Economix, Politix and Old People

Old lady pwning n00bz. 

As an American abroad, it has been hard for me to get a grasp on what the recent election meant for the U.S.  However, I have been doing my metaphorical homework in order to get a better idea.  What I have basically surmised is that we are going to be stuck for the next two years in a kind of political deadlock, and might undo some of the progress that was made over the last two years.  I find this particularly unsettling, especially as China and India continue to see double digit GDP growth while the U.S. is mired in an insufficiently stimulated economy.  Spending money, in my opinion, on education (an area in which we are falling behind rapidly on a global level), our infrastructure (which is shit-tastic to say the very least) and on projects for sustainability (renewable energies, improved public transit, greener cities, etc.) would all be good ways to boost job growth as well as our ability to continue to play the part of world leader for the next 50 years or so.  The national consensus seems to be that the government needs to tighten its belt, and that we can't afford to go any further into debt, but, as basic keynesian economic theory suggests, in order for us to leave this recession more quickly government spending needs to rise.

This, I fear, is more or less impossible at this point, and I am increasingly pessimistic about the future of the U.S.'s ability as a nation to progress, and not stall and peter out as other rising powers leave our bitch-asses in the dust.  An article I'd like to recommend discusses the fervent anti-Democrat voting pattern amongst senior citizens.  This seems normal, since seniors tend to be more conservative than other voters.  The article also points out that, more often than not, in hard times people tend to turn inward rather than thinking of the bigger picture and of the long term effects of their actions, a sort of survival mode motif.  Seniors, understandably, tend not to focus on the long term effects of their actions.  I'm going to take this one step further and propose that we may see a continued stagnation of U.S. politics and policy led by the growing population of aging Americans that, if they follow in the footsteps of the current elderly population, will not only be adamantly against change, but will also fail to think of the mess they are leaving their various generations of offspring.  For example, changes in the healthcare system provide a net gain for seniors, and yet they stand solidly against any progress recently made.  What I'm saying is essentially: More old people+seniors' reluctance to support any sort of legal progress=the U.S. loses out on a large amount of its global clout and competitive edge.  I'm no expert.  I don't pretend to be one, that's just my two-fucking-cents.