where "GoTo" was used as a verb in exactly the way we use "Google" now. Right idea, wrong search engine.
At least they roll off the tongue better than the World Wide Web Worm of '93.

 

[squeezewax]

Would you say the US is getting better or worse? I'm talking about in general here spanning years or decades. If you say we're getting worse, which decade would you say is the peak USA?

Is this a serious bloody question? Why do so many people not know what is going on?

 

[Whippy McGee]

Inflation / Standard of Living: Way worse
Ability to buy a home: Way worse
Southern Border: Humanitarian Crisis
International: War, Spending, War, Spending, no end in sight
Crime: Bad - You should be packing heat if you are going to urban areas
Homelessness: Record Bad
Education: Horrible

If we just don't look at those things and instead focus on something like our National Debt... oh wai... that sucks too. Nevermind, we are hosed.

 

[Blayt7hh]

What does that even have to do with partisan politics? It's completely crazy how obsessed people are with that. And, yeah, factually obesity is a first-world problem, and I didn't deny cancer rates, I cited them and encouraged people to look it up for themselves so they don't get into cheerleading. Age-adjusted cancer rates have been falling for a long time. No matter how mad that makes you, it's reality. I understand that if you're miserable, you don't want to believe good things about the world, but facts are facts.

I said it wasn’t about politics in my first post. I was just replying to say that guy was right and I believe he is. There’s a lot of real problems that need attention. No I don’t blame Biden or Trump for them