STUDY BY MIT ECONOMIST: U.S. HAS REGRESSED TO A THIRD-WORLD NATION FOR MOST OF ITS CITIZENS

[cilla4progress]

3. Not all surprised.

I rode on public transportation yesterday, which I have a rare opportunity to do. My god. 80% of the riders looked like they didn't have a nickel to their name, vacant eyes, struggling, in several cases disabled in some way. Ragged clothing, barely communicative, some appearing to have substance use disorders.

I live in a typical rural area in the Pacific NW. I have seen this developing over the past 10 or so years, starting with Bush. I don't see it turning around any time soon. Grateful to have a college degree and a husband with a government job. I don't know how young people starting out are going to do it. We have one child and I can see that she is going to be financially dependent on us for some time, since she is going into teaching elementary school ...

The weakening and loss of labor unions has been devastating.

Will read full article. Thank you - I think this explains a lot of what we see.