{"id":203,"date":"2014-02-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yule-tide.generalsemiotics.net\/index.php\/2014\/02\/22\/post-196-pessimism-in-the-usa\/"},"modified":"2014-02-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-22T00:00:00","slug":"post-196-pessimism-in-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yule-tide.blog\/index.php\/2014\/02\/22\/post-196-pessimism-in-the-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-196: Pessimism in the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"
I feel more personally optimistic today than I did in the mid-2000s. The overall mood in the post-2008 world, though, is a lot more pessimistic.

<\/span><\/span>It’s all about falling expectations, isn’t it. Ukraine is a case of this, I think. As of this writing (Saturday, Feb. 22nd, 2014), it seems that Ukraine has just undergone a nationalistic “revolution”, with echoes of 1989. Ukraine wasn’t doing so<\/em> well in the 1980s, but, incredibly, in 2014 it has a substantially lower<\/em> GDP-per-capita than it did in 1989! (See post-194<\/a>).

I saw a poll showing that an incredible five-out-of-six<\/strong> White-Americans say that they are dissatisfied<\/strong> “with the way things are going” in the USA. Here is the breakdown by the various listed demographic groupings:
<\/span><\/span> <\/div>\n
\n
.<\/font><\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Read More<\/strong><\/font><\/a>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Demographic Groups that Think the USA is Going in the WRONG Direction:<\/strong><\/font>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overall: 32-to-10 [say that the USA is going in the wrong<\/strong> direction]
<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Men: 40-to-10
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span> Women:<\/span> 27-to-10

<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whites: 48-to-10
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hispanics: 19-to-10

<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Republicans: 133-to-10
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Independents:<\/span> 46-to-10
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Democrats: 12-to-10<\/span>

Demographic Groups that Think the USA is Going in the RIGHT Direction:<\/strong><\/font>
<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blacks: 11-to-10 [say that the USA is going in the right<\/strong> direction]

Here is the relevant excerpt from the poll:<\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Picture\"<\/a> <\/p>\n
Polling of 2,692 registered voters (+\/-1.9% margin of error), From December 3-9, 2013 \/ Quinnipiac University [Link<\/a>] <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Gallup also asks this question in polls. It has “mood of the country” polling data for 1979-2014<\/a> online. Gallup corroborates the Quinnipiac poll, as it also finds the “mood of the country” today to be about 32-to-10 pessimistic.\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
This reminds me of a nice song, a lively song of nostalgic-lament, from the mid-2000s, by Guy Forsyth<\/a> (b.1968):\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n