You're onto something, of course ... I'm generally hostile toward society in the U.S. as a whole, not that I wish to harm them in any way, but I do think they'll get what they deserve. I see society in the U.S. as "circling the bowl quite irretrievably.

Fact is, we have an excess of population, as clearly demonstrated by the way in which politics, retailiing, and other activities have proceeded over the past 50 years, but, consider, just for a moment, the relative quality of U.S.-manufactured goods. If people weren't willing to accept the lower quality that some foreign manufacturers have offered us, the overall quality of what's offered in the stores wouldn't be as low, relative to the rest of the world as it is.

Back when I was entering college, if you saw a product that said, "Made in U.S.A", then you knew it was the best that money could buy, with, perhaps a few exceptions, such as wristwatches, cameras, and some other precisely manufactured specialty items. My first micrometer, puchased in 1958, was considered to be the best available. My wristwatch, the one given to me when I was at NASA, was Swiss-made. My cameras were German, and my car was German, too, but that was at the end of the '60's. A decade and a half later, I learned that the U.S. had been having the screws for their silent-running submarines made in Sweden. When shopping for measuring tools, I learned that the best available at the time were made in Japan. I recently purchased a seemingly quite decent "dial" caliper with no dial, but an LCD display, from the PRC. It cost much less than one I examined, made here, and will surely outlive it.

Recently I purchased a new majopr kitchen appliance, costing about four times what the major U.S.-made brands cost, and it came from Sweden. It cost a lot, but was worth the price because no U.S.-made major home appliance of that type was in any sense comparable.

If U.S. shoppers keep supporting the current "race to the bottom," it won't be long before everything available at the "big-box" stores will be made elsewhere, and if they, the masses, continue to settle for the lowest quality just to get the lowest price, that's what they'll get. Those goods will, of course, be made in the PRC or somewhere where labor cost will be even lower, and, eventually, nobody in the U.S. will have a manufacturing job, as it will eventually be cheaper to build things "there" and ship them here.

With some goods, they ought U.S.-made low-quality products, because they thought it was patriotic, setting aside their responsibility to get the most for their $$$. Anyone who paid attention in their first-year econ courses could easily predict the current state of affairs based on such behaviors.

Now they let themselves be led around by the ultra-rich and ultra-corrupt demagogues running for office because they trumped false claims of commitment to religion or tradition. They even ignore past behaviors, offering those individuals offering them an excuse for not using their own intellect, such as it is, by spoon-feeding them "sound-bites" in exchange for their votes.

As for that excess population, I don't think the elimination of the less-than-brilliant will damage the society, and, since that will likely result in fewer people on the backs of the productive public, and in the public penal institutions, it may even find approval among our oligarchs. After all, the Bush clan wants to practice eugenics here in the U.S. I've heard, today, that another Bush is likely to throw his hat in the ring for President. Wouldn't that be a joke on those mutton-headed bible-thumpers!

RE