Why is America falling apart?

xinglitain · #1 (**permalink**) 10-13-2009, 11:29 PM

Why is America falling apart?Because of cheap crappy Chinese products and all the other Chinese companies.their products are poor quality and just at very low price .they make our products hard to sell out !their behavior is too disgusting ! isn't it?

wincrasher · #2 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 06:45 AM

While this message may just be spam, it does bring up an interesting point.

Our problem is not the Chinese. We love to villify others - somebody must be doing it to us.

Like the rest of our problems, they are of our own making.

In half a generation, China has gone from almost an agrerain, feudal society to industrial powerhouse. Think the policies of the USA have anything to do with it?

Think "most favored nation" status has anything to do with it? Tax treatment for foreign investments? Think our government encourages off-shoring manufacturing? Think the stage was set for Wall Street to encourage the movement of whole industries?

Perhaps the collapse of the dollar will encourage a giant "rethink" of domestic manufacturing by forcing a change in the nation's business model. But I doubt it.

Radiance · #3 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 07:50 AM

Yes, spam. I am NOT checking out that website for anything.

And now, my two cents:

I think it is free competition.
If you could make a cheap product that sells like crazy, wouldn't you?

That said, I stay away from chinese made products unless backed up by a good company I know from somewhere else.
I don't trust chinese made toys because of the led scare.
In general, if It says "Made in China" I go out of my way to check on its quality.

Now, first, I don't think America is falling apart nor do I believe there is one single reason to explain the negatives we do face today. It is more complex than that.

CAll to the moderator, can you remove the website reference, other than that, good topic

EEinNJ · #4 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 09:17 AM

I avoid buying products made in China as much as possible. Sometimes it can't be helped, such as mail order from a reputable retailer like Cabela's- and the item you bought turns out to be made in China.
I won't shop at Wal-Mart, either, for that reason and more.

The American consumer's appetite for cheap crap is to blame. Chinese manufacturing will supply it with workforce that will work cheap, in unsafe conditions.

arthurb999 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 09:30 AM

Because of obama...

Snodog · #6 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 12:31 PM

Come on!, everyone knows the real reasons America is falling apart is because of 4 things. Al Qaeda/Gore, the internets, sex preditors, global warming, and supply side economics.

lovcom · #7 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arthurb999

Because of obama...

What an ignorant response. America has been bombed with cheap low quality products from China for many years.

America is falling apart because the Bush Admin turned on the off-shoring spigot full blast, and has allowed services and manufacturing jobs to leave our shores enmass. In addition, the American public has gotten too comfy with life, and we have become stupid and lazy too. Go to any Ivy league univerisity and you will see more foreign students them American citizens.

We are doing it to ourselves and we have NO ONE to blame but our selves.

Example: GM is in the toilet NOT because Americans didn't buy enough of their craaap cars. The reason is beacuse GM makes craaap cars.

buildmybudget · #8 (**permalink**) 10-14-2009, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lovcom

America is falling apart because the Bush Admin turned on the off-shoring spigot full blast, and has allowed services and manufacturing jobs to leave our shores enmass. In addition, the American public has gotten too comfy with life, and we have become stupid and lazy too. Go to any Ivy league univerisity and you will see more foreign students them American citizens....

This, and the fact that we have been bailing out practically anything that breathes! And what does that do? Just reinforce Americans that there will always be someone to bail them out. It's time to let capitalism do it's thing and let failers fail so that good, hard working people/companies can fill the gap.

PauletteGoddard · #9 (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 08:14 PM

My guesses are: subsidies for the corn and sugar industries and the death of responsible journalism and the abandonment of the ideal that non-corporate citizens have a say in who gets elected.

Style31 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009, 12:42 PM

because of bush i dont know

Blue Leader · #11 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009, 08:16 PM

Reason #1 America is failing: Corruption.

Morals are non-existent and that's what capitalism relies on to function.

George Soros is up there as the biggest single contributer to the killing of America.

Inkstain82 · #12 (**permalink**) 10-23-2009, 11:08 PM

America is not falling apart.

The reason it seems that way is that we are coming out of a century of unrepeatable prosperity. Unless China, India and Europe all beat the crap out of each other's infrastructure in another world war or two, leaving us as the lone major manufacturing base, Americans are going to just have to learn to deal with not being the absolute dominant market force in the world.

wincrasher · #13 (**permalink**) 10-24-2009, 01:47 PM

I still think we constantly undermine our economic foundation without regards to what other countries are doing.

It's just not enough for greedy Wall Streeter that a company is sound and making reasonable profits. They borrow huge sums, buy a company in a hostile or even friendly takeover, extract huge commissions and fees out of the deal. The peel off "over-funded" pension funds. They reduce wages and cut employees. Then the company collapses under the debt load. And they blame the workers - can't compete with cheap foreign labor.

Read the articles on what happened to Simmons Mattress Company. It's a shame and all too common.

BudgetShipping · #14 (**permalink**) 11-17-2009, 03:29 PM

Is it falling apart? Isn't everywhere?

BudgetShipping · #15 (**permalink**) 11-17-2009, 03:45 PM

...although it may well be due to sunspots!

PrincessPerky · #16 (**permalink**) 11-18-2009, 02:14 PM

Historically civilization goes in pendulum swings...from relative prosperity down to 'dark ages' and then back up.

For example Rome at its height, ruined by corruption, ouside invaders and more, left the so called 'barbarian Europe decimated at it's end.

Then we have the black death along with 'little ice age' that was followed by the Renaissance.

Then there was that series of revolutions. upstart colonists overthrew their 'motherlands'. It was not without cost in lives, and 'standard of living'.

Generally speaking, govts get comfy, folk stop caring so much about how things are run, and things go from 'enlightened' and new on down to corrupt and stagnant. Just takes a good many years, oh like a couple hundred, give or take 10 to a hundred.

Right before the great depression we had some lovely comfy '20's....kinda like some comfy times we had been having recently.

BTW those sunspots may have more effect on our planet temperature than any amount of gases we produce..or not. Hard to nail that sort of thing down, since we are missing a couple spare earths for control groups.

History itself is hard to nail down 'cause' and 'effect'. While there are many similarities between one country's rise and fall and another, there is not enough the same to say any one thing is the cause of any one thing..not to mention 'root cause' is next to impossible...which butterfly flapped it's wings to set 'Genghis Kahn's' father to be poisoned, the young child rejected and protection less, was this early tragedy what made him into the killer and helped him unite the tribes so he could start the Mongol invasion off (that brought the black death, and maybe that Renaissance...)