Do you agree that U.S. over recent decades has seen increasing economic health but declining social health?

Question

Why or why not?

Answer 1

No, I do not agree.

People will often try to mislead you into thinking that a government has choose either social well-being or economic well-being as if the two were mutually exclusive.

Generally speaking, economic health leads to longterm social health. Countries that focus too much of their economy towards social programs (which, for the most part, go mostly to the middle class and overall have a negative effect) experience economic problems that lead to widespread social problems. A good example of this would be Cuba, Mexico, China, North Korea, Russia and to a lesser extent parts of Europe.

This may begin to be a problem in the United States as well. Entitlement programs (such as Medicare, Welfare and Social Security) are going to create large financial problems in the next decade or so that will create a large burden for the entire population if something is not done in the very near future.

While people often mean well with social programs, they are usually a temporary band-aid that at best leads to short benefits for a few with a cost of a lower standard of living for the entire country.

The United States would do better for its population by insuring that we have a liberal economy. This way, we can provide the largest possible amount of money to the largest amount of people efficiently.

Answer 2

The wages of most people have barely been keeping up with inflation since the 1970's and GDP grow has been modest. Although the economy is better that during the 1970's it has not been nearly as good as the post WWII years of 1945 to 1970. Also most of the recent GDP growth has been captured by the top 20% and concentrated at the top 1%. I would not call this a healthy economy. see http://www.visualizingeconomics.com/2006/08/15/average-income-in-the-united-states/
Our social health is not in good shape either. I am not pleased with the increasing number of children with only one responsible parent and think that it will lead to problems in the future.

Answer 3

When nations and cultures are isolated, their populations and societies get along fine because they all speak the same language, share the same customs, same fashions and faiths and beliefs. But, there is turmoil and uncomfortable periods of adjustments whenever cultures meet.

Globalization today is creating high drama in every nation of the world. We are now all connected through TV, air travel, satellite communications, telephones and Internet. Economies are connecting and evolving rapidly. Huge concentrations of wealth and poverty are occuring, like deliriums and fever. EVERYONE all over the world is grappling with enormous cultural changes. Many people bemoan the drama of these changes as a "social decline". But, they forget. Change is good.

This nation was the "Melting Pot of the World" not long ago. It was forged in high drama of change. Breaking away from the traditions of monarchy rule and creating a democracy and Constituion was BOLD, radical stuff. Immigrants from all over the world lived and worked together here and exchanged many beliefs and customs and knowledge. That melting pot stew of pluralism boiled into the hybrid brains and guts that made the U.S. Industrial Revolution happen. The U.S. became the strongest nation in the world by WWII because of that hybrid mix of beliefs and brains and innovative thought and new inventions.

After the Great Depression, World War II and the horrible use of atomic energy as bombs in Japan, the people of the U.S. were . . .well . . . fried . . . shell-shocked. Their psyches were shattered. All they wanted was stability. The 50's saw a giddy peacetime babyboom balloon of large numbers of babies who have grown up thinking that the U.S. was always like "Leave It To Beaver" and "Father Knows Best". It was not. We were essentially numb and in a cultural coma. Trust me, any society like "Father Knows Best" is in a coma.

But, men and women came home from WWII, Korea and Viet Nam having been exposed to MANY different belief systems. They grew tolerant of differences. Blacks and whites were integrated finally. Forty-thousand year old traditions and roles such as, "Women must be barefoot and pregnant", began to change. Women were allowed into medical and law schools and began to rise. Spanish speaking families moved into English-only speaking neighborhoods. Science exploded. Music exploded. It was a most amazing time in history, if you weren't a coward or a stick-in-the-mud.

The 60's were most turbulent with the drama of change. Many people bemoaned the changes as "social decline", then, too, blaming mostly blacks like the bigots are blaming Mexicans, today. But, much good came out of that turmoil.

Just as much good will come out of all the turmoil in our society today, especially after we impeach Bush and get out of Iraq and get back on track as a true democracy again. The only "social decline" that is occuring is the humiliating shame that Bush and his plundering Republican, greedy conservative, war-mongering far-right, Christian fundamental, intolerant, bigoted, self-serving supportors have brought to this nation. When this shameful chapter of our history is finally over, we will regain our reputation in the world once again as being good, decent people and we will rejoin the global community in prosperty and peace.

Answer 4

I wouldn't know

I don't hear much about that

My wife and I are more wealthy yet getting along worse.