>>>There's the proverbial 500 lb elephant in the room - this situation has gotten WORSE under the current president
>
>Yep. Everybody also has gotten older under the current president, and some people even died. Thanks, Obama.
>

Another rejoinder to Kevin might have been "Under what president since LBJ has it NOT gotten worse, and what president since LBJ has not promised to make it better?"
There are global forces in motion that make it almost impossible for any US president - with or without the help of congress- to reverse that trend. We can slow it and make it less malicious, but without something happening to change the way the rest of the world is moving it will proceed.

>>be, they also point to falling competitive of US Inc., which is a terrible shame when the US used to be and easily still could be the one to beat.
>
Yes it was the one to beat, when most of the rest of the world had been destroyed by war or was in the technological dark ages.
Thanks in large part to the Marshall plan and to our leadership, that has changed. Much of the rest of the world has caught us and in some cases surpassed us, so I'd like to hear more about how we could "easily still could be the one to beat."









>In 2014 it may be easy for many to observe the "I'm OK, Jack" line of reasoning, but no man is an island. For example, income is no protection if it's not safe to make your way to the local store and even if you can get there, it's been looted. Arm yourself up- but where will you find your dinner?