Rasmussen:Nearly one-out-of-two U.S. voters (49%) now say the nation’s best days are in the past, a five-point jump from last month and the highest level of pessimism on this question in a year.Count me in the 51%.
Update: Nevermind. We're all doomed (1 MB PDF file). On the other hand, it could be worse. We could be Spanish residents.
12 comments:
There's a difference between saying "the U.S.A. will be better off in the future than currently" vs. "our best days are ahead of us".
Relatively speaking, I have to disagree with the latter. I doubt the country will ever see a "post-WWII" level of prosperity ever again. Are we doomed? No, but the country's best era is long since gone.
Will the State of the Union recover from where it's at currently? Sure, some semblance of sanity will ultimately return, especially when the Boomers are mercifully marginalized from power and we stop constantly re-hashing 1960's psycho-drama over and over again. No one under 50 cares anymore. Collectively, the generational name "baby" boomers is apt, since they're like a bunch of infants constantly bickering.
Ahh, Dr. Zachary Smith. I loved that guy.
Please cheer me up, Lou - tell me why I should throw off my despair and join the Minatti optimist club. No, seriously, because I often wonder if I am concentrating too much on the negative. It's just that the positive escapes me in light of the overwhelming negative.
My biggest worry is that 1) we are in debt up to our eyeballs, and in response we are about to double it with another legacy program that we can't afford, and saddle our children and grandchildren with a debt that will be a drag on productivity and income for a long time to come (increased taxes, etc) and 2) we are increasingly abandoning the system of balanced federalism and freedom from oppressive laws that allowed US style capitalism to develop and thrive. The philosophy of "It's the government's job to take care of me, and the rich, employed, and economically prudent should pay for it" appears to be accepted as a matter of course. It is a move away from capitalism and towards socialism. That it is inevitable does not make it any less depressing.
I tend to agree with you. However, I don't think the speed of progress will be as fast as before though. I'm too young too remember the 50's, but what strikes me about that era, is that it seems so optimistic, everyday a little bit better. I guess we had some of that in the 90's too. I just have a feeling things won't advance as fast anymore and I think we'll miss that.
You can have the 1950s.
Average home size about 1,000 sq.ft., 2-3 bedroom, 1 bath, forget air conditioning.
Balky, stinky coal furnaces for heat & primitive kitchens - see "A Christmas Story"
Of course, back then one could afford to hire Beulah to cook & clean for you.
The thing is, starting out in life in the 1950's was much easier than starting out nowadays, regardless if people had no air conditioning, Internet, or other modern conveniences back then.
No one in the 1950's was moping around their house, going "Man, it's so boring here without the Web and Internet... I don't think I can wait 40 years to use them!" Substitute your own modern convenience of choice...
There was almost infinitely more employment stability, affordability, and as pointed out, a national sense of optimism. Nobody regretted the lack of 1990's technology 40 years before it was invented, just as no one today complains that daily trips to Mars (or whatever) aren't available.
Of course, back then one could afford to hire Beulah to cook & clean for you.
Yeah, great unless you're livin' like Beulah.
I've lived in 1950's unrenovated houses before. No. Thank. You. Anyone who pines for the 1950's ought to try it. Unrenovated, key word.
No, they're not terrible, especially for a single guy, and I actually was attached to the several I lived in. But married with kids and having just one bathroom, that's for the birds!
Actually, as I write this, I am reminded how cozy those houses were when fixed up right. And I loved the street-side porches. Neighbourly. Yet I am also reminded how I longed for a bit more room, and maybe a better kitchen even for a single guy.
Heck one of 'em (1930's vintage) had a kitchen so small they couldn't even get the 1950's fridge in it! Having the fridge in the back pantry and not in the kitchen... that's beyond the pale when you add up all those extra steps every time you need a beer!
couldn't even get the 1950's fridge in it!
1950's houses and fridges were smaller than today's since, back then, the average American weighed less than 400 pounds. ;-)
I am struggling to remember the stress my parents went through during the late 1970s. We don't have the Wayback Machine but I suspect there was plenty of doom talk back then. I will bet that millions of Americans believed that our best days were behind us. Gas lines, 18% mortgage rates, massive unemployment and the certainty that Japan would soon be our new master must have weighed heavily upon their financial decisions.
the country's best era is long since gone
I'd agree for the next 10 years or so, but at the rate things are being automated, living standards will inevitably rise globally (assuming we have the energy sources to power all that automation).
I will bet that millions of Americans believed [in the late 1970's] that our best days were behind us
And in many ways, they were right.
The country has never recovered its post-war prosperity, be it during the 1970's or currently.
The country has never recovered its post-war prosperity, be it during the 1970's or currently.
Much of the post-war prosperity was false since we were the last manufacturer standing. But we had some good years. I wouldn't trade 1998 for 1948.
I think some people misunderstood me. I wouldn't want the level of progress we were at in the 50's. What I said is that we'll miss the rate of progress, which is not quite the same thing.
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