• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Gallup: Americans Name Government as No. 1 U.S. Problem

U

unokitty

Diamond Member


Government is America’s No. 1 problem
It's worth noting that "dissatisfaction with government" is not equivalent to "dislike of big government" or "opposition to government programs." As articulated in 2010, it encompasses those sentiments, but also dissatisfaction with politicians, poor leadership, corruption and abuse of power.

In other words, it jibes with recently released data on confidence in government institutions. The General Social Survey released last week found that a record low number of Americans are confident in the presidency: 11 percent -- which is largely a function of opposition from Republicans. But confidence in Congress is even lower, at 5 percent.

Of course, confidence in the media is at 7 percent, so who are we to talk?
Click to expand...
Despite our differences, the Gallup Poll shows agreement on, at least, one issue...

Uno
--edited for clarity....
 
Last edited:
While I agree that people seem to be really pissed about the government's dysfunction, it's odd to separate the economy and unemployment into two separate figures and then say Americans view government as the #1 problem. My guess is that people view the economy and unemployment as closely linked.
 
I think if Americans would collectively turn off cable news, and stop reading political opinion pieces, they would find themselves much happier and far less distrustful of government institutions. My mother, an avid fox news watcher, actually started crying because she worried about the future me and my kids are going to grow up in. She worries about shit she has no business worrying about, because fear is what fox news drums into her on a daily basis.
 
marincounty said:
How come people in northern europe have bigger govt and higher standards of living plus they are happier?
Click to expand...

One thing people in Europe have that Americans greatly lack is perspective and a far better philosophy regarding how to live life. Americans have long been poisoned by the "work, work, work!" philosophy and it is frankly disgusting that people working 60+ hours per week, never taking vacations, missing important milestones in their kid's lives, etc. wear it as a badge of honor.
 
ConGraph1.jpg

Americans Confidence in Supreme Court, Congress, and Executive Branch Reach near Record Lows in 2014
Americans’ confidence in the Supreme Court, the executive branch, and Congress has been declining over the last decade and each are at or near record lows in 2014, according to an analysis of the General Social Survey conducted by the AP-NORC Center and GSS. Fewer Americans report having a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court (23 percent) and Congress (5 percent) than at any other time in the last 40 years, and confidence in the executive branch is also near an all-time low (11 percent).
Click to expand...
Survey administered by NORC at the University of Chicago. It is is the largest project funded by the Sociology Program of the NSF ...

Trends seems pretty clear ...

Uno
 
Last edited:
marincounty said:
How come people in northern europe have bigger govt and higher standards of living plus they are happier?
Click to expand...

Because they don't unless you carefully choose the metrics. Comparing the two on "standards of living" in particular is a sham, it depends way too much on how the person involved views quality of life. If you took two people (one from suburbs, one from the urban core) with equally high opinions about their quality of life but reversed their life scenarios I bet their respective "quality of life" views would drop precipitously. I would imagine the average European and American would feel likewise if you transported each into the others neighborhood to live.

inequality.png
 
glenn1 said:
Because they don't unless you carefully choose the metrics. Comparing the two on "standards of living" in particular is a sham, it depends way too much on how the person involved views quality of life. If you took two people (one from suburbs, one from the urban core) with equally high opinions about their quality of life but reversed their life scenarios I bet their respective "quality of life" views would drop precipitously. I would imagine the average European and American would feel likewise if you transported each into the others neighborhood to live.

inequality.png
Click to expand...

I very much agree that quality of life can be strongly subjective, depending on values. The chart the economist made there was a bit weird though, as they only used less than half of the OECD's metrics. (that's not their fault, those were the ones they had available)

If people would like a fuller exploration of that index they can go here:
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#

It tells the same story most of us have heard for awhile. Scandanavian countries and those dirty Canadians end up the best, but the US does pretty well. Needless to say though, these findings hardly support big government being a problem with societal wellbeing. If anything it indicates the opposite.
 
The problem with the U.S. government is directly related to the U.S. voters... if ignorance were hair most of the people eligible to vote would be yetis


But the results of this gallup poll are just what the owners of America want... if people think government is the problem then less of them will vote and it'll be easier to get the politicians they want into office for less money as a result....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT0OJEFlq7A

because the Owners of America know the truth... it's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
Click to expand...


......
 
glenn1 said:
Because they don't unless you carefully choose the metrics. Comparing the two on "standards of living" in particular is a sham, it depends way too much on how the person involved views quality of life. If you took two people (one from suburbs, one from the urban core) with equally high opinions about their quality of life but reversed their life scenarios I bet their respective "quality of life" views would drop precipitously. I would imagine the average European and American would feel likewise if you transported each into the others neighborhood to live.

inequality.png
Click to expand...

............you just posted what looks like a complete confirmation that big gov't countries do just as well as the U.S.
 
First said:
............you just posted what looks like a complete confirmation that big gov't countries do just as well as the U.S.
Click to expand...

I'm a skeptic that you can compare something as nebulously defined as "happiness" at the granular level of nations. And opined that "standard of living" can mean different things to different people so outside of very broad measures like GDP, lifespan, etc. it's hard to compare nations also. Even then how you calculate values comes into play as well as how you value intangible vs. material goods. Would more vacation like Europeans have make you happier, or the higher average earnings and wealth of an American which would allow your shorter vacation to be more luxurious?

As for big government countries doing well, I never disputed that. High tax/high service model government *can* work as well or better than low tax/low service government if that's what the people want. Since they tend to vote that way over there, they're getting what they want and are happy. People in the U.S. generally prefer government to be less involved and thus tax less and therefore vote that way. That's why I support a return to a far more federal model for the U.S. so states can pursue the model they want and citizens can self-sort. Only problem comes in when one side or the other insists that something which should be a state issue must be a federal issue, abortion being a prime example. While I agree with the outcome of Roe v. Wade the "privacy" basis for it is crap and it should have never even made it to SCOTUS and should be overturned immediately. If left to their own devices most states would have probably legalized it anyway without central diktat and we would have been far better off without four decades of culture wars.
 
Mxylplyx said:
I think if Americans would collectively turn off cable news, and stop reading political opinion pieces, they would find themselves much happier and far less distrustful of government institutions. My mother, an avid fox news watcher, actually started crying because she worried about the future me and my kids are going to grow up in. She worries about shit she has no business worrying about, because fear is what fox news drums into her on a daily basis.
Click to expand...

True.

However, I would say that Edward Snowden taught us all that we absolutely should hold a distrust of the federal government and its intentions.
 
IndyColtsFan said:
One thing people in Europe have that Americans greatly lack is perspective and a far better philosophy regarding how to live life. Americans have long been poisoned by the "work, work, work!" philosophy and it is frankly disgusting that people working 60+ hours per week, never taking vacations, missing important milestones in their kid's lives, etc. wear it as a badge of honor.
Click to expand...

Its not a badge of honor, its a logical reason for why we are so unhappy. Since most Americans are too dumb to realize why they are unhappy, they purposely work too hard so they can use that as a scapegoat.
 
Smoblikat said:
Its not a badge of honor, its a logical reason for why we are so unhappy. Since most Americans are too dumb to realize why they are unhappy, they purposely work too hard so they can use that as a scapegoat.
Click to expand...

Of course it isn't a badge of honor, but people pretend it is.
 
glenn1 said:
I'm a skeptic that you can compare something as nebulously defined as "happiness" at the granular level of nations. And opined that "standard of living" can mean different things to different people so outside of very broad measures like GDP, lifespan, etc. it's hard to compare nations also. Even then how you calculate values comes into play as well as how you value intangible vs. material goods. Would more vacation like Europeans have make you happier, or the higher average earnings and wealth of an American which would allow your shorter vacation to be more luxurious?

As for big government countries doing well, I never disputed that. High tax/high service model government *can* work as well or better than low tax/low service government if that's what the people want. Since they tend to vote that way over there, they're getting what they want and are happy. People in the U.S. generally prefer government to be less involved and thus tax less and therefore vote that way. That's why I support a return to a far more federal model for the U.S. so states can pursue the model they want and citizens can self-sort. Only problem comes in when one side or the other insists that something which should be a state issue must be a federal issue, abortion being a prime example. While I agree with the outcome of Roe v. Wade the "privacy" basis for it is crap and it should have never even made it to SCOTUS and should be overturned immediately. If left to their own devices most states would have probably legalized it anyway without central diktat and we would have been far better off without four decades of culture wars.
Click to expand...

No, I think it's pretty clear there are things that are universally good (executive orders banning slavery, for instance) and things that are universally bad (no child labor regulations). The notion of states as laboratories experimenting with things is a good idea, but with serious limits. Those limits being that as soon as their state experimentation has adverse or distorting negative effects on other states, it ends up needing to be corrected. Letting business run wild and set the terms of engagement for pay and benefits like, say, in the state of Texas, has the negative consequence of reducing wages and healthcare access for all Americans overall, not just in Texas. Experimenting sounds great until you start to come to grips that it's people that are being experimented on. It's not R&D in a lab where the experimentee is a rat or mouse.

At a certain point, you have to come to grips with the awfulness of your ideas, and centralized planning, like capitalism, has its place. There are far too many "high tax" and "high reg" countries like Canada, the Scandinavian countries and Europe generally to ignore the success of significant central planning as a necessary component.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top