The future of America?

Hey impatiens,

very thoughtprovoking!  The ruling classes here in America have always used race as a way of hiding the horrors brought on by the economic system they benefit from (i.e. telling poor whites that their enemy is the black man as opposed to the system itself).  Given the fact that economic exploitation is increasing, I wonder how the powerful will explain it to the white masses?  Blame Indians and Chinese even while outsourcing jobs to those parts of the world?   

I happen to think that the groundwork is currently being laid (I think unconsciously, but I am open to other ideas) for a war with China within the next decade.  Perhaps when China becomes an "enemy of freedom," poor whites will either sign up or be shipped off to go fight the next "good war" against the enemy of the Republic. 

It is sad how easily we as a species are distracted by appeals to skin color!  I often think about how crazy I'm sure I would have looked had I lived in the 1830s or 40s, when people in the US were held in servitude because of their skin pigment.  It is bad now, but it helps to remember that it used to be a lot worse.   Still, racism continues to thrive. . .

Thanks you two for your comments. Many people have discussed this, but I like the way she's presented it. And it's no secret, if you've got your eyes open, to see that we live in fake democracies, Canada, U.S. where ever... our political systems are no better, not much different from Medieval Feudalism.

"Rien ca change. Plus ca change." Very loosely translated: Same shit. Different day. Or Groundhog Day (the film), stuck in a time loop/warp.

Jez,

I absolutely agree about the middle classes. They are the ones who have the "most" to lose; first of all and not least of all, their delusions. It's gonna' get ugleeee

Thanks for that article, impatiens.

That blog entry sounds eerily parrallels to the story John Titor talked about in his future time of 2036.

For anyone who doesn't know, John Titor is/was a "Time traveler" from the year 2036 in a worldline apparently 2.5% different than our own.  He was sent back to retrieve some computer needed in his time, and he for some reason stopped in during the year 2000 for 4 months and he participated in a number of forum discussions and he talked about an American Civil war amongst a number of other things.... Well the Civil War was apparently sparked by the actions of the American  government and how they wanted to "Increase Security" measures and impose or rather remove a great deal of your rights and freedoms, and do the "chip implant"thing... Illeagal search and arrests..etc.etc...... the government was wrong... the people chose freedom over "security" and revolted.....What more, also contributing to the reason of civil war was the discovery that they did in fact live in a "fake democracy".

But who knows eh? apparently in his worldline Y2K happened.and "Canadians in 2036 are some of the most efficient, ruthless and dangerous people I know. God help Quebec. "

What's to come in the next decade???

And now for an "encore":

http://www.counterpunch.org/

July 12, 2005

The Jobs Problem is Worse Than the War Problem
The No-Think Nation
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Thought is not an American forte. Consider the speed with which our government got us trapped in two quagmires, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The CIA says that Bush's invasion of Iraq has created ideal conditions for training insurgents and terrorists. The longer we are there, the worse it gets.

Our military is being worn down by a gratuitous war [geez I do appreciate that description, it's so spot on] of no benefit to anyone except Osama bin Laden. Bush's war has provided substance for bin Laden's propaganda and radicalized the Middle East.

Bush's war is being financed by debt, and the result is to give our foreign bankers more control over our interest rates and our currency's value, should they choose to use the power we have placed in their hands.

Not only has our government demonstrated an inability to think before rushing to war, it cannot think about the economy either.

Each month in the 21st century the government's own statistics tell the tale of the US winding down as a superpower and devolving into a third world country. Not a single net new high tech or manufacturing job has been created for native-born Americans in the 21st century.

Month after month this devastating information is released and ignored.
Now comes a report from Richard Freeman, professor of economics at Harvard University and associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Freeman's conclusions suggest that the US is not only losing its lead in science and engineering but also might be losing the professions themselves.

A country that outsources its manufacturing and its R&D abroad doesn't have jobs for its own engineers and scientists.

Corporations have moved many information technology, high-tech manufacturing, engineering, and research and development jobs away from America to lower cost countries principally in Asia. The result is declining opportunities and salaries for American graduates in science and engineering, which discourages students from these curriculums.

As my free market friends are found of saying, "the market works." It certainly does. The market is working to close down the great American middle class and to dismantle the ladders of upward mobility.

The US economy in the 21st century has been able to create new jobs only in nontradable domestic services. A labor market orientated toward domestic services is the hallmark of a third world economy.

The jobs problem is more serious than the war problem and receives even less attention. Economists misperceive the offshore outsourcing of jobs as the beneficial workings of free trade, a subject they have given scant thought for 200 years, being, as they are, content with Ricardo's demonstration that comparative advantage ensures mutual gains from trade.

America's no-think economists have yet to fathom that the offshore outsourcing of jobs reflects the workings of absolute advantage, not comparative advantage. When American capital, technology and business know-how employ foreigners in place of Americans, foreigners benefit and Americans lose.

In the short-run the corporations benefit. The lower labor costs raise profits and executive bonuses. But the long-run effect is to destroy the US consumer market for the goods and services that the corporations supply from abroad.

American profits and American employment no longer move in tandem. A recent report in the New York Times by John Markoff and Matt Richtel says profits have rebounded in Silicon Valley but not employment. They use the example of Wyse Technology, a maker of computer terminals.

At the beginning of this year, 90 percent of Wyse's work force was in Silicon Valley. At the present time the figure is 48 percent, with only 15 percent of its engineers remaining in Silicon Valley. The reason?

Wyse has created technology development teams in India and China, adding 100 employees in India and 35 in China so far this year.

America has a new development model, one unprecedented in history. The growth and prosperity of American corporations is now keyed directly to the employment of foreign workers in place of Americans.

It is impossible for a country to prosper when its capital, technology, and business knowledge are used to enhance the productivity of foreign workers in place of its own. American incomes are stagnating and falling. By abandoning American employees, corporations are eroding the great American consumer market and America's position in the first world.

Paul Craig Roberts has held a number of academic appointments and has contributed to numerous scholarly publications. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. His graduate economics education was at the University of Virginia, the University of California at Berkeley, and Oxford University. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: paulcraigroberts@yahoo.com

Hey there will1129.

What is your take on what's happening?

Doesn't need to be a whole essay or anything.  Just a comment or two may help to clarify your remark.

??  Where does it mention any of this in the article?  Guess I missed it...

I have to say I was a little surprised to see your comment about "Chicken Little."  This article is very spot on, to me.  This is what our economic situation is.  It's not "Chicken Little."   

I'm not sure how old you are Will, but this country is going down the tubes very quickly.   I have high cynicism that people from my generation (30 and younger) will reap the benefits of their 401Ks (if they have them) and Social Security.  I know that I don't personally have delusions about it anyway.  Wal*Marts dominate small town America, putting Mom n Pop joints out of business and harming the companies that sell their products through Wal*Mart at forced discounted rates.   There are hardly any manufacturing jobs anymore because they're all being shipped to Mexico and Asia- my dad for instance has carved out his career in manufacturing, and in a way he's lucky to have risen to the position that he did (management supervisor, second highest in the factory underneath the Plant Manager) and to even still have a factory to work at.  That's how bad it's gotten.  In many states, you have 500 people competing for the same meager minimum wage paying job.  I poked around in Portland Oregon when I first got there, inquiring about the job situation.   I was told there were over 500 applications on file for the cashiering positions at the local K Mart.   Hundreds on file for the cash wrap position at Barnes and Noble.   They wouldn't even interview people anymore for these positions..........too many candidates begging for the measly job.

I don't know, I could go on.  I don't have to I guess, the article and many others like it on Rense.com sum it up better than I can here in one paragraph.  And I don't mean to inject a feeling of gloom and doom and to make anybody feel like there's no hope, and that they can't get a job themselves, or have success, because that's not true.  One person's situation isn't the same as another's.   Different factors determine success.   So I guess my bit of advise is:   Be informed and know what's going on with your country's economics.......but don't believe for a moment that it has to be your fate.