It's Over ... I'm Sorry: How Our Country Has Made Critical Decisions in the Last 40 Years That Have Drastically Changed Our Future

By Keith Hathaway

Money in Politics is at an all-time high with dark money and super-PACs dominating our elections and politics. Middle-class and lower income wages have been stagnant for decades. The U.S. Government is spending out of control with a current debt of over $21 Trillion and annual deficits predicted to be over a trillion dollars for the foreseeable future. Taxes on the rich and powerful are effectively at an all-time low and globalization is costing Americans jobs and wealth with no end in sight. Wealth inequality is the worst it has been since before the great depression and our government and Congress have no answers to solve our numerous fiscal and inequality problems.

In this book, Dr. Keith Hathaway, PhD provides an honest and brutal assessment of the current state of U.S. fiscal policies and describes how the problems we are facing are self-inflicted wounds based on decisions made by the elite and politicians over the last 40 years. He describes how his generation has changed the rules of politics and the economy in dramatic ways and how these purposeful, structural changes will lead to economic disaster that will seriously affect the poor and middle-class.

Mostly, Dr. Hathaway sees no hope for our country to change our fundamental economic problems because the establishment and elite don't want to fix them. The rules have been changed in our lifetime to favor the rich and powerful and the establishment interests are more than happy to let their disastrous policies continue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543943887

Book preview

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CHAPTER 1

Rip the Band-Aid Off

I believe our country is in serious trouble.  I know that I am not alone in this feeling but lately I feel very lonely.

There is a lot of talk and writing lately about the systemic problems that the United States is facing today.  Problems like globalization, immigration, climate change and government spending have been analyzed and dissected endlessly in the last few years with experts and pundits explaining the source of the problem, telling us who is to blame, and telling us how to solve them.  There is a lot of smart and thoughtful ideas out there with sincere efforts to develop policies to put our country on a better path.

Ideas on how to reduce government spending, increase wages, fix our immigration issues, and deal with trade and globalization abound.  If you spend any time surfing the internet regarding our country’s problems, you will find an enormous amount of analysis and discussion on a variety of issues, much of it very detailed and very thoughtful.  I give everyone who is searching for solutions to our fundamental problems great credit.  I applaud their efforts to fix the problems that plague us.  Good for them.

Unfortunately, I have a different take on the future of our country.

The United States of America, as we know it, is dying from self-sustained wounds and there is nothing we can do to stop it.  More importantly, the people who can actually fix our problems are not motivated to fix them.

Do I know exactly how the end of America as we know it will play out?  No.

Do I know exactly when it will end?  No.

Is the end pre-ordained based on our current path? Yes, in my opinion.

Is the United States on a collision course that can’t be changed and that is not as far away as we would like?  Yes.

I’m not talking about a zombie apocalypse where one day everything is fine and then a week later, everyone is zombie food.  I’m talking about a slow degradation of our standard of living, stagnant wages for the foreseeable future, and an economic system that works for a decreasing number of Americans.  I’m talking about steady economic decline punctuated by increasingly serious economic calamities.  The United States is like a volcano waiting to erupt and we are currently experiencing the pre-eruption quakes and blow-outs that inevitably precede a massive explosion.

The best proof for my pessimistic view of the future is actually the past.  What I predict for the future is exactly what has already been happening for the last several decades.  All the proof I need for my pessimistic predictions of the future is to look at the past 40 years.  We have been experiencing increased money in politics, increased government spending, stagnant wages, and many other signs of our country’s decline for many decades.  All that has to happen for my predictions to come true is for America to keep doing exactly what we are currently doing.

If you further believe that our government and our leaders are either incompetent or complicit in the problems facing our country, my point is essentially made – in less than two pages.

Somedays, everything seems fine.  Currently, many people say our economy is booming, that we are in a great economy.  Maybe the economy is better than it has been in the past.  The economy is definitely better than it was after the 2007 great recession.  But, if the economy is so great, why are so many Americans struggling?  Why are so many Americans living paycheck to paycheck?  Why do so many Americans have virtually no savings?  Why are so many Americans not benefiting from the stock market?  The current economy is definitely doing well for some Americans.  Many, many other Americans are feeling left out and left behind.

Regardless of how things seem better in this calm before the storm, one day it’s going to blow and there will likely be a series of violent pre-eruption warnings before the end finally hits.  Can I prove all of this?  Maybe.

As time goes on, the middle class will continue to shrink, poverty will increase, and the rich will get richer.  If you are rich and powerful, don’t worry.  You will continue to be rich and powerful far into the future.  Plenty of people will still be fine in my dystopian view of the future.  Many people will still have good jobs and see their future as bright, but it will be less people each year.  It will almost be difficult to notice the changes, but it will continue as it has for the last 40 years.

I thought it important to lay this out right up front – rip the band-aid off as it were.  I hate books, or truthfully anything, that drags a concept out and makes me wait to get to the punchline.  Tell me what your point is right up front, and I’ll hang around if I think you’re onto something or might have a good point to make.  Hell, I’ll hang around if I think you’re going to amuse or entertain me.  Just don’t make me wade through 300 pages to find out what you’re talking about and then find out you aren’t funny.  This book isn’t meant to be funny so don’t be disappointed when it isn’t.

So, right up front, I believe the United States is falling apart and there is nothing any of us average Americans can do about it.  I believe I can make this case and if you hang around, I won’t take forever to make my case.  This book will be relatively short by the standards of many books.  This book will be short by design.  This book literally writes itself with the help of a few easily obtainable facts and I don’t want anyone to feel daunted by a giant book when it is not needed.

Let me state at this point that I love my country.  I was born here and I will die here, hopefully a long time from now.  I am a patriot.  Please don’t take my pessimistic view of our future as some sort of anti-American sentiment.  It is because I love my country that I feel compelled to express these