http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/decline/ en-us Thu, 2 Oct 2008 19:38:34 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2096022/posts Factory data show wider economy sufferingBy Chris Giles in London Financial Times, October 2 2008 Manufacturers across the world's advanced economies suffered a torrid September, surveys suggested yesterday, providing clear evidence that the real economy had been unable to escape the woes of the financial sector. From Japan, across Europe and in the US, surveys of manufacturers were bleak with readings suggesting output was falling. Snip. Financial Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2096022/posts#comment Thu, 2 Oct 2008 19:38:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055073/posts Washington, DC -- Americans received good news back in January when new figures from Planned Parenthood's research group showed the number of abortions nationwide have fallen to their lowest point in 30 years and have declined 25 percent since 1990. That has resulted in a drop in the nation's infant mortality rate. LifeNews.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055073/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 21:11:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046903/posts Summer 2008 Falling Upwards: Declinism, The Box Set Robert J. Lieber Is America finished? Respected public intellectuals, think tank theorists, and members of the media elite seem to think so. The scare headline in a recent New York Times Magazine cover story by Parag Khanna titled “Waving Goodbye to Hegemony” asks, “Who Shrunk the Superpower?” Almost daily, learned authors proclaim The End of the American Era, as the title of a 2002 book by Charles Kupchan put it, and instruct us that the rise of China and India, the reawakening of Putin’s Russia, and the expansion of the European Union... World Affairs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046903/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:27:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2040314/posts Tomorrow is our nation’s 232nd birthday. Two months ago Israel celebrated its 60th birthday. I feel that more honest arithmetic would have had the small beleaguered country actually celebrating its 3,320th birthday. What happened three millennia ago which brought the people of Israel into existence? Ancient Israel became a nation with an eternal destiny when it received its constitution, the Torah, from God on Mount Sinai and formally adopted it. “And (Moses) took the Book of the Covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said... CONTACT COMMUNITY http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2040314/posts#comment Thu, 3 Jul 2008 16:56:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2028261/posts Cleavers to Lohans: The Downhill Slide of the American TV Family It used to be kids in TV families who caused the problems and the parents who solved them. In the brave new world of reality television, parents are the problem. June 2, 2008 - by Katherine Berry There was a time in American television when parents and children alike would gather in front of the TV to watch Leave it to Beaver or even The Cosby Show, programs that affirmed the importance of the family structure and reminded us that loving parents can guide their children through even the... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2028261/posts#comment Mon, 9 Jun 2008 12:39:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2023693/posts No denial. France of today is a magnificent nation. The almost perfect blend of shopping opportunities, beauty of architechture and landscape, nice freeways, marvelous food, well educated people and high-tech solutions are just about everywhere. Today, even a place like Paris or Monaco (not "de jure" French) has become poorer than Hamburg, Switzerland, Inner City London and Scandinavia, but Paris and Monaco still live up to their former reputation in many ways. Personally, I admire good old France. Just have a look at it: 25% study Sociology 25% are retired 25% are unemployed 25% are on strike Where does the... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2023693/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 20:35:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023626/posts LONDON: A Pakistan born senior bishop has warned that the decline of Christianity in Britain has paved the way for radical Islam to fill a moral vacuum, a comment that could create a row over the relationship between Islam and the West. The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, claimed the "social and sexual" revolution of the 1960s had led to a steep decline in the influence of Christianity over society. The bishop, who was born in Pakistan of Christian parents, said the decline of Christian values has created a "moral vacuum" which radical Islam is filling, the... The Economic Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2023626/posts#comment Fri, 30 May 2008 18:09:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018268/posts ...For decades now, scholars have been writing about the invisibility of whiteness. To be white in America meant that you were a member of the default category that just isn't discussed. In 2000, journalists didn't incessantly mention that George W. Bush was seeking to become the 43rd white male president of the United States. No one even thinks in those terms. It's implied. It's one of the perks of dominance. We generally mention race when we speak of nonwhites. ...To mention whites as an interest group -- in the way we do minority groups -- hearkens back to segregation and... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2018268/posts#comment Mon, 19 May 2008 20:47:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009990/posts Is America in Economic Decline?America in economic decline? Everyday, it seems there is a new economic statistic about a weakening US economy or a news report about the US$ dropping in value against other currencies. My answer is: NO. Maybe right now the dollar is at a low level and portions of the American economy could be better, but the overall economy is solid and the dollar weakness is temporary. If you read history, it seems to be a good rule to never underestimate the American people or our economy. In fact, i think some of the nation’s best economic... DBKP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2009990/posts#comment Fri, 2 May 2008 00:02:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001663/posts House prices decline at record levels By Stephen Adams and Andrew Porter, Political Editor Last Updated: 2:08am BST 15/04/2008 House prices are experiencing their most widespread decline since records began because of the fallout from the credit crisis, a report released today shows. Halifax statistics showed house prices tumbled by 2.5 per cent from February to March, the biggest such fall since 1992 Almost four out of five chartered surveyors saw a fall in values in March, research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has found. RICS disclosed that they were the worst figures since it started compiling such... The Telegraph (UK) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001663/posts#comment Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:53:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983878/posts The number of people crossing into the United States at San Ysidro has fallen 21.4 percent from a peak three years ago, a precipitous drop that economists and others attribute to frustrating border waits, dwindling tourism and a struggling U.S. economy. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 10.3 million fewer people crossed at the San Ysidro point of entry, the busiest gateway in the country, than did so in 2004. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics also indicate that for all crossings between California and Mexico, the average drop-off was 14.2 percent, or 13 million people. The... San Diego Union - Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1983878/posts#comment Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:13:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981993/posts CINO Prep by: Malcolm A. Kline, March 07, 2008 Although Catholic schools look good when compared with their public counterparts, they don’t fare as well in contrast to the way they used to be. In the wake of Vatican II, “Radical reformers tore at every aspect of Catholic life, questioning time-honored practices and beliefs,” Phillip F. Lawler writes in The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston’s Catholic Culture. “Catholic schools jettisoned their religious education programs; the old reliable Baltimore Catechism quickly became a collectors item.” “In parochial high schools, religion classes became freewheeling discussion sessions, with students encouraged to reflect... Campus Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1981993/posts#comment Fri, 7 Mar 2008 17:00:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1976388/posts WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of existing homes fell for the sixth straight month in January, dropping to the slowest sales pace on record. Median home prices were also down and many analysts predicted further price declines in the months ahead given high levels of unsold homes. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units. That was the slowest sales pace, going back to 1999, and was seen as evidence that the steepest slump in housing in a quarter-century... AP Economics http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1976388/posts#comment Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:41:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967755/posts WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2008 – U.S. troops found a diary belonging to an al Qaeda in Iraq leader that has Coalition forces believing the terrorist organization is “on its heels,” a senior military official in Baghdad said this morning. Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team on Nov. 3, 2007, captured a diary belonging to Abu Tariq, an al Qaeda emir in control of five battalions within two sectors, U.S. Air Force Col. Donald J. Bacon, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman, told online journalists and “bloggers” during a conference call. The soldiers found the diary during... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967755/posts#comment Sat, 9 Feb 2008 20:26:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967147/posts Decline and Fall: Europe’s Slow Motion Suicide, by Bruce S. Thornton (Encounter Books, 300 pp., $21.95) It used to be said that when it came to worldviews, Americans were from Mars and Europeans were from Venus. But a new school of thought posits a different role for our continental counterparts. Europe, in this schema, is more like a dying star: a once-brilliant civilization whose best days lie behind it, that has lost the internal strength to endure, and that is headed toward oblivion. Bruce Thornton, a classics professor at California State University, is the latest to take up this thesis.... City Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1967147/posts#comment Fri, 8 Feb 2008 16:55:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963938/posts ...Fifteen years ago, Japan ranked fourth among the world's countries in gross domestic product per capita. It now ranks 20th. In 1994, its share of the world's economy peaked at 18 percent; in 2006, the number was below 10 percent... ...Japan's slide relative to other major economies is not a tabloid tale of suddenly squandered riches. It is rather an insidious petering out of growth, productivity and innovation -- and of political will to stop the slippage. The slide has dovetailed with another quietly insidious crisis -- the petering out of the population. Japan has the world's highest proportion of... Washington Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963938/posts#comment Sat, 2 Feb 2008 22:01:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1951409/posts For the first time in more than a century the standard of living in Britain is higher than in America, according to a new report. Analysts at the respected Oxford Economics consultancy say that increasing incomes, free healthcare and longer holidays make the average Briton better-off than his or her US counterpart. The GDP per head in the UK is expected to exceed that of the USA in 2008 They predict that gross domestic product (GDP) per head in the UK, an indicator of average incomes, will be £23,500 in 2008, compared with £23,250 in America, reflecting the strength of... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1951409/posts#comment Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:01:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949817/posts WASHINGTON - Crime dipped slightly for the first half of 2007, the FBI reported Monday, signaling a stop to a 2-year increase in violence nationwide. Violent crime — including murders, rapes and robberies — dropped by 1.8 percent between January and June last year, the FBI's preliminary data show. Property crimes also decreased, including a 7.4 percent drop in car thefts and arsons by nearly 10 percent. But violent crime appears to be rising, if slightly, in small cities and rural areas, the data show. The FBI data, compiled from local and state police departments around the nation, offer a... AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1949817/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jan 2008 21:11:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1946451/posts If you’re looking for a two-word motto for hip-hop in 2007, you could do worse than that: “Keep grinding.” This was the year when the gleaming hip-hop machine — the one that minted a long string of big-name stars, from Snoop Dogg to OutKast — finally broke down, leaving rappers no alternative but to work harder, and for fewer rewards. Newcomers arrived with big singles and bigger hopes, only to fall off the charts after selling a few hundred thousand copies, if that. Hip-pop hybrids dominated the radio, but rappers themselves seemed like underground figures, for the first time in... The New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1946451/posts#comment Mon, 31 Dec 2007 21:01:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941134/posts Sun-Times Planning Job Cuts As Budget Tightens Could Latest Round Of Cutbacks Lead To End Of Newspaper? CHICAGO (CBS) ― Morale among employees at the Chicago Sun-Times is taking another slip. Company e-mails on Friday notified workers of drastic budget cuts that will lead to lost jobs. As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the Sun-Times was devastated by owners David Radler, sentenced Monday to two years in jail; and Conrad Black, who last week got six years for stealing millions. Some say the tailspin the paper is taking could be fatal. "One person I know in the newsroom... CBS2 Chicago http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941134/posts#comment Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:08:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1931966/posts WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States reduced greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 after four years of increases, the government said Wednesday ahead of a key United Nations meeting next week on climate change. The Department of Energy (DoE) said greenhouse gas emissions in the world's biggest polluter fell by 1.5 percent in 2006, the first decline since 2001. Measured against US economic growth of 2.9 percent last year, the department said greenhouse gas intensity fell by 4.2 percent, the largest yearly decline since 1990, its base year. President George W. Bush welcomed the DoE report as confirmation of his administration's... AFP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1931966/posts#comment Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:59:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914489/posts SINGAPORE, Oct. 22 — Renewed concerns about the health of the American economy sent Asian stocks sharply lower today, and European stocks also registered declines in early trading. Following a dramatic decline by stock prices in the United States on Friday — the 20th anniversary of the 1987 “Black Monday” stock market crash — investors in Asia sold off stocks on worries that the United States mortgage crisis would crimp demand among American consumers for Asia’s exports. Hong Kong’s benchmark index of share prices fell by almost 3.3 percent, while in Japan the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped by... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1914489/posts#comment Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:15:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1913159/posts Here is my case for why a weaker dollar hurts America. First, a weaker dollar translates into a cut in the real spending power of American consumers--in effect, a reduction in real income. Second, a weaker dollar weakens the role of the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. Why should investors and central banks around the world invest in US assets when their value is steadily declining? Third, the chances of a weaker dollar leading to a sharp reduction in America's trade deficit is highly unlikely since 40% of the current balance is due to oil imports that are... Forbes Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1913159/posts#comment Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:36:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1906738/posts It’s been a few weeks since September 12th, so if your early-pregnancy test colors positive, go claim your car, fridge or computer. Russia ’s imploding population has birthed schemes to nudge couples to conceive. September 12th was proclaimed the Day of Conception in the Ulyanovsk region of Russia . Pairs who “give birth to a patriot” nine months later on June 12th, Russia Day, win cash, cars, and other goodies. Prizes to procreate - how grim. One would think making babies would be reward enough. But Russia’s population dearth reflects negative 21st Century attitudes toward children. Between poverty, immorality, avarice... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1906738/posts#comment Thu, 4 Oct 2007 23:50:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901125/posts In 1961, only one half of 1% of Canadians told census takers they were not attached to any religious body. The figure rose to 4.3 % in 1971 and 16.2% in 2001. After the Second World War, 67% of Canadians told Gallup they had been in a church or synagogue over the previous seven days. By 1990 this figure had fallen by nearly two thirds to 23%. Gallup says it's now less than 20%. In 1961, 90% of Quebecers said they had been to church in the last seven days, and the Catholic church had one priest for every 500-700... Calgart Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1901125/posts#comment Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:38 GMT