Is America getting worse?

A lot of Presidents get criticized for their economic policies. The problem is, we won't know whether Obama is making good decisions or not until after he leaves office. That's how it tends to go. The ripple-effect of our government's economic decisions take a while to show themselves.

I would voice my opinion on the Federal Reserve and how I believe our government's debt is linked to the fact that a privatized bank has the authority to print and loan our government its own money which only plummets us further and further into debt but... well, I guess I just did. Huh.

I like the Libertarian party, but I disagree with a lot of things you posted.

We need some form of big government. There seem to be some points you're neglecting. The government puts water in the faucets. That's good. Why? Well, if the government didn't do that then private companies would start to offer to hook you up with water. Right now you're probably asking, "Why would that be bad?" It's because having a government which is run by the people provide for the people ensures quality control (ideally it does; obviously there could be corruption in the system, but this works as a general rule). This system would work even better if we were a direct democracy. I have similar views on healthcare.

Yami, I wish I could just paste this on to every political argument I have ever had.

 

@ Dilly: I can see what you are getting at, and I need to correct myself, we need a more limited government. Yes, big government has it's advantages, hence why America has some success, but it basically becomes a 'gain some, lose some' situation, and the Libertarian Party isn't perfect, but it seems to have more understandable stands as well as more reasonable solutions.

One source said that the deficit is declining under this administration, yet others say it's increasing (I don't have to say which party says what, do I?).

And like you said, we don't know fully what this administration will bring at this moment.


Sent from my iPod touch named 'Rainbow Dash' cause I am the Realest BRonY in the mug, by Tapatalk.

 

I've got to agree with you here: the Libertarian Party makes some compelling points on what direction our government should move in.

 

Unfortunately yes, ever since Bill Clinton stepped out of office this country has been and continues to be going in the wrong direction.

Debt, War, Civil Liberties, Healthcare, Needless Censorship, all of these problems have yet to be fixed, and I fear they never will.

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that America is getting better (on the whole) and as the new generation steps into power, I think we will see more sweeping social changes that up until now the previous generation has resisted - but anyone born into the Digital age has taken as obvious. Things like equal rights for women, racial minorities, the LGBT community, etc. Or the idea that personal choices should be respected and not criminalized. Or the widening gap between church and state.

Many people who have not studied history look at the world and see that it is a mess and think "wow the world is really going to crap". The reality is though, that the world and america especially, has been much much worse and is only getting more progressively better - at least on the social front. I mentioned widening gap between church and state - I think this is a good thing, only because while I have nothing against religious people, churches themselves get really dangerous when they have political power historically.

That being said, "better" is relative, and if your version of better is that minorities SHOULD be discriminated against then you are on the losing side of history and things will not get better for you.

Now, as far as infrastructure and economics go - I think that the US is still a very strong and wealthy nation, and so are many of the people that live here. We tend to get caught up in the rhetoric that the rich are supposedly burning down poor peoples houses or that the government is supposedly going to implode and leave some kind of post-apocalyptic world any day now... but the reality is that things are fine. As a left-leaning voter, I tend to support bigger government than we have now, something similar to what we had under the Eisenhower Administration in the 1960s - but that being said I don't think we're doomed any time soon and so we have plenty of chances to fix things like under-funded bridges or schools. Honestly, now that the recession is basically over and tax revenues are getting back to normal, it should be even easier to start funding things more and reducing deficits.

But anyway, those are just what I can gather - I have a very optimistic view of the near future, and have high hopes for our generation; the generation inventing new technologies that would blow the minds of people even 40 years ago, and connecting with each other online like no humans have ever been connected before. The future looks good to me.

 

Yeah, no. We own TRILLIONS to China. And my family barely gets enough money to feed ourselves.

 

I said many of the people, not all of the people - as a socialist I am well aware of the fact that some people are not doing so well, and we could be doing a lot better. I was simply saying that on the whole, Americans are mostly doing fine; or at the very lease have something to eat, however little, a roof over their head, however unstable, and internet access - a luxury no generations before could even dream of.

And for the record, we owe only 1 trillion to china, not many trillions. Yes, this is a large number, but consider that in context. This is less than 1/2 of a single year's tax revenue (over 2 trillion in 2012). The US is massive, and so are our finances (both income and expenses).

 

C'mon, China, get it together man