The DU Lounge

And that is still a driving factor, obviously. But it seems to me there has been a huge change with this wave of robber barons. Many of them have no real connection to the US. The most powerful forces are now international. They have no interest in the advancement of Americans: no interest in our standard of living, cost of health care, cost of housing, level of education, or even average life expectancy (which has been dropping).

To them, the USA is just another market to exploit, and they have found it very easy to take over our political system to provide essentially no resistance to their exploitation.

A generation or two ago, one heard lots of rhetoric about America being a beacon for the world, the city on the hill and so on. Much of that has always been bullshit and gaslighting. But now, it seems that politicians aren't even trying to spout off about "American exceptionalism" any more. We now have one of the most corrupt societies, governments, and economic systems in the world, Yet, the average person, while accumulating impossible debt and many facing poverty in their senior years, don't seem to even care about these things.

Gotta run. Football games start in 90 minutes. That's just enough time for me to go buy my weekly lottery tickets, place my bets on the football games, and grab a cold 12-pack.