America is NOT the greatest country in the world anymore

[benbo]

MS - Thanks. That means a lot coming (no pun intended) from a fellow whose intellectual colloquy includes a jerk-off smiley.

Wil- I suspect I actually agree more with you than with Aaron Sorkin.

 

[Master slacker]

:lmao:

:jerkit: :jerkit: :jerkit: :jerkit:

 

[DVINNY]

And I'd heap rather live in 2012 than 1962, when we were doing all those things you admire.

I don't know.

I many times wonder and think that it would be better to have been born 50 years earlier. Back before we became mass consumers. Back when a family could live a decent middle class life off of one income. They didn't have 4 cars, 5 flat screens, and 5 laptops, but it appears to me, that people had a pretty good quality of life without the pressures and stressers of today.

And, I blame the "gotta have it now" society that cell phones and the internet have created.

 

[cdcengineer]

^ No doubt. True about living off one income. With all the advances we've had in the past 50 years, it seems like people have to work twice as hard for less (more stuff, but less quality of life). Heck, most folks have to have daycare watch their kids full-time b/c wives have to work.

My friend in Australia seems to have it alright with his single income and wife working. They have all the modern conveniences without sacrificing too much family time.

Let's blame inflation! Or Bush! Or is it Obama?

 

[Master slacker]

Heck, most folks have to have daycare watch their kids full-time b/c wives have to work.
Let's blame inflation! Or Bush! Or is it Obama?

I have to argue with that first point. I don't believe that "the wife has to work" is always the case. I think it's more "the wife chooses to work" that more so fits the bill. My wife hasn't worked in a few years, stays home with two kids, we pay student loans (lots) and mortgage, and save for retirement only on my non-fatty income. If the mother and family really want the mother to stay home with the kids, it's entirely doable. Unfortunately, many of those who are able don't want to make those sacrifices for the kids' benefit. My 2 cents.

It must have been nice, 50 years ago, to have mom at home, safe streets, better than adequate neighborhood schools, and a lot less information / stress / media / distractions to worry about. Not only that, but '63 Corvettes were just coming out.

As for the second point, I whole-heartedly agree. It's gotta be Bush's fault...

 

[mudpuppy]

^Yeah, the race riots were great too. My favorite part of the 60s.

 

[envirotex]

This.

"...a growing manufacturing sector encourages craftsmanship and that craftsmanship is, if not a birthright, then a vital ingredient of the American self-image as a can-do, inventive, we-can-make-anything people."

http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all

 

[YMZ PE]

I don't believe that "the wife has to work" is always the case. I think it's more "the wife chooses to work" that more so fits the bill.

Thank you MS, I quite agree.

It must have been nice, 50 years ago, to have mom at home, safe streets, better than adequate neighborhood schools, and a lot less information / stress / media / distractions to worry about.

I agree the pace of life was different back then, but let's not become nostalgic over some false dreamland America that never existed. It's great to hold ourselves to a higher standard and never become complacent, but I think idealizing the past - and implementing policies that try to take us back to the past while denying the reality of our present - is the wrong way to tackle the funk we're in.

Instead of striving to reverse time and take America back to the good ol' days, we should be looking at the emerging power centers of the world - China, India, Brazil, etc. - to see what they're doing right, and figure out how we can beat their asses technologically. I think we're presently doing a good job at this, but we could definitely do better if more Americans cared to contribute.

 

[Dleg]

^It's all about the "don't care". Very few people give a **** anymore. Most people just want to play with their i-phones, watch you-tube, and "chill". Learning, science, industry, and God forbid working are just not cool now. Well, I guess they weren't before, really, but the easy life is just so much easier now.... it's even harder to interest kids in doing something hard like... learning, science, working, etc. But I think it also helped that, 50 years ago, mass media (movies, TV, books and magazines) were so much more concerned with those subjects. Nowadays, there's just so much entertainment choice that only those very few who want to get exposed to anything other than Jersey Shore and whatever other nonsense people waste their time with.

I'm getting old. ld-025:

 

[Capt Worley PE]

And I'd heap rather live in 2012 than 1962, when we were doing all those things you admire.

I don't know.

I many times wonder and think that it would be better to have been born 50 years earlier. Back before we became mass consumers. Back when a family could live a decent middle class life off of one income. They didn't have 4 cars, 5 flat screens, and 5 laptops, but it appears to me, that people had a pretty good quality of life without the pressures and stressers of today.

And, I blame the "gotta have it now" society that cell phones and the internet have created.

Remember, you don't have to be a mass consumer (says the guy with two twenty year old 19" crt TVs, paid for cars, and dial up). That is a choice.

But I think it also helped that, 50 years ago, mass media (movies, TV, books and magazines) were so much more concerned with those subjects.

Yep. You had three networks and the newspaper. No need to fill a 24 hour news cycle with tales of angst and ennui.

I'm getting old. ld-025:

You and me both, brother.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

I think this blog post aligns with the point of this thread:

http://postmasculine.com/america

 

[engineergurl]

considering the vid in the blog, was the vid that started this thread... I would agree...

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

^^^ I didn't watch either video