pippin;357730 Wrote: > Well, then let me share my outsider's view: > > When I first visited the US, back in 91, what I saw was a run-down > country. I'd been in eastern Europe a bit the years before (Poland, > Eastern Germany, Hungaria, then Czechoslovakia) and what I saw in the > US in terms of public infrastructure was worse in many places. You > could see a lot of homeless people in the street and the public > perception of security was, well, just bad. > > My next visit was in 96 and it was hard to believe for me how much had > changed. I had a few more visits and from 98 on the pleasure to work > for a US company which brought me regular visits. It will amaze me > forever how this country managed to change that dramatically in only 7 > years! Compare that to what we've achieved in eastern Germany. The US > did have a balanced budget, good mood, good infrastructure, a running > economy, in simple words: a strong country. > > That was during the Clinton days, a Democrat, wasn't he? > > Compare that to what you see today. My last visit to the US was 4 > months ago, and I have to say, it was still light years away from the > state of '91. Still a powerful, energetic country. But the mood was > different from the heydays of the late '90s and if I look at the > pricing structure, I felt that if I hadn't had the chance to buy $$ > cheaply with my (then much higher valued as today) Euros, I would have > found a lot of convenience items and services hard to afford - a clear > sign of inflation only compensated by cheap clothing and cheap > electronics (both probably imported from China). > > So, I can't tell how all this feels from the inside, but from an > outsider's perspective the last 8 years have been a huge step back > while the 8 years before that had been the most astonishing > transformation I have ever seen. > > Just my 2cts.
i'm sorry, but your 'impressions' of things really carry no water. people were homeless in 91 but not 96 or 98? i don't think ANYTHING changed for the homeless, and still hasn't. anyone here can tell you that the country changed dramatically in the 80s. carter was a disastor and reagan came in and laid down the groundwork for the prosperity of the next 25 years. clinton meanwhile had to work with a republican congress who did constrain him and his spending, (welfare reform, etc...) the problems of the last 8 years started with 2 things, 9/11 and the republicans loss of identity, meaning they started spending like democrats and became corrupt as well. all these things along with some terrible fiscal sector policies, (the fed, glass stegall repeal, mark to market) all resulted in the economic mess now. if i were king, i'd bring in the fairtax, i'd balance the budget and start paying off the debt, and i'd increase the valuation of the currency by allowing the free market to set interest rates, (not the fed). -- MrSinatra www.LION-Radio.org Using: Squeezebox2 (primary) / SBR (secondary) / SBC - w/SC 7.3b - Win XP Pro SP3 - 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - D-Link DIR-655 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=54678 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
