Posted on 12/24/2010 2:58:30 PM PST by Nachum
Over the last few years, with an economy in decline and the rise of certain developing nations, there have been murmurs of the end of American exceptionalism throughout the media.
Don’t believe a word of it, says syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer.
On the Christmas Eve edition of Fox News Channel’s “Happening Now,” Krauthammer was asked to reflect on the last two years. He explained there was similar rhetoric about the nation’s decline at the end of the 1970s.
“Well, I think this is mostly a reflection of the recession,” Krauthammer said. “The mood of the country going back 20, 30, 40 years, almost always reflects the state of the economy. The late ‘70s was a period of malaise. People were saying oh, the American era is over. The big dictatorships in the world are going to dominate us. That was a reflection of the terrible economic conditions, the stagnation and the inflation late ‘70s.”
With the 1980s, however, the economy came back and the calls of the end of the so-called Pax Americana went by the wayside. He predicted the same would happen this time around.
“When the economy recovered in the ‘80s there was a morning in America,” he continued. “So I would not over-read the move. People are talking about American decline — don’t believe a word of it.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
just more evidence that CK is a neocon. CK needs to leave the room.
I guess somebody needs to investigate the BLS and see what happened. With the corruption going on in D.C. I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't slip under the radar.
The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories. A perfect democracy, a “warm body” democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally, has no internal feedback for self-correction…. [O]nce a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader — the barbarians enter Rome.
Nothing happened. Making a burger at McDonalds has never been considered manufacturing.
Hear this:
"Obama" has >40% approval. In a healthy society, he would have 10%.
He got 69 million votes two years ago. While it's true that some of those won't do it again, the depth of fantasy thinking that allowed that to happen is still present.
The MSM is about to start a 23-month long celebration of his accomplishments.
The MSM is planning to assure the nomination of a weak GOP candidate like Romney, or, failing that, to pre-emptively destroy the only American patriot in the race.
If we don't WAKE THE F*** UP and accept the possibility that "Obama", whoever he really is, can be re-elected then we will go into the next two years overconfident.
Two things have to happen:
1) We need to unify behind Our Lady of Wasilla.
2) We need to push her and her advisers HARD to start the smelly and unpleasant job of tearing Obama to shreds, come what may.
I was very encouraged by her Christmas scripture today: 2 Timothy 1:7.
Merry Christmas.
Why don’t you straighten us out on this fine Christmas Day. Tell us how great the countries manufacturing infrastructure is after 20 years of cannibalism by the FREE TRADERS. Have a nice day in Yankee Land.
Assuming you are referring to Palin in the latter part of your statement, I agree, the media are going to destroy Palin, worse than they did Goldwater in '64. Obama won't be running against Palin, he'll be running against a media-created caricature of Palin.
There's not much we can do about the media, they're going to burnish the halo of Obama's glory even if the country is in a economic depression greater than the '30s and the Chinese and Russians are landing on our shores in droves. But what we can do different than we did in '64 is not destroy our own candidate, regardless of who it is. Goldwater got only 39% of the vote in '64 against Johnson due in large part to 'Pubs voting for Johnson out of spite, to "send a message" (sound familiar?). If we're smart (and I wonder about that sometimes, when it comes to political strategy and tactics), we won't make the same mistake again.
I already did. Making a burger at McDonalds has never been considered manufacturing.
Merry Christmas. Sorry if the end of slavery makes you sad.
Depends on who you think "we" are.
The Democrats have demonstrated the ability, over and over again, to detach 20% of "our" voters with a mix of bribes, guilt, and threats.
We have not done that, except in 80 and 84.
Our Lady has the potential, but the headwind will be stronger.
What's necessary is that "we" have to figure out who and where the "Palin Democrats" are, and then we have to love 'em to death.
Won't be easy.
Yes is an M.D. a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. Krauthammer: ‘People are talking about American decline. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TayTTN8KTjs
I'm sorry it makes you sad that we still manufacture a few things in the USA. I am sure in a few years there won't be ANYTHING made in the USA. Then you can really rejoice.
I’m glad that America is the largest manufacturer in the world. If we cut corporate taxes, we could make even more.
Thank you for the info regarding his paralysis and being both an MD and Lawyer.........;-)
> It is so nice to see that there are so-called adults who still believe in Santa Claus. Touching really.
FYI, sarcasm does not win arguments.
> You’re talking about an industry in which I have worked for over 30 years, and I know personally that you are completely mistaken. My own employer no longer hires software developers and data base administrators in the USA, just in other countries. Maybe that will change after the dollar collapses further, but that’s where we are now.
While I do not have your experience yet, I have worked in this industry for over than 20 years, and for every piece of anecdotal evidence you supply I could provide one that argues the opposite.
Instead, we could do a simple mental exercise - name 10 top software companies, then cross out all American corporations. You would be hard pressed to have more than 3 names left on the list.
Did 4 thousand-some-odd pages of regulations that Obama pushed through in the last 2 years harmed American competitiveness? Yes.
Does the uncertainly about debt and the uncertainty about the future tax rates further erode the attractiveness of United States as the place to do business? Yes.
While the damage is severe, it is most certainly not irreversible. America remains the most dynamic and competitive society in the world. Things looked equally bleak under Carter and it took only a few years under Reagan’s leadership for United States to convincingly win the Cold War.
I remain optimistic. This country will continue to prosper through all the long years of Obama’s ex-presidency.
If there's an argument for - and against - democracy that strikes, it would be that democracy makes it easier for the government to tax. "We're contributing to our own till" makes tax-paying far more palatable than "We're 'contributing' to their own clique." Ironically, this meant latent tax resistance kept taxes low in monarchical states. Had I had a chance to visit the Starship Troopers world made real, I'd expect tax rates to be low for a similar reason. Just because rich non-veterans are part of the voteless mob doesn't obviate their clout in other arenas that touch politics.
Of course, the classic argument for democracy is that it nips revolutions in the bud by providing for a peaceful change in government. That scenario hasn't aways played out, but it tends to be shakiest in new democracies - and dependable in new democracies.
Actually, around here were we talking about Krauthammer decline.
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