America has a lot of problems. It needs to invest far more in education and health care so that everyone gets access to decent quality levels of both. It needs to improve its social safety net so that we reduce the numbers of homeless and the level of food insecurity. And it needs to treat its undocumented immigrants and prison population far more humanely.
But when creepy Donald Trump and weird JD Vance talk of America’s decline, they are not calling for the improvement of any of those things. What they are describing is a largely fictional set of problems designed to make their supporters think that the country is on the verge of collapse when it is manifestly not.
Kevin Drum looks at eleven complaints they make and compares it with macro-economic markers of the economy and says that the country is nowhere close to being in decline and is in fact doing quite well. What creepy Trump and weird Vance are describing is based on (is anyone surprised?) lies. Drum sums up:
If you take Trump seriously, America is besieged by poverty, native-born workers are unable to get jobs, drug use is skyrocketing, World War III is imminent if Democrats win, gasoline prices are through the roof, crime is rampant, wages are dropping, inflation is eating up our paychecks, the auto industry is about to implode, Democrats are working furiously to steal the election, Christianity is under siege, and before long a quarter of the country will be illegal immigrants.
If I believed all that, I might vote for Trump too. But none of it is.
Sure, we have problems. Everyone does. Ours include climate change, Black education gaps, drug overdose deaths, teen depression, and a high national debt.
But that’s nothing compared to what’s right with America. Economic growth is strong. Inflation is low again. Everyone who wants a job has one. Wages are going up. Illegal immigration is moderating. Manufacturing is set to grow. Poverty has been steadily dropping for a decade. We are no longer fighting in any wars. Our kids are mostly very well educated. We are energy independent. We conquered COVID in less than a year. Our entrepreneurial vigor is the best in the world by leagues. The poor have access to a wide range of assistance programs. Teen pregnancies are way down. Technological progress in medicine, AI, and renewable energy promises a spectacular future. And finally, with the usual exception of sub-Saharan Africa, the world is surprisingly peaceful.
It’s long past time to rid ourselves of self-serving bellyachers like Trump and focus instead on the abundant strengths that make us, by a good bit, the best place to live in the world and the country with the brightest future.
Drum goes too far in painting a rosy picture of the world and America. He ignores the horror that is happening in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. And claiming that the US is “the best place to live in the world and the country with the brightest future” is almost jingoistic in its “America, Yeah!” tone.
Pointing out creepy Trump-weird Vance lies is one thing. It is not necessary to go overboard in praise for the the US.
Kevin Drum has probably never been in Denmark, Norway or the Netherlands. Maybe not even nearby Canada.
Notice to gun enthusiasts; Canada has plenty of guns for hunters and hobbyists, you just have to jump through some regulatory hoops to get permits (something to do with avoiding mass shootings).
And once Germany sorts out assorted economic troubles and replace their old copper telecom network they will be the powerhouse of Europe. Without weirdos like Musk.
Oh hell yeah, them damn illegal aliens are coming over here and taking away jobs that we won’t do.
“They bringin’ the sumbitchin’ jobs in and then they takin’ ’em all away from the tax-payin’ Americans that don’t wanna do the damn jobs. Open your damn eyes!”
“We are no longer fighting in any wars.” -- We just had some soldiers injured while going after some ISIS forces.
“Our kids are mostly very well educated.” -- I’m glad he said “mostly”, but I would remove the “very well”. And it’s going to get worse with further privatization.
“We conquered COVID in less than a year.” -- People are still dying of COVID.
“And finally, with the usual exception of sub-Saharan Africa, the world is surprisingly peaceful.” -- When did Gaza and Ukraine become part of sub-Saharan Africa?
Larpar @ 3
“When did Gaza and Ukraine become part of sub-Saharan Africa?”
Thank you.
I am so weary of politicians trying to smooth over contradictions with weasel words, wether they are in USA or in my native country.
The first step to solutions must be to admit a problem exist.
For instance, it may be necessary for the Democrats to throw the civilians in Gaza under the bus to defeat Trump in the election campaign, but that does not make it a goddamn virtue. Wars are ongoing, and the American politicians could do something about them but choose not to.
I will not blame mini-states like Monaco or Luxembourg because they lack the oomph to impose change. USA is the only remaining superpower but looks on as bad shit happens. That is a choice.
TIL that we “conquered COVID” instead of it still raging, that the Middle East and Ukraine are honorary members of sub-Saharan Africa, and that sonofrojblake thinks there’s a fourth payment option available to ordinary folks (as distinct from those wire transfers rich people and corporations use to schlep millions around at a time) besides cash/debit, credit card, and cheque. And that this payment option can be used to pay for stuff at websites in addition to credit cards. And that it apparently isn’t advertised anywhere at all. (And no, layers of indirection like “pay at site X using Paypal and pay at Paypal by credit card” do not count as a “fourth” payment option, or a non-credit-card one. So presumably he means something else. I’ve no idea what; it must be something indigenous to his continuum.)
I think that democracy in America is, and has been, in decline, which I might call deep. Even before Trump.
An organization that does this sort of thing, years before 2016, went around and assessed the degree of democracy in various country’s governments. America wasn’t high on the list: in fact, they ranked the US as only partially democratic, and that at least a partial autocracy was really the better way to describe it.
They meant all the very rich and those in congress, judiciary, even presidency, who were bought by them, were basically a ruling autocracy.
Naturally, the very existence of democracy is in danger now, but it was declining before, and, even if Trump and his MAGA republicans don’t win this election, I don’t see that autocracy going away, just getting more powerful.
Replying here because, well, I’ve been referred to here. Apologies for what appears to be offtopic to the OP. On topic stuff later in this:
Today I learned that Bekenstein Bound doesn’t understand how debit cards work.
Context: they’ve complained elsewhere about being required to “debt finance” any access to streaming services, e.g. Netflix. It’s unclear where their impression that this is a requirement has come from. It has been pointed out that there is no requirement to debt-finance this stuff, but the response is above -- they apparently have to use credit to purchase things online, even though debit cards exist, because, er…. anyone?
Also: “indigenous to my continuum” is a reference to the fact that Bekenstein Bound has expressed annoyance that the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ended on a cliffhanger and the show has been cancelled -- which is a legitimate sort of thing to complain about, I agree. Except…
In my “continuum”, the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds won’t be broadcast until 2025, there’s currently no publicly available information as to what the plot of the final episode is going to be, and a fourth season was ordered back in April of this year (2024). When I pointed these facts out, they suggested we were in different universes, which in fairness would explain a LOT.
If you’re wondering which universe YOU are in, a simple way to check is to go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Strange_New_Worlds_season_3
———-
On topic:
I can only assume whoever wrote that has not visited, much less lived in, Canada, Europe, Australia or New Zealand.
I mean, it’s not terrible. Only 48 countries in the world have a lower child-under-5 mortality rate, for instance.
The per capita rate of intentional homicide is lower in the US than it is in Jamaica, South Africa, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, the Bahamas and FIFTY other countries. The list of positives go on.
For instance, El Salvador, Cuba, Rwanda, Turkmenistan and American Samoa ALL incarcerate a greater proportion of their population than the US.
The USA has a literacy rate of 86% -- higher than Guyana, Honduras, El Salvador and almost SEVENTY other countries.
And if everything goes right, the US might elect the first woman ever to be its head of government this year, and how many other countries can say THAT, huh? Only a little over ninety.
So America, fuck yeah!
sonofrojblake @#7,
Using a new thread to get around the comment limit for a thread will not be allowed even if accompanied by an apology. There will be no more warnings.
sonofrojblake: Replying here because, well, I’ve been referred to here. Apologies for what appears to be offtopic to the OP. On topic stuff later in this: Today I learned that Bekenstein Bound doesn’t understand how debit cards work…
Um…okay…so maybe refer BB to a blog post about debit cards…?
Ah -- a new rule. I can’t reply to post 5 in *this* thread, because the person i’m replying to -- who brought me up *by name* and offtopic even though i hadn’t posted in this thread *at all* -- referred to something somewhere else? OK, fair enough, I’ll try to keep up.
Essentially going forward anyone can say anything they like to or about me, regardless of its accuracy, and I’d just better not ever respond in my defence. Seems fair. Duly noted.
There always has to be one person who claims they don’t understand simple rules. It’s akin to the trump campaign attempting to claim they weren’t aware that the rules forbid filming in Arlington.
I think Drum goes too far with his assertions of American greatness. It’s quite telling that his world view doesn’t reflect the experience of women having their civil rights stripped away or anyone who is poor.
Ivory towers tend to make one out of touch.
I also found the omission of Gaza and Ukraine quite distasteful. It sounded an awful lot like a racist dog whistle to claim that sub-Saharan Africa is the only place where violence and war are currently occurring.
Using my last post in this thread to test if the one above was my last ever.
If not, then I’m happy to pledge to abide by the new updated policy, as i willingly abided by the first one in both its original form (“simple rule: three posts each”) and its second form (“three posts each unless you’re not on an unpublished list in which case you needn’t worry “). I never tried to rules-lawyer this, but was suckered into responding to something that had been started elsewhere by someone who is ostensibly new to the site (and this timeline, it seems). More fool me to think that was going to be allowed (for me).
If so, well i can honestly say it was interesting and enjoyable to interact with all but one of the other commenters here and I’ll miss it.
[Now I’ll forever be wondering if it’s me or Morales. (joke)]
#8 Mano
For whatever it might be worth, Beckenstein was the first to pursue sonof from one thread to another with that conversation about television content and streaming services.