stardust2003,
Quote:
Originally Posted by stardust2003
I wonder, is the American dream turning into the American nightmare ?
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Jeez. that's a heck of a question and difficult to answer. Just for my two cents though I think this is what is going on.
I believe that working class and middle class Americans are finally waking up to the point that the cards are all stacked against them. The list is so long that I wouldn't even attempt to put a comprehensive list together, but here are a few:
1. Wages have been stagnant since the 1970's when adjusted for inflation.
2. Health care costs have gone through the roof. If you get seriously sick here be prepared for bankruptcy or at least losing most everything you have. Health insurance is ridiculously expensive. Most people I know are paying about $1,200 per month for coverage.
3. Educational costs are now mostly prohibitive for many people. Your average student at a State institution now comes out of a four year program with $20,000 or more of student loans. A PhD or MD can leave a student more than $100,000 in debt. And those debts can not be included in bankruptcy. They stay with you until they're paid off.
Primary and secondary schools budgets are being cut left and right. Something like 30% of all students in the US now don't finish high school.
4. Around 40% of all US mortgages are now underwater. US financial institutions are doing nothing to help except foreclose on anyone that gets close to getting into trouble. And the federal government has done absolutely nothing.
5. Just normal everyday expenses (food, gas, etc.) have been steadily creeping up for a long time now (even though the government says there is no inflation). And why is there no inflation? Because the government took those things out of their calculation that would really define inflation.
I could go on and on. But it really boils down to the knowledge that the government cannot be trusted to tell us the truth and that corporations and the rich are receiving all the benefits while the rest of us pay for it.
Kind of simplistic I realize, but I think that's why people here are a but surly.