Liberal Talk Radio

I’m going to come out and say it — America is starting to remind me of Britain in the ’70s (or, what I’ve read of it, anyway). Your country and mine currently features:

* A dysfunctional economy, characterized by almost schizophrenic swings in the stock market (stock market down 300 pts so far today)

* Overburdened and crumbling infrastructure

* Currency in free-fall

* Relative wealth in free-fall (keep in mind that when the U.S. currency falls, your real wealth and income relative to those with appreciating currencies also falls)

* Shambolic health care system

* Failing schools

* Inability to integrate new arrivals

* Etc.

Oddly, the reasons are vastly different. The pre-Thatcherite UK was made dysfunctional owing largely to a sclerotic welfare state and an overly burdensome tax structure — the legacy of post-colonialism and the final throes of a post-war hangover. The US is where it is today due to Bush’s disastrous war and his Voodoo Economics [should've listened to daddy, you wank].

No matter how we got here, it’s increasingly clear that our country is in crisis. This is what depresses me about the current crop of presidential candidates — do any of these folks look like they have the wherewithal to take a flamethrower to the DC establishment and rebuild it? Maybe Obama, but I’m not yet convinced he’s anything more than a nice face and a pleasant story … Bobby Kennedy without the family connections with which to actually make things happen.

We’re in trouble, America. And this is just the start.