How fucked is this country?

[Barack_America]

One scale of 1-10, with 10 being "totally, 100% screwn" and 1 being "hunky dorey, you betcha".

[DontTreadOnMe]

1. I voted 9, when it gets to 10

I am cashing in my 401k and going to Amsterdam for a month until it's all gone.

[shirlden]

8. Meet ya there

But I don't have a 401K. Will just have to max out the savings account.

:hi:

[Angry Dragon]

16. If you have anything left in your 401k

[paulsby]

66. the dow is at 10,000

if you don't have anything left in your 401k, you haven't been investing correctly.

[arcadian]

72. Most here at DU are against war profiteering.

But I guess you have to do what you must.

[paulsby]

73. lol whatever

everybody was whinging when it was under 7k. thats understandable. if you did what your supposed to do and DOLLAR COST average every month, then your 401k should be looking much better than it did, and you would have picked up more at the lower prices.

i've been DCA'ing into my investment account since a few days after i turned 21.

if you don't want to "war profiteer", then invest in a "socially responsible" mutual fund.

[Blue_In_AK]

62. I'm with you,

I gave it a 9. There's still a shred of hope, but not much.

[grantcart]

2. when you live outside the country you spend half of your time completely

embarassed and faking a Canadian accent, and half of the time proud.


To give you one example - the Americans with Disability Act


Tens of millions of people around the world live in isolation and shame because their disability keeps them a prisoner in their home. You don't realize it when you are here but this relatively overlooked act has revolutionized life for millions of people.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. what is interesting is that Bush the firstest signed that into law, and

the conservative GOPers HATED THAT SUCKER.

And despite numerous efforts to weaken some of the most impacting facets, it has changed the mindset of America.

Funny, Nixon signed the clean water and clear air bills into law, and created the EPA. Neither Bush the firstest nor Nixon would be permitted to be GOPers today, though. Not religious enough. Too socialist. Commies, even, what with Nixon talking to China. Excuse me, I have to take this call. My sales agent from Beijing is calling.

[Skittles]

4. if it was 10, bush would still be prez

it's bad though - I'll go with 7

[Barack_America]

14. I went with six. I fully expect it to be at least 8 after another year in Afghanistan.

Damned depressing.

[Divine Discontent]

92. I went with 7 for the same reason, and the health care debacle many face for no reason.

[ixion]

5. completely and utterly screwn

imo...

[keep_it_real]

6. Yea, baby we Americans are 1000% fucked

And I don't use the f work easy in public but we're it.

[Old Codger]

7. Once Was

A leader of nations is now not even capable of following and has been relegated to third world status, is there such a thing as fourth world?? Any country that refuses to care for ALL of it citizens deserves no consideration whatsoever.

[RKP5637]

12. Other countries have been able to do it, we can't, yet not a small number of

citizens think we are absolutely the best. What an insane place this has become IMO.

[Old Codger]

31. pretty

Pathetic for sure.... we have come a long way baby.....Down

[RKP5637]

54. And what bothers me is where the bottom is at... I've read in 2010, for example, commercial

real estate will possibly tank. if so, I think we'll see a considerable mess adding to the mess. I just wonder how much of this stuff we can keep propped up.

We need for one thing a radically new economic model, but none really want to address that. I can see why. Talk about hot potatoes, that would be juggling the hot coals.

Eight years of Bush, Inc. not only took us underwater, it held us underwater.

[Old Codger]

71. That and

Tied weights to our collective feet ....

[Laelth]

9. Interesting poll. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[peace13]

10. It's the people who are *ucked up.

The original concept could be viable with educated people.

[moondust]

22. Yes, some of the people.

Unfortunately there are enough of those people to screw things up for everybody and I don't see that changing any time soon. :(

[RKP5637]

56. Much as Michael Moore once said, we have a system of gov. that basically works, it's the

people that are screwed up.

And also IMO so many ignorant people and damn proud of it... what a scenario for success (NOT).

[Initech]

11. In the words of the late great George Carlin: "We're all fucked. It helps to remember that."

[RKP5637]

13. Too bad George Carlin isn't with us now to remind us again how really fucked up we are!

[Initech]

59. Yeah really. Carlin, Zappa and Hicks are voices we badly need in our society right now.

[Generic Brad]

It could get better

We just have to collectively decide to un-fuck it.

[Generic Brad]

15. It could get better

We just have to collectively decide to un-fuck it.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. FUBAR pretty well sums it up.

[proteus_lives]

18. Look at all the negative nancies!

:rofl:

[Skittles]

24. realists

now get off the fucking floor; you look like a fucking idiot

[proteus_lives]

25. Really?

Is your state on fire? Are roving gangs of punks claiming the highways? Are you starving to death? Have they removed all the "offensive" books from the local library? Internet access down? (Obviously not) Were you turned away from any voting booths? Neighbors resorting to cannibalism? Any local race riots? Burger King out of the chicken sandwiches? (I love those)

Please tell me! What's with the 10? If you could stop eating ashes for a moment and tell me, I'd appreciate it.

[Skittles]

27. listen to you

is that what you describe as fucked? I saw some apartment neighbors getting evicted today - and it's not the first time I've seen it - now THAT IS FUCKED. My friend's son is getting sent to Afghanistan for the THIRD FUCKING TIME - now that is FUCKED. I am working 50-60 hour weeks with no lunch and for less pay - now that is FUCKED. Many of my friends are out of work - now that is FUCKED. There's DUers here who rah-rah no matter how fucked up things are - now that is REALLY FUCKED.

[anigbrowl]

36. You have no idea what 'completely fucked' is like

I have a list of countries that are more fucked than this one. It is long, and if you visited any of these places you would rapidly be shocked out of your little tantrum.

"There's DUers here who rah-rah no matter how fucked up things are - now that is REALLY FUCKED."

I see, anything other than 10 is 'rah-rah'. Uhuh. I voted 6, and even at that I think I'm being histrionic. Get a sense of perspective, even with all our problems Americans still have it far, far easier than people in much of the rest of the world.

[Skittles]

50. I voted 7

I'm just sick of the cheerleading bullshit on DU indicating everything smells like fucking roses

[proteus_lives]

45. What you're describing is called "Hard TImes:"

It occasionally comes around. Nothing you described qualifies for the apocalypse. There millions of people worse off then you. 50-60 hours a week? I wish I could get that much from either of my two jobs!

I'm just amused at the histrionics from various DUers. What good does that do?

[Skittles]

52. hard times with NO REAL SOLUTIONS IN SIGHT

THAT is what makes it FUCKED

[proteus_lives]

65. It's nighttime but that doesn't mean the sun isn't there.

I've yet to see any situation on the national stage that can't be fixed. We're not all dead, nuked or zombified so I believed "FUCKED" is premature.

[Subdivisions]

105. 'I've yet to see any situation on the national stage that can't be fixed.'

Really? So tell me, how are we going to fix the corruption in government and commerce? Also, how are we going to solve the resource (including oil) depletion problem? How can we "fix" these problems?

[proteus_lives]

110. Removing the leftovers from the Bush years....

Would help with the government. Adding regulations and enforcing the existing ones would help in the area of commerce. That would take things back to the normal level of corruption. Resources? Research into new recycling and factory technologies, push the technology that already exists for alternative fuels. That's a start. I'm sure there is a ton of things I missed.

[anigbrowl]

79. OK, you win. Let's all kill ourselves now, there is no hope.

...whatever.

[Starry Messenger]

87. You are "uniquely American" Skittles

:sarcasm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIjo-dWE1Jg

[Dreamer Tatum]

76. I think a great many DUers have a deep longing to believe they live under impossible circumstances

And after seeing the results of this poll, I'm sure of it. I don't know why, but some people just have to feel like they're experiencing the most extreme of human circumstances at all times. Maybe it makes them feel important and consequential, to feel like they're seeing unprecedented and heretofore unlivable times.

This is bullshit, of course, since at worst we're experiencing difficult times. I've noticed that when pressed, a lot of people describe these supposedly "fucked" times in comparatively abstract terms. On a 10-point scale, a 10 means a complete breakdown of social order and a total transition to chaos.

If you or a loved one is being shipped off to war, that is a severe personal hardship and a family crisis. It isn't the complete breakdown of society. And by the way, thank you for your service.

If you are unemployed, that is another severe personal hardship, but as bad as things may seem, the stoplights are still working and you can still get a Slurpee 24 hours a day.

If you or a loved one is being evicted, that sucks on a scale I can hardly imagine, but the streets are not flowing with blood.

10 means that things can't get any worse. Yes, my friend, they sure as hell can get a lot worse.

[proteus_lives]

83. Excellent points.

I agree, some people need to be victims and feel down. I don't get it.

People need to read more history to discover how bad it could be and how good they actually have it.

[Posteritatis]

89. There's some impressive perspective failures around here in general

Remember Obama's address to the US' schoolchildren a few months ago? There were people seriously, sincerely claiming that it was the most authoritarian deed in all human history. (I'm not even hyperbolizing; the claim was explicit and restated several times.)

Stuff like that goes beyond merely wanting to believe our situation is extra super unique, I think; there's just a truly staggering amount of ignorance of even relatively recent history, to say nothing of large swathes of the other ninety-five percent of the human population lately.

(Of course, as evidence of the perspective failure, I imagine some people will want to angrily respond to this by fabricating the claim that I'm saying everything's perfect and I've got nothing to complain about, but, as I mentioned elsewhere, this thread's the type that is a gold mine for the excluded middle.)

[crazyjoe]

84. WHA!? NO LUNCH?!?

Oh the humanity!! You're right, we are FUCKED!!!!

[nachosgrande]

34. LOL

Thanks for that! People can be so histrionic here. It cracks me up.

I voted 5.

[Skittles]

53. up yours

realism is NOT histrionics

[Forkboy]

26. Pass the rose colored glasses when you're done with them.

[proteus_lives]

29. Can I wear your sack-cloth......

If we trade?

How about the those razors? Do you need both of them to cut your wrists?

:rofl:

[Forkboy]

35. A sack cloth would be a step up from the collar you're wearing.

[jus_the_facts]

38. Smackdown...

:fistbump:

[Forkboy]

39. Hey you!

:hi:

:loveya:

[jus_the_facts]

46. Hey backatcha....

:loveya:

[proteus_lives]

43. A collar? "Checks"

Nope. Just a t-shirt.

How about you trade some of that emo-rage for some realism? Because fella, you have no idea what fucked really is. What you and the other posters are bitching about is hard times. Trust me, crack a history book or two. Things could be worse. Or visit one of the billions of people on this earth that would kill to trade places with you.

[jus_the_facts]

44. You have NO idea what the FUCK you're talking about fella...

...so STFU while you're behind.

[proteus_lives]

47. Dupe-sorry.

[proteus_lives]

48. Care to enlighten me cupcake?

Please, oh wise one.

Let me know how horrible things truly are. Explain how you're reaction isn't just based on emotionalism.

Please let us know how we are doomed.


Well??

[jus_the_facts]

57. A billion suns couldn't enlighten you...with your head stuck so far up your ass. n/t

[proteus_lives]

63. You're adorable.

But you haven't added anything to the conversation.

Why are we fucked? I could venture a few theories on why you're fucked. But we're talking about the nation here.

Well???

[jus_the_facts]

106. Here's a clue.... you can ASSUME theories into this void for several lifetimes and never solve it.

:think:

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[Hutzpa]

61. Could you just get outta here

just leave..dude cause you're being ignorant right about now.

[proteus_lives]

64. Please explain.

How am I being ignorant?

Because I'm not joining with all the chicken-littles?

[Forkboy]

51. And there are billions who wouldn't change places with us.

You really think America is the end all be all of great existence?

Because fella, you have no idea what fucked really is.

If I had the time or the inclination I would be happy to relate much of my life to you. You would be embarrassed by your comment here.

[proteus_lives]

67. End all to be all?

I don't think that. There is not such place. I've yet to see a utopia. But the US beats the shit out of most of globe.

Well, embarrass me. What's your tale of woe and tragedy? Because I doubt it's anything new under the sun.

[arcadian]

75. Ouch. seriously ouch.

That is the most well deserved smack up side the head I think I've ever witnessed on DU. :rofl: Good one, Forkboy, there's none so blind as they that won't see.

[HughBeaumont]

19. 9, 10 rising.

All of the easily led angry white men and nervous women out there were too busy buying that "COMM'NISM" "Reds Undah th' Bed" bullshit.

"Th' TV sez if I vote Democrat, that's as good as lettin' the secund Bolshuhvik rev'lution in. WHUT will muh neighbors think if I did that?"

Then for the next 30 years, they were either too scared or too stupid (or both) to realize that all of their jobs were being shipped overseas and all of their tax dollars were either siphoned off to corporations or used to build a war machine that only invaded and not defended. Just like corporate America, "peacetime" militaries can't just get paid and funded to run drills. They gotta do SOMETHING, so why not bomb small sovereign nations that did nothing to us?

The Repukes who ran this country straight into a chasm, in all of their furious energy to compartmentalize and cheapen business, kind of forgot the notion of replacement.

They never replaced the resources they gutted. They never replaced the occupations/careers they destroyed. They never wanted to update the factories to accommodate new technologies.

That was never part of their plan.

They didn't care about infrastructure, health care, education or social safety nets, because it didn't represent direct profits to THEM. Since they don't see direct benefit to raising our wages, they've stagnated them for three decades straight.

Our retail outlets had to be infinitely larger and our industries and white collar jobs cheaper. Fast, perfect, cheap.

Unfortunately, all that does is leave a glut of educated and non-educated workers holding the bag not only for impending and exorbitant college costs, but a job market that's been downright LOUSY for nearly a decade when they're done with this "retraining".

The corporatist's attitude is this: "I got and want EVERYthing. You can TRY to get a smidgen, but at the same time, I'm going to do my absolute godDAMNdest to make SURE you don't get it. This is a one-horse hill, Sonny Jim, and you ain't invading my space!"

For all of it's talk of "we're the most innovative nation", where is the "innovation" happening? NOT HERE. We're simply too expensive. Our third-world work force can do it. For all it's talk of "we're the nation with the most FREEDUM!" . . . sh-yah, right. Lose your job and tell me how free you are. Hell, KEEP your job and tell me how "free" you really are.

Corporations own us lock, stock and barrel, and we're too scared of ARREST, ARREST, ARREST to resist or overtake them. We're so ridiculously tethered to our jobs that there's really no hope of us ever becoming like Europeans.

We think marching on Washington when cable networks won't broadcast it is going to do some good.

You want to impress me? Bust through a gated community and invade the homes of the corporatists. Invade board rooms. Politicians aid and abet them all . . .. the wealthy old man cabal is the source of all this. Force them to start biting bitter pills or we're all doomed.

We live in a nation where a person's success and future is almost completely dependent on how gainfully they're employed.

Replace and rebuild. Wages = consumption. To hell with this "quarterly profits" mindset. Disaster Reaganite Friedman/Hayek Corporatism is over. OVER. That model failed and it should never be brought back.

It's time to innovate again and make this nation what it was supposed to be all along - a LEADER, not a nation that injects a steady high of debt, cable "news", flags and crosses.

[Barack_America]

21. Excellent rant.

I was three years old when Reagan was elected, I sure wish I had the chance to see something other than America's decline.

[Hutzpa]

58. wow

if there is anyway I could rec this, I would, this surely deserves a 1000 recs.

:applause:


:thumbsup:

[Obamanaut]

81. That was great! nt

[Angry Dragon]

20. I wonder who voted for 1 thru 4

[cherokeeprogressive]

42. I gave it a 1.

All the countries in the world taken as a group, I can certainly see the United States being in the top 10%.

[Angry Dragon]

60. Okay

your reasoning makes sense

[Barack_America]

102. Yeah, I think there's lots of ways to look at this...

How f'ed is it according to what is was, what it could/should be, its peers, etc.

Thanks for giving your reasoning.

[Raine]

23. %100 +

and we're being fucked from both sides. :mad:

[bobbolink]

28. FUBAR. For poor folk. The rest of you still have a chance.

Will you remember us?

[TheWatcher]

30. It's at a 10, but for reasons that would probably escape you.

[Dreamer Tatum]

77. If it's at a 10, then you should be able to express in simple terms what the concrete issues are

I'm not seeing any 10's explain why we're fucked for good, though. Anyone who has time and energy to post on an internet message board that we are completely fucked for good either has a ridiculous threshold for fucked-ness or is full of shit.

[Posteritatis]

90. Anyone who has the *ability* to, no less

I'm sure there's plenty of Somalis or Afghans or Ossetians or Iranians or Burmese or what-have-you who would find the doomfest participants in this thread blackly hilarious, if they could access this site at all (or safely).

[Nay]

32. I said 9 -- there's just a glimmer of a possibility that we can pull out

of this. If Obama had turned out to be a forceful Dem willing to fight the Pubs, I would have voted a 5 or 6. But he isn't, and I'm quite disappointed in his appointments, his actions so far, etc. This country and the world have so many pressing problems and it is a CRIME that we are giving any thought at all to the dumbass teabaggers, anti-abortionists, screaming TV and radio yahoos, I could go on and on. But we continue to pay attention to worse than useless shit, so it is pretty certain that we'll soon be paying for this idiocy.

[Motown_Johnny]

33. If you voted 10... how fucked were we with the Pukes in charge?

[anigbrowl]

37. At least we had each other - sob!

[Forkboy]

40. We're still heading over a cliff, just at a slower speed.

Approaching it at 100 mph or just 60 mph still means we're going over.

And that's my optimistic outlook! ;)

[NickB79]

49. Ding, ding, ding!!!

I voted 9 not because we're currently fucked, but because we will be definitely fucked in the next decade or so. Between economic and environmental problems, it's gonna be really bad.

[ixion]

93. yep...

all these money grabs have done is to stave off the inevitable... and in doing so, we're made it worse.

[Barack_America]

100. The slower speed gives more time to fiddle with the seat belt.

And what exactly is the car? Our country or our govt. in its current iteration?

[Forkboy]

103. That's my only hope.

And i would say it's the country as a whole. We have some bigger problems coming our way with global warming and the resulting economic and human upheaval it may well cause, but we're incapable of thinking beyond the next election cycle. The shortsightedness we display will come back to haunt us.

[Strelnikov_]

69. Eleven n/t

[thepeopleunited]

70. They're still in charge.

Has anything actually changed?

[Greyhound]

41. 8, with a bullet. n/t

[TicketyBoo]

55. I don't even want

to think about it. Please?

[thepeopleunited]

68. We're toast.

Predatory global scourge controlled by psychopaths. We haven't had a democracy since 1963.

[ecstatic]

74. This country has a LOT of issues, but I can't help but

be grateful that I have shelter, food to eat, and am not living in a war zone. I wouldn't feel right voting "10" when so many people around the world are truly suffering.

[lib_wit_it]

78. 9. With the coporatocracy & the idiocracy in charge & in cahoots, things are going downhill fast.

Thank you, George W Shrubaya.

[LibDemAlways]

80. I voted 10, but it's worse than that.

[Political Heretic]

82. The economy, infastruction and political system is fucked completely, but we the people....

...we can come together and rebuild something when it all comes crashing down. We'll be ok. From the ashes of individualist greed run amok and we can build something that is once again rooted in community and in the "commons" and truly of and for the people...

...then that might last 150-200 years before it becomes corrupt and destroys itself.

And so it goes. :)

[Barack_America]

99. I like your optimism.

I only went with a "6" in hopes we might be able to accomplish something like that.

I have more faith in the American people, than I do the American govt., teabaggers and all. We all have the willingness to sacrifice for something bigger than ourselves. Maybe that's the true legacy of our founding fathers. In any case, should we all ever decide to cut the shit and work together, I think we can still bring this country back.

Maybe.

[Fumesucker]

85. Other: We are so fucked that we won't see the light from fucked for ten billion years..

To paraphrase Roseanne.. :)

[Posteritatis]

86. This thread is a gold mine of false dilemmas. (nt)

[cali]

88. well said. n/t

[shadowknows69]

91. Roman orgy fucked.

[AngryAmish]

94. Every citizen in Illinois owes $7,000 in unfunded pension obligations to government workers

If you figure only about half of all the citizens work, we have to come up with $14,000 each which we haven't been taxed for yet. Plus the baby boomers are about to retire, so fewer people to work to pay all of this.

Goodbye IL.

[cali]

95. What's particulolarly amusing about this moronic thread

is that most of you posting from your cozy little homes in front of your spiffy little computers will be posting the same shit on DU circa 2019.

[Echo In Light]

96. The necessary illusions of so-called rep democracy fade as corporate power grinds life into dust

... and actually, it's at this point when it becomes most eerie, watching scores of people choose to remain in denial over the obvious. It also explains a lot of widespread, free-floating contempt and anger one experiences...the reality of it all, and in all the ways it manifests itself, bearing down upon the illusory, failed democratic experiment of the U.S. This in part is why the unwavering 'cheerleader' crowd of the Name Brand parties have become so rabid and short-fused as they run out speculative possibilities (that dance around the obvious, that our Reps serve corporate power, not The People) to explain what's occurring.

[cali]

98. Denial? This is where I live.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6974476&mesg_
id=6974624

What you fail to grasp is that not everyone views things the way you do. What you fail to grasp is that you fall into a long line of those who are apocalyptic. Really, the psychology of your ilk is very little different from the Jesus idiot proclaiming that the end time is here. You're secular apocalypticists.

I can both recognize that the world, including this country is deeply flawed and filled with misery- nothing terribly new about that- and live locally, act locally and find satisfaction in my life. Sorry you don't have the ability to do that, but the prism with which YOU view the world through is actual for thee, but not necessarily for me.

[Echo In Light]

104. That was a given - no explanation required. Also, you know zero about my personal life...

... so your back-handed jabs at, in your view, my supposed inability to "find satisfaction in life" is 110% wishful thinking bullshit.

Nowhere is it written that the American empire goes on forever, and I'm not clouded w/delusions of grandeur to suppose that I'm going to somehow alter the outcome.

[a la izquierda]

97. I think over the next 5-10 years...

you will see a serious brain drain from the United States, particularly in the liberal arts and social sciences.
I'm actively looking for jobs elsewhere, upon receiving my PhD next year. My husband is on the fence, unless I get a job in Canada.

When that happens, all hope is lost.

[Odin2005]

101. 8

[closeupready]

107. 5 - I think it definitely is if we don't change course, and Obama ain't doing that.

I am getting very worried.

[Burma Jones]

108. Reagan's America has jumped the shark........

Pyramid schemes always fail......

We've been "everyone for themselves" for decades now.....

[taught_me_patience]

109. 5 - I'm concerned about the rise of religious fundamentalism

and distain for intellectualism. However, I'm pretty confident that the economy will be ok for the rest of my lifetime.

[comrade snarky]

111. About a Seven

Lot of work to be done and a lot of idiots who by all rights should have been eaten by wolves long ago but "totally screwn"? No, no where near that yet. Hell, we're not even to Thatcher's England yet. Another Bush term would have done it.


Looking at the responses on this thread I didn't know so many DUers lived in Somalia.