Turquoise wrote:
IMHO, I think World War 2 did. You have to remember that America was relatively weak before WW2. It wasn't until we amassed a huge and powerful military and that Europe and East Asia were left in shambles after the war that America became such a superpower. When the Soviets fell later on, then we were definitely on top.
Relatively weak how? Economically? This thread is primarily about the American Dream, which is primarily about individual economic success, made possible in the micro scale by macro opportunity. The late 1800s and the 1920s might be the best time period examples of this idea.
It's true that strategically we were not on top until relatively recently, but quite honestly a strong military is only an offshoot of an excellent economy, at least as exemplified in the U.S. We won WWII out of sheer production, and it's how we outlasted the commies.
Turquoise wrote:
During that time we spent on top, however, we focused heavily on outsourcing. It was only natural that companies would look for cheaper ways to do business, and in the process, they raised the standard of living of many of these countries. Unfortunately, our education system didn't keep up. We decided to subsidize industries where America didn't have the comparative advantage of producing their goods. Automakers and agriculture come to mind.
We have always primarily respected American ingenuity. Not necessarily outsmarting our enemies or beating them out technologically, though that is typically the result, but finding ways of doing more with less better and faster. So long as outsourcing does not interfere with our ability to do just that, we shouldn't have gone anywhere relatively. As we ship unskilled jobs overseas, we should have had entrepreneurs filling in those gaps. They should have been driving education, as one way or another the number of people with a college degree would have gone up if the demand for skilled labor was there. As a culture we should have continued to push ourselves to excel in times of contentment, but we got lazy instead.
Turquoise wrote:
Instead of throwing money at these industries, we should've spent that money on better educating our workforce, but now, it's too late.All we can do now is damage control. We can slowly move our workforce toward higher skills, but the debt we've accrued through things like these bailouts will eventually bring us down. Still, politicians will continue to support them because all they care about is the short run (getting re-elected).
No.
God's sake be careful about what you say around your/my generation, that's the last thing we need to be hearing. Even if it is true, telling people that won't help the situation at all. Rousing people to better their standing in life should be the goal of the generation behind mine, it's the least they can do after the state of affairs they have given us.
Turquoise wrote:
So, essentially, not having a truly free market kind of fucked us.
<3
