Land of the Free
The Sunday Herald is by far the best read amongst the Sunday papers. They have great investigational journalism and their coverage of politics is insightful, never more so than when Iain Macwhirter is the writer. This week he was getting to grips with the real America. The millions of have-nots, the poor and illegal immigrants. Most of them don't or can't vote so the politicians don't give a damn about them.
If you ever wonder whether the NHS is worth it, go to America. If you think welfare is a burden, go to America. If you think America is an economic powerhouse, go to America.
The average American works harder and longer than Europeans for less money. According to Larry Brown of Brandeis University, the average wage is lower than it was 30 years ago and the middle classes are working weeks longer each year than they did in 1979. We’re taught to think that Germany is an economic basket case, but it exports far more high-quality goods.
America’s economy is running to stand still. The US Federal Reserve is sitting on a precarious $5 trillion dollar deficit financed by Asian banks. America’s economy has no visible means of support.
It’s bizarre; America is the most powerful military and economic force on the planet, but everywhere I went I found insecurity. Wine growers in California, professors in Arizona, taxi drivers in Boston, they are all nervous, on edge, hyper. Yes, of course, America has always been an edgy place. But right now there is a state of high anxiety. Code red.
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1 Comments:
I'm glad you are at least asking why people hate the US. I don't hate it, I love many aspects of American life and culture. The music and films, the politics of MLK and Malcolm X, the fists of Muhammed Ali, the work of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Plenty to love about America. Plenty to fear as well thanks to the neo-con cabal you have handed your country to, the corporations and military interests. From Iraq to Venezuela the US marks the map with blood. The return of the Soviet Union? Alas, Russia is a gangster capitalist state with its own ethnic power struggle and ambitions. The days when the USSR was there to keep you in check are gone. Now you do what you please, building an Empire. Why do people hate you? Why did the Indians hate the British?
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