Quote from: KeyserSoze on March 01, 2014, 04:24:38 PM

Quote from: aminorex on March 01, 2014, 03:57:37 PM

...the middle class is pretty much disappearing.

Edit: sorry, for international folks this post is very US-centric...

It's an interesting topic, the shrinking middle class. It was easier once upon a time to just say, "hey auto workers, sorry but develop some other skill." But more and more industries are falling into this pit of either "industry sent overseas" or "industry has been automated."

Today, what industry can an autoworker retrain for? We don't make much of anything here anymore. And we keep giving away newer industries like green tech. And now we're taking our sweet time on Bitcoin tech while other nations more quickly allow for growth in this industry.

I believe America will fall on very hard times for quite a long time because we simply have been making too much money for too long. We're accustomed to it; many feel entitled to it. Unions have made us believe we're worth more than the market wants to pay. Hubris has made us believe we are worth more than the world wants to pay. Couple this with disappearing/automated industries and it spells trouble.

An example of this is a web development company I worked for some time ago. They decided if they couldn't charge at least $50,000 for a web site then they didn't want the contract. Needless to say, web sites came down in price since then and this company went out of business for lack of being "hungry."

So I think America will have some hard times coming, perhaps rightfully so. Great place to live but everyone needs to relearn lessons now and again. The pendulum swings. Fortunately I am over the hill and could kick the bucket before it gets too bad. I'm not a "stockpile beans and guns" kind of person so I wouldn't last long anyway.

Since what happen in US affects (most "western") countrys i wouldnt label it "us-centric".
Sadly US politics is used as a template for copycat in a lot of nations.