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Comatose is a good description. It's worth noting that those things you list are masks. Americans over-eat, abuse prescription drugs, etc. to hide from, effectively, the last 40 years (and what it has led to). The US standard of living has fallen massively since 1970. In the late 1960s our minimum wage was the equivalent of nearly $50,000 in today's dollars.

But you're wrong, the average American isn't stupid. You clearly haven't spent enough time with 'average' people. I know a lot of people that fall into the average camp in most respects, they're absolutely not stupid. Being drugged out on anti-depressants doesn't make someone stupid. Making poor choices also does not make someone stupid. In fact, you betray an embarrassing ignorance in saying so.

The average American is responsible for one the most productive economies in history (while simultaneously being the largest in history). Said average American manages to live in the most diverse large nation in history, while not constantly murdering each other in the streets by the millions. It's quite a feat that is likely to never be repeated again.

What you said isn't racist. American isn't a race.

I can't fathom however, the arrogance it takes to call hundreds of millions of people stupid. What does that make the other 5.5 billion people with combinations of little to no formal education, running water, indoor plumbing, that are frequently barely literate etc etc etc? That qualifies a billion people in China as being, what exactly, retarded? It's impossible, and ignorant, to label individuals that way.



Do you have a citation showing a fall in standard of living since 1970?


Elizabeth Warren's research would be a good place to start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A#t=8m25s


Sorry, I wish I had time to watch an hour-long YouTube video :( I was hoping that, if this claim were true, it would be easy to demonstrate with a graph or some numbers.


I linked to a relevant time stamp which has a graph and presumably "some numbers".




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