"... Even more striking is how America has outperformed its peers among the mature economies. In 1990 America accounted for about two-fifths of the overall GDP of the G7 group of advanced countries; today it is up to about half (see chart)."

This all goes back to the lies of economic statistics. For example, CA GDP in 2000 was $1.2T. Now, it is $3.9T. That is a 3x increase or a growth rate of over 5% per year over this time and population only grew from 34M to 39M, so per capita the increase was from $34K to $100K.

Now, if you know anyone from CA, they will tell you that the schools were better in 2000, the roads were better in 2000, there was way less homeless people in 2000 - so, quality of life was WAY BETTER in 2000.

Now, homes are unaffordable and you must pay an extra $20k/year to send your kid to private school.

Yet, in our Western concept, this is an improvement and advancement.

Now, Europe is a special case of self-imposed destruction due to energy policies and adopting socialist work policies that frankly make them non-competitive in the world. Their entire 'new economy' was based on selling old world luxury goods to rich Chinese. Now that China has slowed, their economies have predictably collapsed.

"Sending your kid to private school is too expensive?"

I never said it was 'too expensive' moron. It is your next generation and you should fully invest in them. I said it is an EXTRA $20K/year as in years past, you could send your kid to public school and still get a quality education (you are paying for this whether you use it or not). Now, if you send your kid to public school in CA, it is a sign that you don't love them.

"And, welcome to the world of the working people who want wages to to enable them to make ends meet.
#16 | Posted by LampLighter"

And how is that working out in CA? We have the nation's highest hourly wages and the HIGHEST poverty rate in the US adjusted for cost of living. We have the largest homeless population (in both absolute numbers and per capita). And the beauty is, you CAN'T BLAME ANYTHING ON THE GOP as you have 100% control of this state and it is a mess. Pretending that Democrat policies help the 'working people' is the biggest piece of crap lie possible and we have California to prove it.

"@#17 ... I never said it was 'too expensive' moron. ...
But your current alias did seem to complain ..."

Gee, I am complaining because I have to shell out an extra $20k per kid for a service I am already paying for? Damn right.

"So, I'll ask, how does that comment, i.e., talking about the cost of private schools, relate to what the workers of the Country face in their day-to-day bill paying?"

Because in your Democrat paradise (which California is the logical end state), the problem only gets worse, not better. You can apply this to any sort of cost I pay now that I am already supposed to be receiving - such as the private security for my community despite paying for police already in my taxes.

"I mean, really, talking about $20,000 private schooling costs, and saying that the $20,000 is not too expensive, when people are just trying to put food on the table for their families?"

I value my children. Therefore, it is not TOO EXPENSIVE. I am pissed because it is an EXTRA expense that I should not be having to pay if the government was competent AT ALL. For people that can't out food on their table, probably stop voting for Democrats in CA on the local, state, and national levels as the problems only get worse and as other states start to look like CA.

"Thank-you for your current alias's candid views of the economic problems that face Americans.
#18 | Posted by LampLighter"

This country has horrible problems and YES, it is failing. Forget if we are better now that 4 years ago, are we better now than we were 30 years ago. I think about 90% of people would gladly go back to the Bill Clinton years. Things were affordable, public schools worked for the most part, illegal immigrant was under control, budget and federal debt were manageable, wars were at a low other than covering for BJs in the Oval Office, and race relations were quickly becoming a post-racial nation.

You compare that to now, and yes, the nation is a mess. Working people are getting killed by the 20M+ illegals suppressing wages for unskilled Americans. Public schools are little more than bilingual daycares and prison pipelines. We are on the cusp of WW3 when Iran retaliates in the next few days, budget and deficit are the worst in the country's history, and we are on the cusp of an internal race war.

All of this was brought to you by liberal policies implemented through 8 years of Clinton, 8 years of Obama, 4 years of Biden, and 8 years of Neocon W Bush (which is not surprising he and Cheney support Kamala now as they are ideologically aligned).

".. the private security for my community ..
Complaining about the cost of private security for your community?
#20 | Posted by LampLighter"

In a civilized state, I would not need security. However, now in CA, any half way decent community hires private security to stop the Democrat voting block from vandalizing property and breaking into cars and homes. Further, our community trails reek of weed and we see random Democrat voting homeless guys wandering around on our streets - many with mental illnesses (beyond the mental illness of liberalism that is).

When the government cannot provide basic services, sooner or later, people start to think the solution is the government doing less of these functions with less funding as they have proven incompetent at doing them despite the ever increasing tax burden.