General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: My Wife Believes American Workers Being Positioned To Accept Lower Living Standard. [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)They take for granted municipal water agencies that check the water purity on a rigid schedule even in big cities.
They do not understand what it is to use a toilet that is really just a hole in the floor. Not easy. Especially for women. But at least 30 years ago, it was commonplace in countries in some parts of Europe believe it or not. It is still most likely common in the third world in places.
Americans do not understand what it is to drive a very primitive vehicle on unpaved, dirt roads with ruts in them. That can break an axle really fast. They do not understand what it is like to drive a car on a road shared with horse-drawn wagons. They do not know what it is like to have to walk miles at a time for supplies or necessities because you cannot afford a horse and wagon much less a car.
We have forgotten that our ancestors built log cabins in the middle of a hostile wilderness. We do not understand how quickly a sophisticated, wealthy nation can be reduced to economic chaos, then to strife and finally to rubble. We think these things happen way over there. But we are as vulnerable to economic deterioration as any nation.
Our reality could become very difficult and we could move backwards in terms of our living standard very quickly if we do not face the truth about what is going on in our society.
America is an aging nation. We have to figure out what national goals are really important for us and work to obtain and maintain them. Certainly, a decent, if not wealthy, standard of living for EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN is a top priority. Signing trade deals that will bring wealth to the top 1% and leave the rest of Americans behind is not the way to grow older gracefully. It would be a terrible mistake.
The decrease in the food stamp allocations are a bad sign about the direction in which we are headed. We are putting frills before necessities. We are separating ourselves according to our wealth or poverty to an even greater extent that in the past. This is unacceptable. It will harm all of us if we continue in this direction.