Posted on 11/21/2018 5:27:33 AM PST by Kaslin
Here are a few facts about America.
The unemployment rate among those with a high school education is 3.9 percent. The poorest quintile of Americans have seen their post-tax incomes increase 80 percent since 1979, according to Congressional Budget Office data, and post-tax and transfer income for that quintile has skyrocketed 32 percent since 2000. The upper-middle class in America constituted 13 percent of the population in 1979; as of 2014, it constituted 30 percent. According to Pew Research from 2015, when it comes to standard of living, "The U.S. stands head and shoulders above the rest of the world. More than half (56 percent) of Americans were high income by the global standard ... and 2 percent were poor."
Fantastic products are cheaper than ever. Human Progress investigated the amount of time Americans must spend to earn enough money to buy key products and found that since 1979, the amount of time spent to earn a refrigerator had dropped 52 percent, 95 percent for microwaves, 65 percent for gas ranges and 61 percent for dishwashers. Between the mid-1960s and 2007, Americans were able to work less and leisure more: They worked nearly eight hours fewer per week, according to The Heritage Foundation. The wage gap is almost entirely a myth: Women who work the same jobs as men for the same number of hours, and have the same work history and same education as men make the same as men. The chief obstacles to income mobility in the United States are related to personal decision-making, not racial discrimination: As the Brookings Institution points out, of the people who finish high school, get a full-time job and wait until age 21 to get married and have children, nearly 75 percent join the middle class, and just 2 percent remain in poverty.
What of freedom? In America, people of all religions practice freely, so long as the government isn't attempting to cram social justice down on them. People are free to speak, so long as government actors aren't utilizing the heckler's veto. We are free to use the press, free to associate and free to protest.
All of this is the result of the greatest governmental philosophy ever committed to paper: God-given individual rights protected by limited government. We haven't always lived up to that philosophy -- in some areas, we've progressed mightily, and in others, we've regressed. But the overall success of the United States should be ringing proof that at the very least, we should be grateful and proud to live here.
Yet as of July 2018, fewer than half of Americans surveyed by Gallup said they are extremely proud to be American. Just 32 percent of Democrats, down from 56 percent in 2013, said they are extremely proud to be American; only 42 percent of independents said are were extremely proud to be American. That's ridiculous. Regardless of political affiliation, we should be proud to live in a society founded on eternal truths, in which we have the ability to thrive based on our own choices.
In 1789, as America struggled to find her footing after a revolution against the most powerful military and economic engine in the world, then-President George Washington issued a proclamation. He thanked God for "his kind care and protection of the People of this Country," for "the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed -- for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness."
If Washington could urge gratefulness in 1789, we'd be fools not to do so now, when our lives are so much better in every material way. This Thanksgiving, let's remember what we have -- and let's remember the eternal ideas that provide the groundwork for our prosperity.
Saul Alinsky. Mission Accomplished.
All of which is true however meanwhile in 1970 the minimum wage was 5 silver quarters the value of which now is $25.61...
A good deal of the problem is too many people still believe in “Buy now, pay later” and that in turn is a great deal part of the Dem playbook (and has been for a long time).
This guy has such piercing logic, speaks so well, it always shocks and saddens me when he suddenly admonishes that we go fight wars on behalf of ZERO American interest.
He’s right about 90% of the stuff he talks about.
I don’t know why I know this, but silver was eliminated from US coins in 1964.
He’s right about 90% of the stuff he talks about.
Ben Shapiro is a chattering class sunshine conservative. Not a guy you want in your fox hole battling against rampaging Democratic Fascists.
Even with all the problems however, I would certainly much rather still live in America than anywhere else in the world.
This guy has such piercing logic, speaks so well, it always shocks and saddens me when he suddenly admonishes that we go fight wars on behalf of ZERO American interest.
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And also when he tells us we have to continue insane immigration policies.
Well I choose our way of life, system of government, and capitalist economy because we are the greatest, freest nation on Earth..... No other economic engine has ever created more wealth for more people, a higher standard of living, and the richest “poor people” on Earth...... I treasure that. Leftists hate that.
Long time ago I was a vending repairman and always looked for the pre-1964 coins.
You could hear the difference when you poured out a coin box.
Bush League Republicans and Democrats are determined to import enough people to fundamentally transform it.
We are already 30 million people down the road to becoming North Mexico.
This, my friends, is the secret to success. Related...
Listen up, millennials. There’s sequence to success.
Washington Post ^ | 07/05/2017 | George Will
The following is an excerpt from the "Centennial Thanksgiving Sermon" (1886) (celebrating America's 100th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence) by Black Ohio Legislator and A.M.E. Bishop Benjamin W. Arnett on "The Greatness of America."
- Note that this Sermon is delivered only a few years after the end of the Civil War by this outstanding scholar/legislator/Bishop of the A.M.E. Church.
"Let us see what it is that makes us so great; wherein lies our strength. What has made us one of the greatest powers of the earth, politically and intellectually? Have we come to the conclusion that it is Righteousness that exalteth a nation? We have met to-day at the request of the President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, and also the Governor of our beloved State, Rutherford B. Hayes. For what? Why call us from our homes? Why come to the house of God? Why not go to the hall of mirth and to the places of amusement to-day? No that is not what they want us to do. We are commanded to go to our 'several places of worship, and there offer up thanks to Kind Providence which has brought our nation through the scenes of another year, and blessed the land with peace, plenty and prosperity.' Then as Americans we have reason to rejoice and congratulate ourselves on the greatness of our beloved country; at this the close of the first hundred years of experimental government of the people, by the people, and for the people. To be a citizen of this vast country is something, and to share in its privileges and duties is more than something." - Dr. Benjamin W. Arnett, 1876 "Centennial Thanksgiving Sermon" - Library of Congress - African-American SectionIf current generations of youth in America go to the LOC web site and read this lengthy Address by a remarkable Black scholar of history, Ohio State Legislator, and A.M.E. Bishop, who had lived through the years surrounding the Civil War, then their perspective might be enhanced, enlarged and encouraged by their pride in such an intellectual giant from America's history.
Check out the ‘Global Immigration Pact’ thread just posted.....I read the entire ‘beast’....quite the eye opener for any who are not aware....which is why I posted the thread....people need to know and understand what we are really seeing in these caravans coming here.
The Key to Unhappiness - Denis Prager (5½ minutes, but a jewel)Prager’s point is that unhappiness and ingratitude are pretty much the same thing - and so are happiness and gratitude.
It’s almost enough to make you wonder if you should be solemnly bowing your head when you are giving thanks. Aren’t we more likely to smile and praise the gift when someone gives us a present?
While Ben Shapiro makes some excellent points, he misses a few counterpoints.
HOUSING: In the early 1960’s an engineer’s salary was about $15K/year. A large 2000 Sqft home in Calif cost about double that, $30K.
In 2018, a typical engineer’s salary is, on average $100K. But a similar home in Calif costs over 10X that.
So a person needs to work so much longer to afford a home in 2018 than they did in the 1960’s. I’m sure most people aren’t grateful for that!
Sure, commodity & technology prices have gone down in a relative sense, but home affordability has skyrocketed.
The last .900 Silver quarters were minted in 1964.
The Federal minimum wage was set to $1.45 in February, 1970. Wages were paid in the form of a paycheck, or in the form of Federal Reserve Notes.
Every inflation calculator I have bothered to look at puts the value of $1.45 in 1970 between $9.50 and $10.00 in 2018.
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