I think I was more thinking about the bigger picture of the article of where Americans are right now.

That article hits it right on the nose, although I don't know if America is experiencing "soaring" rates of depression and anxiety....we've always been a pretty stressed out nation, we're just more medicated nowadays. Yes, America is in a funk right now. So is the rest of the world. I would hesitate to say that the grass is indeed greener in some other part of the world. Happiness is what you make of it, it doesn't really matter where you are. As far as confronting painful issues in daily life is concerned, I do agree that Americans could do a better job of creating more coherent and civil discourse as we discuss the problems we face as a society and nation. I think we've gotten too comfortable, maybe even lazy, by letting the extreme left and right of politics, religion, and media do all the talking and thinking for us. The divisiveness that's been created by immoderate points of view is, in my opinion, at the root of our nation's current state of "unhappiness". America really is at its best when we unite as a nation. We need to get back to that, and not just at times of national crisis.

What media are you watching? Everything in the media is far-left and culturally-marxist (in intention)... of course, they "say" otherwise to distract people... but it's quite obviously still far-left.

I think the problem is that the media has had such a HUGE left-ward bias over the last few decades... that people believe it's now the center. Which is what they kind of want...

@bwhitz I think the combination of Fox News, Talk Radio, and several print/online sources are more than enough balance for the "Leftist" media outlets. And these conservative outlets have their fair share of reach and audience.

Well I am blind to your experience and can only speak on my own, but as someone in college right now, there's no liberal conspiracy or over-saturation of liberals. I see and hear as many conservatives (if anything, they're more outspoken too) as I do liberals. And don't get me started on the all too common accusation of conservatives saying everything's marxist this, socialist that, communist plot... etc... You're overreacting to facets of our society that are not new.

So the corporate conglomerates, including General Electric and Comcast, are promoting "far-left" and Marxist propaganda, against their own interests?

Correct. But it's not against their interest. It's a common mistake to think of corporations as free-market or capitalist. It's Coroprate-Statism. The benefit they receive from pushing Marxist and socialist agendas is that when/if the country ever became fully socialized, they would integrate with the state and their place of power and wealth would be solidified as one of the socialist "elites"... instead of having to compete. Corporations don't really like competition. I mean, hell, look at Canon! Do you think they would ever improve anything if competition didn't force them? What if Canon was not simply a corporation... but part of the state? See their benefit? They go from a corporation that has to compete and turn a profit... to a production entity of the state that can use force and sell whatever they like. The more state-integration they have, the less competition they face. Research and Development is expensive... regulation against your competitors is cheap.

Same thing with the 1%ers. Why do they want people to hate capitalism? Well, because the 1% is actually more fluid than the media leads us to believe. If the US became fully socialized... the 1% would become a PERMANENT group of elites. A complete oligarchy. What, you think they would give up their wealth and join the rest? haha nope. This is why the elites call the pushers of these agendas "useful idiots".

-- but if you think these outlets are left-wing on matters of taxation and foreign policy

I don't see anyone in the media talking about lowering tax rates. In fact, right-wing movements like the Tea Party are CONSTANTLY being mocked by everyone. Where exactly are these examples of right-wing tax policy in the media? ...and more specifically POPULAR media, that the current generations are actually watching?

But, yea, you do have an argument with right-wing foreign policies. That's partly true. Although, this is only made possible with our insane tax system and regulations. They simply don't have the financial power for imperialism otherwise. You vote for wealth-redistribution? What do they do? Take 30% from everyone, give back 3% in "social programs", and use the rest to invade countries. Oldest rick in the book.

From John Ralston Saul, A Doubter's Companion .........

MARXIST The only serious functioning Marxists left in the West are the senior management of large, usually transnational corporations. The only serious Marxist thinkers are NEO-CONSERVATIVE.

Marxism is primarily an analysis of how society works—or rather, how it must work. This dialectic is based upon the struggle of the classes and the battle of the unregulated market-place in which the strongest win. It is a market-place which cannot be tempered, according to Marx. It must and will run free and so function as a battleground between those who have power and those who don’t. The marketplace will seek to maximize profits even if this is to the disadvantage of most. Profits and power are the truth of the economic struggle and economic determinism will decide the social structure.

Most functioning Marxists had stopped believing this sort of stuff by the end of the Second World War. They had come around to the ideology of stable bureaucratic management. In that they resembled the technocrats of Western governmental and corporate bureaucracies.

But these Western corporate managers and their academic acolytes were in fact thrown into a state of confusion by the collapse of 1929. It seemed as if the pure capitalist analysis, of which they were the official inheritors, had failed. An unrestricted market-place had led not to ongoing growth and prosperity, but to total economic collapse. The ideology of a natural and general equilibrium produced by competition had been given its chance and had self-destructed for all to see and suffer the consequences.

A good thirty-five years passed before the corporate leaders were able to erase from their own memory and from that of the public this failure. They then rediscovered with a virginal ideologic enthusiasm the virtues of the unregulated market

This time they were supported by an intellectually sophisticated explanation for the dialectic provided by a group of economists centred at the CHICAGO SCHOOL. They were able to dispense with the idea that public institutions could achieve social stability, protect the weak or encourage a wider distribution of wealth. Their new argument would have made Marx proud. It was not that they did not wish to help the weak or promote fairness. It was the natural rules of the market-place—the dialectic—which made the class struggle inevitable.

The only disagreement between the Neo-conservatives and Marx is over who wins the battle in the end. This is a small detail. Far more important is their agreement that society must function as a wide-open struggle.

Some people are surprised that Marxism should have reemerged on the Right. However, ideas, once launched, become public property. And they often reappear in several disguises before discovering their true form.

Actually I think some of the problem shown by some of the comments is the seemingly ideological split between the 'Right' and 'Left', now I would describe myself as more leaning to right wing especially in free market economics. BUT the problem is there is no real left and right, it's all held captive to corporate cronyism. Now before you start trying to get rid of the evil corporations stop. they aren't the problem either, it's the scope and size of government that has allowed itself to be lobbied. There is no free market capitalism in the US (generally speaking) just like there is no real concern for the poor among the left or at least an understanding of the real issues affecting the country. The left think they can throw rich people's money at poor in wasteful program's and everything comes good, it's the ultimate ignorance. watching people on the left kiss the ass of people like Jamie Dimon and Ben Bernanke is almost too much to bear, when they are the source of much of the deeper poverty issues in America. It's an illusion to keep people fighting, it's an illusion just like the recent race trials, celebrity culture, obesity and a media that makes it hard to discern what is real.

It may seem simplistic but I believe Ron Paul and his ideas were the only hope for the US, but look how quickly he was run out of town but left and right and the MSM. It's going to take a huge awakening in the US, which honestly I'm not sure your capable of. I think war is coming to the US before anything good starts to happen. Obama is in my opinion the worst kind of president in this season. He is by nature a community organiser, ie a trouble maker that uses underlying tensions to further their policies. I'm no Bush supporter either...

One thing I would add to this article is that the issues in the US are not just the US problem, it's wider including Europe. The truth is Obama and the US is still the leader in terms of ideology. When was the last time you remembered what the Chinese leader said about current issues? Obama is the spokesperson of the world, which is why it's so scary...

What America needs is a coming together, cause the masses are more similar to each other than the media portrays the nation. But no one wants that who is in power. And underneath a huge economic crisis is brewing that will knock the US for six. It's coming, and the masses have no clue...

Don't we as media makers have the power to educate and inform? It's funny but without the craftsmen and craftswomen of media makers politicians, and those in power simply have handheld YouTube clips. We have the power, but I guess we are under the power of money and our 'leaders' more than people want to admit. Most Indie cinema I see is liberal wishwasy claptrap. No one wants to put forward an opinion in a movie that is against the status quo. We are in some sense as censored as China etc.

It's funny every time I heard that the NSA spying was to protect America from Terrorism. Ok 9/11 was horrible, I won't even get into blowback from what America has been doing overseas before then and still does. But you look at the facts and the truth is we have no real terrorist threat. the truth is on the average year your about 50 times more likely to die of a bee sting than a terrorist attack...

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/wrjp255a.html

Here's the link. I highly, highly, highly recommend people watch this. People talk about how a movie or whatever changed them. But really they don't change people much. This documentary however is a bit like taking the red pill in the Matrix, you will be different. This version also has an interview with Aaron Russo before he died.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ayb02bwp0

@jimmykorea.....well, it's obvious....I blame the citizens ! ...if people want to taunt the world that you live in the greatest democracy....then you have to take the blame for the crimes of your government. Why has amerika so easily converted to a fascist state is the question....and for that answer you have to look at the intolerance of the american soul, which lends itself to the creation of the neighborhood spy and the swat team mentality. We've created a culture of stasi agents. And speaking of russo....you might look at what happened to michael hastings and question whether his association with nicholas rockefeller was his undoing ....and I'm happy to see lpowell step up to the plate with the hard truths.....because they are murdering every truthteller who they can't control.

If a business built it's wealth morally and legitimately... then they are ALREADY giving back to society. That's what a business's profits indicate. That's the whole point of business. That they have provided more service than they took in. The idea that the profit business and companies make was "taken" from society is all part of the zero-sum fallacy. Which is a social-marxist idea.

It should be obvious to you that wealth creation today is only possible thanks to the efforts of previous generations who, with their taxes, built infrastructure and ensured levels of security, stability and social peace which make commerce possible. If you don't believe me, try earning a living or starting a business in Guatemala or Nigeria, and see how well you do.

If, instead of taxes, you want businesses to pay a user fee each time they use a piece of infrastructure or an existing distribution network that they didn't create and didn't pay for, fine. In addition, we'll have to ask them to pay for upkeep, and future development, the same way their predecessors did. And pay the costs of social stability, for freely operating markets. Also, they'll be asked to foot the bill for the U.S. military, for protecting their market access abroad. So, no more taxes. Just user fees.

The "whole point of business" may be to make money, but the whole point of society is to create decent living conditions for everyone else. That's why businesses are regulated. There's no mystery about what happens when there is no regulation and taxes are easily avoided. Just check out the Third World sometime, and ask yourself if you'd care to live there, if you weren't already independently wealthy.

Finally, consider that the human life span is limited and that we humans can, within limits, decide what kind of world we want to live in. Some might choose a society optimized in every way for maximizing business profits. Others see higher and more compelling values elsewhere, in the art, sciences and humanistic values. You can hardly expect the world to embrace a vision of how society should be organized, based on nothing but market operations -- a view which it finds ugly and predatory. We don't live for ever, after all. Why would anyone in his right mind want to live under such a system?