Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
If you could go back and live in 1973, would you do it?
To me, that is not an easy question to answer.
I think that for many of us it would be a real challenge to adjust to a world without the Internet and so many of the other technologies that we enjoy today. But I also think that if we were suddenly transported back to that time we would be absolutely shocked by how freely people lived. In 2023, there are literally millions of different laws, rules, regulations and ordinances that constrain how we behave down to the smallest detail. A lot of us still think that we are “free”, but that hasn’t actually been true for a very long time. In addition, the values of our society are completely different from what they were in 1973. Over the past 50 years our culture has been completely turned upside down, and we can see the nightmarish consequences of this cultural revolution all around us.
Of course there was no time in U.S. history when life was perfect. But when Pew Research recently asked people if life in America “is better, worse, or about the same as it was 50 years ago”, an overwhelming majority of respondents said that life is worse today…
The survey showed Americans with a negative view on how life is for people now. They were asked, “In general, would you say life in America today is better, worse, or about the same as it was 50 years ago for people like you?”
Over half, 58 percent, said they believe life is “worse” for people like them than it was 50 years ago. That reflects a 15-point increase from the 43 percent who said the same in July 2021.
Only 23 percent said they believe life is “better,” and 19 percent said it is “about the same.”
Needless to say, if many of us had to pick the best years in American history, 1973 would not be among the top few choices.
The economy was really struggling and the fashions were absolutely horrible.
But if you watch this 1973 street footage from New York City, you can see that life was pretty good and people seemed to be pretty happy…
Would I want to trade my current life for a life in 1973?
No.
But if I could trade the people and values of 1973 for the people and values of 2023, I would do that in a heartbeat.
Our society is falling apart all around us, and that is because the character of this nation has been fundamentally transformed.
Crime rates are spiking in our major cities, mass killings are happening at a record pace, our streets are filled with drug addicts, and the biggest crooks of all are walking the halls of power.
In addition, we live at a time when millions of Americans are afraid to leave their homes because our society is literally teeming with predators. For example, the next time a hotel manager tells you that he wants to check in on you, it may not be because he is concerned about your air conditioning unit…
A manager at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Nashville has been charged with aggravated burglary and assault after he reportedly entered a guest’s room and sucked on his toes.
According to Metro police, 52-year-old David Neal was the night manager at downtown Nashville’s Hilton Hotel, located in the 100 block of 4th Avenue South.
Police said Neal allegedly made a key card and used it to enter the guest’s room on March 30 at around 5 a.m. The guest told police he woke up and found Neal sucking on his toes. He immediately confronted Neal and recognized him as the person who had come into his room the day before with another employee to address an issue the guest was having with his TV, according to investigators.
There are millions of others just like him all over the country.
And some of them even get invited to the White House.
Of course it is debatable whether we even have a “country” at this point because we essentially have no southern border.
Thousands upon thousands of migrants illegally enter the U.S. every single day, and this isn’t just causing enormous issues in the border states.
In the state of Indiana, approximately 22 percent of all students in the public schools “receive lessons in both English and Spanish”…
But it’s not just a problem in the border states. Take Indiana, for example, where Indianapolis police have just declared the capital city a sanctuary for the invasion. WISH reported last year: “Across Indiana, there are nearly 78,000 students called ‘English Learners’ who receive lessons in both English and Spanish. The number of English learners in Indiana schools has increased by almost 27,000 from six years ago.” FAIR estimates that 22% of Indianapolis students are LEPs!
And now that Title 42 is expiring, the surge of migration that we have been witnessing is likely to become an avalanche…
Tens of thousands of migrants are reportedly surging at the U.S.-Mexico border ahead of Title 42’s expiration.
In the Texas border city of El Paso, about 2,200 migrants are currently camped or living on the streets a few blocks from major ports of entry that connect El Paso with the Mexican city of Juárez. The city is prepared to open up shelters next week if needed at two vacant school buildings and a civic center.
So the pace of societal change is only going to accelerate even more in the years ahead.
I just wish that things would go back to the way they once were.
We live at a time where almost everything is corrupt. For example, if I order a chicken sandwich at a restaurant, I want them to give me a piece of meat that comes from a dead chicken.
But instead, our “chicken-based products” often contain fillers such as “seaweed” and “wood pulp”…
Fried chicken is a favorite for millions of Americans – but many of the options offered by America’s biggest fast food chains contain other unexpected ingredients.
These restaurants will often fill their food with additives, preservative and even other proteins in order to keep costs to a minimum and give their offerings a longer shelf life. Others may use buzzwords such as ‘premium’ or ‘all-white meat’ to describe their poultry-based offerings.
But more surprising ingredients – such as beef, seaweed and even wood pulp – can be found in the recipe for some chicken-based products at major restaurants.
Yuck!
And don’t even get me started on the “meat glue” that is used to hold many of our meat products together.
The reason so many people eat “organic” today is because they want to eat like people did 50 or 60 years ago.
In fact, many of the “movements” that we are witnessing right now are simply attempts to recapture what life in America was once like.
We have lost so much, and we are losing even more with each passing day.
But there are still many of us that remember how great America was in the old days, and we simply are not willing to stand by and just accept the new version of “America” that is now being forced upon us.
* * *
Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 05/14/2023 – 22:30
