What are your thoughts on today's overall view of this country?

[SmittynMo]

Think about it. How do things look right now?

Gas around 2.00 a gallon? It was 3.69 two months ago.

Wall street at an all time high?

Unemployment at an all time low?

Job creation at a high? 200K+ more jobs last month. 6 years ago, we were losing 750K a month.

Dependence on foreign oil reduced.

The list goes on and on.


It sure seems to me that the country is heading on the right direction and running pretty damn good right now. Ever since the major disaster created by Bush and his cronies, I feel pretty good about what I see. It's not perfect, but then again, it never will be. The fact that this has all happened on Obama's watch is incredible. I suspect that Obama will go down as one of the best presidents in history.

[leftymon]

1. Is there enough space...

on Mt Rushmore??

[niyad]

2. how do things look? like hell, that is how they look!

eric garner, michael brown, how many others?

hatred at so many levels escalating

domestic violence

attacks on women's rights/health/autonomy escalating

a militarized police state

gas is nearly 2.70 here, and the prices fluctuate daily.

wall street is an illusion

catastrophic climate change accelerating

wow, we got 200,000 jobs in one month (and this offsets losing 750,000 month how?) question is, what kind of jobs are they? seasonal, part-time, retail, service, or highly-paid, highly-skilled permanent jobs? (please look at this link, and then tell me about unemployment at "all-time low":
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104719.html)

the list goes on and on, but not in the way you seem to think.

[malthaussen]

11. You'd think that would be preaching to the choir, Niyad

It amazes me that so many soi-disant "Democrats" point to traditional economic indicators to "prove" that the contry is headed in the right direction. All they prove is that the fat cats are getting fatter.

Gas prices have come down? Because fracking and other means of marginal extraction are trashing the environmment and causing water to burn. Meanwhile, people are out marching in the streets because or soi-disant "criminal justice system" has finally been exposed as prejudicial. Oh, well, no matter. Christmas is coming, and consumer confidence is on the rise. Hoo-rah!

-- Mal

[niyad]

16. I know. I am supposed to be thrilled because gas is under $3/gal. but the community where I am

still has lost much in the way of jobs, businesses, and has absolutely no regard for the environment or C3 (catastrophic climate change). but we have LOTS of churches and fundies and reich-wingers.

[BillZBubb]

3. The country is slipping quickly into a right wing oligarchy.

All the things you mentioned about the economy are true, and the president deserves a lot of the credit. Unfortunately, the voters didn't see it that way and elected the most reactionary congress in ages.

Too many voters were convinced things are terrible. EBOLA! ILLEGALS! ISIS! The corporate media pushed the fear.

It is going to be a self fulfilling prophesy. Things are going to get terrible before the right wingers are through.

[pretzel4gore]

28. problem: the mass media is racist fascist (rightwing)

notice they 'took out' the public broadcaster PBS/NPR back starting with that stinkpot reagan male model fellow. Circa 1980. The free press never really existed, but to watch 'news' these days is to torment oneself-re: the only terrorists are goofs in suits and ties! Hitler literally won dubya dubya 2! But notice the pigs waited until most of the fightingmen of the time (the great gen.) were gone. Just like back in post Civil War USA when the 'Grand Army of the Republic' (the GAR) watched out for Lincoln's good name until about 1920, when the 'KaKaKa' started up again boldly decrying the Union victory and beginning the process that saw pro southern anti progressive themes in the movies (gone with the wind etc) This idea, that the fascist racists are cowards who wait until the tough vets of the wars they LOST are finally too old to stop them anymore- this idea has bothered me for years. And the current mass media reflects this loss

[SmittynMo]

4. WOW - what a bummer

This post was suppose to be about the "brighter side" of life. It's not ALL doom and gloom.

And yes, there's quite a bit of that. Don't get me started .. LOL

[bob-connors]

5. The Democrats must beat GOP for the good of our country.

Please read my article relating to this at:
http://bobpaulconnors.hubpages.com/hub/The-Democrats-must-beat-GOP-for-the-good-of-our-country

[SmittynMo]

8. Excellent article

Well worth the read.

[niyad]

15. welcome to du

[AnalystInParadise]

6. Shitty and getting shittier

Great, gas is cheap..............there is one positive.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

26. Cheap gas = more driving, more driving = more pollution.

But at least the rich folks have gotten richer thanks to the stock market gains, while unemployed are often becoming underemployed, so huzzah, I guess.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. I do wish we had told voters about this before the election!!!

[okaawhatever]

9. Things are getting so much better. It's a shame people here on DU are ignoring the reality of it.

As unemployment continues to go down wages will rise. It is hard to get wages up when there is a much greater supply of workers than the demand for them. The trends are all good, but 2016-2020 should really rock. We have to make sure a Dem stays in office so we get credit for the good economy. Voters aren't aware of how long it takes to get the economy turned around and if 2016-2020 is good economically with a Republicans is in office voters will think it's the Republican party platform creating it.

[brooklynite]

10. well, yes. but where's my pony?

I distinctly asked for a pony.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

27. I'd settle for a job.

Be nice to get back above the poverty line one of these years.

[Cosmocat]

12. practically - good

you are correct, in reality things are not bad at all.

Unfortunately, with a democratic president 1/3 of the country is completely incapable of accepting that things are OK and will continue their 8 year shit fit, the "liberal media" will continue to gleefully promote their bullshit, 1/3 of the country "in the middle" is not paying attention but hears all the republican bullshit and half assedly just says THEY ARE ALL THE SAME or just goes along with the republican bullshit and the other 1/3 consists of far too many people who aren't satisfied with getting what this POTUS can practically do so walk away from him to allow the right wing 1/3 to relentlessly slam him and taint the view of the "middle' 1/3.

[hollowdweller]

17. I totally agree with your post

Nobody has really done ANYTHING about inequality.

However if you compare Dem to GOP rule the dems have delivered a better economy, deficit and country over and over.

It just kills me to see how some dems even in this thread will focus on the negative. Not that there isn't some negative, but if Bush had done as well as Obama or Clinton he would be the new Reagan to the GOP.

How can we expect the GOP to say Obama is doing well if we won't? He has.

[world wide wally]

13. No wonder so many Dems ran away from Obama this past election.

Duh

[bemildred]

14. I think we are in deep shit.

I give Obama credit for trying to thread the needle, but I don't think it's going to be enough.

[mother earth]

18. Think about this:

Gas pricing is manipulated for various reasons, right now low prices are hurting Russia, and are possible by the disturbing practice of fracking, shale oil is the reason for this sudden change. Is that good? For the pocketbook, NOT for the environment and certainly not by the people who can't sell their property who live near fracking sites due to the poisons and flammability of local water bodies, hardly a plus for this president if you dig a little. (I forgot the dying, people are dying from the effects of fracking, definitely a new low.)

Wall Street is completely manipulated and rigged, appointing insiders to key positions is not something to brag about. Never mind they are responsible for screwing over this country big time, starting under Bush, of course, but what's changed?

Unemployment at an all time low? Yeah, if you consider part time and low paying jobs have replaced the outsourced middle income jobs, and what's been done about that? It's a tough one, but lets not brag on it just yet, the middle class jobs are not coming back.

Ditto on job creation, part time and low paying.

Dependence on foreign oil reduced, see my gas pricing/fracking comment above. Serious alternative energy sources should be the goal, I'll give him kudos for making an effort of sorts on that.

This is our new normal, things are never going back to what they were. Multinational corporations are gaining ground.
He is fast tracking TPP, so he will never go down as one of the best presidents in history. He threw his mandate and momentum away during the first few years where he could've really been instrumental in lasting change that mattered, he never came out swinging and he excused the war crimes of the outgoing administration, which will forever haunt this country, because TODAY, once again, we are looking forward and not backward.

Things could be worst, but for sure, the new normal is not good.

I'm glad for ACA, but hoped for single payer, it's what we truly needed.

[davidpdx]

19. I live abroad and I see a mixed bag

We are now stuck with a Republican Congress that will be more obstructionist and bullying than the last one. While the economy is doing well, it could be doing better if we were able to get the much needed infrastructure projects funded. That will never happen until many more people die from bridges that fall apart, and other catastrophes. I don't blame Obama for this, I blame the Republicans (I wanted to be clear on that).

There has been a lot of progress made these past almost six years, but then we get bills that pass repealing financial regulations (of which we know there are more to come) undoing the work that has been done.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq/Syria seem to continue on and be indefinite since those countries can't maintain a military and protect themselves. I'm honestly not sure what to think of ISIS.

Police brutality seems to be getting worse. The fact that the police think they have the ability to shoot any AA on sight is really bullshit. Even despite the protests it seems like little is being done to hold police accountable.

I really thought this year would bring better news with wins in the House, Senate, and Governorships. It turned out to be a catastrophe. Most of all I'm worried about being stuck with a corporatist war-hawk as our nominee for president in 2016 with a Bush on the other side.

[DFW]

20. It depends on where you are and who you are

The USA is different things to different folks.

It's nice that gas is $2.00 in many places. Fracking and destroying our water system for generations is NOT worth it.

It's nice that unemployment is down. It's not nice that so many jobs are subsistence level or worse.

It's nice that crime is down. It's not nice that cops are murdering more innocents than ever.

It's nice that the stock market is up, but that's only nice for people who own enough stock for it to matter to them.

In Texas and many other states, fracking has caused earthquakes and contaminated water tables. This is NOT progress, and lower gas is NOT worth the price. Give me $3 gas and water that won't give me or my kids cancer.

There are still too many people without any health insurance at all. If our economy is booming, why isn't it "trickling down" to people who were born here but can't get treated by a doctor when they need one?

Some of us have it good. Too many don't. The country is good or bad depending on how well things are going for you individually. Sure, we're not North Korea or Sierra Leone, but we never wanted to be. We're not Denmark, either, and there's no reason we shouldn't be striving to get where they are. Yeah, I know, 350 million vs. 5 million, but it's not like we are without resources. Our allocation of them is rather out of synch, though.

[Sunlei]

23. to have gas at 2 a gallon puts about 100 extra a week into my pocket. I don't know how Pres. O

broke the price setting on barrel per gallon 'costs' , but I think his admin. must have done something at the Federal level.

perhaps the requirements on miles per gallon for cars, the requirements oil companies can't sit on OUR public $2 an acre leased land for decades and the glutted crude oil market due to major Federal allowed increased local oil drilling competition had something to do with todays $2 gas. (all started by our federal gov. in Obama admin.)

[DFW]

29. I'm happy for you on an individul level, but fracking has to stop

Drilling for oil is one thing and the gulf spill showed the perils of doing it without proper safeguards. But fracking is ALWAYS bad, and should be banned.

As for me, gas is about $7 a gallon, and I avoid driving whenever I can. Where I live, people and cars often tend to be a dangerous mixture.

[Kablooie]

21. Problem is these are all short term superficial benefits.

the underlying structure is becoming more corrupted than ever by big money and there is no sign of anything that can control the rot.

[Sunlei]

22. It's good if one doesn't fall or get pushed into the many created social blockades & traps.

Local, State and lower is out of control oppressive on some peoples personal freedoms. All it takes is one wrong step in many local communities or run out of money, and people can lose their life, their freedom, their homes.

President Obama IS one of the best presidents in history. But I wish he would/could do more at the FEDERAL level to assist the LOCAL level.

[ancianita]

24. All the time I feel this underlying sadness ... about being born into a country that did as much bad

as good, and then living through a time when fought for it to get better, but through leadership weakness, lies and deception, it got worse.

I see through the rosy picture of how my country's running. It's running well for the 1%; it's their country and government; they only let me live here, and set me up daily to believe that they are good. But they fight against doing the greatest good for the greatest number with all their sneaky, cowardly, lying, greedy hearts. How they do that has already been recounted in DU for years.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

25. Confused, Schizophrenic (largely because of the media and lack of civic engagement)

The public is (mostly) progressive-leaning, yet Republicans control wide swaths of the country legislatively because the Republican base is more engaged in politics and voting in general. Good things are still happening but too much bad stuff too. I feel like we are moving forward (in general) but we also still seem to be taking steps backwards while taking steps forwards and it can be frustrating to observe. I think that the biggest problem is the general lack of civic engagement in this country and the need for more people to be aware of and care about what is happening in this country. Plus, I think that people's view of things is heavily skewed by the way the corporate media controls/presents stuff.

[Persondem]

30. Some things are going well now, but our foundation has some serious cracks.

By cracks I mean the fact that money buys elections, and increasingly so. That is not democracy.
Gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their voters. That is not democracy.
Gutless judges and bought and paid for judges allow the above to happen.

So while some good things may be happening with the economy and a few aspects of society, the United States of America is a fading dream.

[Jamaal510]

31. Wow, $2 a gallon now...

I think the last time gas was that low was when I was around 10 or 11! Of all times for me to start learning to drive, now might be the best with gas prices dropping and me staying in a fairly small town for school.

[hollowdweller]

32. When started trading with China

The line was that by trading with them we would open them up and make them a lot more like us.

However 15, or so years later I would say we have become more like them.

Economically we are doing well now as a country. As a people we are becoming more like the Chinese (poor and powerless) and our gov't is becoming more like the Chinese gov't. Crony.

[Special Prosciuto]

33. Title is a bit confusing

My thoughts about the country; or about the prevailing popular view (not mine) of the country?

The former is gloomy; the latter walking backwards to the 1950s.