Americans trust their army more than government

The USA has recently celebrated Independence Day, but more and more Americans believe that their country is not free at all. There are many Americans, who do not trust the government. Currently, U.S. citizens believe the army and police at a greater extent, a recent study by Gullap said.

The study showed that the number of Americans, who feel less satisfied with the freedom of life choices, has been decreasing. The number of people, who believe that their country is free, dropped from 91 to 79 percent. The number of those dissatisfied with their right to choose has grown from 9 to 21 percent. In 2006, the United States was the first in the world rankings of freedom of choice. Now the country has slipped to the 36th place. The trend is clear.

Gullap analysts concluded that the Americans do not have enough confidence in the future due to a sharp decline in living standards and unemployment. Indeed, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, in June of this year, 92 million Americans over 16 years of age were not only unemployed, but they were not even busy with looking for work for four weeks. The overall level of economic activity of the population was 62.8 percent, which corresponds to a 36-year low.

The unemployment rate among teenagers from 16 to 19 years of age continues to grow. As of June, the rate made up 21 percent, CNSNews.com says. Unemployment among African Americans is officially 10.7 percent, which is two times higher than among white nationals. As for women, the number of unemployed females has grown to a record of 55.3 million people. They do not take efforts to look for work either.

According to The Huffington Post, "southerners" suffer from the crisis most. According to a new report by the Census Bureau, between 2000 and 2010, the State of North Carolina and several other southern states have witnessed the most significant growth in the number of people living in "poor areas". These include the areas, in which more than 20 percent of the population live below the federal poverty level. A family of four people is considered poor, if its annual income is 23,800 dollars.

"Poor areas" have a higher crime rate, poor housing conditions and fewer available jobs. Southern regions have long lagged behind the overall performance of the country in terms of wages, mobility of economy, access to health services. They take the lead in terms of poverty, obesity and general unhappiness factor. Southern states also have Republican leaders, who cut social benefits and allowances for ten years already.

Another possible explanation, according Gullap, is the growth of distrust in the government. The question was as follows: "Do you believe that corruption in the government is widespread?" About 79 percent of Americans said yes. The indicator has been growing for seven years, which is equal to Barack Obama's stay in office.

Gullap indicates that opinions of the population were affected by the scandal in the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which, at the direction of the administration, was collecting compromising materials on opposition conservative organizations. The public believes that the U.S. presidential administration wants to hush up the scandal and avoid further investigation. Another factor is total surveillance over Americans, which was exposed by Edward Snowden.

Undoubtedly, Americans celebrated their freedom on the Fourth of July. "However, leaders in the U.S. should be aware of a growing number of Americans who are dissatisfied with the freedom in their own lives. While freedom means many things to different people, one underlying cause for this sentiment seems to be how people feel about their national government," Gallup said.

As for Russian statistics, a survey made ​​by Levada Center said that the share of Russians, who believe that there is a good team of people at the helm has grown from 15 to 22 percent. During the recent year, the number of those who believe that power is concentrated in the hands of those preoccupied with their material well-being and career, has declined from 50 to 36 percent.

Nevertheless, the Western media continue to say that Russia is a corrupt dictatorship, and America is a country of genuine democracy.

"In America, there is institutionalized corruption. This phenomenon exists in the country for the last 200 years, and it is called "lobbying," - Leonid Savin, editor-in-chief of information and analytical edition Geopolitics told Pravda.Ru. - Lobbyist structures are created legally - they are also known as I-Street. In Washington, there is K-Street, which specially corrupts officials on the part of either companies, corporations or political parties. This is legal, they pay taxes. We are fed with our own and foreign propaganda saying that Russia has a very high level of corruption, that Russia is ahead of all at this point. This is impudent lies, - historian and publicist Andrei Fursov told Pravda.Ru. - For those who lived in the U.S., and I lived there, it is quite clear that America is a country with very rigid horizontal and vertical social control, where there is practically no freedom of speech, everything is  monopolized, and any attempt to take sides are punished severely."

"The growth of corruption around the world is a global trend associated with the oligarchization of the ruling class, and this trend will be gathering pace. The U.S. is not an exception at this point. Global economy rests on five pillars: trade in oil, about 30 percent is illegal trade, arms trade, which is largely criminal in nature, trade in gold and precious metals, drug trafficking, prostitution and porn business. In a nutshell, global economy functions like a criminal, and the other side of the story is corruption of the world. The Americans have it all. The USA today is a society on the threshold of a very serious crisis. The question is whether Americans are going to try to resolve it inside or try to throw it all out in the form of a regional or, God forbid, world war," said Andrei Fursov.

Lyuba Lulko
Pravda.Ru

Read the original in Russian