-
Americans have bought into a lie and cling to it despite all evidence to the contrary.
Americans have bought into a lie and cling to it despite all evidence to the contrary.
-
Americans seem to think that there is more class upward mobility in the United States than there is in other industrialized Nations that have large welfare states.*** Well, their belief is not supported by the facts.
Americans seem to think that there is more class upward mobility in the United States than there is in other industrialized Nations that have large welfare states.*** Well, their belief is not supported by the facts.
-
Doesn't surprise me at all. Americans have been listening to the **wrong people for a long time and buying into an ideology that is designed to keep most Americans less mobile. **[There have been more Republican administrations than Democratic administrations.]
-
I had hoped we were smarter. Probably Americans had the mistaken notion about upward mobility because of the availability of credit cards and refinancing which allowed them to run up a "shameful" amount of debt for things they could not afford ... giving the illusion of being well off or living comfortably.
I had hoped we were smarter. Probably Americans had the mistaken notion about upward mobility because of the availability of credit cards and refinancing which allowed them to run up a "shameful" amount of debt for things they could not afford ... giving the illusion of being well off or living comfortably.
-
I would bet, that if these Americans who feel that there is more upward mobility in the United States than elsewhere, would gladly go back into "suck the life out of you" debt just to make a point ... a stupid point ... but Americans are stubborn and so easily "snowed".
I would bet, that if these Americans who feel that there is more upward mobility in the United States than elsewhere, would gladly go back into "suck the life out of you" debt just to make a point ... a stupid point ... but Americans are stubborn and so easily "snowed".
-
Below are graphs which show where Americans stand vs citizens in northern European countries in regards to upward mobility. Americans also have the highest crime rates, the most pollution, the fattest people, the least educated, the most people in prisons, the most people without health care, and we make less money per productivity gains. All this evidence and we still cling to a false belief that countries with large "welfare states" are just horrible and don't allow for upward mobility.
Below are graphs which show where Americans stand vs citizens in northern European countries in regards to upward mobility. Americans also have the highest crime rates, the most pollution, the fattest people, the least educated, the most people in prisons, the most people without health care, and we make less money per productivity gains. All this evidence and we still cling to a false belief that countries with large "welfare states" are just horrible and don't allow for upward mobility.
-
-
So here's the evidence, but I would bet that the "Americans for Prosperity" would deny it ... even looking at the truth ... that's how deluded most Americans are.
-
From: "Surveys: Americans grip to Individualism in Economic Storm"
-
"Not only do voters continue to be convinced, by large majorities, that they, and not government or big corporations, control their own destinies in the midst of the current recession, but they do so despite more long-term evidence suggesting that there is less class mobility in the United States than in most Northern European countries, or in Canada, and that U.S. wages have not kept up with productivity gains for the past three decades.
-
This conviction underpins the long-standing American hostility to a full-fledged welfare state -- along the lines of many European countries -- and underpins the lack of a strong socialist tradition in the US. It also shapes the debate over policies to deal with the current recession, including the Obama administration's rejection of bank nationalization."
-
Update November 10, 2010
How the Wealthy Organized to Rip Everyone Else off -- And What You Can Do to Stop It | | AlterNet by Maria Armoudian
*Survey of 2119 respondents conducted by the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies for the Pew Economic Mobility ProjectThis conviction underpins the long-standing American hostility to a full-fledged welfare state -- along the lines of many European countries -- and underpins the lack of a strong socialist tradition in the US. It also shapes the debate over policies to deal with the current recession, including the Obama administration's rejection of bank nationalization."
-
Update November 10, 2010
How the Wealthy Organized to Rip Everyone Else off -- And What You Can Do to Stop It | | AlterNet by Maria Armoudian
-
***Denmark has a free market capitalist economy, and a large welfare state,[3]. It ranks according to one measure as having the world's highest level of income equality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark
-
"Norway has a Scandinavian welfare model and the largest capital reserve per capita of any nation."
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANADA
-
"The French healthcare system was ranked first worldwide by the World Health Organization in 1997.[54] It is almost entirely free for people affected by chronic diseases (Affections de longues durées) such as cancers, AIDS or Cystic Fibrosis. Average life expectancy at birth is 79.73 years."
Posts
1 comment:
Great article at Alternet:
"Why Germany Has It So Good -- and Why America Is Going Down the Drain"
http://www.alternet.org/story/148501/why_germany_has_it_so_good_--_and_why_america_is_going_down_the_drain
Post a Comment