[ExitPurgamentum]

You are absolutely correct in most of what you said, but I happen to disagree with this statement: Before we only had to compete against other Americans, now we have to compete against the world.

We have ALWAYS competed in the world economy, but we were winning. Our wages and work ethics were in line with what we produced, and it guaranteed our victory.

Now we have a nation of whiners who had it for too long too good. People expect all sorts of benefits from employers as well as high salary -- out of proportion with what they produce. Nobody saves for medical care, but the TV sets, worth thousands of dollars, are flying out of stores in a hurry. Nobody cared to learn a foreign language --- a few hundred bucks for a course in a local community college --- but average house is 40% bigger than in 1950s (while the family is smaller by a factor of 2, which makes housing per person about 3 times greater). And all complain that they are "just trying to make ends meet." All of the above --- unreasonably high demands for salary and benefits, especially the latter -- make our labor unreasonably expensive. That's all.

[Paul Ross]

Now we have a nation of whiners

Stop your whining!

Especially about your fellow Americans! Ingrate.

BTW: The purpose of the U.S. Constitution was to "form a more perfect union."

So, do you support the U.S. Constitution...or don't you?

[oldbrowser]

Now we have a nation of whiners who had it for too long too good.

We've been "cuttin a fat hog" for a long time and some people think that it is the natural order of things. It's not.