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youtube.com - Musician and Best Buy employee, Keith Parsons, rocks his Best Buy holiday campaign audition.
271 Comments
- curtisag, on 07/10/2008, -19/+172The rest of the world has problems of their own. In Europe their population is rapidly aging because they are too busy trying to pay the bills and can't afford or don't have time for having children. This is due to an excessive welfare system which eats up too much of people's disposable income. And the problems will only grow with time. As the population is projected to age, there will be less and less working age people to take care of the humongous old population. Their welfare system will collapse in on itself taking the economy down with it. The US has a similar problem with medicare/social-security, but their problems are even worse and the people are already taxed to the max. The US has room to increase taxes.
As for China, their 1-child-policy and ridiculously large population of mostly peasants is a ticking time bomb that will explode in the next few decades that should be much worse than Europe's problems. Repressed people rarely stay silent forever. As their incomes rise in China, the people will demand greater freedoms which will be chaos for the communist regime. Civil war is a definite possibility there in the next 40 years. And revolutions tend to mess things up as factions fight it out. - VBDon, on 07/10/2008, -12/+91One thing to remember is that futurists are wrong 99% of the time. This one is far over the top. The military is in the best shape it has been in over a hundred years. His assertion that we can only survive as a welfare society is belied by the fact that most of our growth and strength came from 100 years of "individual effort and responsibility". The only thing we have gotten from our welfare system is a nation of victims who constantly cry for the government to solve the problems they created themselves. Also, our immigration policies do not prevent talented scientists from coming to the U.S.; they actually encourage immigration. Our universities spend more on educating foreign students than they do on our own. Many of our schools practically give PhDs to foreign students by literally writing their dissertations for them (ensuring govt aid from our State Department) while denying opportunities to American students. We need to get back to the way of our fathers, ditch govt welfare spending, and make everyone earn their way like I did.
- mrpither, on 07/10/2008, -10/+68or here's another take:
"About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution
in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of
Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some
2,000 years earlier:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a
permanent form of government."
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover
they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."
"From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who
promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that
every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is
always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of
history, has been about 200 years."
"During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the
following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage." - ghidorahnotweak, on 07/09/2008, -11/+65Hmmm, I don't think that the NSA spying on US citizens is "anecdotal evidence." Nor is the fact that the government has cut spending for science.
- flip2trip, on 07/10/2008, -12/+59Well thought out and logical--just what are you doing on digg?
- Alfonzo, on 07/11/2008, -1/+47And I hate the fact that, anymore, every political issue becomes "Right vs. Left". The world is not black and white, people.
- akamurph, on 07/11/2008, -11/+48Wow, what a stupid article. Put your tinfoil hat back on please.
- Cleancut360, on 07/10/2008, -5/+37Movie line Cliche: Revolutions have a bad track record.... well what about your American revolution, China had a revolution and now they own you. Russia had a revolution and they rivaled even America. Even the French had a revolution. Revolution is like a mop and bucket, cleans out the corruption, and leaves a clean slate to build on. The only problem is that those who use it tend to never maintain the reason for cleaning House in the first place. If you let tyranny rule then live on your knees.
- KurtangleTN, on 07/11/2008, -1/+30I think most digg users would ***** a whore with every STD imaginable if she wore a top 5 list shirt.
- TerrenceWrist, on 07/10/2008, -5/+31we live in interesting times.
The british empire faded away after the world wars because of war debt. & I think the US is going the same way for the same reason, being that it costs a lot of money and resources to maintain proxy empires for prolonged periods of unrest. - richman241, on 07/11/2008, -11/+366. Our Leader is a complete idiot
- inactive, on 07/11/2008, -9/+33The left doesn't hate America, it hates what the right has done to America.
- lensman00, on 07/10/2008, -1/+23The "Alexander Tyler" quote about the inevitable decline of democracy is one of those FW: FW: FW: items that makes a nice read, but contains 'facts' that aren't factual:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp
It's thought provoking, but best attributed to anonymous for the time being. - noncombatant2, on 07/09/2008, -13/+30It's the right wing that trashed the Fourth Amendment today. And which has cut spending for science.
- inactive, on 07/11/2008, -4/+21holy god what a load of horse ***** lol
- ghidorahnotweak, on 07/09/2008, -4/+19Why would the left want to see the US go away?
- anachronaut, on 07/11/2008, -0/+14All you really need is the "If you let tyranny rule then live on your knees." part.
It's been said better, though. I like this version:
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. -- Samuel Adams
That won't fit on a bumper sticker either, though... sigh. - Rikkochet, on 07/11/2008, -2/+16And Nero didn't have a ***** blender. Vastly different times can hardly be compared. The sum of human knowledge has grown such that we are creating more knowledge in a handful of weeks than existed in the entire world in Lincoln's time.
- Phyltre, on 07/11/2008, -3/+17Agreed. Most of the points made were clearly biased, it felt a little left since the military was viewed as bad by default and social welfare was similarly regarded as inherently positive. Also, I find that derivative culture is often superior to totally innovative culture. It's not just about coming up with something, it's about perfecting things as well--which rarely happens the first time around.
I think the US does have plenty of problems, but this article doesn't do much to address them on any level. - bungoman, on 07/11/2008, -4/+17Canada will probably end up ok no matter what happens. Enjoy your cold cold winters.
- wtbuser, on 07/11/2008, -3/+16He writes "the country still hasn't set up a public health care system" like its a bad thing. Anyone who thinks the proper role of government is to legislate climate or to create a market for an industry that is failing because of prior government intervention shouldn't be lecturing.
- BevansDesign, on 07/11/2008, -1/+14How about:
"A little revolution now and then is a good thing; the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
---Thomas Jefferson - WilliamDavis, on 07/11/2008, -1/+14"As their incomes rise in China, the people will demand greater freedoms which will be chaos for the communist regime."
I think the"communist regime" in China is probably looking at the US, and figuring they can fool people into thinking they have choices. - RedViper1999, on 07/11/2008, -1/+14Didn't they fade away more because all their territories revolted against them. India, China, many African countries. Really they were too small in size to police waking populations.
- digichris, on 07/11/2008, -1/+13OH
MY
GOD
Florida is going to be underwater in the year 2000. - shig, on 07/11/2008, -2/+14"4. Citizens do not trust their government"
I distrust my government, because it is full of criminals. It is the criminals themselves that will bring the country down, and not the fact that I distrust their "leadership." - NonLeftistDiggr, on 07/11/2008, -7/+19More significantly, more and more Americans believe they are entilted to free *****.
- eh123, on 07/11/2008, -24/+36utterly ridiculous. buried.
- Rikkochet, on 07/11/2008, -1/+12I had a history prof in my first year of college that maintained that the Roman Empire never fell at all. When the politics became too much trouble to manage, they changed their name to 'The Catholic Church' and are still running things.
Gotta say, she made a good ***** point. - rdw1809, on 07/11/2008, -0/+11I agree, this is pretty idiotic.
- waydee, on 07/11/2008, -0/+10We managed it for a long time?
WW2 devastated the UK and left us oweing a lot of money, of course I don't believe that we would have disallowed the former colonies their independence had the war not happened but all of a sudden there was a severe lack of money to keep the empire going - if anything many of the colonies were a financial drain, allowing them to manage their own affairs took a lot of stress off the UK.
Attitudes changed and the British people demanded their welfare be put first, we had a country to rebuild and the better performing colonies went from strength to strength economically and found themselves in a position to no longer need the assistance of the UK. - Butros, on 07/11/2008, -0/+10Alfonzo I wish I could digg you up 1000x
- NonLeftistDiggr, on 07/11/2008, -1/+11The DOE and teacher's union has proved that "spending cuts" to education are mostly bull ***** political rhetoric. Our spending in CA has doubled in a decade with no where near that amount of student growth, and they still can't breach mediocre education.
- flip2trip, on 07/10/2008, -6/+15Your man Obama voted for that bill today--did ya know that skippy?
- TKDawn, on 07/11/2008, -4/+13People who have doom and gloom on their mind need to look around them. We live in a country where we can do just about anything we want or even have anything our hearts desire. Our country was forged out of dissent and has gotten stronger through the worst of times. I wish some folks would study our history a little better!
- ethornquist, on 07/11/2008, -4/+13Moving overseas will only make you love America more.
- TrueSecrets, on 07/11/2008, -2/+11America will not fall in any of our life times. It will have its ups and downs, but it always has.
Besides this guy is way off mark on pretty much everything. Increasing social welfare will not help the country. Instead we should use that money towards revamping our school system. This way people can help themselves and if they continue to fail it will CLEARLY their own fault. Not that it isn't already.
Seriously, Who says it is society's responsibility to take care of people who drop out/ fail school of their own stupidity? Two words: menial labor. Only when we stop catering to people who won't help themselves will America be able to stay at its top. - inactive, on 07/11/2008, -7/+15Wow. You seriously drank some retard juice for breakfast this morning. It's that kind of egotistical, pompous attitude that has gotten us where we are today. And it's all fine and good for you to wave the flag blindly but let's see you back up your claims that we're the richest, most powerful country in the world with some documentation or links.
We WERE the most admired, richest, kindest nation on the planet without doubt. That's no longer true. Not even by a long shot.
So think what you want..I LOVED This country...it's just that we're no longer the country we used to be. The changes have been so drastic and horrible, I'd suggest even that they should consider changing the name and the flag. Why? Because what we are is a FARCE compared to what we once were, what we COULD be and what this nation was INTENDED to be.
You sound like you'd accept anything as long as we keep the name and the colors; we are absolutely only a shadow of what we once were. I choose to focus on that because until we return to what we were intended to be as a nation, it'll NEVER be acceptable. - inactive, on 07/11/2008, -0/+8I get a little skeptical when one of our downfalls is bad TV and movies. Are you serious? With every major issue that we should be dealing with, you give credit to a Hulk remake as the end of the USA? However, if they make a "Charmed" movie, I am going to Canada.
- Trigonometron, on 07/11/2008, -0/+8If only you could fit your entire post on a bumper sticker, you would be rich.
- TxAggie08, on 07/11/2008, -6/+14There are people living in the United States attic? I hear it gets cold in the winter. Apparently we didn't insulate the damn continent that well.
- bob_the_alien, on 07/11/2008, -2/+10ok, lets not go there, cuz that's just bs. Left and Right are just two sides of the same coin. None of this has started just recently, it's all been going on for quite awhile. The left and right have changed sides so much over the past 100 years, it's hard to understand where anyone really stands. And because of it, our basic principles get stepped on. How many times have the left wanted to step on the constitution with gun law, and then the right steps on it with anti-privacy laws. We elect ppl to office and then just keep them there, doesn't matter what they do, and most American's can't tell you what they do.
Then you have on a local level, parents that are left wing will bash the goverment to no end, turning their children into ppl that won't even take part in the political process, and then ring wing parents put down everything that's not moral in their eyes, which outs their children, and when a child is outed from their parents, they reject everything of their parents, including the goverment that it supports.
I hate to say it, cuz it goes along with what some of these right wing nut-job conspirators say, but really, our country has began to fall apart, when out family units broke down. If we can't keep our families together, then how can we keep our country together. And even if the right wing nut-jobs say this, they go completely against that reasoning, by outing gays and lesbians. I mean how can you keep your family unit together if you throw away your gay sons and lesbian daughters.
We just need a new generation to rise up and decide what we want from our government, cuz the rifts between the baby boomer generation has destroyed it.
Within the next 20 to 30 years, a good majority of our population is going to be out of the work force and dying, and the new generations our going to have control this country completely, we have to learn to work together, and go back to our roots, of what made this country great, or the United States is doomed. - inactive, on 07/11/2008, -7/+14Rome didn't have any form of social welfare for its entire existence from the early Republic to 1453... When the Republic fell after WAY more divisive civil wars (social war, servile wars, sulla v. marius, sparticus uprising, pompey v. ceasar, octavian v. antony) it grew into its prime and expanded to its pinnacle and didn't fall in the west for 400 years and in the east for another millenium... the culture was far more decadent, human life didn't mean a damn to them and relied on a slave economy... and it was also a remarkably uninventive society for much of its existence with little meaningful scientific advancement...
So yeah, this article sucks - colincattral, on 07/11/2008, -0/+7Perhaps you should brush up on your political terminology. What you're describing is an incredibly stupid, radical authoritarian dictatorship with no interest in maintaining power. I think the word you're looking for is socialism. Although I tend to disagree with those on the left, I would not be surprised if someone argued that your current government is akin to a radical authoritarian dictatorship with no interest in maintaining power. However, it should be noted that the United States is not in decline. This theory was popular during the recession in the 80s and the US bounced back stronger than ever. You have a very resilient economy. However, the difference between then and now is that there are more major players on the world stage and it is becoming a multipolar world as opposed to a unipolar one. Meaning you aren't really going to lose anything, and you may even gain, but you are not going to have the same advantage over the rest of the world.
Taking the word of a futurist is like believing in the writings of Nostradamus. Buried as inaccurate. - inactive, on 07/11/2008, -1/+8We've been an Oligarchy, hiding behind a Democratic process that's really supposed to be a Republic which our founding fathers intended the government to be. Of the People... Giving the people the right to petition government and put issues on the ballot.
When the voice of the people is overturned by a few you do not have a Democracy or a Republic any more. You have an Oligarchy.... - PopcornDave, on 07/11/2008, -0/+7Obama is greater than laundry detergent? Good to know.
- wolferz, on 07/11/2008, -5/+12He also had a major hand in triggering the civil war. Oh and never mind that his administration was the real beginning of big government in the US... The Roosevelt administrations only expanded on that, they didn't start it.
Yes he freed the slaves... certainly the greatest thing he did by far... but there were other ways to achieve that. - Darksoul, on 07/11/2008, -5/+12Buried for being utterly stupid with no proof other then the "I think this will happen". No one knows what will the world will look like in one thousand years but don't kid yourself into thinking that this country is just going to up and vanish. This person needs to go back to their conspiracy theory's what makes me laugh is they think this will happen soon yeah right......
Though it will change all country's do it won't happen anytime soon. This person makes me think he/she is the type of person that wears tin foil hats...... - Elranzer, on 07/11/2008, -0/+6Ironic, considering it's the radically-retarded right-wing that wants to disassemble the United States in favor of a Christian-sponsored corporate fascist society governed by a few wealthy elite, declare the middle class as serfs.
Enjoy your chocolate rations. I heard they're up 20 grams. - Scheissen, on 07/11/2008, -5/+11It's pathetic when the only empirical evidence that the left has to justify socialism is that it makes people happy. Those European countries are a homogeneous tribe of Scandinavians, not even Asian immigrants would want immigrate there for free welfare when they can choose warmer climates like France and Britain. All that I see from that study is the Danes are content "just living." They have no aspirations for themselves so they are just as pleased whatever the government tells them to do. Plato's greek allegory of the cave will help you understand this.
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