And to think I probably used to sound like you guys twenty years ago.

I only hope you two have young age as an excuse, too.

You forgot my 2009 Mazda MX-9 that guzzles 14.5l per 100km in that list... Or weren't you upholding me as an example to follow? ;)

I have never found anything worth my time on thar site.

Not. A. Single. Thing.

I fear you are correct. Opinion on this site is very obviously one-sided and biased.

Not that the current Admin in the US isn't questionable, they're correct about that one... But objective discussion is usually not what is happening here.

Spaceballs, Naked Gun, Hot Shots, and many more movies of the 80s and 90s seem pretty well-known in the German part of Europe.
I have to be honest and say I was a tv junkie so my impression is not necessarily indicative of reality but I remember the "inside" jokes in school when those movies ran.

Or what about Police Academy? It didn't even have to be good comedy coming from the US apparently :D.

"You've gotta remember that the entertainment industry is still like any other for-profit industry - they want to earn a return on their investment."

Not according to Disney, but okay.

Forgot to add: They tell us that this July was about average... for the life of me I just cannot believe that to be true.

While I am sure things are getting warmer, I also notice that they keep doing weird things...

July was mostly between 12 and 22 degrees, lot's of rain. The moment it turned August, we're getting drought and forest fire hazard warnings.

Temperatures I used to think were green they make yellow and what used to be yellow often is red.

I do think humanity has impact on the weather and I do think it's changing.

But I am just as convinced someone is trying to shape opinion with less than ethical methods.

Nothing has ever made me feel as alone and out of touch with society as social media.

People do not ever discuss things on social media. It's always just droping comenrs in passing. Nobkdy reads what you wrote and if they do, they usually just interpret it in a way that gives them mos opportunity to disagree and be outraged.

What is the use of social media?

And are we assuming that any of the trillion dollar club got there by being consumer oriented?

You basically just gave a good reason Musk might be onto something.

Including Bill Maher :D

I don't want them to shift toward the west.

I said I expect them to become a high trust society. While I am personally convinced that we were a high trust society in most parts due to the catholic Church, I would not discount the chance that other cultures can build one as well.

I would also not discount the chance that Catholicism actually ticks up in China at some point. Again, I wouldn't wager on the precise mechanisms... I'm just saying that the instability that is becoming ever more aparent in China CAN topple their way of life. Such things have happened in the past. On numerous occasion not least of which the DDR.
Or do you think the population in the DDR thought it likely in January 1989 that they would have Christmas with their western families in 1990?

Well the words "What I think is more likely to happen" both flag my post as speculation and a personal opinion.

And I agree with you. Since we've given the US quasi leadership of the western world, it giving up world dominance automatically means we as its sycophants won't have a pole position to take over, especially since the same societal issues ail us as do them.

That's why I said in the future we may bounce back but in what way I am unable to say. Perhaps it's gonna be the EU or perhaps either France or GB have such a hellish time that they completely reinvent themselves and rebuild their empires. Who could say?

But I am not talking about outgrowing the economy. Simple dollar values are hollow. China already is totally entrenched in just about every supply chain.

Intel is dying both on the planning and production side of chips. The latter is in Taiwan's hand. If China pulls its head out of its arse, the animosity between it and Taiwan may go up in smoke faster than people want to believe and what then?

As I said elsewhere, if China manages to convince the world it's turning into a high trust society while America is devolving into a lower trust one, well...

While interesting as far as factoids go, I'm not sure what you think the impact on my take on matters would be.

I don't think that China's limitation is technology. The whole world is already dependent on its workforce and resources.

China is what enables tech bros to shine. Hell, how many of our scientists are Chinese born bringing with them Chinese work ethics.... and Chinese ethics?

The latter is the issue. Nobody trusts China and for damn good reason. If China manages to ease up and become a high trust society (which it isn't. As far as I am aware the studies declaring China one are based on questionnaires inside the respective countries and that's worth zilch), stop burning out its youth and still retain some of that work ethic, they won't have to take leadership away from the US, the world will just shimmy a few degrees due China over a few years and it'll be a done deal.