What Is Destroying America? (Your Opinion)

In your words, what would you say is destroying America the most?

Conservative resistance to inevitable progress.

/thread

One and done.

Where should i start? First of all, get money out of politics. The way it's now, you can bribe anyone in congress and no one even bats an eye at you. Hell the senators even beg for money to campaign with... Police brutality has to stop in the us. Killing people has become normal, hell cases like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown where unarmed kids get shot is normal. The fascination with guns that US has is unhealthy, while stuff like porn, music, games, and much more are considered the reason for people killing each other. You also need more than a two party system. That much is clear. Mass shootings are also a major issue you guys have.

Prisons are filled with people that often don't have anything to do there and are there because they are private prisons and the companies pressure judges to give people sentances. Religion is also a major reason. Conservatives/religious people are holding back progress and can't fathom something as simple as Evolution or basic science and would rather follow a book that makes no sense at all. Wether it's the Quaran, the bible or whatever.

- continuous banking failures that the public is being held responsible for

- ever growing wealth gaps, where mere mention of the problem is considered class warfare.

- military budget that is completely unsustainable in the long term.

These are the biggest problems, and they are often overshadowed by trivial ones; gun policy, gay marriage, abortion etc.

Nothing, America is perfect.

America is not being "killed" or even dying. USA has a positive GDP growth rate, and Americans are richer than they used to be. Western Europe and Japan is in a worse economic crisis. They have a higher unemployment rate than the USA, lower gdp growth rate (Source) and they still have a lower per capita gdp, and a lower median income. What you mean to say is "Why are other countries rising faster than the USA." And I don't know the answer to that question.

What is going on is the natural shift in power. Before much of the world's power belonged to Rome, China , Persia, and the UK, then that power shifted to the USA. For long most of the world's power resided in the western hemisphere. Now power is starting to shift from Europe and USA to China, India, and wealthy middle east countries whose population and gdp is growing far faster than almost any western country. Many western countries and Japan are starting to lose people due to low fertility rates, plus their economies are growing at a slower rate, but China and India already have a ton of people, plus some wealthy Arab countries are gaining population due to their high fertility rate and fast growing GDPs.

Its not only the USA, many western European countries and Japan are in a worse economic conditions. What is happening is the shift in power from the west to the east (or whatever. )

This too.

@crazyguy111: So why are you guys 14 trillion bucks in debt and the minumum wage hasn't gone up with the inflation?

I agree it should go up, and thats hurting the American economy. But when it comes to debt PER CAPITA, European countries are just as bad (Source) . Euro countries just have less gdp, so they can handle less debt than the US of A can which has a 16 trillion gdp.

Also the minimum wage per hour is about the same if not more than western Europe (Source)

I major in economics and finance. lol

America? Why just America? The same problems are affecting Europe as well, the biggest problem is corporates which can rake in billions of profit and pay pennies of tax, when poor families pay a far higher percentage and are thousands of dollars in debt because the company they work for(if they're so lucky) make tonnes of profit but pay f**k all in return. That's the big problem.

capitalism. /thread.

wrong, minumun wage here is 20 bucks

See that's not really a fair assessment of the situation. Capitalism is the entire reason why we have all this money to lose. It enabled vast corporations to be built and jobs that pay higher then at any point in history. The wealth and technology we have today was all created on the wings of capitalism. However I do believe we are entering into uncharted territories. That is we have reached a point where the rules that had originally government capitalism no longer have the same effect because of the vast wealth and the worldwide economy that has been established. You make capitalism seem bad when it is the primary reason why we have so much wealth. However now that we have the wealth we do, governing that wealth is the problem. I don't have a solution to fix the problem but dissolving capitalism certainly isn't it.

America is just part of a continent, you can't actually kill something that is not alive.

Debt.

US debt is actually $17.6 Trillion with a estimated $120-250 trillion worth of unfunded liabilities.

The two party system.

I am already aware of many of the things you just said. And Americans do have it way better than a lot of other countries. But my question wasn't "what is destroying the world" or "what is destroying other countries", it was "What is destroying America".

I understand and respect you comment, by the way.

This but I'd replace "conservative" with right-wing, republican or "neo-con"

Threads like this that encourage hate-filled rants instead of focusing on solutions to the country's problems...

Trying to be the world's police force and always screwing ourselves over in the process. Start at 1:00

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/full-episodes/fansuc/july-29--2014---sara-firth

Lobbying is another major reason as well as banks. Banks and Wall Street can always count on the lower classes to bail them out.

Corporations also not paying their fair share of taxes.

A mufti-faceted set of issues ranging from societal to political.

• Broadening gap between the rich and poor, including the ultra-rich paying almost no taxes via loopholes and off-shore banking.
• Sacrifice of freedoms for "safety".
• Racism and general discrimination against outsiders and those who are "different" (amongst most communities). The "melting pot" isn't working.
• Focus of spending on military rather than science and medicine.
• Inability to generate meaningful and lasting jobs for the citizenry rather than outsourcing to China.
• Public education generating students only capable of the bare minimum and not given the tools to succeed in life.
• Militarization of the police and low standards for hiring (creating a lot of bad eggs ruining the show for everyone else).
• Republicans (i.e. social conservatism).
• Religion making it into politics and almost every facet of the government that it shouldn't be in.

Too state a few problems.

The media

yep

This and our inability to quit sticking our noses into other country business instead of putting our entire focus on America....

When an MBA became more important than an engineering degree, the world was on the fast track to hell. The world's brightest would rather gamble than invent, or cure diseases. It is all about the mighty dollar, and the quickest way to make it.

Agree with big problems being overshadowed by small ones.

Very well said.

rich people.

People blaming everybody else for the countries problems and never manning up to their own screw ups. Neither the left or right are perfect, both suck.

The most? The federal government.

The federal government was never intended to be as big as it is today. That's our biggest problem.

Change for the sake of change isn't progress. Progress is the change of things for the advancement of all people. Being on the left doesn't mean by default you are doing that, or even correct. Neither side is infallible, best to just man up and admit you are human and capable of error no matter what side you are on.

@Starshine_M2A2: "Threads like this that encourage hate-filled rants instead of focusing on solutions to the country's problems"

LOL!!!

On topic: Sean Hannity having air time and any other American that agrees with him or has the same attitude and debating skills as him. :P

China...

God I hate them

Nothing is destroying America. It's fine. There are problems but nothing is tearing the country apart.

One word: GREED.

Hate is a strong word and you know it.

@BlackGenjii: Take your pic: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Wal-mart, Comcast, AT&T, etc... any of these power-hungry companies as well as government such as the NSA or TSA, hell, maybe even all these Asian countries, everything sold in America seems to be made from there.

Obama!!!

i blame communism

if companies didnt have to pay taxes they would hire people they dont need or want right

Pessimism; all the other reasons mentioned above stem from this.

People who blame -insert name- while trying not to fix the problem, greed, the lack of actually increasing minimum wage to match today's cost of living, crappy education system, I can go on and on but I need my coffee.

With the increase in U.S. popuation, it makes sense that the gov't would proportionally expand.

Minimum wage is not meant to be a liveable wage. One needs training, experience and certification to make a liveable wage.

Then how are people on minimum wage supposed to live? It sounds like you want them to die.

Haha, good one.

A minimum wage job is a stepping stone to greater skills training and more money. People shouldn't expect to sit at an entry level position for the rest of their lives and continue to make more and more money.

And if they are unable or unwilling to get a better job, then what? Should they die?

You don't seem to understand that we don't live in a magical wonderland where everyone is able to get a great job. Many people will be stuck either unemployed or in low pay jobs for the rest of their lives.