Not sure the country (USA) can improve

All of the wonderful advancements that you mentioned could have been developed by much smaller businesses working in cooperation with each other. $$$$$ bought them out. Now no middle class jobs.
 

Bad things include

1) Decreasing life expectancy

2) Bloated, overpriced, inefficient health care system

3) Bloated, overpriced, inefficient higher education system

4) Inconsistent primary and secondary school education

5) Very high violent crime rates compared to "civilized" world

6) Soaring national debt with interest payments eating greater share of budget each year

7) Polarization and political violence, both in action and in words

8) Racial hostility

9) Insecure border and mass illegal immigration

10) Housing shortage and lack of affordable housing

That's my top ten, anyway. There are probably things that could be done to improve it but we lack the political will and cohesiveness to do so.
 
Paco Dennis said:
All of the wonderful advancements that you mentioned could have been developed by much smaller businesses working in cooperation with each other. $$$$$ bought them out. Now no middle class jobs.
Click to expand...

Paco, what's a middle class job? A licensed electrician can make about $80,000 per year in my state. I read in the WSJ about a kid who got an online degree in a year and is now in an Amazon data center at $65,000.

I worked for a big company (over 500,000 employees). There's nothing wrong with it. The benefits and career paths are good for those who want to take advantage of them.

I also work with a lot of startup companies. They are all hoping to be bought out by a big company at some point. That's how capitalism works.
 

ArnoldC said:
I am just as interested in what they do know as what they don't know. What is this younger generations interests? What is their focus? What do they feel is important? Understand the vid is a microcosm, but for me it begs the above questions.

Personally, rote learning of date/time events in history is a fail anyway. Unless a person actually lives through an event, it seldom seems worth knowing about. Not saying having knowledge of the events is not important. Too much emphasis is placed on right or wrong concerning date/times.
Click to expand...
My youngest son, Liam's, 6th and 7th-grade history teacher was a member of a national historical re-enactment group. They mostly re-enacted the War of Independence, the signing of The Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, and this teacher sometimes wore his costumes to class.

Liam loved middle-school history class, and his interest carried over. He can still recall all those dates and times.
 
Murrmurr said:
My youngest son, Liam's, 6th and 7th-grade history teacher was a member of a national historical re-enactment group. They mostly re-enacted the War of Independence, the signing of The Declaration of Independence and The Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, and this teacher sometimes wore his costumes to class.

Liam loved middle-school history class, and his interest carried over. He can still recall all those dates and times.
Click to expand...
In Richmond we have a wonderful re-enactment of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech -- right where he gave it, at St. John's Church. I went a few years ago and all sorts of people were involved, from school age kids to oldsters. It's great!
 
JimBob1952 said:
In Richmond we have a wonderful re-enactment of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech -- right where he gave it, at St. John's Church. I went a few years ago and all sorts of people were involved, from school age kids to oldsters. It's great!
Click to expand...
When my son would go on and on about his teacher's re-enactments, it made me wish I'd grown up somewhere besides Calif.

Although, when I was in 4th grade, I did go on a class trip to Sutter's Fort for what was called "A History", with the emphasis on the last syllable, so it sounded like "A Hiss Story" , which was part acting and mostly talking.

Years later I learned that particular Hiss Story was grossly inaccurate.
 
Last edited:
Murrmurr said:
When my son would go on and on about his teacher's re-enactments, it made me wish I'd grown up somewhere besides Calif.

Although, when I was in 4th grade, I did go on a class trip to Sutter's Fort for what was called "A History", with the emphasis on last syllable, so it sounded like "A Hiss Story" , which was part acting and mostly talking.

Years later I learned that particular Hiss Story was grossly inaccurate.
Click to expand...


It's hard to beat Virginia for history. I once took my son to Colonial Williamsburg and he wound up taking part in a dramatization of a jury trial from the early 1700s. Plus he still has a picture of himself locked up in the public pillory.

Within an hour's drive of where I live we have Monticello, Appomattox Court House, Colonial Williamsburg, and more Civil War battle sites than I can count. Haven't been to Appomattox but will correct that soon.
 
It's not just young people. There are a lot of really dumb older folks. Just look at all the boomers who passionately support completely unqualified candidates for office, simply because they're celebrities. And look at the people who are willing to go to prison or die for their celebrity political leaders. That's as dumb as it gets.
 
Aneeda72 said:
I admit I do not like the subject of this thread. In fact, I seriously object to it.

I see no need for the US to “improve”. I see no need for any individual country to ”improve”. In fact, I could name several countries and the way I think they should improve. But it is not my business to do so.

Nor is it the business of anyone, who is not an American, to comment on any improvements they feel the US might need. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Everyone, especially Americans, must remember that the US is a “young” country. Older countries, Great Britain, France, Africa, the countries of the Middle East, are older and have just as many concerns and just as much a need for “improvement“ as the US.

The US is having elections now that may or may not change our way of life dramatically. This is an especially bad time for a thread like this, IMO. And, as usual, this thread has wandered off topic as many threads do.

What needs to improve? The world. All the nations of the world need to improve. That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.
Click to expand...
I am not offended by this discussion. It is only a discussion among seniors regarding the pitiful state of the entire world of which the US contributes to.
 
SeniorBen said:
Most of them are just dumb kids who are only concerned with getting laid and getting high. This is what's really scary:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/QAnon

These morons are getting elected and making laws! Yep, we're screwed! :eek:
Click to expand...
....and they are easily manipulated by those in power. Another problem is their inability to think for themselves, they are content to do what someone else tells them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top