Has America Hit Bottom? or is the bottom dead ahead?

[mopaul]

how low will america go?

[lonestarnot]

1. Well this winter if it is harsh, will take it down another rung.

[Nordmadr]

2. I am afraid of what I believe the answer to that question is. N/T

[marmar]

10. Sadly, I have to agree...

I just have this feeling that we're going to go through what every other once-dominant country has gone thru.

[izzie]

15. And they stay around but in a little different form.

We will just become one of the players as we used to be and not be the leader in the world. I do not recall us going to the second WW to free the world but to help others countries to get rid of Hitler and Tojo. This, we are the worlds greatest, has come after we did help others but you would think we won WW1 and WW2 now, and by our self. These super Americans seem to for get that Fr. lost many more men fighting Hitler before they gave up than we lost in all the theaters of the war. England I am sure was the same and I do not even wish to think how many USSR lost. A good place would be to be one of the members of the worlds powers and not think we are always right and best. :patriot:

[marmar]

19. "to be one of the members of the worlds powers"

I so agree. Maybe all of this is bringing us back down to earth as a country. The Neocon agenda is to assert U.S. power and show off our dominance, but it seems like the opposite is happening. Having one dominant nation is not good for the world.

[bryant69]

3. That's sort of up to America

If you are asking whether there is cause for a modicum of optimism, my answer could not possibly be anything other than Yes.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. As a general rule of thumb...

if you can even ask the question, there is still a lot worse that could happen.

[lpbk2713]

5. This asshole still has three more years to run US into the ground.

I really don't want to think about the potential there.

[raccoon]

6. I don't think it's hit bottom.

I don't want to think about how low it can go.

[rooboy]

7. Unlike people, countries fall apart before rock bottom, I'm afraid. n/t

[Loge23]

8. ...for example

Let us suppose that one of our worst fears comes true: the administration pulls off another "rubble pile" moment for the idiot.
The country immediately rallies around the admin as the terror sirens wail. What then?
Basically, we can get a whole lot lower.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. It depends upon what you mean by "bottom"

If you mean morally, I don't see how we can get much worse in the eyes of the world. If you mean the amount of suffering of the poor, well, like another poster said, if the winter is severe.... If you mean the economy, that still has a way to go down before economic collapse, but I don't see any repuke doing anything to try and stop it. Maybe they are hoping it won't happen until after the 2006 elections so they can blame it all on the Dems.

[mopaul]

11. oh y'know, cannibalizing kids, dogs marrying cats, that sort of thing

[DemoTex]

12. MIHOP coming. Bu$hco will foment riots and declare martial law.

Bu$h desperately needs martial law now. They must be licking their chops at the crackdown in Lyon, France. I think the fix will be for Bu$hco to foment riots, get the peeps really afraid, declare martial law, and continue with his neocon/theocratic agenda. They are desperate and crazy enough to do it.

[whatever4]

13. I wish I knew

I think there are too many forces at play to predict right now. Can predict the weather, but can't guarantee it, can forecast oil shortages but don't really know if we'll see shortages, and don't know how high the price may go. Just last weekend the largest oil field in Kuwait hit the halfway mark, down to 1.7 billion from the 2 billion expected for the next 30 years. We might see real shortages in just a month. Might not. Know all about global warming, because it's impossible to deny, but not how much it's going to affect food production, know the war is affecting who knows how many healthy lives but not how it's going to affect us overall, when combined with all the other issues and frustrations. China owns us, most of the world hates us, and unless I'm mistaken, our military is as weak as it's ever been. I've read of stories of ridicule and hate acts against Americans abroad based only on their American accent. I think we have no friends. I think we're on our own.

I think it's a damn good question, but personally I don't have a clue. I think people will/would go to great lengths to try to "fix" things. Like with Y2K. What I don't see are all the people in cube farms frantically working to fix...anything. No concentrated efforts, because we don't really have leaders, we have rulers. The rulers aren't concerned in the same way we are. We're afraid for ourselves, and, they're afraid of us.

I don't think we've hit bottom. In all honesty, I don't think we've even come close. As long as we're a viable human resource pool, they'll let us go as low as is profitable.

[Tesha]

14. Remember the first rule of prognostication...

"No matter how bad it gets, it can *ALWAYS* get worse!"

Tesha

[catmandu57]

16. No, but it's approaching

we should see bottom by next march, there is a perfect storm coming, most of it by these idiots own making, the only variable they can't control is the weather.
That remains the wildcard in the deck, if we have a mild winter then that buys some time, if, on the other hand it's cold, brutal, nasty then that will accelerate the fall.
The people who still depend on credit cards, if they pull them out to do their christmas shopping, and don't pay attention to what they're doing are going to wake up in the credit cards pocket early next year with no way out.
The only outs left are for the corps, regular guy will be fucked, especially if he or she has their power cutoff, has been through a nasty ass flu season, has a mountain of debt, and if that's not enough we have next summer to get through, heat kills more than cold, we have another hurricane season to get through, and we have an exponential increase of dead in Iraq.
We're going to be screwed, blued, and tattood.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. We've got a ways to go to hit bottom....but the dive is speeding up.

[welshTerrier2]

18. the pace of awakening versus the pace of decline

i like to believe that if the American people had the right information, they would make the right choices ... to get the right information, a mass media dedicated to "doing right by the country" rather than just making profits is required ... that's strike one ... we don't have that ...

but media is NOT the only avenue to awaken the American people and to educate them about the dangers we face ... that job also falls to our political process ... it requires an opposition party that seeks more than just winning elections ... just as the media seek profits to the exclusion of the truth, so have Democrats sought office by avoiding the "shoot the messenger" syndrome ... leadership is needed immediately to do more than lobby for the right policies; Democrats need to educate and awaken the American people about the catastrophic future we all face if a radical change in course is not made very soon ... that's strike two ... we don't have that ...

and while the media and the Democrats, as an opposition Party, have failed to do their jobs, "we, the people" are probably the most culpable of all ... how many people in "the real world" spend any time at all discussing the issues we discuss here on DU everyday? most people I know don't like to talk about "all that depressing stuff" ... to retain a democracy takes real involvement of the citizens ... we cannot just relinquish control to our representatives ... we have an obligation to awaken others in our country and educate them about the dangers we face ... but we are selfish and we are motivated not by the country's needs but by our own little worlds ... we need citizens who are actively involved in their government ... and that's strike three ... we don't have that ...

i guess i would have to say, in answer to your question about whether we've hit the bottom, that i see two forces at work ... the American people seem to be slowly, painfully slowly, awakening from their near comatose slumber ... so, in that sense, there is at least the first stirrings of forces that will eventually demand real change in the direction of the country ...

but we have dug a very, very deep hole ... i see an economy on the brink of collapse ... i see global warming threatening all life ... i see global competition for dwindling supplies of oil that might well lead to global warfare ... i see an America that has lost its idealism ... i see a government infested with big money and corporate dominance ... i see the loss of America's middle class ... i see a disrespect for civil liberties and the rights of the individual ...

America's soul is dying and the media, the politicians and the American people themselves are not doing what is needed to save her ... we may be on the brink of a great awakening but the pace of decline is still far greater than any progress we've made ... i'm afraid we have not yet hit the bottom ...

[Loonman]

20. Hardly

Rock bottom is a full scale nuclear exchange. Then all bets are off.