>Hmmm.. what exactly makes it more vulnerable? Corporate profits are record
>high,
Actually, profitability peaked in 1996 or 1997 (depending on what measure you use), and is off a bit since then.
> Amerikuns are swarming to shopping malls like flies to shit,
First, there's nothing evil about shopping. And second, from today's WSJ:
>Retailers Slash Prices to Draw
>Those Wary Holiday Shoppers
>
>By CALMETTA COLEMAN
>Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
>The kickoff of the holiday shopping season made one thing clear:
>Mark it down and they will come.
>
>Worried that this year's holiday sales could pale compared with last
>year's blockbuster selling season, retailers across the country took
>the offensive by offering steep discounts and managed to lure
>substantial numbers of shoppers. For the aggressive consumer, there
>were deals to be found not only on the season's hottest items, such
>as DVD players, digital cameras and scooters, but also on some
>staple gift items such as clothing that haven't sold well in the
>recent economic slowdown.
>
>The Macy's store at the South Shore Plaza mall in Braintree, Mass.,
>was decked out in holly boughs, gold ribbons -- and red clearance
>signs.
[...]
> Ralph
>Nader scored meager 3% of the vote,
Ralph Nader drew millions of votes, energized activists, and helped draw attention to the structural failings of U.S. "democracy."
> much less than Pat Buchanan
When did Buchanan get >3% of the vote?
> or Ross
>Perot, or for that matter, the margin of statistical error, Shrub just got
>springboarded to the White House, Repugs control the Congress
They lost seats in the House, the Senate is divided, some truly cretinous legislators lost, vouchers lost, medical marijuana won.
> and the
>Senate - in a word, things could not be better for the Capital, could they?
Don't forget mass alienation and the embarrassment the U.S. has suffered on a world scale. Reasons to be cheerful!
Doug