I don't want your salient comment to fall to the bottom in a discussion about food trucks and mall food. Your point is far more important than that stuff. I rea

I don't want your salient comment to fall to the bottom in a discussion about food trucks and mall food. Your point is far more important than that stuff. I really do think that America is turning into Russia (oligarch control of mass media , hopelessness, alcoholism/drug abuse, propaganda everywhere, instability and un- and under-employment), and that Russia is turning into America (inheriting the worst aspects: mass consumer culture, little public participation in civil society, obsessed with social media, media conglomerates complicit with the government, money over everything else. The only other person I've seen make that argument is Max Keiser, whose show, ironically, is broadcast on RT. I agree with your hypothesis is that lack of dynamism in society is caused by economic insecurity. And I, too, have many friends who do nothing but work, play games, and drink (not that I don't do these things myself). I don't know where this is all going, but I don't like it.