On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:20:50 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Aug 25, 6:57*pm, "Tom Littleton" wrote:
....... As I've
stated, consistently, one of the things that frightens me, looking at the
longer view, is an America pulling apart rich from poor, with no gradation.
Such situations, historically, lead to either repression or revolution, and
I wish neither on my descendants. .....


Bush's tenure has, from early on, reminded me of the traditional
South American Caudillo "presidency" with lots of bluster, a weakened
currency, a weakened economy, military spending grossly
disporportionate to the wealth of the nation, a refusal (inability?)
to stand up to powerful economic factions, and a population
increasingly divided into three economic strata: the relatively small
number of the rich, the relatively small number of upper-middle income
professionals, and the mass of the rest, hanging on with little or no
margin between them and economic disaster.

Not really. While the site below might not be, um, of your tastes, the
issues and the numbers/data presented in this article are worth at least
considering:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/bg1791.cfm

Granted, the US might be ranked below your traditional poverty-stricken
hellholes of the world...like Bermuda, the Caymans, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg and Switzerland...but even so, the World Bank ranks the US
pretty high:

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/D...rces/GNIPC.pdf

And as an aside:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...-in-Kenya.html

Of course, his situation isn't Obama's fault, but I'd say that if Obama
can't (or won't) help his family first, it's pretty tough to feel secure
in his ability (or willingness) to help strangers...like the, um, "the
mass of the rest, hanging on with little or no margin between them and
economic disaster" in the good ol' US of A. And no, I don't see anyone
of the GOP honchos rushing to his brother's aid, either.

TC,
R