Originally Posted by Kevsh

From an outside POV, I don't see that America is doing a very good job to help it's own. Forget New Orleans, decisions made in the US are almost inevitably geared toward keeping the rich wealthy and the poor in poverty.

America may be the home of democracy but it sets a bad example - Bush comes off as merely a tool of large corporations and when you see so many examples of pandering to big business, it's pretty clear the power is not in the people's hands. (Remember the lift on the assault/automatic weapons ban? How in any way, shape or form did that "help" anyone except the companies making and selling them?)

Again, just an outside view based mostly on what the (biased) media reports, but hey, sometimes looking from the outside in makes the truth much easier to find.