The future of the United States

Post Reply New Topic

Our biggest revenue is tourists,if we don't get rain for the river,no income for the town.The same in the fall,if we don't get good color,no tourists.Same for the cattle and hay farmers,no rain,no gain.Ditto for the big illegal source of income.This is a bedroom county and most people drive an hour to get to work.And since half the county is federal land there is no tax revenue coming in on that.

National studies on state level education bare it out. Plus, I live right next to Idaho, and we get their TV spots for their need to improve their public schools .
And as for whose flipping the bill for social programs should hardly be the determiner for what's payed for with public funds, otherwise nothing would get paid for. Plenty of people in need are constantly denigrated by the haves, just for being in need. You could have a quadruple amputee asking for public assistance, and there would be those segments of the public who's claim he just didn't want to work.
As for public works - the New Deal's job programs certainly did far more good than just having those on public assistance collecting garbage on the roadside without pay.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

What of those counties and states that do have revenue, but figure that educating children and caring for those in need are wastes of money?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Depends on who did the study.


Improvement doesn’t necessarily mean their education is bad. Education advancement is a journey not a destination. Anything else is eventual stagnation.


Duh, if you just hand out money on demand with no qualification for the recipient the funds for that would be drained dry and the people that really DO need it would be screwed.


More the exception than the norm by a long shot.


I don’t want to see empires created out of this, just doing something to give back to the community and send the message that there’s no free lunch.


Not nearly common enough to lose sleep over. Besides, the left and right could never agree on what constitutes a good education and care for those in need.

Students who are homeschooled always seem to do so much better than kids taught in a regular school.

Actually, it does mean Idaho's educational system is bad. It needs improvement because they rank - I believe - third from the bottom of the list. I think it's a safe guess that those states below Idaho are red states.
And the notion that public assistance is just doled out to anyone without checking on their financial situation is a right wing fantasy - and I'm being very generous by using the word "fantasy" here.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Generally I dont understand all the panic of the USA of not being No. 1 anymore.

You have so much space as ressource. Europeans often visit you and the most impressing thing is that there are areas where you dont meet people or cars for hours. For european standards I live in a village with woods around me, but even when hiking or driving with the bicylce thorugh the woods, I meet people every some minutes. You have sososososo much land that is usable for agrarculture, more then sufficient to feed your people. Simply dont give it away to companies, because companies wont care if you are hungry, when a customer 2000 miles away is willing to buy 2cents more then you can.

Then you have so much ressources that are more than sufficient. Basically right now an US-citizen wastes about double as much energy as an EU-citizen for the same living standard. So you can easily reduce the amount of ressources that you need and keep the same living standard. And from that ressources 70% are again wasted for useless luxury nonsense. So there is much more ressources you can reduce, so that your ressources are more then sufficient. Simply dont give that ressources to companies that dont care about you.

Maybe people on the forum are whondering why I am so into "keeping nature" clean and so on. But when second worldwar ended, and everything around here was destroyed, no logistics were existing, and my country lost lots of its good agricultural land it was the garden of my grandaunt and the surrounding woods that allowed my family to survive. The forest supplied them with dead wood that they were allowed to gather for heating, the weed they needed to keep rabbits, additional fruits, berries, mushrooms, ... they could gather and the complete garden was full of crops and potatoes that easily growed, because we have a small river with clean water right behind the house that they could use freely and without technical supply for watering the plants. And thats why its so important for me, to keep those things healthy, simply because maybe the finance crysis will get back, maybe all my money savings will be gone, maybe electricity wont work anymore in the future because of my government braking down and ressource supplies wont work anymore. And then I will simply need that small river, a healthy earth in my garden and forests that provide me with dead wood for heating.

Simply because if all crashes down, it will be the same again: You will have to relie on the things that surround you or belong to neighbors you know. And you have lots of those, as long as you dont give them away to companies or destroy them to buy useless luxury stuff that is thrown away after some years of useless existence.

So you have enough area to feed your people, you have enough ressources for energy supply of your basic needs, so two basic needs that will be because of our mass population in europe a big problem for us are much more easy to solve for you. Additional for basic supply you simply need medical supply and social care.

So I am not jealous on your government or social system, but that gigantic areas you have are something I dream of. Even when I go hiking as far away from public areas as possible you usually meet half a dozend people everyday, as long as I wouldnt hide on purpose.

Spending is never the issue. America spends plenty on education, but it's not being administered wisely.

By and large, teachers are no longer teaching. Parents largely don't care as long as the kid is graduated to the next class.

We had a better quality of education back in the old school house days than what's passing in many "modern" schools right now.

Get politics out. Get government out. Get the parents back in. Stop graduating kids who can't demonstrate competence in the material.

Maybe because being No. 1 means we were doing something right, and our failure to retain that status says something bad about the state of our nation.

If your country had an education program second to nobody else's, you'd not mind them copying your model, but you'd be dismayed if you went from No. 1 to No. 25.

Being political important, doesnt have anything to do with doing right. Do you think China is doing right or Putin? XD

The main issues for a government should be to care for its citizens. 80 years ago my homeland Austria also was a great empire, that nobody knows now anymore after we have lost so many areas, when the Empire lost all its territorries. But only because of us not being important, doesnt mean that our government is doing "wrong". Its taking care of our citizens and normally it does that job sufficient, so everyone can afford minimum living standard including medical care. I dont care if China or Russia shivers, when they hear of our country, because that doesnt influence or affect me, but I do care for medical supply or good school systems, because its affecting me.

The only thing that political influence is important for, are foreign ressources, when you have to match with other countries like China or Russia with all kind of trade wars and boycotts and that stuff. What you are not forced to do, because of you having many ressources yourself.

Not being No1. political influence country, doesnt kill you. Its still a very nice country here, allowing a nice living, even if we have as much political influence as Nepal. XD

Simply see that you can provide the basic needs for your people, means keep the land your own, keep the ressources your own, and you have nothing to care for. The time for big invasions has gone with the atombomb, so noone can take from you what is yours and inside your own country.

Ahhhhhhsk not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

ruveyn

I agree that natural resources are the greatest thing about the US. Not only the US, but the entire North American continent. Unfortunately even that is slowly going away. In my lifetime the population of the US has increased from 200 million people to 300 million. I know places where there used to be open spaces with farm land between cities and towns. Now the cities and towns have grown together into one continues development.

There is no signs that the out of control population growth will stop anytime soon. It's just a matter of time before the US will look like Europe.

Personally I could care less if the US is #1. Hell, I don't even believe that it is #1 anyway.

They're either doing something right or we're doing something wrong. Maybe a bit of both.

State Report Cards

Last edited by Max000 on 03 Jun 2013, 9:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

I was not talking about the country, I was talking about the government. I am my country as is every citizen of my country. Whatever I do for a citizen of mine is a benefit for my country. But a country is its citizens, not its government, because the government are simply the voted workers of the citizens, they are no extra party. What we can do for our government is pay its workers a propper loan for them doing their work, and kick them in the ass if they dont do what they are payed for. ^^ But the government cant decide anyway to do anything for me, simply because they are not to decide on their own, but their job is simply to do what we have decided and told them to do.

^^^^It's so crowded where you are you can't walk in the woods without meeting someone?
wow,I had no idea.I could walk in my woods and never seeanyone else,maybe a bear
Many people here in Arkansas grow huge gardens and eat food that has been gathered.I ate poke sallit yesterday,and there are lots of other wild foods to be had.We are one of the poorest states so many people depend on their garden and the meat from wild animals.We are being over run with wild hogs so there is plenty of free meat in the woods.