One of the main ideas I was raised to believe, something America would never lack, something that materially made this the greatest nation on the planet...

As long as you were willing to work hard and apply yourself, be a benefit to society, you'd always get ahead and make a better life for your children, and their children.

I believe that to be false now.

I find less and less motivation to work my ass off only to see my WAGES, which I've WORKED FOR, be taken from me by force and given away to... others.

Uuuhhhh,, we is a great cuntry uuuhhhh because ,,,,, ohhh shit Amercan idols back on.

One thing that made America Great was the Bell Labs and Ronald Reagan killed that. Another is the American Dream and BHO is doing his best to kill that.
American Graffiti sums up how I feel, the best is in the past.

Where is it better than America?

I heard Belize is pretty nice

Why is it when I use something like that to point out that we are not the greatest in everything, it MUST mean I think somewhere else is better, and I must want to move to this somewhere else?

See the post about the guy renting his house to Section 8? See the statistics about 2 people going on welfare for every 1 job created in the last few years?  Hear about all the scandals the President says are fake?  

Yeah, if I don't just come in and say "Murrica, FUCK YEAH!  WE'S THE GREATEST!!!"  I must absolutely think somewhere else is better, and must also want to move there.

Y'all guys act like liberals a lot of the time, I tell you.

A blend of pessimistic Anglophone Protestantism and republican civic virtues. The founders managed to balance Cromwell against Robespierre.

It all depends on what you consider makes a great country.
The USA has its pluses and minuses, but how can you call any country the "greatest"?

If we are not the best, then someone else must be better.....
Where is better then here?
 I may want to immigrate.

What is thier constitution and how stable are they?

This.  If we are not the best then, logically, somewhere else is better.

This does not mean we are the best at [i]everything]/i], or that other places might not be better in certain categories.

Dangit, this never happens when some Hollywood writer gets to write the entire back and forth dialog and set up perfect foils for their witty lib rants.

That is not true.

The US is a nation of immigrants, witness the Jews, the Poles, Irish,  Germans.Italians, Chinese etc.through ut US history.

Who started the motion picture industry in the US?
Who built the railroads in the western US?
etc etc etc.

No, the US was founded by settlers, as was every other country in the Americas.



Immigrants came later.



 

America was great because of the Constitutional form of government it had and the opportunity it offered to people to make something of themselves (and not be caught in a caste system or class system).  Those things are fading rapidly nowadays and in less than ten years time, we'll be back to a feudal system with two classes: very rich & uber poor.  The middle class is a dying breed.  Boomers who had money are squeezed on one side by threatened retirement funds (think Cyprus & enforced bailouts) and dependent adult children (who have no job opportunities for middle class salary).

Elon Musk.

I'm saddened that only one poster got the answer right so far.

Lunch bump

Americans.

Despite the governments best efforts, everyday Americans are what makes us great.

Essentially, private property rights ensure that if you work for it, you get to keep it and the rewards that brings.

It's one hell of a motivator to achieve greatness.

TXL

About 100% of his BS figures are wrong, actually.  Starting with the false claim with the US being 4th in exports, and 170 states out of the world being "free", it goes way downhill from there.

The US is one of the top-3 exporters of the world, supposedly #2 to China if we accept China's state-provided figures as truth, followed by Germany and Japan.  We are and always will be the largest importer, no matter what type of government we have for one simple reason, which is one of the key factors in America's greatness.

The two primary factors of America's greatness are:

1) Her People: The American people were largely bred by long, cold winters in mostly Northern Europe, among fertile farmlands and river networks connected to sea ports that allow heavy vessels to dock there.  The winters weeded out the physically weak and slow learners, because you have to be a resilient, hard-worker who learns quickly to survive Northern European Winters.  With the Renaissance and printing press, these peoples had a growing minority that sought religious freedom from church-state oppression, so they migrated to the New World with their Puritan moral codes, to discover an even more vast and fertile land mass with the largest arable farmland on the planet, and much better climatic conditions with longer growing seasons.

2) Geography:  The US land mass is the greatest piece of terrain on the planet, period, no competition, end of statement.  You will find no other continent or nation that even compares with the US's arable farmland, connected river networks, deep sea ports, climate, and isolation from neighbors as a natural defense system (Pacific and Atlantic Oceans).

There is no other nation that has the physical capacity to manufacture, distribute amongst itself, export, and import as much as the US can...period.  For example, the State of Maine has more deep sea ports with access to open waters than the largest nation on earth, Russia.  If you go down the Eastern Sea Board, through the Inter-coastal Waterway, around Florida, through the Gulf Coast Region, then from San Diego up to the Puget Sound, you will see deep sea port after deep sea port, with major rivers and their arteries connecting deep into the US Interior.

There is simply no other geography like this on the planet. Look at all the rivers and how they're connected, especially those that connect with the Mississippi.  Look at the 3 major mountain ranges, where rivers originate, flowing down into fertile valleys of farmland, able to be dammed with hydro-electric facilities to power the endless cities below.  Look at how vast the bread basket of the Midwest is.  

* ADD Version: Hard-working farmers, craftsmen, and families with a common moral code + best land on the planet = greatest Nation on earth.

These self-defeatists who enjoy rolling in the filth of their own loathing are simply uneducated as to why their Nation is so great.  Name me one other nation with the population anywhere near the US's that is able to provide anything even remotely comparable to our standard of living, including the public education system we rightfully expect more from.  We are the 3rd-largest population in the world, and liberals like to compare us to Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, who have a combined population that isn't even near 10% of the US's population of 316 million.

You certainly aren't "free" in any of the nations he mentioned.  I've been to them all, and have lived in most of them.  In the socialist states, the state is supreme, period.  You have no rights to self protection, how to educate your children, free speech, etc.

Look at this Map.  There isn't a one of you who isn't significantly affected by this geography:

Epic dude... Epic.

That's what I was looking for. TrojanMan said practically the same thing. This is why I have no time for people who would quit on America. I'm not going to cry about how much better it could be, or jerk it to SHTF wet dreams when we have been handed the best living conditions on earth. Now if we could just educate the rest of GD.

AR15.COM

I think some of you are rather underestimating the standard of living in the rest of the First World.

Because we elected 0bama. The Bestest presedint evar.

You only have a right in property in what you can successfully hide.

bill of rights

which is being dismantled as we speak

only one thing will make us great again...and that should have happened already
even the Egyptians have more balls than most Americans now

So my only choices are be either a commie or a patriotard?  Pass.

The people of this country have been coasting on the achievements of prior generations for decades.  Our problems are not geographic, they are political and demographic.  Our system is set up with certain assumptions in place, those assumptions no longer apply and thus we are in decline.  It is not irreversible, but with the current values, attitudes, ethics, etc. of the population and the majority of leadership, it isn't going to change.  There needs to be some sort of event as a catalyst to initiate said change.  Who knows what said "event" will be?  Could be a financial or political crisis or a conflict or a period of great unrest.  My point is that we have all the tools to return to "greatness" consistent with our foundation, however, at present we are choosing not to use them.  If we don't change course, there will eventually be a point of no return.  My personal opinion is that we are very close to that point of no return.

We were great because we had a very limited government and the most freedom.

As a result of all that freedom, America was the world's richest country, we had the largest trade surplus, we were the worlds biggest creditor nation, we made the highest quality goods for the lowest prices and we had the highest paid workers in the world. You could rightfully expect that your children would have a better life than you did.  



Then we decided to live off the printing press and embrace socialism. If we ever aspire to have a legitimate economy with genuine economic growth, we will have to go through a painful correction, thanks to all the malinvestments and debt that was a result of our Keynesian monetary policy and our socialist economic polices, as well as all the money we have blown on welfare, entitlements and warfare.

As a Military Officer, what do you suggest the American people do?

I pose this question to you..... Where is it better in the entire world?

Military coup?



Isn't that what Egypt did?



No, the only way we can become greater is to fall from our greatness- and LEARN from it. We are slowly but surely on the path, unfortunately. Do I want us to fall and become a second or third world country? No. Fuck no. Anyone who has been to a third world country can answer that in a heartbeat. I'd love to see a second (or, third rather) American revoloution. But what would we revolt to? A third of the country wants us to go farther down the path toward socialism/communism, another third wants conservatism/libertarianism, and the third third is pretty happy with the way things are.



Overall, I'd say I am fairly OK with the state of our nation. Do I wish for change? Of course. I'd love to see a Libertarian government, or at least a conservative government, and I don't mean religious conservative.



I'd love to see people be prosperous or not based on their own merits rather than the hard work of others. I mean seriously, the average income of welfare recipients (including welfare, food stamps, etc.) is GREATER than the average income of working households. How fucked up is that? That means the average person goes to work for 40 hours per week, and still gets paid less than someone who chooses not to work (either by literally choosing not to work, or by choosing not to have any valuable skills which merit hiring). So who are the stupid ones? I think it's us.



No matter what, shit is going to get SIGNIFICANTLY worse before it gets right. I do not see a way for this nation to get "right" without things getting very, very bad first. Hyperinflation, mass unemployment, government cutting or eliminating services (which is debatable as to good or bad)... there is no easy way out. Our government is too big and too powerful. I hate the term "oligarchy" but God dammit that is exactly what we have- a ruling class that essentially uses their power to push their own agendas.

Just got a peanuts satire cartoon that said.
[Charlie Brown] What makes America great is that you can be a gutless, useless, freeloading parasite who pisses on America and everything it stands for, and still get a check from the government every month.

[Linus]  And that's true, even if your NOT the President.


TXL

Because I live in it.  For the right amount of money, I would be happy to bring my excellence elsewhere.

If we get another Reagan, America will be great again.

Sadly I don't see that happening anytime soon, as the Dems don't fight fair and the Republicans seem alright with the Dems fighting dirty and don't fight dirty themselves, with many Republicans conceding defeat to the Dems long term and only wanting to be there to possibly get a share of the pie.   And the Dems (and those Republicans) are alright with legalizing 30 million illegals and adding them to the FSA and Democrat voter rolls.


But if we fight like hell, get in the dirt and take them on on their turf, modify and use their own tactics against them, then we have a fighting chance, not only to retake the country, but to make it great again.   It will not be easy.  Forces internal and external will view it as a threat.  We will have to work hard to undue years of liberal programming in the populace.  We may also have to fight wars that make the War on Terror look trivial, due to having to clean up the mess from this administration.

I especially like the one about the "moral compass".

If your a corporation tax wise plenty of places better than America.

We're in overdrive fucking it up.
Continuing in our present course eventually no one will have to leave.


“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”

 “A Republic, if you can keep it.”   Benjamin Franklin Constitutional Convention 1787.

Excellent answer.

As a citizen. Where are you better off then America?

is she putting *dressing* on the pizza? Is that ranch dressing?!  

until Arizona rids us of that douchebag McCain, you are all on probation, and assumed to be retarded liberals until then.

America is the greatest.  May the fuck be upon the haters.  


USA USA USA USA USA USA

squeezable mayo.

Tick tock, Tick Tock, Nobody beats the clock.

You may be a
Cardinal or a Prince
Or a lowly street sweeper
But sooner or later
You gonna dance with the Reaper..

Nowhere, obviously. The rest of the world is shit. And if we refuse to get our act together, we will be no different.

But we will still be the Top turd

I hate to rain on all the feel good, too good to fail stuff, but that part in red isn't true.



It's hard to import things when foreigners won't take your money.

As you know, the main reason that foreigners take dollars is because we have the world's reserve currency and because most major developed countries rely on oil imports, which are purchased using dollars, so they are forced to hold large stockpiles of dollars in order to continue importing oil. In turn this creates consistent demand for dollars, and prevents the dollar from losing its relative international monetary value, regardless of what happens to the US economy.

This artificial system is not what made us prosperous and will eventually be our demise. What made us prosperous was a high level of economic freedom... basically a limited government that didn't impose many taxes on us and didn't thwart businesses with massive regulations.


This system that is currently in place will end internally or externally and when it does we won't be able to live off the printing press.

1) The internal threat

The Fed is loaning out money to member banks at nearly 0% interest. These banks have been working to replenish the capital that they lost when the housing market crashed, so they are playing it safe. The money that these banks loan out mostly goes to the government. These banks are taking money that is almost free and loaning it to the Treasury at a low 2-3% interest rate. The only reason this really makes a profit is because the money was basically given to them for free, in the first place. Since banks are not loaning out much of this money for personal or small business uses, there is not more money chasing the same amount of goods. At the moment prices are rising instead of plummeting like what should be happening during an economic downturn. Even prices that remain flat should be considered inflationary at this point.

When banks start making more loans, inflation is going to really heat up and cause massive problems. If the Fed responds correctly, it would raise interest rates which in turn causes bond prices to fall, making yields rise which would basically nuke the federal budget when you consider the fact that $5 trillion of our debt is short term and rolls over annually at new interest rates. During the early 80s interest rates went up to something like 18%. Imagine if they went up to just 10%. 10% alone would add $500 billion dollars in interest payments and that's in addition to the ~$240 trillion in interest payments that we would continue to have for the other $12 trillion. So in total, that is roughly $740 trillion dollars in interest payments alone. Now obviously the government doesn't have enough money to pay for that. In order to finance the larger deficit that would result from higher interest rates, the fed would have to borrow, cut spending, raise taxes. All of this would be painful and, knowing our dimwit politicians, they would probably borrow money  (at higher interest rates) to pay the debt. This would chase private and foreign investors out of the bond market until the only entity purchasing bonds is the fed. Those bonds would be purely financed by inflation which will cause even further destruction.

2) The external threat

Our massive trade deficit is currently helping to keep prices in check. The extra money that does move down to the consumer usually gets spent on foreign products. The profit is not usually spent in America, but is used to buy assets such as commodities like oil and US bonds to shore up the foreign country's own reserves. This further continues the cycle as profits from US consumer spending gets loaned back to the government to distribute over and over.


There are a lot of foreign countries that are growing tired of this. An example of this is BRICS. Many nations are preparing to, or already have stopped using the dollar for oil trade. This will continue to reduce the demand for dollars and will aide in the dollar's inevitable demise. Other nations have stopped using the dollar for trade. For example, Australia and China recently stopped using the dollar for bilateral trade.

Obviously we won't be able to force countries like China and Russia to use the dollar, in the same manner that we forced Iraq and Libya to use it by overthrowing their governments and reinstating the dollar for oil trade.

As the dollar continues to be used less prevalent as a means of exchange for commodities and other goods, other countries will actually want their principle back on loans and decide not to roll the loans over at maturity.





Either one of the "threats" I listed would demolish any illusion of prosperity that we have. There are many other variables that could come in to play a prick this bubble. We are not immune to economic law. This system that gives the dollar artificial demand is not some magical advent that enables us to live a luxurious lifestyle for free.

When our money is worthless, other countries aren't going to want to export goods to us. Having a bunch of ports, rivers and roads won't change that. That is analogous to giving money to a homeless man and expecting a profit.