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Looking to the Future, Public Sees an America in Decline on Many Fronts


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2019 Mar 25, 5:18am   1,334 views  7 comments

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“When Americans peer 30 years into the future, they see a country in decline economically, politically and on the world stage,” the report says.



While 56 percent of Americans say they are somewhat or very optimistic about the U.S. over the next 30 years, the public is decidedly gloomier when asked about specific issues.

Majorities of Americans predict that, by 2050, the economy will be weaker, standards of living will be lower, health care will be less affordable, the national debt will be larger and the condition of the environment will be worse. And a large majority sees a broken political system largely incapable of facing those challenges.

The full 58-page report is worth a look (link below), but here a few charts that stand out.

Partisan differences on what government should do: “Among all adults, health care and increased spending on education topped the list of policies that the public believes the federal government should enact to improve the quality of life for future generations,” the Pew report says. “Yet the top-three Republican priorities – reducing the number of undocumented immigrants, cutting the national debt and avoiding tax increases – don’t even appear among the Democrats’ highest five priorities.” And three of the top five Democratic priorities aren’t on the GOP list.



Full Article (Reader's Digest Version of the Full Report) - http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2019/03/22/US-Decline-What-Americans-Fear-Future

Full Report PDF: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/03/US-2050_full_report-FINAL.pdf

Full Report: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/03/21/public-sees-an-america-in-decline-on-many-fronts/

#America #Politics #Education #HealthCare #Government #Economics #SocioEconomicProblems

Comments 1 - 7 of 7        Search these comments

1   RWSGFY   2019 Mar 25, 8:02am  

Yawn: seeing America in decline has been a national sport since 1780s.
2   Bd6r   2019 Mar 25, 8:05am  

Democrats #1/Reps #4 is logically impossible. Providing high-quality and affordable health care to all has a logical contradiction in itself, unless we have unlimited money.
Also, increasing spending for education would mean more associate vice principals with 300K salary who do not teach, more sensitivity trainings etc.
3   RC2006   2019 Mar 25, 8:19am  

Number one on rep side is fucking up everything on the dem side, should be a easy compromise that makes both sides happy.
4   anonymous   2019 Mar 25, 8:25am  

If you recall a George Carlin piece - increase education funding is one of the first things a politician or want to be will say and despite the billions spent nothing has really improved. Spending more on education can not be the answer..

Once upon a time, America had the greatest system of education on the entire planet, and our people were sharp, capable and extremely well informed. Sadly, none of those things are true anymore. In 2006, Mike Judge made a movie entitled “Idiocracy” in which an individual of below average intelligence wakes up after being asleep for 500 years thanks to a military hibernation experiment. When he wakes up, he quickly realizes that he is now the smartest man in America, and that is not a good thing. The film became an instant classic, but when I originally watched it I thought that such a thing could never actually happen in this country. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Since 2006 our nation has been “dumbed down” at a pace that is absolutely staggering, and it is difficult to see a positive future for America if this trend continues.

The following are 18 statistics that prove that America has become an “idiocracy”…

#1 One recent survey found that 74 percent of Americans don’t even know how many amendments are in the Bill of Rights.

#2 An earlier survey discovered that 37 percent of Americans cannot name a single right protected by the First Amendment.

#3 Shockingly, only 26 percent of Americans can name all three branches of government.

#4 During the 2016 election, more than 40 percent of Americans did not know who was running for vice-president from either of the major parties.

#5 North Carolina is considering passing a law which would “mean only scores lower than 39 percent would qualify for an F grade” in North Carolina public schools.

#6 30 years ago, the United States awarded more high school diplomas than anyone in the world. Today, we have fallen to 36th place.

#7 According to the Pentagon, 71 percent of our young adults are ineligible to serve in the U.S. military because they are either too dumb, too fat or have a criminal background.

#8 For the very first time, Americans are more likely to die from an opioid overdose than they are in a car accident.

#9 One study discovered that one-third of all American teenagers haven’t read a single book in the past year.

#10 A recent survey found that 45 percent of U.S. teenagers are online “almost constantly”.

#11 Today, the average American spends 86 hours a month using a smartphone.

#12 Overall, the average U.S. adult “logs 6 hours, 43 minutes of total screen time daily”.

#13 In more than half of all U.S. states, the highest paid public employee in the state is a football coach.

#14 During one seven day period last summer, a total of 16,000 official complaints about human feces were submitted to the city of San Francisco. And apparently the problem is very real because one investigation found 300 piles of human feces on the streets of downtown San Francisco.

#15 Every 24 hours, more than a third of all Americans eat fast food.

#16 Less than half of all Americans know which country used atomic bombs at the end of World War II.

#17 Even though we fought a war in Iraq for eight long years, 6 out of 10 young adults cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. And that same survey found that 75 percent of our young adults cannot locate Israel.

#18 Today, the average college freshman in the United States reads at a 7th grade level.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-22/18-statistics-prove-america-has-become-idiocracy
5   Heraclitusstudent   2019 Mar 25, 3:05pm  

Russian trolls like to blame America.
#1 One recent survey found that 95 percent of Russians know they don't have a Bill of Rights.

#2 An earlier survey discovered that 95 percent of Russians know they don't have free speech.

#3 Shockingly, only 100 percent of Russians can name all branches of the Russian government: "Putin"

#4 During the last election, more than 40 percent of Russians did not know who else was running for president (outside Putin).

#5 According to the Pentagon, 25 percent of our young Russian adults are busy serving in the Russians military because they aren't any other jobs in Russia.

#5 For the very first time, Russians are more likely to die from alcohol abuse than they are in a car accident.

#6 One study discovered that one-third of all Russian teenagers haven’t read a single book in the past year.

#7 A recent survey found that 45 percent of Russian teenagers are online “almost constantly”.

#8 Today, the average Russian spends 86 hours a month using a smartphone.

#9 Overall, the average Russian peasant “logs 6 hours, 43 minutes with his hands in the dirt daily”.

#10 Today, the average college freshman in Russia reads at a 7th grade level.
6   Al_Sharpton_for_President   2019 Mar 25, 4:07pm  

The Mongols like their liquor.

Russia is quite literally drinking itself to death

It’s difficult to overstate how serious Russia’s alcohol problem is.

More than 30% of all deaths in Russia in 2012 were attributable to alcohol, according to WHO data crunched by the OECD. That’s by far the highest among the nations it tracked.

Russian drinkers die a variety of deaths. Alcohol poisoning. Cirrhosis. Accidents. Suicide.

Part of the reason is cultural. Hard drinking has long been a Russian habit. A paper published in 2013 found that relatively high levels of alcohol-related deaths can be found in Russian data going back to the late 19th century.

But the mortality rate surged amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, especially among men, largely thanks to more drinking. The economic collapse of the former Soviet republics during the 1990s is unparalleled among major economies since World War II. By some estimates the region’s GDP fell by roughly 40%. The ruble fell 99% against the US dollar (pdf, p. 159) between December 1991 and December 2001. Many turned to alcohol amid economic chaos.

Another reason is low prices. In the 1990s, Russian vodka got very, very cheap. This paper (pdf), published in 2010, argues that real vodka prices plummeted in Russia in the early 1990s, as nascent competition in the industry led to overproduction, excise tax went uncollected (the tax authorities were in disarray) and misguided government policies held vodka prices down amid disastrous inflation. (Keeping vodka cheap was viewed as a political priority.) Daniel Treisman, the political economist behind the paper, writes:

In December 1990, the average Russian monthly income would buy 10 litres of ordinary quality vodka; 4 years later, in December 1994, it would buy almost 47 litres. Initially, vodka became much more affordable because of a dramatic drop in its relative price.

Drinking deaths are only part of the reason that the Russian demographic picture looks so dire. Birth rates are another. In recent years, the working-age population has also begun to decline quickly, weighing on the productive capacity of the economy. Putin’s state has taken action to stabilize Russia’s demographics, including instituting payments for child-bearing. The results are seemingly mixed (pdf, p. 4).

https://qz.com/403307/russia-is-quite-literally-drinking-itself-to-death/
7   anonymous   2019 Mar 25, 4:13pm  

Heraclitusstudent says
Russian trolls like to blame America.


Surely Hstudent can not be referring to Moi but in any event please include the source for your rebuttal.

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