What is up with America?

ILoveYourVibes · 16-07-2022 4:09am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058252278/what-is-up-with-america

It's a lot more than this. You have places like LA where the homeless situation makes living there even for the rich uncomfortable. You have places like Detroit or Rochester in NY that would not look out of place in Russia in how underdeveloped they are.

https://www.neoch.org/top-poorest-cities-in-us

Most of these cities have more than 50% of people under 18 living in poverty and more than 24% of the entire population living in poverty. And its being poor in the USA not in Europe.

America is an extremely DANGEROUS place. All crime is awful but the violent and gun crime is unreal. It's school system is terrible.

To go to college you must be rich.

What is more there is a new mindset that is just self destructive ....they voted TRUMP FFS. He looks like a human cheeto!

Overheal · 16-07-2022 9:15pm

"[P]erhaps when you build a nation on stolen land with stolen labor, it was never going to be a republic we could keep. So let’s talk about the possible fall of democracy and what, if anything, can be done to keep it"

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/tiffany-cross-on-the-fall-of-democracy-maybe-nation-built-on-stolen-land-with-stolen-labor-was-not-a-republic-we-could-keep/

Overheal · 16-07-2022 9:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119344168#Comment_119344168

Don't forget multibillion dollar equity firms buying up entire neighborhoods, driving home prices sky high.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-0J49_9lwc

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/institutional-investors-have-bought-hundreds-of-thousands-of-single-family-homes-many-in-black-communities-critics-say-its-creating-a-generation-of-renters-11656514935

ancapailldorcha · 16-07-2022 11:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347192#Comment_119347192

This is just a load of generalisations that are all but meaningless. US militarism has not secured world peace and the US did not magically create the German powerhouse or China's manufacturing sector. Feel free to provide evidence of this.

Tony EH · 17-07-2022 12:56am

The militarism people complain about has actually ensured global peace since the second world war.

LOL. The war in Iraq, alone, completely disproves this ridiculous statement.

joseywhales · 17-07-2022 1:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119344168#Comment_119344168

I mean, America is a vast diverse place. My wife for example was born when her mom was 16. She was raised by her mom and her grandmother. She went to public school and then college and then medical school. She is now a surgeon. So it's not like upward mobility is impossible. Her sister is in Harvard and brother still in school. All public education, low income household. There are more important things you can give a child than money, to help them succeed and outcompete those who are entitled.

And some public schools in ordinary rural towns are fantastic, better than what I got in Ireland, perhaps not as rigorous as the leaving cert

ancapailldorcha · 17-07-2022 8:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347959#Comment_119347959

So no argument then.

I've honestly never gleaned anything insightful from the anti-woke brigade. Everything they say is exactly the same.

magicbastarder · 17-07-2022 8:43am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347707#Comment_119347707

it's a curious statement indeed. 'the constant threat of global nuclear annihilation meant people were able to live in peace'.

what people mean by 'global peace' is the superpowers warring with smaller countries but not each other.

one world order · 17-07-2022 9:49am

It was a country built on Christian values and was blessed by God. However these values have been eroded and diluted over time.

Now anyone that questions the global elites agendas is called a conspiracy theorist and banned.

America today no longer has free speech and is quickly becoming a government controlled communist country.

This censorship of anyone that questions the globalist agendas not only exist in America but is now in almost every country.

We are also seeing the end of the dollar backed and debt based western financial system and the beginning of the east which want to move away from this globalist controlled financial system.

The times we are in is bringing lots of uncertainty and censorship and it is why the world is becoming more chaotic.

EOQRTL · 17-07-2022 10:00am

I think voting in two of the worst presidents in the history of the US back to back has something to do with it tbh. Americans need to take a long hard look at themselves.

ancapailldorcha · 17-07-2022 10:46am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119348141#Comment_119348141

Nonsense. It was built on the principles of separating church and state, individual liberty, limited government and checks and balances. It's this that the Christian fascist elites want to destroy.

Tony EH · 17-07-2022 10:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347959#Comment_119347959

Oh for fuck sake. 🙄

Drumpot · 17-07-2022 11:16am

I was in France on holidays and spent some time in war museums and found it quite humbling. Maybe it’s my age, I’ve heard alot of the WW2 stories before and Learned a lot in school but it always felt abstract, not really real. I think part of it is down to the fact in school (certainly in my day) you learn sh*te for exams, not to actually really absorb and understand information.

I started watching “the world at war”, an absolutely absorbing 1973 ITV documentary on the war. What I feel people are really blind to is that every country and every person will , when it comes down to it, suit themselves. They will tell themselves a story they want to believe based on what they want and they will goto war to maintain that story.

It’s funny because I had heard alot of the facts of WW2 before but never really cared much so forgot. I forgot the USA was deeply divided in the late 1930s and didn’t want to goto war. There was a popular if fringe nazi political party that wanted the US to goto war against the allies.

The only reason the US faught “on our side” was because Hitler was stupid enough to declare war on them. That’s it, nothing to do with being our neighbours or any sort of self righteous (it’s the right thing to do). They were mostly against “fighting Europes war.

There is some comparisons today if you think about it. Ukraine and the limited support they are getting is like the support the UK was getting from the US before The Americans actually joined the war.

Watching the US split between Europe and the pacific, equally seems frighteningly familiar. The japanese were relentlessly taking advantage of basically being allowed to treat Asia like a buffet table.

This helps me understand more why “ukraine matters” to the west. It’s not about ukraine, people can pretend it is, but it’s not, it’s about sending a message to any would be dictator that it won’t be easy to take over countries.

The sad thing is that humanity is hopelessly flawed and we tend to allow ourselves repeats mistakes of the past and be influenced and manipulated by the wrong people. That’s why I find the misguided belief that a world without religion will be automatically better, misguided. To have a fully non corrupt world you need to get rid of everybody or fundamentally change the genes of humans to basically get rid of greed and power hungry traits.

Another thing that struck me, again something I knew but never really gave much thought to , was countries invading for resources. When you think of oil and Middle East and USA it’s not like it’s a hidden agenda, but it’s more how resources are used and being used to manipulate.

Russia using gas as a proxy for physical war in Europe. Middle East and Russian crooks using English premier league teams and buying up loads of land in London etc , to sort of softly buy influence and legitimise their mining of their countries resources. I’m sure there’s more examples but these two pop out.

I think one of the reasons USA gets so much attention is basically because they are the big bully in school and whatever they do pretty much controls the temperature of the classroom. Makes me think back to sept11 and the OTT army response. In some ways it makes sense, the optics of twin towers falling was massive , so USA felt they had to make sure nobody else was audacious enough to try something similar. You can imagine many many foes are desperate to knock down the USA, Putin, it seemed, was doing a great covert job at certainly sowing discord at different levels. I digress.

Anyways, I see an unclear future that may take a catastrophy to unite former allies. Kind of like how this war in ukraine has somewhat galvanised NATO. You look at Hitler delaying his invasion into Russia by 5 weeks to take out meaningless Yugoslavia and how that effectively lost him the war. I wonder if Putin really got this ukraine call wrong in similar timing, he should of waited as the USA and Europe were divided (with Europe getting even more reliant on gas). Perhaps this adds weight to the suggestion that Putin is ill and sped up his plans.

Tony EH · 17-07-2022 12:02pm

The only reason the US faught “on our side” was because Hitler was stupid enough to declare war on them. That’s it, nothing to do with being our neighbours or any sort of self righteous (it’s the right thing to do). They were mostly against “fighting Europes war.

Well, it's not quite as simple as that.

While there was definitely an isolationist feeling in America from much of the population that the US should stay out of the war, the Roosevelt administration was gagging at the bit to get involved. Despite all the American rhetoric etc, they knew that America was pretty insulated as one of the major combatants and were odds on to come out of it more intact than most, if not all. It was also a pretty sure thing that America's standing on the world stage would take a leap after the war had ended, just like it did when the Great War and as things turned out, that's exactly what happened.

As for Hitler being "stupid enough" to declare war, that was done for a couple of reasons.

1) The war in Russia had reached a bad point in December of 1941. Barbarossa had failed in every one of its objectives (not that those objectives were ever a realistic prospect in the first place) and the Wehrmacht had been stalled and would remain stalled until the Spring. There's some debate that by declaring war on the US, Hitler hoped that Japan would reciprocate and join his war in Russia and attack them from the east. There was no formal agreement on this and the Japanese didn't row in behind the fuhrer in his crusade. For obvious reasons too. Japan had already bitten off more than it could chew by attacking Pearl Harbour and simply hadn't the resources to commit to what was shaping up to be a long and bloody war in eastern Europe, when their attention was going to be fully absorbed in the Pacific.

2) The Americans had been extending the line of demarcation in the Atlantic continuously and providing escort duties too, to the point where an altercation was inevitable. Germany's war against the Commonwealth convoys had not been going terribly well (despite seemingly impressive tonnages) and American interference had only made things worse. Hitler (and the US Administration) knew that it was really only a matter of time before the two nations were at war anyway, so he basically just sped things up a bit. Plus America had been furnishing Germany's enemies with arms and other supplies (a de facto gesture of hostility). So while it was somewhat surprising for some to find Germany and America at war on December 11th, it wasn't completely out of the blue. Besides, a lot of people thought that war between the two countries would have been declared after Erich Topp sunk the Reuben James off of Iceland in October, and popular opinion was greatly belligerent toward Germany after Pearl Harbour, so those particular scales were already tipped in a certain direction.

Drumpot · 17-07-2022 12:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119348506#Comment_119348506

Fantastic information Tony.

Hitler was arranging all sorts of deals with different countries so it seems odd he left “Japan joining his war” to chance by presuming they would, why did he do that?

Also, Roosevelt “supporting the UK” before the war, didn’t appear popular and in many cases the arms he got them barely got through congress. There wasn’t appetite to get involved in general and he had to practically covertly get supplies to the Brits.

It seemed like without pearl harbour, USA Roosevelt wouldn’t of been able to do much to help Europe. I wouldn’t say the “USA” wanted to help, I’d say parts of it did but it was significantly divided.

Tony EH · 17-07-2022 1:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119348543#Comment_119348543

The only formal agreement between Germany and Japan was that if Japan was attacked, Germany would come in on her side as part of the Tripartite Pact. Germany wasn't obliged to join any war that Japan instigated, however, and Japan had no obligations to go to war with any of Germany's enemies. So, I presume that Hitler simply assured himself of their possible help if he was to finalise war with the US. There was also the fact that Japan had written up a plan for attacking Russia's eastern territory, Kantouken, and that there was significant anti Russian feeling amongst Japanese political circles, although its unknown if the Japanese had made the Germans entirely aware of Kantouken's details. But it was well known that the Japanese had drawn up numerous paper operations against Russia since the 30's. In any case, in Hitler's mind he was just cutting to the chase as he probably reckoned that Germany and the US would be in a proper war by early 1942 anyway. Plus, even if the Japanese didn't declare war on Russia in kind, they would be tying up American and British resources in the Pacific and far East and helping the German war effort that way. What Hitler didn't reckon on was the huge industrial capacity of the United States and her ability to put that to use because she would have been almost completely unmolested throughout the war. The most bizarre aspect of Hitler's declaration of war, though, is that none of the senior Wehrmacht Generals were even consulted in the decision. Even Jodl was a bit taken aback when Hitler told him of his intent. An intent he'd already decided on, at least in part, in November 1941.

With regards to Roosevelt supporting the UK before the war, there certainly wasn't any rush to get directly involved from much of the American population, although it would be a mistake to think that that attitude was universal. Many people believed that America should be involved or that they would be sooner or later. After the sinking of the Reuben James and Pearl Harbour, though, there was a significant swing in public opinion in favour of going to war with Japan and her allies. So much so, that I doubt that Roosevelt would have had that much trouble getting directly involved if he so chose. He didn't really have any problem increasing the "zone of security" to Iceland and getting the USN to attack German U-Boats in an effort to bait the Germans. A situation which almost guaranteed war at some point. An active shooting war where American soldiers would be sent overseas would have been another story, but more than likely that would have been the reality by mid 42, if not sooner.

Overheal · 17-07-2022 5:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119348324#Comment_119348324

The username checks out

riclad · 18-07-2022 12:19am

There's lots of ways to go to community college or any college if you get good grades or apply for free scholarship, eg you don't need to be rich to go to college ;b . Some people take out student loans that are 100k plus if they want to get a degree in law or some other profession. Usa gets lots of attention as they make so much tv films music they have a massive entertainment industry and most people can understand English.

But now the supreme court is controlled by religious extremists who are willing to ignore previous precedents to make rulings that favor religious Christians while taking away the rights of women and non Christian groups

Rents and housing costs are rising beyond the reach of ordinary working people

One example a full time eacher who earns 23k per year has to take other part timejobs in order to pay the rent on teems of supply of houses they are years behind meeting demand for housing

Manic Moran · 18-07-2022 2:44am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119348506#Comment_119348506

There is a third reason (Interestingly, I just did this section in my Master's course). Hitler believed that the longer the US was occupied by Japan, the longer it would be before the US could bring its full industrial might to bear on the European theater. By declaring war, he hoped to divert American attention to the extent that it would reduce the pressure on Japan, allow Japan to survive longer (if not win outright), and buy time for Germany to sort out its Soviet problem.

xxxxxxl · 18-07-2022 2:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119346952#Comment_119346952

I will wait for someone to outline a single country in the history of civilization that has not been built by stealing land and using stolen labour. Slavery and wars go back as far as hunter gathers settling on land to farm. Someone was doing better or you wanted more stuff and land some took it. Made the people work it for them. All up to current time were slavery is still alive and well in Africa and the ME.

Overheal · 18-07-2022 3:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119351815#Comment_119351815

Well Rome and the British empires etc etc etc had the distinction of collapsing.

Manic Moran · 18-07-2022 4:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119341538#Comment_119341538

Well, I'm back. It was a flying visit.

Landed at SFO (Massive, absolutely massive lines at security outbound, incidentally), picked up the car, first stop, the city center. Lovely bright colorful clear day, not too hot at all. There's a reason why people like living there.

My wife worked as a corporate attorney for an AmLaw 100 firm (i.e. she was not exactly low-paid). This was her apartment building, maybe three blocks from Union Square. Not much further to Hastings School of Law (Cross-street is Leavenworth). Had a single-bedroom here, was about the best she could afford.

Honestly, it didn't seem any worse than it was when I saw it last. Of course, it really does depend on what your standard baseline was. I noted some porta-potties on Leavenworth about two blocks behind me when I took that photo, so at least in theory there is no more street defacation. It was a warm day, one chap was washing his clothes in a bucket on the sidewalk.

And, sure enough, if you look at the entrance to her apartment building, the canopy directly under the '20' speed limit sign, you'll see two homeless folks sitting there, so that much hasn't changed. Actually, I think overall it was a bit of an improvement. Of course, if you're not expecting it, you may have another perspective.

As I travelled to my next stop, I had the all-news station going. Not least because it has traffic every ten minutes. Sure enough, the traffic hasn't gotten much better, even on a Saturday. Fortunately, I managed to either just beat the jams, or they were going a direction I wasn't. (The Bay Bridge, for example, was backed up through The Maze, going into SF).

Stopped off for lunch at a hole-in-the-wall burrito place in Campbell to meet a friend. Delicious. Texas does certain foods very well. Baja/Mission style Mexican is not one of those. He works for a PC game company, he now can work 100% remotely, result of the pandemic. As a result, he was looking at Austin for a relocation, but COVID lockdowns killed his recon visit. Since then, prices in Austin have shot up (mainly from all those other tech companies moving there). As a result, he's decided to stay in San Jose. He figures if he can't afford to buy a house anywhere he has friends, which basically meant Austin and Seattle, he may as well stay where he is and keep renting.

Continued on, listening to news while avoiding traffic, so I'll comment on a few articles I heard as I drove around. New park opened yesterday in the Presidio area. It's already in a plenty green area because it's the Presidio, but another park is a good thing anyway.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/San-Francisco-Tunnel-Tops-park-open-in-presidio-17309797.php

Went to Dublin, checked on my house. Needs a bathroom remodel. Bathroom is about 6' square (Basically large enough for the tub, toilet, sink and a door to open). $27,000 estimate. I asked why, he said "California. Why do you think you left?" I thought he was over-estimating, personally. Walked to the neighbours, said 'hi'. Most of the ones I knew were still there. Though not necessarily for long. One's looking at moving to Stockton, the other is considering Texas or Arizona. He had just remodeled his bathroom, he said for $30k. I asked to look at it. Smaller than mine, I think. He says the cost of living and the small house for his family with growing kids wasn't going to cut it. Not quite sure what I'm going to do about the bathroom. As it is, the fencing needs replacement, and it's only a rental. Net value keeps going up, but in terms of dollars in vs out, I'm spending more than I'm taking in. Incidentally, the reason I'm checking the house is that my tenant is leaving. He's going to Charlotte, North Carolina. By all accounts, it's a very up-and-coming city, one of the top places to move to.

Off to the next stop, listening to the news. Picked up some Jameson's Black Barrel at Travis AFB as a gift for my overnight host (cheaper than paying State tax at a local store), then hit a tank museum nearby. Drove through NorthEast Bay, and into smoke.

Apparently a wildfire has been burning in East Bay for about two months now. It's just triggered health warnings.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/video/smoldering-marsh-fire-in-pittsburg-triggers-health-advisory-due-to-smoke/

It was started at a homeless encampment in a peat marsh. Since it was a marsh, they couldn't get fire trucks to it, neither could they get fire boats. (God knows what the homeless were doing in a marsh, but anyway). So, the plan was to just let it burn out. Unfortunately, it seems the peat under the surface started to burn a couple days ago, making the fire worse. They've tried water-bombers, but it's not working. Current plan is to try to flood the marsh. Hope it works, I have visions of the Centralia underground fire, which has been burning coal for the last half-century.

Didn't make Berekely or the Ethiopian, instead went way South to Morgan Hill, about 30 minutes beyond San Jose. Friend of mine sold his place in Newark SouthEast Bay) for a bigger house, it was about as close as he could get to afford a nice one. I have to say, a lovely house on a hill range. He's right next to Anderson Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the area, and important, if you've been following the water shortages California has been having of late. Well, it was the largest reservoir in the area. I had forgotten about it, but sure enough, there were questions raised about the dam's integrity (especially vulnerability to earthquakes) back as early as about 2009. Regulators forced the district to reduce the amount of water in the dam to half, before the massive rains which caused the Oroville problem swamped the Reservoir to 104%. Fortunately, it held, but the conclusion was that the dam had to be rebuilt. The lake's been emptied out, is now at about 3%, they need to dig a new tunnel to drain the last bit.

https://www.valleywater.org/project-updates/c1-anderson-dam-seismic-retrofit

Originally the estimate was $400m, done by 2020. They now say that draining will be done 2024, and that the new dam should be built by 2032 or so. $1.2bn. According to my friends, the locals observe that the cost is far less than that of the High Speed Rail and should have been done earlier, and also that they have no idea why it'll take another decade, even the Hoover Dam was built in only five years, and Anderson isn't exactly the Hoover Dam. In the meantime, hope the water system will hold up... He also has little faith in PG&E's electricity supply, he bought himself a generator (and did some pretty neat wiring in his house to select power source, and deselect various appliances as needed to meet the generator capacity). Got us to wondering if there's a way of configuring our solar panels to disconnect from the power grid in a power cut and power the house directly (We both have panels on our houses). They'll be sending their kids to a private school, the public schools in the area are rated 6/10 apparently.

Drove back to SFO the next morning, Sunday at 0800, so no traffic of note. Again, lovely scenery, bright colors, fair weather. Paid $5.60/gallon for regular unleaded, apparently the prices have dropped. Still 25% more than I pay in Texas though.

There's a new emergency number one can dial in the US now as of yesterday. 988. It's a suicide/crisis hotline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/988_Suicide_%26_Crisis_Lifeline

Taking the shuttle from the car rental center to the airport (Be warned, it's not a fast process, budget at least 15-20 minutes), saw a BART train pull into the airport. Was astonished to see it was still one of the original fleet, an A-Car. The last of them was built 1975. They've been trying to replace them since 2012, but the program has been hit by problems, not helped by the fact that the genii in charge decided to build an entirely non-standard railroad. A quick check indicates that about half the fleet has been replaced. I have no idea if service reliability has improved, I have to assume it has at least somewhat. I did ask, but nobody I spoke to took BART much so couldn't give an answer.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/barts-fleet-of-the-future-delayed-until-at-least-spring-2023

So there you are, my flying visit to the SF area. Overall, it both reminded me just what the appeal is of living in the San Francisco area... and also why I left it.

Topgear on Dave · 18-07-2022 4:38am

27,000 to remodel a 6 foot square bathroom.

If it's a rental your probably pricing fairly standard finish and nothing high end, that's astonishing.

Manic Moran · 18-07-2022 6:14am

Well, if you're curious, this is the bathroom. Photo taken from the door. OK, maybe it's 6'x8'.

This is the estimate I got, and indeed, I told him I wasn't looking for high-end stuff.

When I was doing my initial research, I was figuring $10k or so.

Then again.. California. Everything's expensive. I bought the house (111m2) eight years ago for $650k. Redfin gives a current estimated value of $1,5m-$1.7m. Zillow says $1.2m-$1.4m. Housing is insane, and contractors have to be able to afford their homes too. Also, I could have sworn sales tax was about 8.65% when I left. [Edit. Apparently Dublin adds a bit more. Higher than 99% of sales tax jurisdictions in California. Where I am now in Texas is 8.25]

https://www.salestaxhandbook.com/california/rates/dublin

Tony EH · 18-07-2022 8:57am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119351812#Comment_119351812

Agreed. He was interested in creating a two front war for the States and tying them down while Germany put her focus on Russia and the hopes of finishing her off. Plus it also allowed Germany to finally take the gloves off with regards to the war in the Atlantic. U-Boat crews were under strict rules to be careful before the end of 1941, which must have been a source of great frustration and confusion, especially since America had increased her zone of influence half way across the ocean. With Hitler's declaration of war, they could fire away and not worry about hitting the wrong target.

Also Hitler wished to maintain a control of sorts. He believed that he was steering the war and pulling the strings, as it were. Seemingly unaware of the true extent of American industrial might and how the balance continually tipped against him. Hitler's view of America was a complex one, but also rather naive too. He admired the US, but was of the view that it had become tainted and was a fractured nation that would eventually pull itself apart. Perhaps not entirely unreasonably one could say, given the social and political tensions that had characterised the nation less than a century before.

Funnily enough, Hitler was quite impressed with US troops he came in contact with in WWI, but immediately dismissed their abilities in the 40's and was of the mind that the US would struggle in a modern war.

Tony EH · 18-07-2022 9:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119351848#Comment_119351848

Good lord, nearly 30 grand to do up a bathroom?

yagan · 18-07-2022 12:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347192#Comment_119347192

I think the problem with trades is working conditions, although they've generally greatly improved. However if you've ever worked in a trade you'll know that in downswings conditions plummet. Most often it's tradepeople themselves who tell their kids to go avoid trades and go to college for a career that's less volatile and less hardship on the body.

Pax Americana came about as the only thing war decides is who's left.

I don't see the USA disintegrating, maybe the Jan 6th insurgency was the high point of mob momentum, but if Trump runs again I do envisage a serious threat to that union.

Wanderer78 · 18-07-2022 12:17pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119352950#Comment_119352950

we need to radically change how we approach the trades, it sounds like countries such as Switzerland approach it far better, with a dedicated training system, that looks after its participants, not like the cowboy system we have.....

america is clearly in rapid decline, its levels of wealth inequality are in extremely dangerous territory now, and its clearly in freefall cause of it.....

yagan · 18-07-2022 12:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119352974#Comment_119352974

I last last lived and worked there in the 90s, around NY, but was glad to leave. But everytime i've revisited the gulf between rich and poor just seems to widen. Working people living in tent cities has become normalised and even slightly glorified by rags to riches mythology, even though the tent cities expand probably at the same rate as gated communities while the old middle america narrows.

Unfortunately the national stance towards poverty is walls which only increases national disunity and individual social isolation.

Wanderer78 · 18-07-2022 12:43pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119353074#Comment_119353074

there are millions of Americans that know exactly whats going on, but wealth has done an astonishing job at protecting itself, this will end badly for all, if not resolved soon....

What is up with America?

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