US to acquire third world status if trends continue.

[The_Dude 1,142]

Maine is prettier.

Only if there wasnt all that snow, I used to live New Hampshire and that was way to much snow for me.

Oregon does get a lot of rain though

Yes true but the area I live in is on a high desert so we dont get much rain but with that said I did a lot of growing up in Seattle area so maybe my sense of not much rain isnt to be trusted.

Oregon has far too many hippies. I could never live there..... the Trailblazers are too god awful to live.

We have a fairshare of hippies but they tend to gravitate towards the big cities thank god, that said I think California takes the cake when it comes to this... Trailblazers are turning things around, they went to the playoffs last year. I did alot of growing up in the Seattle area and became a Sonics fan, now talk about a crappy team, I didnt want to see them go but a least now I can like a team that has actually has a chance, gooooooooooooooooo Blazers!!!

California has like 100 times the population of Oregon, so of course on aggregate numbers, we'll have more hippies. But the hippy ratio is far higher in Oregon. Sadly, the Trailblazers will not be good enough to win any time soon. The Lakers will win again and again and again.

[_Simpson_ 250]

Maine is prettier.

Only if there wasnt all that snow, I used to live New Hampshire and that was way to much snow for me.

Oregon does get a lot of rain though

Yes true but the area I live in is on a high desert so we dont get much rain but with that said I did a lot of growing up in Seattle area so maybe my sense of not much rain isnt to be trusted.

Oregon has far too many hippies. I could never live there..... the Trailblazers are too god awful to live.

We have a fairshare of hippies but they tend to gravitate towards the big cities thank god, that said I think California takes the cake when it comes to this... Trailblazers are turning things around, they went to the playoffs last year. I did alot of growing up in the Seattle area and became a Sonics fan, now talk about a crappy team, I didnt want to see them go but a least now I can like a team that has actually has a chance, gooooooooooooooooo Blazers!!!

California has like 100 times the population of Oregon, so of course on aggregate numbers, we'll have more hippies. But the hippy ratio is far higher in Oregon. Sadly, the Trailblazers will not be good enough to win any time soon. The Lakers will win again and again and again.

I will have to disagree with you on your hippy ratio conclusion.

A lakers fan well that explains a lot. I really hope the lakers never make it to the playoffs again, I hate them about as much as I hate the Yankees.

Cartman hates Hippies.

huh?

[The_Dude 1,142]

Maine is prettier.

Only if there wasnt all that snow, I used to live New Hampshire and that was way to much snow for me.

Oregon does get a lot of rain though

Yes true but the area I live in is on a high desert so we dont get much rain but with that said I did a lot of growing up in Seattle area so maybe my sense of not much rain isnt to be trusted.

Oregon has far too many hippies. I could never live there..... the Trailblazers are too god awful to live.

We have a fairshare of hippies but they tend to gravitate towards the big cities thank god, that said I think California takes the cake when it comes to this... Trailblazers are turning things around, they went to the playoffs last year. I did alot of growing up in the Seattle area and became a Sonics fan, now talk about a crappy team, I didnt want to see them go but a least now I can like a team that has actually has a chance, gooooooooooooooooo Blazers!!!

California has like 100 times the population of Oregon, so of course on aggregate numbers, we'll have more hippies. But the hippy ratio is far higher in Oregon. Sadly, the Trailblazers will not be good enough to win any time soon. The Lakers will win again and again and again.

I will have to disagree with you on your hippy ratio conclusion.

A lakers fan well that explains a lot. I really hope the lakers never make it to the playoffs again, I hate them about as much as I hate the Yankees.

So this year is really going to be irritating for you isn't it?

[_Simpson_ 250]

Maine is prettier.

Only if there wasnt all that snow, I used to live New Hampshire and that was way to much snow for me.

Oregon does get a lot of rain though

Yes true but the area I live in is on a high desert so we dont get much rain but with that said I did a lot of growing up in Seattle area so maybe my sense of not much rain isnt to be trusted.

Oregon has far too many hippies. I could never live there..... the Trailblazers are too god awful to live.

We have a fairshare of hippies but they tend to gravitate towards the big cities thank god, that said I think California takes the cake when it comes to this... Trailblazers are turning things around, they went to the playoffs last year. I did alot of growing up in the Seattle area and became a Sonics fan, now talk about a crappy team, I didnt want to see them go but a least now I can like a team that has actually has a chance, gooooooooooooooooo Blazers!!!

California has like 100 times the population of Oregon, so of course on aggregate numbers, we'll have more hippies. But the hippy ratio is far higher in Oregon. Sadly, the Trailblazers will not be good enough to win any time soon. The Lakers will win again and again and again.

I will have to disagree with you on your hippy ratio conclusion.

A lakers fan well that explains a lot. I really hope the lakers never make it to the playoffs again, I hate them about as much as I hate the Yankees.

So this year is really going to be irritating for you isn't it?

Probably, unfortunetly, they do have a good team.

[Heracles 417]

USA - 305 million

Australia - 22 million

Considering most of the population lives along the southern coastline I think the 7.4 statistic your using in this manner is misleading.

I thought the same. However, there is a reason for the majority of people living along the coast. Since Aus was one of the last countries to be established, it learned from the mistakes of others and avoided Europe's and the US's 1,000 little towns syndrome. For a simple reason as well. In this day and age, key hubs are the way to go. The reason Aus cities are doing so well is because every city has a range of industries in it. Industries are not fragmented like it is across the US. For example, Detroit cars, Silicon valley I.T. etc. If I.T. and hollywood was to die down in CA, the state would be finished. Whereas, you will find Melbourne and Sydney have a diverse range of industries. From manufacturing vehicles like the G8, to developing vaccines like the H1N1 to banking, to IT and telecommunications etc.

The same thing needs to happen in the US. Older smaller towns and cities need to be demolished and replaced with key hubs. The west coast has done a pretty good job at avoiding the small town syndrome but the east coast to the mid west is still in 1890 mode. Hence, why there are so many little insignificant run down (has been) cities.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Booyah!

[AlHayatZween 2]

i think we are definitely in a downward spiral. It's not Obama's fault... it's been happening for a while. Businesses & jobs shipped overseas. Our public schools are in the tank. Cost of living rising faster than wages. Healthcare costs skyrocketing... The great divide between rich & poor just getting greater...

The only thing good is that if we do hit rock bottom, maybe we will be able to ride on the bumpers of busses to get to where we need to go. i've found that to be fun.

[SuperDuper! 230]

US THIRD WORLD? PEOPLE KEEP BEATING DOWN THE DOOR TO GET HERE. MUST BE THE BEST 3RD WORLD STATUS ANYWHERE.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

US THIRD WORLD? PEOPLE KEEP BEATING DOWN THE DOOR TO GET HERE. MUST BE THE BEST 3RD WORLD STATUS ANYWHERE.

[scandal 951]

i think we are definitely in a downward spiral. It's not Obama's fault... it's been happening for a while. Businesses & jobs shipped overseas. Our public schools are in the tank. Cost of living rising faster than wages. Healthcare costs skyrocketing... The great divide between rich & poor just getting greater...

The only thing good is that if we do hit rock bottom, maybe we will be able to ride on the bumpers of busses to get to where we need to go. i've found that to be fun.

Don't lose faith.

The US has always had structural issues. Yet it's always overcome them, and come out ahead.

There's a spirit of innovation and drive and enterprise in this country that's unmatched anywhere in the world.

When combined with America's capital, human resources and natural resources - the capabilities of this country when push comes to shove are simply unequaled.

The global economy has transformed over the past few decades from one based primarily on manufacturing to a service economy.

That's been unsettling - here and abroad. We're still going through that upheaval. I have every confidence that we'll come out on the other side with a standard of living Americans will continue to be justly proud of. We have challenges - a stymied political process, troubling statistics from our K-12 educational system and withering increases in post-secondary tuition and healthcare costs. Nonetheless - this is a country that gets down and gets 'er done.

Here's a quote I liked from a WWII historical account of American war production. Ok, this dates back to our manufacturing past. It still shows the potential of what this nation can achieve.

... American industrial production tipped the balance in favor of the Allies. Roosevelt's 1942 production goals appeared puny once the economy converted to war. The figures are staggering. Between 1941 and 1945 the United States produced 300,000 military aircraft. In the peak year of 1944 American factories built 96,318 planes - more than the yearly total of Germany, Japan, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union combined. Henry Ford's enormous Willow Run plant produced a B-24 every sixty-three minutes. By war's end the United States had manufactured 2.4 million trucks, 635,000 jeeps, 88,400 tanks, 5,800 shipps, and 40 billion rounds of ammunition.

Quantity was the all-important goal of the war effort. American industry thrived on high-volume output performed on an assembly-line basis. No other industrialized nation had mastered the art of mass production so efficiently. In a sense the United States made a virtue of necessity. With a workforce composed disproportionately of unskilled labor, assembly-line techniques fit American industry like a glove. And they matched the needs of war perfectly. The Germans and Japanese, by contrast, with their highly trained labor pools (at least in the early stages of the war) chose qualitative superiority over mass production and depended on precision-made flawlessly performing, high standard weapons for their margin of victory. But as the war dragged on they simply could not produce enough of them. "We never did develop a top tank during the war", said General Lucius D. Clay. "We did all right because we made so many of them. That offset some of their weaknesses. But we never had a tank that equaled the German tank."

That galvanized American industrial effort occurred only a few short years after the pits of desperation during the Depression.

Times are different, circumstances are different. Today China is that powerhouse of unskilled labor who has perfected low-cost mass production techniques. The US, and the world, has needed to find other areas of economic specialization and competitiveness. We are doing so.

Never, ever count out what a free willed and innovative people can do. Especially one with half a continent worth of resources to draw upon.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

"troubling statistics" from our school system...nice euphemism.

[peejay 327]

US THIRD WORLD? PEOPLE KEEP BEATING DOWN THE DOOR TO GET HERE. MUST BE THE BEST 3RD WORLD STATUS ANYWHERE.

Unfortunately a very high percentage of those "beating down the door to get here" are from the Third World. And as the old saying goes...you are what you eat.

[mawilson 2,133]

There's a spirit of innovation and drive and enterprise in this country that's unmatched anywhere in the world.

That's right up there with the "US healthcare is #1 in the world"

[Heracles 417]

US THIRD WORLD? PEOPLE KEEP BEATING DOWN THE DOOR TO GET HERE. MUST BE THE BEST 3RD WORLD STATUS ANYWHERE.

Which people are they? It would be very interesting to see a break down of country of origin for this forum.

I am starting to see why the US is in the gutter. You have people like yourself or spook who don't even see a problem.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

US THIRD WORLD? PEOPLE KEEP BEATING DOWN THE DOOR TO GET HERE. MUST BE THE BEST 3RD WORLD STATUS ANYWHERE.

Which people are they? It would be very interesting to see a break down of country of origin for this forum.

I am starting to see why the US is in the gutter. You have people like yourself or spook who don't even see a problem.

Actually the problem is douchebags like you. Only a stupidfuck would live here and complain about it on a daily basis when his home was in paradise. Or a troll. America, love it or leave it.

[Heracles 417]

The US has always had structural issues. Yet it's always overcome them, and come out ahead.

There's a spirit of innovation and drive and enterprise in this country that's unmatched anywhere in the world.

When combined with America's capital, human resources and natural resources - the capabilities of this country when push comes to shove are simply unequaled.

Something I have heard for years. You are right, the next person to come up with something new like facebook will end up wealthy. What about the other 303 million? That is what people who use this entrepreneurial argument just don't get. How many business have faltered in this economy alone?

Then again you are a guy who cannot even accept that Chicago is not ranked highly in the international community. Better yet, actually have the nerve to suggest it's a lot like Vancouver. Which is ranked #1 by the economist and 4th by Mercer.

Actually the problem is douchebags like you. Only a stupidfuck would live here and complain about it on a daily basis when his home was in paradise. Or a troll. America, love it or leave it.

I am leaving so you just go rolled. Anyway, you're a small business owner, so what would you know about anything.