| Skybird |
11-01-10 07:06 PM |
Der Spiegel had a longer editorial on the state of things in the US, looking at the hate-filled atmopshere, the numbers and finances, and the changes in American society and American job world. I assume these are the things that will (already have?) decided the elections.
A Superpower in Decline: Is the American Dream Over?
Quote:
The Desperate States of America are loud and distressed. The country has always been a little paranoid, but now it's also despondent, hopeless and pessimistic. Americans have always believed in the country's capacity for regeneration, that a new awakening is possible at any time. Now, 63 percent of Americans don't believe that they will be able to maintain their current standard of living.
And if America is indeed on the downward slope, it will have consequences for the global economy and the political world order.
The fall of America doesn't have to be a complete collapse -- it is, after all, a country that has managed to reinvent itself many times before. But today it's no longer certain -- or even likely -- that everything will turn out fine in the end. The United States of 2010 is dysfunctional, but in new ways. The entire interplay of taxes and investments is out of joint because a 16,000-page tax code allows for far too many loopholes and because solidarity is no longer part of the way Americans think. The political system, plagued by lobbyism and stark hatred, is incapable of reaching consistent or even quick decisions.
The country is reacting strangely irrationally to the loss of its importance -- it is a reaction characterized primarily by rage. Significant portions of America simply want to return to a supposedly idyllic past. They devote almost no effort to reflection, and they condemn cleverness and intellect as elitist and un-American, as if people who hunt bears could seriously be expected to lead a world power. Demagogues stir up hatred and rage on television stations like Fox News. These parts of America, majorities in many states, ignorant of globalization and the international labor market, can do nothing but shout. They hate everything that is new and foreign to them.
(...)
There are ultimately two kinds of crises, says the economic philosopher. There are what Seidman calls the "end-of-life crises," the wars and natural disaster, and then there are the "way-of-life crises." He says that the current crisis must serve to question and change our way of life.
Seidman recalls the America of Obama's election campaign, when everything seemed possible. "I really hope that those who hate and yell are so visible only because they are louder," he says. "We would be in serious trouble if they actually are the majority."
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And this one is in German, adding a face to the fate of so many once working middle-class citizens that were confronted with the ground being moved away under their feet.
"It has never been this bad"
Quote:
"Verstehen Sie mich nicht falsch, die Lage war früher schon schlecht genug", sagt Bich Ha Pham, Direktorin des New Yorker Sozialdienstes Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA). "Doch diesmal kann es wirklich jeden treffen."
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When I look at Wall Street and the banks,it seems to me they have not learned anything, and act as insane as before, maybe even more. Former options the US once had, are no longer available. The Fed'S only responsibility seems to be: printing more money. What all this together means, should be clear:
The next Big Bubble Burst is already being prepared.
I expect more serious crisis in the future, at higher frequency. Needless to say that again it will not be an American-only issue, but effect all the world.
I wonder what any Republican president would/could do different. He might be less enthusiastic on bailouts,. or maybe he is even more enthusiastic.
But would any of these options make a difference anymore?
It's like a wild water trip. Once the going got so tough that the canoe can't reach the shore anymore, it then needs to ride the waves and dive down the falls and dangerzones and follows the will of the river. No matter who sits inside and handles the paddle - from some point on it simply does not matter anymore. Any opposite claim - may just be an attempt to announce a messiah who soon becomes the next scapegoat. |
