I am not sure about other countries, but if you are a youngster in America you will be both poorer than your parents and you will live shorter than them...(on average)

Just so you know...so you can start lowering your expectation...

Yea, because of jealousy you will be left to live a life without leaders who are smart enough to provide for there people or intelligent enough to even care about anyone else, we are doomed, what a pitty, life should be such fun.

People only know what they are capable of and what they believe others are capable of is a really good sign as to what they are capable of. There are far less wise, intelligent men and women then adverage people so the many adverage people rule out the wise because of jealousy and to pretend that there is no such thing. That is the way it seems to me.

life could have been such fun.
Don't believe it. That's just a lie to make you keep going...

http://www.comegetyousome.com/images/sc_fat_kid.jpg

That is sick.

"Super size it please!"

omg i wonder y we got so fat the world i mean before ww2 it wasne that comon.

keep making fun of Mexican's:mad:

nah il make fun of the spanish close enough, :P

:P

what does that mean?

you are basicly spanish but poorer

How do you say "super size it please" in Mexican?

you are basicly spanish but poorer

NO, what does (:P) <that mean?

oh just a face turn ur screen to thi side and u will notis wat it looks like!

:p?

:p?

oh yeah

lol

Don't believe it. That's just a lie to make you keep going...

Yea right, life should be like a paradise and it got nothing to do with belief, it's a simple fact. What is wrong is simple if you know enough to fix it, otherwise you pretend that everybody else is just as simple minded as you,lol.

uiupo[p

keep making fun of Mexican's:mad:
Don't worry. We will. Just rest at ease knowing that we won't let you down!

yea we will not ;

erm o.k

... if you are a youngster in America you will be both poorer than your parents and you will live shorter than them...(on average)...True, but don't take the easy way out. (Kill yourself now.) - I want you to keep paying my social security. :D

http://www.comegetyousome.com/images/sc_fat_kid.jpg

That's nasty.

Fascinating... I truly believe I'm already experiencing this issue. The lazy corporate gerks are being replaced by stupid ones who pay less for more work and consider it useful. No more profits for the American worker.

I am not sure about other countries, but if you are a youngster in America you will be both poorer than your parents and you will live shorter than them...(on average)

Are you under 25? You must be, otherwise you wouldn't be so sure you knew everything.

So in other words, you're saying, "Poor me!!!!"

True, but don't take the easy way out. (Kill yourself now.) - I want you to keep paying my social security. :D

Why would I kill myself? I am not in the under 25 crowd. Also, don't you live in Brazil?

Are you under 25?

Well, I am not surprised by your lack of logic. Why would I write such a thread in such a way if I were under 25?

I simply quoted statistics, and you as most people have trouble with facts and reality. poor you....

Well, I am not surprised by your lack of logic. Why would I write such a thread in such a way if I were under 25?

Why would you create a thread claiming to be a logical Republican when you are, in fact, neither?

Why would I kill myself? I am not in the under 25 crowd. Also, don't you live in Brazil? ...I was responding to post 1. If you are not <25 then my reply was not intended for you.

Actually my post was intended to all, regardless of age. Part of my effort to make people aware of how badly the US economy has positioned itself. (debts, "suburban infrastructure," foolish wars, etc. as discussed in many other posts). I have been doing this for years to help especially the <25 crowd, but US economy is now way beyond the point of help*, so I have switched to mainly recording the milestones it passes on the way to dollar collapse. I also describe the post collapse global economy: US and EU in deep depression and factorys in China still “humming” to meet the domestic demand and pay for, by exports, their supplies of food stocks and raw material, from countries like Brazil.

Yes, I live in Brazil but only retired there (15 years ago now) after contributing the max to the SS system for 30 years. Actually that max was increasing so rapidly when I decided, mainly for other reasons, to retire that I decided to begin collecting and cease paying in. The different in my interaction with US government was impressive (gain big vs. pay big.). I still have bank accounts in USA and SS deposits my check there each month. They would convert it to Real and deposit in Brazilian bank I am almost sure if I asked them to. Many "ex-pat" Americans legally live on their SS income in a low cost country quite well. (You paid in, and are "entitled" regardless where you live, but SS will not deposit in Cuban etc. banks.)
--------------
*The book described at website under my name was a broader based attempt to help written about 5 years ago. That site tells how to read it for free. (I always tell that when I mention it. It was not written for profit or fame. The author is also “Billy T,” not my real name. It was written because I foresaw what is now beginning to happening (to dollar and US economy) and was concerned for the future of my grandchildren, living in the USA.)

It'll all be alright in the end.....

It'll all be alright in the end.....Are you Chinese?

Are you Chinese?
I'll learn Mandarin if I have to.

I don't like any oranges.

I'll whore myself in Shaghai.

Why would you create a thread claiming to be a logical Republican when you are, in fact, neither?

I explained that in the very first post of that thread. By the way feel free to point out any illogical line of thought if you can find it. I bet you can't...

I'll learn Mandarin if I have to.If I were younger, I would be reasonably fluent in it now (I foresaw what is now happing to dollar and US economy more than 5 years ago, so even without much gift for languages, I would have some facility with it by now.)

Who knows, Billy and Sys may be right. Nothing lasts forever. But lets look at some past predictions of doom:
"The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate..."

"a minimum of ten million people, most of them children, will starve to death during each year of the 1970s. But this is a mere handful compared to the numbers that will be starving before the end of the century"
Why was he so wrong?
Why did Ehrlich’s predictions fail to come true? Because the model he used, like almost all those who predict dire problems from population, was basically flawed. In a nutshell what Ehrlich did was take population growth for the 1960s and extrapolate it out through the 1970s, but he insisted production of resources such as food and water were at their limits -- both would likely decline, and certainly not increase.

Food production not only increased, but increased faster than population growth, so 27 years after the publication of The Population Bomb, not only are there many more people alive in the world, but they eat more than they did in the past. Water quality, which Ehrlich believed beyond repair, has also steadily improved.

And, of course, there's the original purveyor of doom, Thomas Malthus:
Thomas Robert Malthus, in particular, became renown for his pessimistic predictions regarding the future of humanity. His major contribution to economic thought came in the essay "The Principles of Population." Originally, Malthus wrote the piece in response to utopian utilitarians who suggested that population growth constituted an unmitigated blessing. Essentially, Malthus predicted that the demand for food inevitably becomes much greater than the supply of it. This prediction is rooted in the idea that population increases geometrically while foodstuffs grow at an arithmetic rate.

The projected population increase was expected to lead to a glut in the supply of labor and hence a fall in the price paid to that labor. At the same time, the growing demand for food and other provisions would surely raise the cost of survival. Malthus postulated that population growth would come to a standstill due to the increased price of supporting a family. The population then remains stagnant until the excess laborers convert enough forest into farmland such that "the means of subsistence become in the same proportion of the populations as at the period from which we set out." In other words, humanity goes back to square one and the process repeats itself. The entire affair becomes a vicious circle where improved conditions lead to an increase in numbers which in turn nullifies any improvements that have been made. As a result, the income of workers inevitably falls to subsistence level. In the long run Malthus expected that forces such as war, pestilence, famine and plague would operate as checks on a swelling population.
Why was he wrong?
In forming his dark forecast Malthus failed to take several factors into consideration. The industrial revolution transformed the very nature of Western society, so that his principles, which assume that agriculture forms the center of the economy, lost their validity by mid-nineteenth century. Focusing exclusively on the birth rates of economically thriving communities, he failed to consider that part of his projected "population explosion" would come from a reduction in death rates. This oversight throws Malthus's theories into disarray. An increase in the elderly population would not have significant repercussions in the labor market. Essentially, wages would not fall to the extent that Malthus originally predicted. In an era where children entered the work force at an early age, an increase in birth rates would have more profound implications than a decrease in deaths.

A more forgivable mistake by Malthus involves his failure to anticipate the growth of technology. The advancements made in agricultural science allowed farmers to make greater use of their lands. The development of effective contraception also made "restraint" a non-issue in terms of checking population growth. Because of these scientific breakthroughs the theories of Malthus have had little relevance in regards to Western society. http://www.victorianweb.org/economics/malthus.html
Those who predict doom have a bad track record.

I am not sure about other countries, but if you are a youngster in America you will be both poorer than your parents and you will live shorter than them...(on average)

Just so you know...so you can start lowering your expectation...

Also it would be to their advantage to become fluent in Spanish.

But lets look at some past predictions of doom:

Are you aware:

"According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 25,000 people die of starvation every day, and more than 800 million people are chronically undernourished. On average, a child dies every five seconds from starvation."

That is 9 million a year, but sure, way less, then predicted. Also that is 1/8 of humankind chronically undernourished!

But the original post meant only the USA.

http://www.comegetyousome.com/images/sc_fat_kid.jpg

my new desktop background.
i need to slowly re-acclimate myself to america again, as im going home in a few months.

http://www.comegetyousome.com/images/sc_fat_kid.jpg
"I've finished mine, can I start on yours. I'm still a little peckish."

"I've finished mine, can I start on yours. I'm still a little peckish."
Won't repost the photo, but Stryder has started good game. Here is my entry:

"Hey, I want that fry that fell on floor."

PS I assume the winner's prise is plate of McFries.

Syzygys, you're just a jerk. Somethings gotta be wrong with you to take such glee in telling people their lives are going to filled with misery, disease, and despair.

Yea, because of jealousy you will be left to live a life without leaders who are smart enough to provide for there people or intelligent enough to even care about anyone else, we are doomed, what a pitty, life should be such fun.

People only know what they are capable of and what they believe others are capable of is a really good sign as to what they are capable of. There are far less wise, intelligent men and women then adverage people so the many adverage people rule out the wise because of jealousy and to pretend that there is no such thing. That is the way it seems to me.

I wonder which was the first idiot in mythology to become jealous if his or her own creation.

Syzygys, you're just a jerk. Somethings gotta be wrong with you to take such glee in telling people their lives are going to filled with misery, disease, and despair.

Wait until I tell you there is no god! :)

By the way you dumbfuck (just testing moderation, by the way stating the truth), I only said they are not going to live as long as their parents and they are not going to have as much material possesions.

Where is the misery, disease or despair in that??

Ahem...

Moderation noted and has been tested.

In other words, cut it out with the name calling.

Imagine, name calling in a thread making fun of a super morbidly obese CHILD. What, do you think, his life expectancy is? It's probably on par with someone who has cystic fibrosis. And no, it is not his fault, it is the responsibility of the adults in his life to intervene, if he has a medical condition or he is just obese.

Syzygys, you're just a jerk. Somethings gotta be wrong with you to take such glee in telling people their lives are going to filled with misery, disease, and despair.

Glee? No. More like disbelief.

Look at this picture:

http://www.comegetyousome.com/images/sc_fat_kid.jpg

What is wrong with this image? What is wrong with the parents that allowed both of those children to end up looking like that? And they are not alone. Childhood obesity is on the increase.

I look at that picture and I ask myself 'why'. Why are they that big. Why are they in McDonalds? Why are they eating large size meals? So many why's.

cut it out with the name calling.


I NEVER namecall. I simply state facts. The individual in case clearly expressed incorrect judgement on his behalf and I pointed out. End of story.

Anyway, let's go back to topic. This whiny-pussy generation just simply can't take the truth. And again, they just have been warned in advance, but in 20 years they are going to cry that "nobody told us!!!".

what a pitty, life should be such fun.

Sheesh, I'm so tired of that attitude. Life IS fun, right now. It will be fun. Mine is really great! Though it would be better if I could be around more people who weren't such downers.

As to the topic... despite the troubled state of America, why worry excessively? I mean, it is good to be informed for voting reasons and things like that, but some of you seem think it is hopeless and things are beyond your hands. I also get the feeling some are intentionally trying to create a tangible feeling of despair. Thanks :rolleyes:

America is full of incredible opportunities right now, despite it's flaws, and despite it's apparently inevitable downfall. Just because it will turn bad at some unknown time does not mean it will now. And no one reasonably expects it to happen in the next ten years. That is plenty of time, especially for those of you under 25. You should be the happiest of all. You (yes, you) have chances right now to take advantage of the country, and take care of yourself.

I'm very happy to be under 25. I wish I was even younger! We will live in...interesting times, for many reasons. There will be opportunities not available to other generations that we'll get the first crack at!

So, even if you think Bush and others have ruined America, don't be overly upset. You can always take care of yourself in the meantime, and if you like you can say "I told you so" with a satisfying shake of your fist on your way to a different country. ;)

http://www.comegetyousome.com/images/sc_fat_kid.jpg

I guess it's ok to make fun of the fat kid when it's on the internet, but when I was his age I was told it was wrong. :p

Exhumed, I like your positive attitude. Nevertheless it is nice to know the dangers of the future.

Let's say I was born in Berlin 1870. I had a pretty good 30 years, when you are born in 1900 as my son. When you are 10 years old I warn you, that the future might be not so bright as it seems. And lo and behold, you have to fight in 2 (!!!)) world wars, and let's suppose you survived that, you had a pretty good retirment thanks to technological advantages.

But my first 30 years were sure better than yours!

Life IS fun, right now. It will be fun. Mine is really great!

Bless your good luck, whereever were you born. Also don't go to IT as a profession....

why worry excessively?

Because the fantastic government doesn't seem to do that. Somebody has to...Also excessive is relative...

America is full of incredible opportunities right now,

I think you are dreaming. Would I want to be under 25? Sure. But I would prefer the year to be 1990!! :)

P.S.: Fuck fat kids! Somebody has to tell them that they are FAT and UNHEALTHY, if their mother doesn't do that...

Exhumed, I like your positive attitude.

Thanks


Bless your good luck, whereever were you born. Also don't go to IT as a profession....


I am very lucky to have been born into a family that could supply me with a safe home and good education (although at 19 I moved out on my own and lived a cramped life with no money with 2 other slobs for roommates in a tiny apartment...but it was really fun! That's the advantage of our age). I know everyone isn't that lucky, and that is truly unfortunate, but I think most of the people that have internet access and are americans under age 25 have ample opportunity now.

If you are under 25 and you went into IT, unless you are already stuck trying to work off college loans you are truly free to choose a new profession bound to be fun and full of opportunity. Biology is fun. :P


Because the fantastic government doesn't seem to do that. Somebody has to...Also excessive is relative...

It is definitely wise to be prudent. Posts like yours make me wary of real estate and long term investments in this country. I just get a vibe from you guys that is more about despair than advice. Probably because I see little practical advice in these posts and just descriptions of the horrible reality of the future. I'd be really interested in that type of thing.

Please, someone tell me how I can position myself to be in the new elite class when America goes to third world status. Almost any country is an option! :)



I think you are dreaming. Would I want to be under 25? Sure. But I would prefer the year to be 1990!! :)

I think if you do well for yourself now someone else is going to be envying you for being in our generation. There will be bad and there will be good.

I think a lot of people of any generation would say they wish they were ten years younger so they could better prepare for now. That is just normal hindsight IMO.

Even though I hate so much about America--many politicians and the huge portion of our country that voted for them--life is so good here. America is a relatively big place, and I am more than capable of filling my life with good people and good things and not concerning myself with bad things any more than necessary.

And this is coming from someone who considers himself a cosmopolitan and has lived in other countries and visited more.

When things go bad some day and another country surpasses America, things might not be as good over there as it is over here.


P.S.: Fuck fat kids! Somebody has to tell them that they are FAT and UNHEALTHY, if their mother doesn't do that...

:cool:

...Please, someone tell me how I can position myself to be in the new elite class when America goes to third world status. Almost any country is an option! :)Although, many years ago my Russian and German was OK for both street use and reading journals, I do not learn languages easily or become very fluent, Thus, if I were single, 50 years younger, I would convert all I have into cash (bank certified internaltional check etc) and go to India, especially if I had some facility with IT. (I ended up in Brazil because of a beautiful Ph.D. I met in Mexico while both were on vaccation. She was just crazy enough to like me and my weird POVs etc. Brazil is not a bad choice either, but Portuguese verb forms are hard to learn. I suspect the ladies in India are much more inhibited than here.)

Ironically, there are long lines of Indians at the US consulates in India, trying to get their visas to come to the US. I think this is old information and /or short sighteness on their part, but some of the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" also perhaps. I have always been leary of doing what the majority thinks is a "smart move," and that has worked out well for me.

There are an abundance of beautful Indian girls also, some well off financially and paying for husbands! Perhaps before going I would contact a few via the aids that appear in indian newspaper, available on line.

I look at them (the newspapers, not the ladies) as several of my ADRs are Indian. For example, just last week there were riots where Tata Motors is building its new plant to make the 100,000 rupee car. - An all plastic body, never rust or paint, glued together as many airplanes are today, continous variable gear automatic transmission, four passenger, good looking and fuel efficient and selling for $3000 in US in a few years, if dollar has not collapsed too much more!) The pesants, prior owners of the huge factory site (hundreds of now fenced off acres) now want their land back or more money.

PS. Without meaning to offend, not all Indian women are like SamCDkey if her fisty personality is not too your liking.

Thanks for indulging me :P

I hope your investment works out for you, it sounds like you made a smart move there. I wish I'd been able to invest in Indian real estate in Mumbai or other places 15 years ago.

I wouldn't mind living in India! I like warm places where men can wear Sarongs(:cool: )... and love most of what I hear about India. I decided to take my "International Studies" graduation requirement on a course about India which I am currently taking. I think it's good luck for me that English was convenient for them since they have so many dialects of their own, relieving me from having to learn it. I definitely want to visit there, at the least.

I'm working on a biochemistry degree right now. Should I finish that or work on finding one of these rich and generous Indian women? I agree they are quite beautiful, particularly the rich ones at my university. I love their skin tone and disposition for wearing attractive sports clothing. :D

...Should I finish that or work on finding one of these rich and generous Indian women?...Finish, there will be plenty still waiting. LOTS OF OPPORTUNITY IN BIOCHEMISTRY. The Generic drug company Dr. Ready is huge - might like a rep willing to travel the world both in sales and for "troubleshooting" in some of their fabrication facilities outside of India. (I seem to recall they recently bough one in Eastern Europe but may be confused with BRL and Teva, two other very big generic drug companies I hold shares in. I think these three have together at least 50% of the global generic market.)

...I suspect the ladies in India are much more inhibited than here....Might be all wrong on this. Based only on the corrupting cultural influence I presume took place under British rule. After all there is hard evidence otherwise carved in the walls at Angor Wats, the goddess Shiba et.al, and the Karma Sutra.

If the British killed all that in the higher class Indian ladies, then I am for killing the British!

LOL.

From my experience you are all wrong on this indeed.

LOL. From my experience you are all wrong on this indeed.It was a comparison, remember? Does your experience include Brazil at carnaval time? - Fully nude, highly siliconized, ladies prading down the street etc. Pretty sure they do not do that in India, but in privacy of bedroom perhaps it is a tie with much of rest of world far behind.:bugeye:
---------------------------
Must admit, the Indian way is more attractive and exciting, but I was speaking of "inhibitions" so think we can claim first prize.;)

Wow. How come I never heard about these parades until now!?

And to think in the US a parade with inflated commercial icons and free candy is supposed to be cool.

Though I suppose I should compare it do Mardi Gras, I didn't think of it since it wasn't overly to my liking.

PS. Without meaning to offend, not all Indian women are like SamCDkey if her fisty personality is not too your liking.

Don't know many Indian women, do you? ;)

Then you'd know I was one of the sedate ones!:D

Wow. How come I never heard about these parades until now!?...the TV station Global has lady well shaved everywhere except for her long hair and at least half covered with body paint (usually a lot of green, yellow and blue from the Brazil's flag in long seusous stripes) who begins to appear on tv at least a week before carnaval. They sell video high lights of her and the carnaval each year.

Don't know many Indian women, do you? ;) Then you'd know I was one of the sedate ones!:DNo I do not, never been my pleasure. I did have a year at full pay off, which I spent in the cognitive science department at Johns Hopkins with the graduate students. There were two Indian ladies in the "journal club" / course. Two professors ran it, selected papers for us to read and discuss.

One was about how phonemes are composed of about 8 or 10 different features, like voiced or not etc. When you hear a word it is "broken down" into its phonemic content for processing. Humans are "pre wired" at birth to be able to learn a fixed set of phonemes, but most languages include less than half of the possible combinations. After a certain young age, if you have not heard some, you can no longer even hear them. These two young Indian ladies had some developed we speakers of English do not.

We had one make a list (or it was given in one of the papers we read that week) of word pairs that differed only by some of these phonemic features that are absent in English. One lady said the words to the other from the list we had "scrambled." - To all of English speakers, concentrating very hard to try to hear the difference, it was impossible to hear any difference. The speaker was just repeating the same word twice, so it seemed to us. Despite this false impression, the other Indian lady wrote all of the word pairs in the same order as they were on the list, without a single error!!

If you have children, let them hear all the different languages you can. - Not important that they know or learn the meaning of the words. Just need to hear as many of the possible combinations of phonemic features as possible.

They are very "quantized" - won't go into details, but the continuously variable output of a speech synthesizer shows this clearly. (Your perception "switches" abruptly.)

I just get a vibe from you guys that is more about despair than advice. Probably because I see little practical advice in these posts ...

Well, I meant it as a warning. You are the first one who actually asked for advice, how to avoid the problems of the future.

OK, I will try to give you a few wisdoms, take it from someone who is pretty statisfied with his life, except 1-2 minor things...

Things to do if you are under 25:

1. Don't get married or have kids until 30. What's the hurry?
2. College is overrated. Think about it twice before wasting 4-5 years on an education that can be easily outsourced.
3. Learn a language, most useful is Spanish.
4. Don't go into debt, but if you do, there are tricky ways to get out of it.
5. Travel until you don't have a family. After that it will be very hard. Get 2 other buddies and discover America.
6. Don't buy expensive shit. What's the point?
7. When you buy your next car, think about mileage and effectiveness instead of color.
8. You can do pretty much any bad thing with MODERATION. That is the key to life.
9. Make sure you have good credit.

Now if you are already in college and let's say you will have a nice student loan to pay off in the next 10-15 years, here is a neat trick to get ride of it. Maybe not very moral, but effective.

Make your credit good and sign up for credit cards. When each has at least 5K limit or more on them, cash out them and pay off your student loan. Then declare bankruptcy. In 2 years your credit will be fine and you won't have a student loan. Free education anyone? :)

Well, if you have a good life, enjoy it and appreciate it, because who knows what brings the tomorrow? Most likely not very nice surprizes....

P.S.: Don't get FAT!!!!

1. Don't get married or have kids until 30. What's the hurry?
2. College is overrated. Think about it twice before wasting 4-5 years on an education that can be easily outsourced.
3. Learn a language, most useful is Spanish.
4. Don't go into debt, but if you do, there are tricky ways to get out of it.
5. Travel until you don't have a family. After that it will be very hard. Get 2 other buddies and discover America.
6. Don't buy expensive shit. What's the point?
7. When you buy your next car, think about mileage and effectiveness instead of color.
8. You can do pretty much any bad thing with MODERATION. That is the key to life.
9. Make sure you have good credit.


10. Constantly remind young people that the future is going to suck because [insert doomsday scenario here].

P.S.: When you run out of credible doomsday scenarios, just deliver a pessimistic comment and tell them to lower their expectations.

Dub, you are a moron, get out of my thread.

Your #10 doesn't even fit, since the list was made for under 25, but you are too stupid tosee it. Oh hell, let's put you on Ignore...

P.S.: Fuck fat kids! Somebody has to tell them that they are FAT and UNHEALTHY, if their mother doesn't do that...

Yes, because obese children have such high self-esteem, and don't get enough shit thrown at them in life. Let's have adults insult them too!!!

Do you think that kids wants to be fat? Do you know the success rate for weight loss in obese adults, never mind children? He's a kid and needs structure and support in order to grow and be healthy. You know that obesity is associated with poverty? Why? Because high caloric low nutrient foods are cheap.

Please. Give me a break.

Hey, I'm an old guy who does NOT tell kids that the future is going to be rotten. Quite the contrary, I think you kids are going to have really pleasant times and i envy you. You'll have different problems than we had and some of them will be tough ones, but on the balance your lives will be safer, more comfortable, and more fulfilling than ours.

The odds are very small that you will have to live through a world war. If we can stop the Religious Redneck Retard in the White House from actually re-starting the Crusades for just another year and a half, the trend of the past sixty years will continue: The number of people killed by government violence continues to drop steadily, if not quite monotonically. Just look at our perspective: we're getting outraged over conflicts in places like Darfur and Iraq, where the death tolls haven't approached one million. I was born during WWII, which killed somewhere between forty and sixty million human beings! Only four conflicts since them exceeded one million, and only the Congo civil war exceeded two million. Of course I weep for the victims, but for the goddess's sake it's impossible to deny that three generations of humanity have steadily backed away from war as a way of solving problems. As for terrorism, well I weep for those victims too, but it's a tiny risk; more people are killed by drunk drivers, probably even in Iraq.If you are a youngster in America you will live shorter than your parents.What on earth makes you say something like that??? The life expectancy both at birth and at the end of childhood has been rising steadily for decades and has not stopped doing so. It has become common for retired people to still have parents to take care of. When I was 25 my life expectancy was fifty more years. If you're 25 today it's fifty-five. We've made such huge progress in curing and delaying illness, that the list of the top ten causes of death now includes auto accidents, homicide and suicide--all of which BTW drop off precipitously after your own postulated cutoff age of 25.

As for being poorer than your parents, it's deceptive to compare standards of living across a Paradigm Shift. Your generation will (hopefully) be telecommuters so you won't need the income to support three cars, full-time nannies and a steady diet of take-out food. You won't need to pay to live on a parcel of inflated real estate near a major city and hoard your vacation time and money to "get away from it all." You might live quite happily with only one parent in a household working full time. You have the internet and all the culture that comes with it: information, entertainment, companionship, games, even employment. It's difficult to compare "prosperity" between generations with such different needs and resources. How would you compare the "poverty" of a successful but illiterate farmer in 1500CE who never traveled more than twenty miles from his home, to today's city dweller with the most menial job, with an internet connection to the whole world, a car that carries him to different communites a hundred miles every weekend, and an annual vacation a thousand miles from home?Also it would be to their advantage to become fluent in Spanish.Yes well Americans should adjust to the reality of a global civilization and stop assuming that everybody else will automatically learn our language. China is a hot market and before long they will have enough influence that others will have to learn their language instead of vice versa; fortunately contrary to popular belief it is really not one of the world's most difficult, at least the spoken language. And my own hunch is that Latin America is poised to become a regional superpower over the next quarter century, and Americans who know Spanish will have a tremendous advantage. Also, Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, Turkish, Urdu, or any other major Middle Eastern language will open up a lot of job opportunities; the federal government alone is desperate for these.More than 25,000 people die of starvation every day, and more than 800 million people are chronically undernourished... Way less than predicted.It's also only a snapshot when a trend line would be more informative. Hunger has been vanquished in huge swaths of the world. In my memory, millions of people died of starvation in China alone; today all but the most rural Chinese can afford TV sets. China and India between them contain a third of the world's population and their economies are growing at 8% a year. Despite its favelas, Latin America produces enough food to export a lot of it. Aside from a few pockets of intractably stupid government like Burma, the world's Hunger Zone has been relentlessly diminished until it is now almost entirely an African problem. Their birth rate is falling steadily--as it is everywhere--so you can expect to see an increase in prosperity even there, during your lifetime if not mine.It is definitely wise to be prudent. Posts like yours make me wary of real estate and long term investments in this country.Good thinking. At our age we can take the chance, but even my wife and I have some overseas investments. You young folks should definitely diversify internationally. You should also face the possibility that you won't want to spend the rest of your lives in the USA and be prepared to emigrate.I just get a vibe from you guys that is more about despair than advice.No one was more pessimistic about the future than the Baby Boomers, the Americans who would be my younger siblings if I had any. They had nuclear bomb drills in grade school and watched our cities explode in race riots. But they partied their asses off.Please, someone tell me how I can position myself to be in the new elite class when America goes to third world status. Almost any country is an option!Quite a few Americans are moving to countries who need IT ventures started. I have a friend whose son is blissfully happy--and financially successful if not rich--in Estonia. Poland, many of the former Warszaw Pact countries fall in that category. My advice is to stop wondering how to become an elite American, and work on being merely a middle-class citizen of Earth, and in the process help build a global economy with a growing middle class. Despite the doomsaying about IT on this thread, this is the Information Age and the construction of the world's IT infrastructure is just beginning.

Look at the EU. People don't have to spend their whole lives in one country, and since they all learn three languages when they're kids they're easily mobile. The whole world will be like that in your time. Get yourself into a mindset where you can embrace the likelihood of leaving America, rather than figuring out a way to make the most of staying here.Even though I hate so much about America--many politicians and the huge portion of our country that voted for them.What alarms a lot of us older folks with more perspective is that, perhaps for the first time in human history in a major nation, stupid people have seized political power. One of the ways they wield that power is to ensure that the percentage of the population who is as stupid as they are keeps increasing. Particularly the educational system that turns out college graduates who on the average read at what my generation called "sixth grade level." Each year the number of people increases who can easily be persuaded to believe that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, evolution is an evil conspiracy, and terrorism is a bigger threat than drunk driving. Our leadership is being taken over by morons and people who know how to manipulate morons. I haven't seen any good suggestions for dealing with this problem, which could easily flush our country down the toilet.

Uh oh. I guess I did just say that maybe the future is going to be rotten. :(

But my message is: This is just one country. Make sure you can leave when you want to or have to.

Yes, because obese children have such high self-esteem, and don't get enough shit thrown at them in life.
Please. Give me a break.

Oh, I don't blame the child, I blame the parents. By the way you can get cheaper food from the Dollar Store than from McDonalds...

I give you a break, you give me 10 push-ups...

I think you kids are going to have really pleasant times and i envy you.

Hey, I would like to be optimist too, but there is this little thing called reality, kind of bothers me...

but on the balance your lives will be safer, more comfortable, and more fulfilling than ours.

What makes you say such a thing? I was specially refering to US kids. If their job is not going to be outsourced, if they don't get fat by 12, if a few nukes don't go off in a few cities and if they find a huge amount of oil in the US, THEN what you said might become true.

Otherwise better get ready. Life is cyclical. The 90s were good, since 911 it is all downhill and I don't think we reached the bottom yet...

The odds are very small that you will have to live through a world war.

Actually, the law of averages syas that there chance will be BIGGER. The world got lucky several times in the last 60 years, luck eventually runs out.

Also, there is a thing called 4th generation war. It is different than our usual picture of world wars. One could (Fox News does it all the time) that WW3 has already started...

the trend of the past sixty years will continue: The number of people killed by government violence continues to drop steadily, if not quite monotonically.

If you look at smaller timeframe, let's say the last 30 years, that number is actually increasing...

As for terrorism, well I weep for those victims too, but it's a tiny risk;

As much as I know the government exaggerates the risk, his tiny risk is way bigger than 10-20 years ago, and will get bigger.

But let's forget war. How about viruses? Again, the world got lucky several times in the last 30-40 years. QWe can have a SARS like epidemic (law of averages) anytime, and with fast transportation, it will be much more widespread than 30 years ago would have been.

But my message is: This is just one country. Make sure you can leave when you want to or have to.

Hey, I thought you were optimistic... :)