Grading the U.S. Government

Three simple questions to gauge your current impressions of “The Democratic Leader of the world.”

Looking back over the last 3 years, 2010+:

1) Have you become more fearful of the U.S. Government?

2) Has your trust in the U.S. Government diminished?

3) What is your belief in the current overall trend in government – towards better or worse behavior?

Big Brother is real, is looking over your shoulder right now, and is taking notes. With the NDAA still in place; the NSA, FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA working together and growing more powerful; with technology becoming less transparent and considerably more invasive why should we not fear our government more and more?

Bernanke’s Fed kowtows to investment banks. The SEC, CFTC, and the self-serving FINRA all cycle policy makers from Congress, to lobbyists, to agency officers and then back into positions for investment banks. IRS debacles. Congressional stalemate. Student loans ballooning and women’s rights attacks. Drones galore. I find less and less reason to trust the U.S. Government’s intentions.

Household income stagnation for the last 30 years. Savings rates depressed for years to boost the stock market. The U.S. dollar devalued so deeply as to render it near useless in the coming decade. Country debt so vast as to be unfathomable. Social Security and social programs on the verge of insolvency. Healthcare going somewhere unlikely to help those who pay for it. Wealth accumulating but only in the upper echelons of the populace. Does that sound “better” to you?

Assembling all of these bullet points leads me to believe that the U.S. experience, the so called “American Dream” has deteriorated – considerably – with scant possibility of returning.

“American Spring” anyone?