wrote in message
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On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:54:00 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

The "old USA" ... let me guess 1850.

More like the 1950s. A lot of people say the 60s was when the US
started in the decline from work equaling prosperity and the concept
of saving for the future. We had already starting establishing the
"borrow and spend" and "the future is now" mentality by the early 70s.
I think the combination of Vietnam, the assassinations and Watergate
made us a very cynical nation and we never got over it.

Bear in mind the last time the government really had a period of
sustained budget surplus was in the 1950s and that was without using
the SS surplus to tilt the scale. That was also the last time the
majority of the people actually trusted the government.



Right. With few protection for workers, sexual harassment in the
workplace,
smoking in the workplace, wage discrimination for women, rampant racism
esp.
in the south. Sure, a great time. But, industry roared, even if we
polluted
the landscape.

Things have been going in a steady line better since your 1850 peg in
the dirt on all of those fronts

I picked 1850, since that was pre-Civil War. We polluted like crazy in the
1950s.



As usual, the facts are somewhat different:

http://www.pstrategies.com/index.php/results.htm

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I am not sure what that chart is supposed to prove relative to what I
wrote but is says 33% of the people trust the government to mange
their finances vs 48% for corporations Don't tell BP. :-)
The other truly significant chart is the last one that says 49% of
people think the economy is the top concern vs 3% who worry about
climate change. I hope they are calling their senator about cap and
tax.


Right, but the first chart in the list illustrates that most people trust
the gov't to do what's right.

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Nom=de=Plume