An article V Convention of States might start to turn things around. To me, the central tactical issue is welfare which, by my reading of Federalist 41, the government has no business granting. But how does a government stop its own largesse without riots in the streets?

The larger, strategic issue is overcoming 45 years of indoctrination in public schools and universities that we are our brothers' keepers, that we are responsible to the state and our individual liberties are of little consequence.

I used to say TGIF or Happy Friday. Now I just say POETS or happy POETS day, which means P On Everything Tomorrow's Saturday.

The American ideal of capitalism has kept the nation surviving and prospering for almost two centuries. The decline started politically at the beginning of the 20th century but was offset by the tremendous advances in manufacturing and technology. As the century came to a close, the decline increased rapidly until today, it is in a power dive to total transformation. Can it be saved? Doubtful, but that should not deter from the attempt.

By the way, I'm probably of your grandparent's generation. Any time you need a living testimony, just summon me up.

Not finished just yet, but it's inevitable before much longer.

The Land will remain of course, but this GOVERNment will self-destruct. It's fiat money will become worthless, no more dole will be paid out, and no more payments can or will be paid to anyone, as there will be nobody employed even to write hot checks.

The Great Collapse will be Global. I say good riddance.
Only the responsible and the prepared might survive. May they never again opt to be Ruled!

America is not finished, but we must change our path. My confidence level of us doing that is small because, in the long run, the voters will not elect people who do not give them "stuff".

Thanks, Lucky. It's good to hear the perspective of an Aussie on how your country compares to the USA. I think your reaction above to how much trouble those of us in the USA are in is correct. We have the biggest level of national indebtedness in human history. At some point, the creditors will expect to be paid. The resulting financial readjustment will be painful, I expect.

Do you have any info or opinions on how things are in New Zealand relative to Australia and the USA?

We should watch Venezuela very carefully. Its the path we are headed down. Instead of Atlas Shrugged movies, we should be doing TV series about whats actually going on in Venezuela, and maybe a fictional extension of it showing how people extract themselves from the collapse thats imminent and get on a sustainable path. At this point, people dont realize the mechanics of free market operation. All they have seen is government regulation and freebies.

Obama is the worst president I, myself, have seen. He is a socialist and a muslim the way I see it, and his arrogance, petulance, and demanding attitude is very very dangerous. He gave a gift to the medical insurance companies at our expense with his unaffordable care act. I think socialism has won the hearts of a majority, and they will continue to take more and more wealth out of the system until we have a collapse. Without a currency collapse in the meantime, I suspect it will take us 10-20 years to get to the end that venezuela is at now.

There is a lot of wealth that had been built up since the country started, partly because of the taking over of so much land when the country was started, and the manipulating of other countries over the years.. Also, the free market bent of our culture helped greatly to expand our opportunities. Since I got out of college in 1966, I have seen a big and continuous decline in opportunities here, to the point that I think if I were younger I would go live in China where there seem to be more opportunities now. Between the fear of lawyers and liability on the one side, and regulation and taxes on the other, the fun of living here and starting new businesses has been radically reduced. It will take awhile longer for the statists to steal all the pent up wealth and collapse the economy, but with all the printing of money going on, it HAS to happen at this point. People, including our esteemed president, have become arrogant, demanding, and entitled.

Abaco, before we left, db and I met every Friday for almost a year and 1/2, for lunch, only discussing leaving and how best to accomplish it. The first concrete step we made, was to start garage selling everything off. I cannot tell you how many people asked us why we were selling so much stuff, we would answer, and they would reply, "it's going to be bad. I'm so afraid." I was somewhat afraid, but with each garage sale I felt emboldened. We have never looked back. In fact, now, when we have to travel to the States I get depressed. I hate going back. That is not the country of my birth

Hi robertmbeard- Australian resident here.
Yes I saw that ranking. My quick thought was- if your country ranks lower than us, wow are you in trouble!
Seems to be a global disease, one step forward, two steps back.

In my state the gov. has promised to abolish the 'potato marketing board' next year. The only thing said in its defence is that it makes no difference. Among other incredible powers the Act gives police the power to stop and search vehicles if there is reason to believe it is carrying an unauthorized amount (about 220 lb I think) of potatoes, so far, police have decided they have more important thing to do.

Abaco, let us know if you learn of any helpful immigration tips. I'm not quite ready to make the leap just yet, but I can no longer rule it out. America reminds me of the Roman Empire in the latter decades of its decline and collapse.

The 3 countries on my radar to possibly emigrate to are New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. They are all English speaking countries; so assimilation will be easier. They also score higher than the USA on the Heritage Foundation's 2015 Index of Economic Freedom. That's not to say that they are perfect, because they are not. The tax situation is not much different, for starters. The main differences are respect for private property rights, less business regulations, and much lower national debts and deficits.

Perhaps those countries may only be 20 years behind the USA in decline (I don't know...), but at least they are marginally better. Another consideration is that most of humanity lives in the northern hemisphere; so, the law of averages suggests less trouble if one relocates to the southern hemisphere... That would rule out Canada, which is also dang cold anyway. As you might expect, the immigration rules of New Zealand and Australia are not easy to navigate, as it is for most countries...

Food for thought...

It is like the homeless man's inscription after 10-289 in AS2: America Born: 7/4/1776 Died: Yesterday.

I think the Republic is doomed. We are in the final death throws. How long it will actually take is anyones guess. I also think the next 20 months until the looter in chief is gone will be increasingly dangerous. He is bent on destroying the remains of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, consequenses be damned.

America, as we think of it is finished. It was finished as soon as the Federalist, John Adams became the President and appointed Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. The killing blows were delivered by Wilson and Roosevelt. We're just in our death rattles today. Pretty soon, we'll start decomposition with bad smells.

Frankly, I'm with you there. I've been looking into Estonia. I really don't have any ties to this country any more...no kids in school, etc., and I'm working on business models that can be run from anywhere that I can get an uplink.

Thanks for sharing that, Salty. It's so clear now.

My wife and I regularly talk of immigrating elsewhere. We are in the early, research stage of this. Really just gradual, early preparation. I do well here, but can feel the squeeze getting tighter. I know people who talk of staying and bucking the system. Not me. I'd rather go Galt...

Sadly, I do think that America is finished. Alexander Tytler summed it up quite succinctly:

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.
The average age of the world's greatest civilisations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.