We are wealthier than we've ever been before.
I start to develop feeling that you are an AI program.
And the frog in the warming pot is very comfortable. We cannot be a nation that produces nothing and remain where we are. The decline is inevitable. Most peoples assets are in their houses and vehicles and that can disappear overnight. I have listened to the ones who lived through the Great Depression and they were shocked at the speed in which one day all was well and the next they were bankrupt.
What is your definition of wealth?
Some generalities just make the poster look dumb.
How many people qualified for unearned tax credit in the us last year?
It's amazing isn't it? The more we (collectively) whine about jobs going overseas, the richer we get. And the unemployment rate continues to hover around all-time lows of about 6% despite having women in the workforce and many holding multiple jobs. No matter how loud the doom-and-gloomers bray about "factory" jobs going overseas, the fears are constantly belied by the fact that Americans are richer than ever and that the American standard of living is higher than it ever was in all of recorded history.
Most Americans would rather have their sons and daughters in white collar jobs as opposed to slaving away on a factory floor. Even people who still work factory jobs aspire higher for their children by sending them to college and lecturing them that if they don't do well in school, that they will "end up like me, in some dead-end factory job."
Take the iPod for example. Made in China but designed in the USA. Guess where all the iPod profits are? Here in the good old USA. Steve Jobs and his minions are going to be drinking Starbucks coffee for the rest of their lives.
Working in a factory has about as much appeal as busting rocks for most kids growing up today. Ask them what they want to do when they grow up and they will tell you they want to design video games or make music or produce movies, etc. I doubt that any of them will say "I want to punch a time clock and work in the factories like my daddy and granddaddy did."