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Why is there so much political discord in America today?

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marshall
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16 Aug 2012, 9:18 am

Duncan wrote:
edgewaters wrote:
Oldout wrote:
As long as the American people are fighting amongst themselves, they are not challenging the corrupt establishment.


Yes but it's a very dangerous game that's being played, inciting polarization. This has happened before, in Europe. They pick everyone's pocket while this is going on and then run off with the loot before the sh** hits the fan.

I think the US is headed for a civil war, probably during an election. Not this one though. More likely when there is a Republican president who is defeated after his first term by a Democratic incumbent, then the losers' guns will come out and all Hell will break loose. There will be a massive flight of capital shortly before that, I suspect.


In some ways, I hope there is some kind of mass uprising as the American system is broken. It looks public discourse will be unable to restore the American dream without some kind of revolution, hopefully but unlikely peaceful.


Doubtful. It looks like both sides will just get angrier and angrier as we all get poorer and poorer. If the republicans win they will immediately pass massive tax cuts. They will completely abolish capital gains and corporate taxes. They will try to erode the social safety net in order to compensate for the loss of revenue but that will fail and the deficit will skyrocket even higher. US bonds will get downgraded once again and there will be a run on the treasury. Then when things still don't improve even with record low tax rates and interest rates investors will really panic and the economy will tank once again. Then expect s**t to get really ugly.



Oldout
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16 Aug 2012, 10:17 am

Yes, that may be true. But remember that a serious crisis provides the foundation for serious reforms. (Hopefully good ones.)



edgewaters
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16 Aug 2012, 12:18 pm

Duncan wrote:
edgewaters wrote:
Oldout wrote:
As long as the American people are fighting amongst themselves, they are not challenging the corrupt establishment.


Yes but it's a very dangerous game that's being played, inciting polarization. This has happened before, in Europe. They pick everyone's pocket while this is going on and then run off with the loot before the sh** hits the fan.

I think the US is headed for a civil war, probably during an election. Not this one though. More likely when there is a Republican president who is defeated after his first term by a Democratic incumbent, then the losers' guns will come out and all Hell will break loose. There will be a massive flight of capital shortly before that, I suspect.


In some ways, I hope there is some kind of mass uprising as the American system is broken. It looks public discourse will be unable to restore the American dream without some kind of revolution, hopefully but unlikely peaceful.


Revolutions just do not happen in major countries anymore, at least not those hooked into the global economy. All they have to do to stop is say that it's scaring investors off, pull all their capital out, everyone starves and begs for them to come back. The controlling interests are not national, they are transnational and globalized, the government is simply an interface with the population, breaking the interface doesn't really change anything. It would just be replaced with a more transparently hostile interface - backed up, if need be, by a "police action" supported by Europe, China, Russia, and a host of minor nations.