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Maybe slightly off-topic, but I think this is a part of a larger trend of a declining empire - its inability to solve problems that have already become non-issu

Maybe slightly off-topic, but I think this is a part of a larger trend of a declining empire - its inability to solve problems that have already become non-issues in other societies. From big issues like healthcare to small stuff like getting rid of pennies, I'm amazed at how the US is beholden to special interest groups under the guise of democracy and freedom, as well as its exceptionalism. One can see this in dysfunctional companies, from its inability to acknowledge the root of the problem (e.g. trying to solve product problems with re-branding), bloated bureaucracy and rent-seeking behavours (e.g. we'll just raise the price!). I really do hope things get better because the outcome is very scary but I also don't have much hope.

tomrod 4y ago
Ray Dalio's Changing World Order is a good read. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xguam0TKMw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xguam0TKMw8
- pclmulqdq 4y ago
  I think Ray Dalio does a good job talking about the decline of the American empire, but I'm not sure his huge bets on the rise of China are well-placed. India also appears to have a good case for "next big empire" and it is often the case that when two world powers fight, they destroy each other. For example, the UK and Germany in WWII - the UK won the war, but ended up in huge financial trouble that caused its decline.
  - mahastore 4y ago
    India and China had the highest GDP 250 years ago. So it is not surprising that they will grow back again.That necessarily does not mean USA people have to kill each other. There is enough room for global prosperity if only we have the patience and the right attitude. To start with - stop killing each other.
    - XorNot 4y ago
      The problem is China's government supports just a monumental level of corruption and graft, and has been doing so by exploiting the "developing nation" growth boone. But that only works once: its days of 7-8% GDP growth year over year[1] are behind it and not coming back. The CCP government seems somewhat aware of this - the social credit system, internet firewall and various other police state measures seem to be an effort to "pre-oppress" the population once the growth levels off (or flat lines entirely) since the implied social contract of China has always been "tomorrow is better then today" - and that's all going to stop once the graft and corruption eats the much lower GDP growth which a developed nation has. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/263616/gross-domestic-product-gdp-growth-rate-in-china/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/263616/gross-domestic-pr...
      - XuMiao 4y ago
        US was wiser than others because we were able to look at our mistakes and fix them admirably. It's only a weak character who tries to demonize others in exchange for self-comforting. Sadly, I'm seeing more and more people doing that.
        tomrod 4y ago
        I agree with your second paragraph, but see no relation to the comment preceding it. Can you please expound?
- wslh 4y ago
  With all due respect to you and Ray Dalio: Ray is examining patterns within a relative short timeframe and we can always expect a "this time is different" moment or we are in a radical shift in patterns, a black swan or whatever we like to call it. This is just an hypothesis: things follow a pattern until the pattern changes and we are living in an incredible moment when science and technology are accelerating and could solve many human problems that we see impossible now. US is in an incredible position if you compare it with other countries in the world. US has a lot of issues but we can see it as a platform offering more chances to succeed than other (countries) platforms. You don't need the entire population to succeed, with only a few outliers (Google, Facebook, open Source, an NGO) you can structurally change US and the entire world. I don't want to sound positive about US but more negative about other countries in the world. You cannot take apart the military aspect (even after disastrous wars) the weapons are there in the US. A crisis is completely possible but the gap between the US and other countries is amazing AND US is a talent atractor.
nemo44x 4y ago
America is ready to go from our republic phase into our empire phase. We only need our Caesar…
- philistine 4y ago
  You have him already.
  - bergenty 4y ago
    If it is who I think you’re referring to, America needs its Brutus now.
- zionic 4y ago
  If only. We’re trying to skip the empire phase and go direct to collapse
  - nemo44x 4y ago
    That is a very strong possibility too.
BobbyJo 4y ago
I honestly don't see this as a symptom of that. Economic and tax base problems, where our best knowledge can point to us doing the "wrong" thing, or at least not doing the "right" thing, sure. Those objective things that we mess up are indicative of systemic issues. Some people just aren't scared of guns, or of a world where everyone has one, regardless of the real risk such a world would entail. Differences within the populace with regard to risk tolerance and perception doesn't tell you anything about systemic issues. It just points to cultural differences. That is itself an issue, but certainly of a different flavor than "declining empire". It could still tear things down, but it would be more explosion than stagnation and collapse.
- katbyte 4y ago
  Scared of guns or not, they seem to be willing to put "guns" before lives. children's lives. Unwilling to make even the smallest compromise to prevent mass shootings like so many other countries have.
  - lghh 4y ago
    It feels like gun-owners in the US hav made lots of compromises about weapon ownership. I feel like saying otherwise is dishonest.
    - katbyte 4y ago
      This is my point - people are dying. Lots of people. Children. And your response is “we’ve made enough compromises NO MORE! Let them continue to die” because your gun is more important then 100s of children's lives each year.
    - rhcom2 4y ago
      There are plenty that think any compromise is anti 2A. And the amount of compromise is wildly dependent on state.
    - XuMiao 4y ago
      To be honest, many potential murders sacrifice themselves so much that I can live safely. I really should have thanked them for not killing me.
philistine 4y ago
When I first visited the US, I was in a burger shop and complaining to my wife to the tune of: "Urgh, her come the pennies again. I'm so happy to be rid of them." The cashier was incredulous that Canada had gotten rid of pennies. That something so mundane and annoying, pennies, is impossible to solve for the the US is eerily similar to Caligula playing music while his city burned.
- maxerickson 4y ago
  I mostly don't use cash and throw small coin change into a drawer or whatever. In the last 10 years I've probably dealt with like 300 pennies. The horror! Like it would be fine if they did just disappear, but it's also a pretty "meh" issue day to day.
refurb 4y ago
This kind of comment screams of lack of perspective. In the 1960's the US had multiple race riots where dozens died and cities were burnt down. It was bogged down in a war in SE Asia and had constant protests. Radical groups were killing policemen and sending bombs to politicians. Political leaders were being assassinated on a regular basis. The economy was in shambles. Things are way better than then, but for some reason people think the end is near. Time to take a break from social media I think!
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
wolverine876 4y ago
We don't need complex theories. It's as simple as a political party opposes action on gun issues. The solution is to vote them out.
- scollet 4y ago

tomrod 4y ago

Ray Dalio's Changing World Order is a good read. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xguam0TKMw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xguam0TKMw8

pclmulqdq 4y ago
I think Ray Dalio does a good job talking about the decline of the American empire, but I'm not sure his huge bets on the rise of China are well-placed. India also appears to have a good case for "next big empire" and it is often the case that when two world powers fight, they destroy each other. For example, the UK and Germany in WWII - the UK won the war, but ended up in huge financial trouble that caused its decline.
- mahastore 4y ago
  India and China had the highest GDP 250 years ago. So it is not surprising that they will grow back again.That necessarily does not mean USA people have to kill each other. There is enough room for global prosperity if only we have the patience and the right attitude. To start with - stop killing each other.
  - XorNot 4y ago
    The problem is China's government supports just a monumental level of corruption and graft, and has been doing so by exploiting the "developing nation" growth boone. But that only works once: its days of 7-8% GDP growth year over year[1] are behind it and not coming back. The CCP government seems somewhat aware of this - the social credit system, internet firewall and various other police state measures seem to be an effort to "pre-oppress" the population once the growth levels off (or flat lines entirely) since the implied social contract of China has always been "tomorrow is better then today" - and that's all going to stop once the graft and corruption eats the much lower GDP growth which a developed nation has. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/263616/gross-domestic-product-gdp-growth-rate-in-china/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/263616/gross-domestic-pr...
    - XuMiao 4y ago
      US was wiser than others because we were able to look at our mistakes and fix them admirably. It's only a weak character who tries to demonize others in exchange for self-comforting. Sadly, I'm seeing more and more people doing that.
      - tomrod 4y ago
        I agree with your second paragraph, but see no relation to the comment preceding it. Can you please expound?
wslh 4y ago
With all due respect to you and Ray Dalio: Ray is examining patterns within a relative short timeframe and we can always expect a "this time is different" moment or we are in a radical shift in patterns, a black swan or whatever we like to call it. This is just an hypothesis: things follow a pattern until the pattern changes and we are living in an incredible moment when science and technology are accelerating and could solve many human problems that we see impossible now. US is in an incredible position if you compare it with other countries in the world. US has a lot of issues but we can see it as a platform offering more chances to succeed than other (countries) platforms. You don't need the entire population to succeed, with only a few outliers (Google, Facebook, open Source, an NGO) you can structurally change US and the entire world. I don't want to sound positive about US but more negative about other countries in the world. You cannot take apart the military aspect (even after disastrous wars) the weapons are there in the US. A crisis is completely possible but the gap between the US and other countries is amazing AND US is a talent atractor.

nemo44x 4y ago

America is ready to go from our republic phase into our empire phase. We only need our Caesar…

philistine 4y ago
You have him already.
- bergenty 4y ago
  If it is who I think you’re referring to, America needs its Brutus now.
zionic 4y ago
If only. We’re trying to skip the empire phase and go direct to collapse
- nemo44x 4y ago
  That is a very strong possibility too.

BobbyJo 4y ago

I honestly don't see this as a symptom of that. Economic and tax base problems, where our best knowledge can point to us doing the "wrong" thing, or at least not doing the "right" thing, sure. Those objective things that we mess up are indicative of systemic issues. Some people just aren't scared of guns, or of a world where everyone has one, regardless of the real risk such a world would entail. Differences within the populace with regard to risk tolerance and perception doesn't tell you anything about systemic issues. It just points to cultural differences. That is itself an issue, but certainly of a different flavor than "declining empire". It could still tear things down, but it would be more explosion than stagnation and collapse.

katbyte 4y ago
Scared of guns or not, they seem to be willing to put "guns" before lives. children's lives. Unwilling to make even the smallest compromise to prevent mass shootings like so many other countries have.
- lghh 4y ago
  It feels like gun-owners in the US hav made lots of compromises about weapon ownership. I feel like saying otherwise is dishonest.
  - katbyte 4y ago
    This is my point - people are dying. Lots of people. Children. And your response is “we’ve made enough compromises NO MORE! Let them continue to die” because your gun is more important then 100s of children's lives each year.
  - rhcom2 4y ago
    There are plenty that think any compromise is anti 2A. And the amount of compromise is wildly dependent on state.
  - XuMiao 4y ago
    To be honest, many potential murders sacrifice themselves so much that I can live safely. I really should have thanked them for not killing me.

philistine 4y ago

When I first visited the US, I was in a burger shop and complaining to my wife to the tune of: "Urgh, her come the pennies again. I'm so happy to be rid of them." The cashier was incredulous that Canada had gotten rid of pennies. That something so mundane and annoying, pennies, is impossible to solve for the the US is eerily similar to Caligula playing music while his city burned.

maxerickson 4y ago
I mostly don't use cash and throw small coin change into a drawer or whatever. In the last 10 years I've probably dealt with like 300 pennies. The horror! Like it would be fine if they did just disappear, but it's also a pretty "meh" issue day to day.

refurb 4y ago

This kind of comment screams of lack of perspective. In the 1960's the US had multiple race riots where dozens died and cities were burnt down. It was bogged down in a war in SE Asia and had constant protests. Radical groups were killing policemen and sending bombs to politicians. Political leaders were being assassinated on a regular basis. The economy was in shambles. Things are way better than then, but for some reason people think the end is near. Time to take a break from social media I think!

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

wolverine876 4y ago

We don't need complex theories. It's as simple as a political party opposes action on gun issues. The solution is to vote them out.

scollet 4y ago