Fact ... if by " culturally, the old USSSR did NOT have pornographic T.V. and movies . Neither did it have " rap ", Brittany Spear and other 1/2 naked, gyrating kids doing XXX concerts. What it had, is what you want ; to whit ...a job for everyone ( even if they were only " make work ones ), free schooling through college, free health care ,housing for everyone, and loads and loads of protectionism. Did that make for a heallthy, profitable, happy society ? NO !
Historically, in the nonrevisionistic, factual, history of this nation, jobs have come and gone, American workers have been displaced by immigrants , and they just found something else to do, or starved.
You talk about the deterioration of our standard of living. You don't know history, you don't know anything about economics, and you know even LESS about the standard of living, in your own country, than someone from some other nation does ! Just today, in the N.Y. Post, there was an entire page article, about the living standards of today and just 30 years ago. More people have telephones, T.V.s, VCR, two story houses, 2 1/2 bathrooms, or more, in their homes, and on and on and on. If opne looks back farther, say 50 or 60 years, the differences, for the BETTER, are remarkable and astounding.
Tell me, should the government of the USA made certain that the whaling industry didn't go out of business ? How about bakellite ? Would you prefer to use a coal/ wood stove to cook on, a crank phone , a washboard to clean your clothes on ? NO ? Why not ? Those folks lost their jobs.