Is the United States at the end of intellect or the beginning

Early decadence.

It hit in the late 70s early 80s.

>>2249637

as a 22 year old I'm wondering what kind of shitshow of a society I'm going to be living through in life. The last year has felt surreal in all regards

File: Predicted likelihood of government policy.png (91KB, 426x800px) Image search: [Google]

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>>2249650
Blame social degeneration brought on by large segments of the population substituting electronic media for human interaction.

Also, rent seeking by elites.

It's literally always rent seeking by elites.

>>2249656

>rent seeking by elites

What do you mean

>>2249670
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

As political structures solidify and new sources of wealth begin to dry up, it becomes more profitable for the upper class to fight for a share of the existing wealth than to generate new wealth.

In the United States, this takes the form of a multi-billion dollar lobbying industry, financial, educational and medical systems that are all built to squeeze money out of the proles, and widespread regulatory capture.

In Rome's day, it meant wealthy families buying up people's farms while they were out fighting wars, and driving so many people off of the land that Rome's agricultural middle class was destroyed and ultimately the entire republic collapsed.

>>2249694

Huh, that is interesting.

>>2249625
...middle of age of commerce....

you haven't even seen true american affluence, intellect, or decadence yet

>>2250593
>Age of Pioneers, 1776-
>Age of Conquests, 1865-
>Age of Commerce, 1930-

>>2250597
Based on, uh, my projections, Age of Affluence will commence in 2017, and Age of Intellect in 2100, and finally Age of Decadence 2170

>>2249625
Deacdence I would say. You can easily check pessimism, materialism, frivolity, foreigners, welfare state, and weak religion. Only the first box, defenisiveness, is not really certain in my perspective.

>>2250593

I find it hard to believe honestly. I'm seeing lack of American national identity, division, the rise of emphasis on vice and pleasure over duty. It feels like decadence. We are also headed for a potentially worse economic collapse than 2008.