> The way things are looking here in the states aren't really looking
> good. We've got declining educational levels, unwise economic
> policies, unaffordable healthcare, corrupt governments, lack of
> investment in infrastructure and a culture that right now is going in
> a... bad direction(current dominance of fundies, rising teen pregnancy
> rates, abortion/contraception being less acceptable, more xenophobic).
> How long until we look like Brazil or Mexico with the rich and what's
> left of the middle class living in gated compounds and large numbers
> of poor/underclass people?
Keep in mind that both Brazil and Mexico are improving, currently.
> My personal guess is 25 years if we keep
> the same economic consensus that's held since Reagan.
But we won't.
--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
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Empire rises and falls. US will be no exception. It took 3 decades for
Britain to shed itself the baggage it carried from old colonial era
and rebuilt itself into a new European nation. Who knows how long it's
gonna take for the US to reshape itself against all the programs you
mentioned that I believe could at least be partially attributed to
over-consumption and underinvestment at home while overextending
itself abroad.