Elections Is the US on the upward trend or downward?

[Super_Nintendo]

Republican voters: "Greatest Country in the World!!"

Also Republican voters: "Failed State!!! Third world banana republic!!"

greatest system in the world that's been undermined by marxists.

inb4 "u doNt kNoW whAt maRxiSm iS!"

 

[N13]

Crisis economics is the guide.

 

[Super_Nintendo]

america already lost. results will show in a decade after china finishes picking up their spoils.

 

[shunyata]

They do not make that declarative in the past tense, they simultaneously call the US the greatest Country (especially when expressing xenophobia) and a banana republic.

It's like Shrodinger's Immigrant.

He is simultaneously an unemployed lazy criminal mooching off the welfare state while also taking all of your jobs and voting 300 times in every election.

 

[HARRISON_3]

Nine Inch Nails named an album about it

Pretty Hate Machine?

 

[icemun]

Would you say the US is getting better or worse? I'm talking about in general here spanning years or decades. If you say we're getting worse, which decade would you say is the peak USA?

Thats a vague ass question.

The core of conservatism and religion is that everything is bad and getting worse. MAGA

 

[Copper Burner]

Thats a vague ass question.

The core of conservatism and religion is that everything is bad and getting worse. MAGA

I would disagree with your definition of core.

Is everything getting better or worse in your opinion?

 

[James Eagle]

It's a simple calculation, and, yes, it's proved. Instead of insulting people for knowing more than you do, just do the most minimal research on the issue.

where's the proof? mr inflation is trans

 

[icemun]

I would disagree with your definition of core.

Is everything getting better or worse in your opinion?

Everything?

Whats everything?

Its totally relative to the individual.

 

[Copper Burner]

Thats a vague ass question.

The core of conservatism and religion is that everything is bad and getting worse. MAGA

You used "everything" first. What did you mean?

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

The '70s were the worst decade for America post-WWII (and all post-war decades were better than the pre-war ones). Until the 2020s, the '90s were probably the best decade. Mild recession at the end of the '90s that we had a really slow, painful recovery from, followed by the bottom dropping out in 2007, and then by 2015, we were mostly recovered from that. We recovered really quickly from the disastrous 2019-2020, and things have never been better across all areas.

Of course the US is one of the richest countries with the largest economy but Most of the gains have gone to the top though.

On most modern indices within the last few years that measure human development, the US generally ranks alongside developing nations in almost every metric. It also ranks as a 'flawed democracy' in democracy indices which is no surprise considering a large portion of its citizens seem to reject democracy and Trumps insurrection attempt(and all the apologists for it) is proof of that.

 

[Blayt7hh]

IMO it's worse, but not catastrophically bad, yet. Read something the other day that 50% of people in their 20s live with their parents. Home ownership is going to be out of reach for a lot of people, I do think we're going to have an issue with people having to work to an older and older age. I still believe in upward mobility in the US as long as you're reasonably intelligent and driven, but the days of a single income family with kids in a decent area is over for the middle class.

It’s because young people today refuse to pull themselves up by their bootstraps!! It’s not because they face challenges that didn’t exist in the 80s and 90s no way!!! Horrible people.

I was thinking about how bad college tuition has gotten the other day. I mean it was out of hand imo when I went 20 years ago now. Now it’s just off the rails.

The thing these bootstrap types don’t understand is that this will have knock on effects. This will hurt the economy in the long run as more and more people are unable to go to school

 

[Blayt7hh]

I'd say we're about flat.

We took a hit in the 80s and effects started showing up in the 2000s. At this point, those effects are essentially stabilized both socially and economically.

We're at a bit of a tipping point though. A huge swath of the nation refuses to understand the impact of divisive economic policy and have been convinced to fight culture wars issues while being completely ignorant and indifferent to the economic issues that have created the current environment.

I feel like 2016 was the decision point. We could have went with Bernie and began a long uncomfortable process of revitalizing the middle class and undoing the damage done to it over the last 40 years of trickledown economics. Or we could sling mud at each other and bicker over trannies and BLM.

We went with the later. I blame the Democrat party more than anyone for this though.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Things are more expensive, and people make more money. We adjust for inflation when we look at this stuff. As I pointed out to the other guy, adjusting for cost growth, the median American household makes $20K more than they did in the mid-'80s. Again, I don't know your personal situation (though people are even better off below the median on average).


Yes, healthier by real measures. Free, yeah. What freedom do you think we've lost in the last five years?

Uh no @James Eagle is actually right on the healthier issue. Average life span has dropped recently and no it’s not just covid that caused it.

He’s right that obesity is a serious problem that’s only gotten worse year after year. There’s also alarming new trends of people getting types of cancer that never used to show up in younger people. That’s likely due to chemicals in our diet, but it’s only a theory at this point and it isnt known right now.

The health care system itself has been in decline and nothing has been done by Congress to correct this. Unless AI gets good enough to start playing doctor, this is a real problem that’s going to get catastrophic in the coming decades.

So no we definitely are not healthier than we’ve ever been. That’s an unfortunate reality we can’t just sweep under the rug.

 

[Ruprecht]

OP is a bit inadequate, you have to define what trends you are looking at.
Most of the measures of decline of the US are relative measures, and are a result of development in the rest of the world.
Absolute mobility in the US has been in decline since the '40s though. With a brief period of respite when it flatlined in the '90s.
Little wonder the rise of populism.

 

[AbominableJoman]

Definitely downward trend. The country is more divided than ever. Half the people don’t even know the difference in a man and woman. People cheer killing babies. People fight to disfigure children. People get jobs for reasons like their skin color and where they stick their genitalia, instead of skill and experience. Things are more expensive than ever. Pretty sad….

 

[Jack V Savage]

Of course the US is one of the richest countries with the largest economy but Most of the gains have gone to the top though.

There have been gains all over. To get into the specifics requires a more specific time frame, but up and down the income scale, Americans are better off than ever before.

On most modern indices within the last few years that measure human development, the US generally ranks alongside developing nations in almost every metric.

What does this mean? What are you referring to?

It also ranks as a 'flawed democracy' in democracy indices which is no surprise considering a large portion of its citizens seem to reject democracy and Trumps insurrection attempt(and all the apologists for it) is proof of that.

There are some bad trends on the right, and there is a short-term threat to democracy, but there has also been a lot of progress on the freedom front. And we've always had a radical right. Not that long ago, we had Jim Crow, the Hays Code, women couldn't get credit, gays couldn't marry, we had a draft, there were strict regulations on political commentary over the airwaves, airfare prices were regulated by the gov't, etc. A lot of that goes back decades, but look at how people feel that their freedom of speech is infringed upon if a specific website bans them. We didn't even have websites where ordinary people could be widely read until pretty recently.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Uh no @James Eagle is actually right on the healthier issue. Average life span has dropped recently and no it’s not just covid that caused it.

Life expectancy has gone up consistently since the end of the Civil War. There was a short dip because of COVID, but it's rising again, and projected to continue to rise.

He’s right that obesity is a serious problem that’s only gotten worse year after year. There’s also alarming new trends of people getting types of cancer that never used to show up in younger people. That’s likely due to chemicals in our diet, but it’s only a theory at this point and it isnt known right now.

Obesity has risen, but malnutrition has fallen dramatically. This is a consequence of us being a richer country. We're doing a better job of treating cancer than ever before, and age-adjusted cancer rates have been falling (down a lot even post-2000).

The health care system itself has been in decline and nothing has been done by Congress to correct this. Unless AI gets good enough to start playing doctor, this is a real problem that’s going to get catastrophic in the coming decades.

So no we definitely are not healthier than we’ve ever been. That’s an unfortunate reality we can’t just sweep under the rug.

The reality is that we definitely are healthier than ever, and *that* is what people want to sweep under the rug. A lot of people on the left and right have ideologically motivated reasons for denying progress, but progress is real and undeniable.

 

[Jack V Savage]

there is no proof people were paid more to adjust for inflation. you are dreaming

You can just look up median real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) income over time. Are you not aware that that is measured? Even if you don't believe in stats, you can look at prices in old ads and look at nominal wage changes and compare.

 

[ferrisjso]

There's never been a better time to be an American, but the best is still to come.

Do all your evil technocrat comrades feel the same way? They unironically think 2023 is the best its ever been to be an American? Not 1945, not 1991, not 1956, 2023? Dear lord you are getting high on your own supply.

The consensus opinion among your ilk is the 90s were the peak of the American Empire as the US acheived unipolarity, had a budget surplus(not that this is a good thing but your brethen think it is) and cultivated the internet era.