Are you a domestic terrorist?

[kandrathe]

While what you say is true, I don't think it is representative of the American Dream.

It is interesting that that site links to an article by William Greider who I think does an OK job describing part of the problem, but a lousy job proposing a solution. He myopically views the ills of our nightmare as spawned by corporate greed, and that we are blindly seduced into its pursuit as well. The big fallacy though is that he sees the government as the "force" that will bring about the remedy. For me, I see the problem permeating government as well, such that the average person becomes the Beef Rouladen between a government counter top, and the corporate meat mallet.

The 2006 household income report by the Fed showed that median income from 2001 to 2004 only rose by 1.5% over that 4 year period (so, flat). For the previous 12 years household net worth grew by about 2.5% per year. And, of course, what happened was that the bottom 60% of households actually lost net worth from 2001 to 2004 (e.g. tech bubble). They also recently released a report that shows across the board loses of net worth in the US of between 20 and 30% since fall 2008 (now the housing bubble). It appears that we might have rolled back the household net worth in the USA to early 1999's or even 1980 levels. I don't view this as a malaise just with government, or corporations. I think we as a society also share blame for being too easily seduced, and for not electing the proper people who can reform our government. I'm pessimistic because I see no good choices, and we send clowns like Al Franken to Washington thinking he "gets it". :wacko:

Also, its not like *poof* the net worth just vanished. I don't believe it ever existed in the first place -- it was leveraged into place, and as soon as the leverage slipped, the illusory wealth vanished as well. Just as our nation cannot keep measuring its productivity by looking at consumer spending, we as individuals cannot keep looking at our wages as success. Financial security for too many Americans lies with having a paycheck, and therefore, we are forced to stay employed. For most, there really is no choice.