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Reflection On America
by Chris Marlowe
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Stolen from a comment with links added by b.
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There is a certain irony in the Bush administration’s attempt to
"isolate Syria" by complaining about Pelosi’s visit to Damascus. Many
Americans don’t seem to understand it, but on the international stage,
America under the Bush administration is about as popular as Typhoid
Mary.
Sure, everyone wants to do business with Americans, but that’s about
it. Hollywood films are not as popular as they once were, and American
culture and appeal has lost its gloss. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s
symbolize cheap and unhealthy junk food, not fashionable trends.
Americans are thought of generally as consumption hogs, driving big
cars and eating cheap unhealthy foods and as being overweight, arrogant
and ignorant.
The industries America is best well-known for, such as media and
entertainment, are crumbling under the assault of the Internet, which
represents a whole new world which cannot be so easily dumbed and
controlled by four media conglomerates. Many of my acquaintances
celebrate the collapse of the old media model.
Moreover, American consumerism can no longer dominate the global
economy as it once did. Now there are Asian and European economies
which are growing at faster rates. The American economy is no longer
the engine of world growth. It is major and important, but the world
economy no longer depends on it.
And it is plain for all to see that American economic growth and the
standard of living will soon begin to fall. The number of poor will
increase, while the rich get richer. The Republicans do not seem to
fear that US society will fracture along class, and maybe even worse,
ethnic lines. The press does not even discuss the possibility that the
US will turn into a version of Lebanon. Christianity has been turned
from a religion into a business and political tool by the likes of Karl
Rove, Gary Bauer, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist, Pat Robertson and AIPAC.
Of course, this American behavior of arrogance and ignorance meshes
very well with the image the Bush administration has been putting out.
After all, more than 59M Americans voted for W in Bush in 2004. In
spite of a major terrorist attack in 2001, and the invasion and
occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans remain just as
ignorant, if not even more ignorant of the world outside America’s
borders. Lou Dobbs has built a whole media career (and maybe later
political career) around anger at poor, Hispanic people who come to the
US to do jobs other people won’t do. And he gets good ratings over his
coverage of this "problem".
When America was the sole leading world power, that worked. But that
is no longer the case. When will Americans realize that America is no
longer an island they can withdraw to; it is part of a globalized world
economy where they are just one player among many? My guess is that
this whole globalized WTO world will fall apart in recriminations among
the many players, and that governments will try to become isolationist,
but that will become impossible because communications and technology
have made total isolation impossible.
The whole problem with Republicans and Democrats is that no one has
answers to the real problems. American elections have all the relevance
of who wins "American Idol".
Right now, the president is a mean-spirited version of Sanjaya
Malakar who goes through the motions of being a statesman, but can’t
even carry a tune. It took many Americans more than four years to
figure it out. American society seems to be in a death spiral of
arrogance, ignorance and stupidity.
America and Bush, they go together…
annie–
are you in america chris? if the mainstream media tells you what most americans think, does it mean that is what most americans think?
I’m in Shanghai and split my time between China and the US. I make it a point to read the MSM only as a reference point; I come to blogs like this for real information and discussion.
while your post addreses numerous things i agree with, the consumerism, the ecomony, the foreign policy etc. to me, these things do not define everything about this country or it’s citizens.
How often do you travel outside the US? How many non-English languages do you speak? What countries have you been to?
I don’t claim these things represent everything about the US; there are always exceptions to every rule. But then I don’t think that readers of this blog are representative of the general population.
That would be like claiming that Los Angeles represents the US or that Shanghai represents China; they don’t.
The thing is the fine points you bring up get lost in the general noise. I don’t see and hear you in China; the US mainstream media dominates the message, even in China. And that is how the Chinese and other people judge America, by the American MSM.
I am just talking about general overall impressions which outsiders get of the US. As someone who spends a great deal more time outside the US than most Americans, I am conveying my view and my read based on discussions I have had and articles I have read.
Sure, you can debate and nitpick the fine points and the exceptions, but I stand by my main points.
i beg to differ. i think americans are waking up. i think this ‘death spiral’ you speak of is a means of saving america, not ending it just as i think our salvation is more likely to come from not being the worlds superpower.
After more than six and eventually eight years? Do you think that the rest of the world is going to stay still for America, waiting for it to catch up? Sorry, it’s too late. The rest of the world has moved on, and the US will have to play catch-up.
The tragedy of the Bush administration is that it has hurt the US in so many non-political ways having to do with soft power and international influence and goodwill. It will take generations, not years, to undo the damage.
Americans are used to quick solutions; this time, there aren’t any.
b–
The overall standard of living in the U.S., will not fall in absolute terms, it will just not grow as fast as it did anymore and the overall standard of living in other countries will grow faster. It’s a relative decline and it is ongoing quite a while already.
The split rich poor will further widen, but there is nothing new to that either. See the stagnating (real-)wages of the working class for some nearly 20 years now.
It all depends on how you measure money supply. If your money supply figures are broad, the overall standard of living will continue to show an upward trend because the value of the money in dollar terms is actually going down.
Although I don’t have the figures for it, my guess is that if you adjusted for inflation and money supply, there would in fact be a fall in standard of living in the US in absolute terms. It’s just that most in the US haven’t figured that out yet. When Bernanke became Fed chairman last year, he decided to stop reporting M2 figures; it created quite a stir in China and many Chinese shifted their savings from dollars to euros and yen.
Then, of course, there is the national and consumer debt issue. Debtors depend on constantly finding new creditors to finance their increasing debt load. Basically, Americans are going into ever deeper debt to sustain an unsustainable standard of living.
Posted by: Chris Marlowe | Apr 1 2007 17:03 utc | 22
chris, i have traveled outside of the country too many times to trust my count as my memory is just not that good. i have been to numerous continents numerous times. i found china to be enthralling when i was there in the early 80’s. i think you missed the reasoning behind my questions.
i do not doubt that as you say…
the US mainstream media dominates the message..that is how the Chinese and other people judge America, by the American MSM.
i understand this. but, we all know the msm is not accurate. take american consumerism for example. of course it is a curse, but the fact remains, most americans simply cannot afford to be consumer gluttons.
I am just talking about general overall impressions which outsiders get of the US.
sorry, i thought you were talking about the way it actually was.
As someone who spends a great deal more time outside the US than most Americans, I am conveying my view and my read based on discussions I have had and articles I have read.
ok, so once again i ask you
if the mainstream media tells you what most americans think, does it mean that is what most americans think?
i am simply offering that you may consider ‘most’ americans are not as clueless, arrogant, and stupid.
they all may not be as enlightened as you, but they are all not living in some fox news reality just because fox wants them to believe they are.
one of the things about fox news, it is just loves to send the impression their view is the norm, and people who think outside this box are radical, far left, or not w/the mainstream. so if one didn’t have an actual reality when they walked out the door and interacted w/people face to face, or for example from a viewpoint they did not have the opportunity to experience america from an inside view, one might assume the america they perceive from the msm is accurate. it isn’t. they represent a propaganda tool that pushes america to the right. it is widely recognized as such. this indicates all those who recognize it is a propaganda tool do not in fact believe as they do.
American society seems to be in a death spiral of arrogance, ignorance and stupidity.
…..
i beg to differ. i think americans are waking up. i think this ‘death spiral’ you speak of is a means of saving america, not ending it just as i think our salvation is more likely to come from not being the worlds superpower.
……
After more than six and eventually eight years? Do you think that the rest of the world is going to stay still for America, waiting for it to catch up? Sorry, it’s too late. The rest of the world has moved on, and the US will have to play catch-up.
catch up? sorry, i thought you said we were in a death spiral.
i think you are missing my point. again, i think this ‘american society’ you speak of is made up of many people who are neither arrogant, ignorant, or stupid.
i think there are many people, like myself, that do not believe the virus that has infected out government can die until american supremacy can die.
i do not believe the death of american supremacy equals the death of america, i think it could be what saves it. i’m not sure how countering this with telling me the world won’t wait changes this.
again, i am not sure you got my point. i do not think proceeding in the course we have been on is good for america. the fact that we have a huge national debt is not something some tiny segment of america is aware of. many people here actually are aware our jobs are going overseas, that pensions are drying up, that we are involved in an illegal war, that our politicians are corrupt, that they can’t afford to go to college, much less afford to travel overseas, that small businesses are dying everyday because mainstreet is now walmart. the percentage of us that aren’t arrogant idiots may be more than your post indicates, but if it serves you to take the vision you hear about in the msm, and attribute it to ‘most americans, so be it. me , i happen to know some very angry americans.
just imagine you live in a house with an asshole who abuses you everyday. he also abuses everyone else in the neighborhood. he has a wife that is in total denial and keeps telling you everything is fine, none the less you get the shit kicked out of you everyday, and so do all your siblings.
now, your neighbor who is sick of this abuse comes and tells you most of the members of your family are idiots and unaware.
you may want to consider the people who have grown up w/the asshole have as much if not more awareness of his abuses than you do. and that bringing him to his knees, even if it means going hungry for the family, offers the best chance of hope for the family and the neighbors.
so, whatever it is you were saying about catching up? whatever. right now how we are going to catch up is the least of my worries, i am still trying to kill the beast.
Posted by: annie | Apr 1 2007 18:13 utc | 23
annie–
I take your point that there are many good-meaning, intelligent people in the US. I meet many of them on a regular basis in the US and outside of the US. They are fine people whom I hold in high regard.
There are also many smart, excellent people in US intelligence services who actually know something about the countries they are charged with studying and analyzing. Many of them even like the people they study and do not wish to bring harm and damage to them by invading their countries.
But then we had Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, and we all know what happened to US intelligence, and the sage advice of military professionals like Gen. Eric Shinseki when it came to what was needed to occupy a country like Iraq.
Here’s the problem: these people are a minority which are generally not heard in American society. Instead, under the American system of government, there is a beauty contest every four years. In 2000 and 2004, Bush won the beauty contest. (I’m sorry if this metaphor turns your stomach, but it’s the truth.)
There’s one thing about democracy: you get the government you deserve. (Of course Bush and Rove would like to change that, but that’s another story. They have been able to get away with a lot because Congress passed a Patriot Act they did not bother to read.)
I respect your defense of the US and I do not expect to change your POV. I just mean to put forth in brutally direct terms how the rest of the world widely perceives the US, if only because it is something which has been couched in such nice soft terms that the message does not get through to most Americans. I’m sick and tired of all the pretty talk of how things aren’t so bad, we learned our lesson, blah blah blah.
Many, if not most, Americans do not watch Fox. But as a whole, they have been pretty docile about the invasion and occupation of another country on false pretenses in the name of the USA. And they really turned against the war not because it was morally and politically wrong, but when Bush/Cheney/Rove bungled the war so badly, that even someone who was descended from a long line of first cousins who married each other could figure out that the US was in trouble.
That says a lot.
No country is free of these swings; it happened in China in the 1960s with the cultural revolution. It was an immensely damaging period in Chinese history, with millions dead of violence, persecution and starvation caused by bad policies. It also set the stage for China’s current stage of development.
There are many things wrong with China’s current development: out of control environmental pollution and damage, government corruption and a growing wealth gap between the rich and poor.
Here is what I don’t get: The Chinese government is scared to death of the wealth gap growing wider, and is pumping billions into the countryside to keep it from growing bigger. In contrast, Bush/Cheney/Rove and Co. don’t care in the US, they just want the rich (their cronies) to get richer.
Let me tell you something: if things get really bad in society and you are rich and a croney, no gated community, security system or guards will protect you. You, your family and your cronies are history. It’s that simple. This is the stage for violent social revolutions, and this is how they are made. Think Saigon in April 1975 without the helicopters landing on the US embassy.
If the Chinese government openly pursued policies like that in China, there would be a violent revolution, Communist party or no Communist party. When Chinese go onto the streets, it is not to vent their anger. It is for a change of government.
b–
on money supply: can be used for growth – no problem, can be inflationary – big problem, – can be hiding in superficial growth and relase itself inflationary later on – happening now and a very, very, very big problem. Solution: call Volcker plus tax the rich
This is the problem Hank Paulson is running into dealing with China. Gutierrez, Paulson and Bernanke are taking turns playing good cop, bad cop with the Chinese government. They want the Chinese to let the yuan rise faster against the dollar. The Chinese are saying no; “You played that game before with the Japanese after the Plaza accords in 1987, and we’re not going to let you export your inflation into China. We’re only going to let the yuan rise about 5% a year against the dollar. And if you don’t like, we can cut back on buying your Treasury bonds.”
(They don’t say it to their faces, but they say it in the Chinese press.)
In the past year, the biggest change in China aside from the rise of the Shanghai stock market by 130% is the rise of the government and corporate bond markets, which the Chinese are using to soak up excess market liquidity and to keep inflation down. Effectively, they are soaking excess American dollars which have made their way into yuan because China has more than US$1T in foreign exchange earnings. And this pile of cash just keeps on growing.
The Chinese government has just set up a government investment agency to invest about US$200B (foreign exchange earnings) in overseas markets besides US treasuries. (The Chinese government doesn’t like the return on US treasuries, especially after the Americans put such pressure on to let the yuan rise against the dollar. By buying US treasuries the Chinese are effectively lending Americans money to buy Chinese products; essentially they are lending money to a major market to generate cash flow through deficit spending, which is something Americans are very good at.)
The Chinese won’t say what this government investment agency will invest in, but my guess is that they will invest in significant businesses which generate significant cash flow and returns. There also has been discussion about setting up a Chinese equivalent of the World Bank to support development in Africa. (The current WB president is Paul Wolfowitz, the hero of Baghdad.)
The US government really needs to be able to export its inflation bubble to China, but the Chinese are too smart to let that happen. The nineties in Japan are known as the “lost decade” and it all happened because the US succeeded in exporting US excess liquidity (inflation) where it got soaked up by excessive Japanese land prices. It took Japanese banks fifteen years to recognize and write off the losses from their real estate investments.
The US and China are going eyeball to eyeball in a game of chicken. The US has run out of suckers to sucker into its schemes.
Now how do you think North Korea and Taiwan play into that picture? This is where the deal-making comes in…
Posted by: Chris Marlowe | Apr 1 2007 21:13 utc | 28
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