Some Home Truths For America

[bpw]

There are a few home truths,and a few things I can't fathom.

Home Truth 1: the USA is in a mess because it spent more than it produced (I wont say earned!)

Home Truth 2: you can't blame the Chinese for working for slave wages, and saving in fear of hard times: colonization and financialism are the root cause of their behavior and who is to blame for that?

Home Truth 3: There is no way a US or European Citizen can compete with low cost labor in the east so allowing the Yuan to rise is a red herring - it would be like a bandaid on a severed leg. That of course does not mean we are sunk - Germany and several over surplus countries in the EU, and elsewhere in the world, are the proof that industrial innovation is the path to equalisation. Sadly the US chose financialism over commercialism: America and Britain, you have yourself to blame.

Home Truth 4: the USA is led by people who are rotten to the core. The closet you can come in history to your politicians, and banksters, and the agents who ramped house and commercial property prices, are the syphilitic Roman Leaders who brought about the fall of the Roman empire. The rotteness of people like those running Goldman Sachs makes me think of Caligula, it would be interesting to see where they salt their hundreds of millions of dollars. Likewise we should all be told where the nett capital flows are directed. I can only speculate about what is really happening, but one thing is certain - the transfer of wealth is not to the average american

Now there are some things I can't fathom:

1. why are Americans so quiescent? What happened to the activism and pure guts of the 60s and 70s which rightly bought and end to the Nixon era and Vietnam War? Are we all fed Soylent Green? Thankfully, there are signs in the UK that students still have a functional brain: they have at last cottoned on to the fact that not only do they have to pay for their university education, they have to pay for boomers to take thee vacations a year, while living in grotesquely overvalued homes, withdrawing pensions, and getting free health care. The coalition government know its scandalous but you can't ever say no to the AARP who bleat poverty and entitlement. Mothers and fathers are literally stealing from their sons and daughters. All aided by a financial industry that paints the old as entitled to whatever they want. When for example did it become reasonably that people working for corporations and the govenrment should retire at 57? Are we all mad? Meanwhile, the rest are made to work till they die.

2. I have watched the Press for the past three years and wondered why on earth no one is admitting that Wall Street deliberately sold much of the toxic mortgage debts overseas using so called structured products like CDOs and CMOs. According to the Wall Street Journal 70% ended up in the EU and Asia. The game was to use the gentlemen and women (scum according to Jesse Venturer) in Goldman Sachs, et al., backed by Standard and Poors, et al. (the tripple A boys) to disguise the toxic waste and sell to pensions and sovereign wealth funds overseas (perhaps even the more right wing here are getting the point!!). Their counter argument is all financial products come with a caveat but the game was aided and abetted by the 'new' investment banks in the City of London. The recipients really were blind to the risk and keen to lap up the Champagne. While they were drinking champagne they were pissing on americans and europeans and asians. Now this was all speculation for the past three years and many thought my views were a little nutty - well guess what! The legal action against BOA by PIMCO et al has made it all pretty clear this was policy not random occurence. Read John Mauldins Frontline Reports and google 'Greg Pytel' and read his blog. I am right, and yes Wall Street and Main Street have acted in the most immoral and shameful way. Now the point is Asia knows this as well as I do........ and you should all get informed and act!

[workhou]

There are a few home truths,and a few things I can't fathom.

Home Truth 1: the USA is in a mess because it spent more than it produced (I wont say earned!)

Home Truth 2: you can't blame the Chinese for working for slave wages, and saving in fear of hard times: colonization and financialism are the root cause of their behavior and who is to blame for that?

Home Truth 3: There is no way a US or European Citizen can compete with low cost labor in the east so allowing the Yuan to rise is a red herring - it would be like a bandaid on a severed leg. That of course does not mean we are sunk - Germany and several over surplus countries in the EU, and elsewhere in the world, are the proof that industrial innovation is the path to equalisation. Sadly the US chose financialism over commercialism: America and Britain, you have yourself to blame.

Home Truth 4: the USA is led by people who are rotten to the core. The closet you can come in history to your politicians, and banksters, and the agents who ramped house and commercial property prices, are the syphilitic Roman Leaders who brought about the fall of the Roman empire. The rotteness of people like those running Goldman Sachs makes me think of Caligula, it would be interesting to see where they salt their hundreds of millions of dollars. Likewise we should all be told where the nett capital flows are directed. I can only speculate about what is really happening, but one thing is certain - the transfer of wealth is not to the average american

Now there are some things I can't fathom:

1. why are Americans so quiescent? What happened to the activism and pure guts of the 60s and 70s which rightly bought and end to the Nixon era and Vietnam War? Are we all fed Soylent Green? Thankfully, there are signs in the UK that students still have a functional brain: they have at last cottoned on to the fact that not only do they have to pay for their university education, they have to pay for boomers to take thee vacations a year, while living in grotesquely overvalued homes, withdrawing pensions, and getting free health care. The coalition government know its scandalous but you can't ever say no to the AARP who bleat poverty and entitlement. Mothers and fathers are literally stealing from their sons and daughters. All aided by a financial industry that paints the old as entitled to whatever they want. When for example did it become reasonably that people working for corporations and the govenrment should retire at 57? Are we all mad? Meanwhile, the rest are made to work till they die.

2. I have watched the Press for the past three years and wondered why on earth no one is admitting that Wall Street deliberately sold much of the toxic mortgage debts overseas using so called structured products like CDOs and CMOs. According to the Wall Street Journal 70% ended up in the EU and Asia. The game was to use the gentlemen and women (scum according to Jesse Venturer) in Goldman Sachs, et al., backed by Standard and Poors, et al. (the tripple A boys) to disguise the toxic waste and sell to pensions and sovereign wealth funds overseas (perhaps even the more right wing here are getting the point!!). Their counter argument is all financial products come with a caveat but the game was aided and abetted by the 'new' investment banks in the City of London. The recipients really were blind to the risk and keen to lap up the Champagne. While they were drinking champagne they were pissing on americans and europeans and asians. Now this was all speculation for the past three years and many thought my views were a little nutty - well guess what! The legal action against BOA by PIMCO et al has made it all pretty clear this was policy not random occurence. Read John Mauldins Frontline Reports and google 'Greg Pytel' and read his blog. I am right, and yes Wall Street and Main Street have acted in the most immoral and shameful way. Now the point is Asia knows this as well as I do........ and you should all get informed and act!

Point 1:

Having got to know a a few Americans working in Seoul the reason they are so compliant is because their country is locked down. You can do time in prison for the slightest infraction. Most of them are also brainwashed that they can achieve the American dream regardless of their background so they mindlessly go along with any old crap.

Point 2:

The media is 'owned' by the capitalist classes this is why you don't get any real coverage of the real reasons or opposition in general to neoliberalism. Notice in the papers that neoliberalism is never questioned.

It's going to take time for these ideas to go mainstream but it was great watching the students rioting -the start of something new, Thank God for the internet it's the only thing keeping free speech alive.

[Mikhail Liebenstein]

Home Truth 4: the USA is led by people who are rotten to the core. The closet you can come in history to your politicians, and banksters, and the agents who ramped house and commercial property prices, are the syphilitic Roman Leaders who brought about the fall of the Roman empire. The rotteness of people like those running Goldman Sachs makes me think of Caligula, it would be interesting to see where they salt their hundreds of millions of dollars. Likewise we should all be told where the nett capital flows are directed. I can only speculate about what is really happening, but one thing is certain - the transfer of wealth is not to the average american

Good post.

To me the obsession with money rather than production and wealth is the issue. In reality fiat money is worthless, but the system enforces its value and the means of issuance and credit expansion allow the banks to accumulate "money" without any actual productivity or doing anything of economic value.

I also feel current management cultures of "expense constraint" and "tight financial management" and the obsession of Governments to keep wage increases downs is stifling innovation. This is what also drives LBOs, take on a firm exploit the  capital flows built on past efforts, cut costs and  investment in the future, and hope to sell the firm before the lack of new product pipeline is noticed.  The problem with this regime is that if everyone does it the economy is bound to shrink, what is really needed is lots of people taking risk with startups and new ideas, and if they fail well let the firm go bankrupt without any penalty for the owner unless of course there was fraud - however I wouldn't extend this protection to financial companies, where I make directors personally liable for any debts incurred.

I wrote this once before, but its time to metaphorically slit the throats of the accountants, current CEOs and lawyers and get some engineers and men of action in charge. Why do you think China is racing ahead? Its running by Engineers and they are taking calculated risks. Accountants and CEOs at present are just using a method of regulatory capture to divert company profits to themselves at the expense of shareholders.

The only remedy I can see to this is to give all beneficial share holders direct votes, and take the power from the legal owners. So for example you get to vote in all the FTSE 100, assuming you have those shares in your pension fund - perhaps this needs some form of shareholder union, so people vote for the union representatives based on their proposals, and the union of shareholders then exercises its power as a block vote.

Edited November 13, 2010 by Mikhail Liebenstein

[Bloo Loo]

Q: Why is it a bad sign that our camp in Guantanamo Bay is closing?

A: The economy is so bad now that even the terrorists are losing their homes!

course US economics is a joke too:

CAPITALISM -- US STYLE You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt / equity swap with associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping five cows. The milk rights of six cows are transferred via a Panamanian intermediary to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the rights to all seven cows' milk back to the listed company. The annual report says that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Meanwhile, you kill the two cows because the feng shui is bad.

Edited November 13, 2010 by Bloo Loo

[Realistbear]

Home Truth 4: the

UK and the USA

are led by people who are rotten to the core. The closet you can come in history to your politicians, and banksters, and the agents who ramped house and commercial property prices, are the syphilitic Roman Leaders who brought about the fall of the Roman empire. The rotteness of people like those running

RBS and Goldman Sachs

makes me think of Caligula, it would be interesting to see where they salt their hundreds of millions of

pounds and dollars

. Likewise we should all be told where the nett capital flows are directed. I can only speculate about what is really happening, but one thing is certain - the transfer of wealth is not to the average american

Subject only to the bolded areas I think I have to agree.

I have never seen so much dishonesty in the West as I have seen in the last decade which happened to coincide with the great HPI Ponzi. I suspect the same would also apply to the other HPI partipants such as Ireland and Spain.

[OnlyMe]

Home Truth 4: the

UK and the USA

are led by people who are rotten to the core. The closet you can come in history to your politicians, and banksters, and the agents who ramped house and commercial property prices, are the syphilitic Roman Leaders who brought about the fall of the Roman empire. The rotteness of people like those running

RBS and Goldman Sachs

makes me think of Caligula, it would be interesting to see where they salt their hundreds of millions of

pounds and dollars

. Likewise we should all be told where the nett capital flows are directed. I can only speculate about what is really happening, but one thing is certain - the transfer of wealth is not to the average american

Subject only to the bolded areas I think I have to agree.

I have never seen so much dishonesty in the West as I have seen in the last decade which happened to coincide with the great HPI Ponzi. I suspect the same would also apply to the other HPI partipants such as Ireland and Spain.

Indeed so, this crony capitalism has spread across the west and destroyed much of what makes a capital based economy work. The US does seem to be the home of crony parasitic capitalism though. Interesting list of follow ups in the video description regarding Ireland.

Edited November 13, 2010 by OnlyMe

[mel in w9]

As an American (who now lives in the UK, my husband is British), I will take a stab at this.

First, I don't agree completely with your POV on certain issues (bpw) but that is beside the point.

Americans are so complacent because for the most part the majority of them "still" have a relatively easy lifestyle. Yes, the REAL unemployment level is probably close to 20%, and millions of families every year are becoming homeless. But unfortunately if an American doesn't see it happening in their own backyard, they largely don't notice. Besides gas prices are still unbelievably low (compared to Europe) at an average of $3/gallon.

Which I suppose leads to the primary reason they don't notice what is happening anywhere else (outside their own backyards)- the MEDIA. Now I suspect most of you here in the UK are familiar with Fox news and the power of Rupert Murdoch. But at least with that lot you know where they stand. The BIG problem is with the major (NBC, ABC, CBS) networks which are appalling.

I know because every week when I speak to my American mother on the phone, I seem to know more about what is happening in the USA that she does (and my mom is one who actually still gets her news from the radio and newspaper as well as the television).

I suspect the USA is going to implode before the "Joneses" even realize what has happened. Yes it terrifies me. But when I attempt to discuss such matters with any member of my family, they more or less just think I am nuts... I mean NOTHING TRULY AWFUL could EVER happen to AMERICA.

[sun n sea]

Why do you think China is racing ahead? Its running by Engineers and they are taking calculated risks.

China is "running" by a nasty bunch of "communist" dictators who'll pop you in the Gulag faster than you can say spring roll.

[Bloo Loo]

As an American (who now lives in the UK, my husband is British), I will take a stab at this.

First, I don't agree completely with your POV on certain issues (bpw) but that is beside the point.

Americans are so complacent because for the most part the majority of them "still" have a relatively easy lifestyle. Yes, the REAL unemployment level is probably close to 20%, and millions of families every year are becoming homeless. But unfortunately if an American doesn't see it happening in their own backyard, they largely don't notice. Besides gas prices are still unbelievably low (compared to Europe) at an average of $3/gallon.

Which I suppose leads to the primary reason they don't notice what is happening anywhere else (outside their own backyards)- the MEDIA. Now I suspect most of you here in the UK are familiar with Fox news and the power of Rupert Murdoch. But at least with that lot you know where they stand. The BIG problem is with the major (NBC, ABC, CBS) networks which are appalling.

I know because every week when I speak to my American mother on the phone, I seem to know more about what is happening in the USA that she does (and my mom is one who actually still gets her news from the radio and newspaper as well as the television).

I suspect the USA is going to implode before the "Joneses" even realize what has happened. Yes it terrifies me. But when I attempt to discuss such matters with any member of my family, they more or less just think I am nuts... I mean NOTHING TRULY AWFUL could EVER happen to AMERICA.

having watched US TV, I woud imagine that any gloomy news is trumped by the 5 minute ad breaks esposuing how life is wonderful...one second, misery, then, 5 minutes of sunshine and kodachrome.

[nixy]

China is "running" by a nasty bunch of "communist" dictators who'll pop you in the Gulag faster than you can say spring roll.

There are 1.3 billion Chinese. What proportion are in a labour camps?

[Realistbear]

There are 1.3 billion Chinese. What proportion are in a labour camps?

Dear Leader Mao is reckoned to have despatched 26M during the great purge. China has a ticking time bomb demographically due to the "one male child only" policy that reduced the size of the next generation in a hugely signifant way. They may find a need to purge the older generation in the next decade or so--with no Confucianism to stop it (respect of elders).

[indirectapproach]

So long as America is in a mess and it's morally bankrupt the place is fine.

Where isn't a mess?

Rome was a shambles under Caligula but it wasn't sacked for another 400 years and was still more than a century short of its apogee under Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius.

From the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 to Fallujah or where ever the hell else in Iraq or Afghanistan you care to mention,

From an overemphasis on tobacco, to the canard of Jeffersonian ("a mere matter of marching") Democracy, to the panic of 1837, to the truely horrendous conditions of the labouring poor of the "gilded age", to Smoot-Hawley and all the other disasters,

The US is the richest and most powerful country and likely to stay that way for the foreseeable and despite its legion problems, which it would be frankly ill-mannered not to have, it provides more opportunity to more people than anywhere else.

Edited November 13, 2010 by indirectapproach

[Guest UK Debt Slave]

There are a few home truths,and a few things I can't fathom.

Home Truth 1: the USA is in a mess because it spent more than it produced (I wont say earned!)

Home Truth 2: you can't blame the Chinese for working for slave wages, and saving in fear of hard times: colonization and financialism are the root cause of their behavior and who is to blame for that?

Home Truth 3: There is no way a US or European Citizen can compete with low cost labor in the east so allowing the Yuan to rise is a red herring - it would be like a bandaid on a severed leg. That of course does not mean we are sunk - Germany and several over surplus countries in the EU, and elsewhere in the world, are the proof that industrial innovation is the path to equalisation. Sadly the US chose financialism over commercialism: America and Britain, you have yourself to blame.

Home Truth 4: the USA is led by people who are rotten to the core. The closet you can come in history to your politicians, and banksters, and the agents who ramped house and commercial property prices, are the syphilitic Roman Leaders who brought about the fall of the Roman empire. The rotteness of people like those running Goldman Sachs makes me think of Caligula, it would be interesting to see where they salt their hundreds of millions of dollars. Likewise we should all be told where the nett capital flows are directed. I can only speculate about what is really happening, but one thing is certain - the transfer of wealth is not to the average american

Now there are some things I can't fathom:

1. why are Americans so quiescent? What happened to the activism and pure guts of the 60s and 70s which rightly bought and end to the Nixon era and Vietnam War? Are we all fed Soylent Green? Thankfully, there are signs in the UK that students still have a functional brain: they have at last cottoned on to the fact that not only do they have to pay for their university education, they have to pay for boomers to take thee vacations a year, while living in grotesquely overvalued homes, withdrawing pensions, and getting free health care. The coalition government know its scandalous but you can't ever say no to the AARP who bleat poverty and entitlement. Mothers and fathers are literally stealing from their sons and daughters. All aided by a financial industry that paints the old as entitled to whatever they want. When for example did it become reasonably that people working for corporations and the govenrment should retire at 57? Are we all mad? Meanwhile, the rest are made to work till they die.

2. I have watched the Press for the past three years and wondered why on earth no one is admitting that Wall Street deliberately sold much of the toxic mortgage debts overseas using so called structured products like CDOs and CMOs. According to the Wall Street Journal 70% ended up in the EU and Asia. The game was to use the gentlemen and women (scum according to Jesse Venturer) in Goldman Sachs, et al., backed by Standard and Poors, et al. (the tripple A boys) to disguise the toxic waste and sell to pensions and sovereign wealth funds overseas (perhaps even the more right wing here are getting the point!!). Their counter argument is all financial products come with a caveat but the game was aided and abetted by the 'new' investment banks in the City of London. The recipients really were blind to the risk and keen to lap up the Champagne. While they were drinking champagne they were pissing on americans and europeans and asians. Now this was all speculation for the past three years and many thought my views were a little nutty - well guess what! The legal action against BOA by PIMCO et al has made it all pretty clear this was policy not random occurence. Read John Mauldins Frontline Reports and google 'Greg Pytel' and read his blog. I am right, and yes Wall Street and Main Street have acted in the most immoral and shameful way. Now the point is Asia knows this as well as I do........ and you should all get informed and act!

The times are a changin'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6G4DP8CRvE&feature=player_embedded

[sun n sea]

There are 1.3 billion Chinese. What proportion are in a labour camps?

How many Germans were sent to the labour camps by the Nazis?

What did the total number of Soviet prisoners in the Siberian gulags express itself as a percentage of the total population of the Soviet empire?

Your argument is that communist dictatorships are just fine... as long as they don't send too many people to the camps?

China is a huge business run by a small elite, an elite who just so happen to have their own army and secret police apparatus to ensure everything runs to the satisfaction of the CEO and board of directors.

[ken_ichikawa]

Dear Leader Mao is reckoned to have despatched 26M during the great purge. China has a ticking time bomb demographically due to the "one male child only" policy that reduced the size of the next generation in a hugely signifant way. They may find a need to purge the older generation in the next decade or so--with no Confucianism to stop it (respect of elders).

*SIGH*

The one child policy only applies to 91.8% of the population. It only applies to the Han ethnics.

The one child policy is also largely ignored inside and outside cities. If you have more than one common practice is not to register them which means you have to pay for their education out of your own pocket rather than it being paid for the state/ Pudong has been running an experiment lately where the one child policy has been suspended.

In addition to this family names are no longer as important as they have been in the past. I have miffled my dad many times by changing my surname. And thus children do not automatically carry on the surname of their fathers anymore.

AND the imbalance of power is changing such that women in China have many more choices and opportunities than the men, therefore the MUST have a son at ALL costs isn't really too much of an issue any more either.

[ken_ichikawa]

How many Germans were sent to the labour camps by the Nazis?

What did the total number of Soviet prisoners in the Siberian gulags express itself as a percentage of the total population of the Soviet empire?

Your argument is that communist dictatorships are just fine... as long as they don't send too many people to the camps?

China is a huge business run by a small elite, an elite who just so happen to have their own army and secret police apparatus to ensure everything runs to the satisfaction of the CEO and board of directors.

I'm sorry but are you describing China or the UK?

[indirectapproach]

"The one child policy only applies to 91.8% of the population."

"91.8%"?

"only"?

[ken_ichikawa]

"The one child policy only applies to 91.8% of the population."

"91.8%"?

"only"?

Yup, China is not filled with Chinese people of one ethnicity. The vast majority of people in China are Han or a subset of Han ethnicity. This is because Qin Shi Huang did not exact a pogrom slaughter when he unified the 3 kingdoms. This is why Sun Tzu was wrong, (Wu) Wu was against total annilation and mass executions prefering enslavement instead.

There are about 5700 different ethnicities in China, all dominated by Han of one kind or another. Cantonese Hakka for instance are all Han derived therefore are Han. It means that 8% of the population can have as many children as they want.

Also because the law isn't exactly enforced heavily the other 91.8% of people can have as many as they want..... this is as long as they pay for it on their own Proxy dollar (RMB). Thus the census of Chinese people of 1.4bn is wildly inaccurate. 1.4bn is more like the number of people officially registered. Go visit rural China and people still have lots of brothers and sisters.

Also its not one of those things which lasts forever the CCP can change the law tomorrow, 10 years time there will be a new generation of slaves ready to take up the mantle. As compared to say western nations where birth rates have been falling for decades.

Edited November 13, 2010 by ken_ichikawa

[indirectapproach]

So the one child policy was introduced to deal with the headache of overpopulation but it created a demographic time bomb head ache but don't worry about that because the one child policy was never enforced so we're back at the overpopulation problem with > whatev' x 100 million people than the country will admit.

No wonder they are trying to get outta China into HK in search of that cage home Shangri la.

[ken_ichikawa]

China is "running" by a nasty bunch of "communist" dictators who'll pop you in the Gulag faster than you can say spring roll.

No China is sitting on a trillion US$ and they are scared of the magic printing press therefore when an engineer gives them a proposal more than likely they will rubber stamp it rather than let the Fed print their $ into nothingness.

[ken_ichikawa]

So the one child policy was introduced to deal with the headache of overpopulation but it created a demographic time bomb head ache but don't worry about that because the one child policy was never enforced so we're back at the overpopulation problem with > whatev' x 100 million people than the country will admit.

No wonder they are trying to get outta China into HK in search of that cage home Shangri la.

There wasn't a problem with overpopulation before the 1960s. The overpopulation in China exists because the war they were bred for never came there are signs of this war which never came by the massive underground bunker under Beijing and most major Chinese cities. China and the USSR were > < to total war. The demansky island incident whereby there were many battles nearly tipped them into full scale war.

China was completely outgunned by the USSR, hell even NATO was outgunned by the USSR. They had one tactic to fall back on the infantry rush, you know one rifle between ten men, when the guy with the rifle dies one of the other blokes picks up the rifle. Such an infantry rush annilated the British Glocs regiment in Korea at a cost of 27-39,000 casulties to the 63rd PVA divison.

[indirectapproach]

The pedant in me can't refrain from pointing out that they're called the "Glo's'ters " not the "Glocs" and we can Imjin it this way or that but if you guys didn't get the war you were breeding for, that suggests you're even more farked than if you had done.

Either you don't have enough kids or you've got too many.

Come on, take your pick.

[ken_ichikawa]

The pedant in me can't refrain from pointing out that they're called the "Glo's'ters " not the "Glocs" and we can Imjin it this way or that but if you guys didn't get the war you were breeding for, that suggests you're even more farked than if you had done.

Either you don't have enough kids or you've got too many.

Come on, take your pick.

Oh sure I know that.... I've been posting on my blog for quite sometime that China has a massive massive problem. Many problems in fact. The Gini coefficient demonstrates this aptly that the wealth divide is gigantic. I personally don't think China in it's current state will exist by 2025. They have to avoid drowning in inflation and also avoid the big unemployment problem too. I reckon a civil war may even be on the cards by 2020.

These are my opinions though and I could well be wrong.

[winkie]

As an American (who now lives in the UK, my husband is British), I will take a stab at this.

First, I don't agree completely with your POV on certain issues (bpw) but that is beside the point.

Americans are so complacent because for the most part the majority of them "still" have a relatively easy lifestyle. Yes, the REAL unemployment level is probably close to 20%, and millions of families every year are becoming homeless. But unfortunately if an American doesn't see it happening in their own backyard, they largely don't notice. Besides gas prices are still unbelievably low (compared to Europe) at an average of $3/gallon.

Which I suppose leads to the primary reason they don't notice what is happening anywhere else (outside their own backyards)- the MEDIA. Now I suspect most of you here in the UK are familiar with Fox news and the power of Rupert Murdoch. But at least with that lot you know where they stand. The BIG problem is with the major (NBC, ABC, CBS) networks which are appalling.

I know because every week when I speak to my American mother on the phone, I seem to know more about what is happening in the USA that she does (and my mom is one who actually still gets her news from the radio and newspaper as well as the television).

I suspect the USA is going to implode before the "Joneses" even realize what has happened. Yes it terrifies me. But when I attempt to discuss such matters with any member of my family, they more or less just think I am nuts... I mean NOTHING TRULY AWFUL could EVER happen to AMERICA.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence and then success is sure. Mark Twain.

Am I correct in saying most Americans do not hold a passport?

[indirectapproach]

Well, time will tell and hopefully for the better.