Is USA the best country to live in?

[Seano]

God no. Huge swaths of our population live in miserable survivalist squalor, working 50 hours a week for $7.50/hr just to be told that they're lazy. Or they make the (economically rational) choice to sling dope, perhaps because they see the demand and think they can do the job more peaceably than others, at which point they're not only lazy - they're evil as well.

Others spends their whole nest eggs or salaries on their dying kids or dying parents.

On the other hand, if you're dumb, but lucky enough to be born into decent wealth or with decent opportunity, you can then (like many posters here) delude yourself into thinking that you're super smart and harder working than all those lazy fast food schmucks, etc.



To your and @Seano's perspectives: in none of those cities/regions/etc. will you not live a life of misery and undue hardship should you develop or contract a disease before or upon arrival, before you can purchase health insurance.

If you're sick, dumb, or unlucky, the US is a contradictory land of despair and condescension.

Minimum wage isn't 7.50.

I don't get what your comment has to do with my post. I live in the US. I live in an area with low crime and relatively low cost of living. Its a good, safe place to raise a family. Health care is no issue. So yeah, I'd say in the big picture, I've got it pretty good compared to much of the world.



I wasn't comparing myself to someone from some 3rd world country.

 

[lifelessheap]

You have some good points. Especially about how easy it is to fire someone, but it also means that sometimes thank God it's easier to fire someone. It's a double edged sword for sure.

America is full if those dangerous doubled edged swords, but that's freedom baby

Imagine not being able to fire a shitty or shady employee without permission from the government. What a disgusting thought. There is no freedom for business owners in Europe? EWWWWWWWWWWWW

And the US is just as safe as Europe as long as you avoid the ghettos and barrios which is incredibly easy. And both Europe and America have terror problems and mass shooting problems, so that is equal. But here you can protect yourself with gun rights. Freedom baby.

I don't expect people who live under the thumb of their government to understand. lmao, people in the UK get jailed for offensive tweets. Germany will throw you in jail for speaking the 'wrong' thing about immigration. The Swedes will look at your social media too, and fucking ruin your life for wrong think. Fuck that entire pansy continent.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Fuck yes.

But i support cut throat capitalism and the consumer driven market.

 

[nostradumbass]

In 2016 there were 701,000 workers who earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

Far from "huge swath" of workers. We have like 125 million in workforce. That's about .06% of the workforce.

And 1/4 of that are teenagers, over half are under 24, 65% are only working part-time. It's mostly dependents and people looking for work experience and some pocket money, but it makes a better story to pretend there is some giant chunk of the population slaving away to makes ends meet.

And yes, for any person who makes an effort, the US is probably the best place to live. We have every kind of climate, geography, every kind of food, more consumer choices, financial opportunities. If you're a social parasite, there are certainly places that you can get more of something for nothing.

 

[Trotsky]

In reality there are very few countries where you live a quality life being sick dumb or unlucky

There are at least 30 where your life is considerably less fucked.

As far as amount of persons on federal minimum wage, you're purposefully nitpicking expressive language. The point is that, whether your state has a minimum wage at or above the federal minimum, the living standards of our poor - and the amount of abject poverty altogether - is unlike any other rich nation. And that extends to every region in the country, from Mississippi, to Appalachia, to Los Angeles.

 

[Trotsky]

And 1/4 of that are teenagers, over half are under 24, 65% are only working part-time. It's mostly dependents and people looking for work experience and some pocket money, but it makes a better story to pretend there is some giant chunk of the population slaving away to makes ends meet.

Source.

 

[nostradumbass]

Source.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/

People at or below the federal minimum are:

• Disproportionately young: 50.4% are ages 16 to 24; 24% are teenagers (ages 16 to 19).
• Mostly (77%) white; nearly half are white women.
• Largely part-time workers (64% of the total).

 

[Brazilian HKD]

As someone who was an immigrant multiple times.

- South America- Great people, cheap living, nice weather vs brutal violence, corruption, lack of opportunities
- Europe- Great social care, very caring people, history and food vs some of the worst immigrants to live with (I speak as before the refugee crisis).
- US- Great freedoms, great tech, great opportunities vs extreme individualism, freaking crazy healthcare and lack of history/culture (no offense, just stating that this is a very young nation)

It's a toss.

 

[VivaRevolution]

There is that global stereotype that living in USA is a dream of every person in the world (or at least poor to middle class). Standard of life, healthcare, everything on high level.

As a teen I also wanted to move and live in US. My views changed overtime though.

The one of the biggest issues for me would be living in a fear that people with different mental states are allowed to carry guns. The last thing you want is being caught in some psycho mall/cinema/school shootout, or just get mugged on the street at night in a wrong neighbourhood.

Europe got the same problem with all these 3rd world scumbags coming in, not working, raping and mugging people. If I had a say I would hang all PC politicians responsible for it, turning this beautiful continent into cesspool. Not so long ago If you travelled to Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, to any city and street, the chances that you would get assaulted are much much lower unlike the US, especially that guns are banned.

Another issue for me would be job security. US got something called Employment At Will. That means you can have your job this week, loans taken for new car, house, whatever. And next week you find yourself without a job under reason 'just because'. In Europe however, employer need to give a reason to dismiss you, and it has to be a proper reason which he can prove. Firing you because you screwed your boss daughter is off the table.

That's probably 2 main issues I would have. Myself I been travelling a bit around Europe and in terms of culture of specific country I would have no issue to accommodate to.

I want to ask you what you have changed your mind on since joining the WR. You have some very shallow understandings of things, and I wonder if it is worth my time to educate you.

What country are you from btw?

 

[Seaside]

God no. Huge swaths of our population live in miserable survivalist squalor, working 50 hours a week for $7.50/hr just to be told that they're lazy. Or they make the (economically rational) choice to sling dope, perhaps because they see the demand and think they can do the job more peaceably than others, at which point they're not only lazy - they're evil as well.

Others spends their whole nest eggs or salaries on their dying kids or dying parents.

On the other hand, if you're dumb, but lucky enough to be born into decent wealth or with decent opportunity, you can then (like many posters here) delude yourself into thinking that you're super smart and harder working than all those lazy fast food schmucks, etc.



To your and @Seano's perspectives: in none of those cities/regions/etc. will you not live a life of misery and undue hardship should you develop or contract a disease before or upon arrival, before you can purchase health insurance.

If you're sick, dumb, or unlucky, the US is a contradictory land of despair and condescension.

If person hate "cultural marxism" I see poster on here says then the USA is horrible to live and so is many liberal European countries. I think USA probably best country for rich people though cause it so big so much land and stuff to do. You can rule the people with your money to.

Switzerland or Norway would get borin for a multi billionaire I think.

 

[VivaRevolution]

America is not the best country to live in based on any meaningful measurement of happiness, quality of life, education, public health, economic mobility, or security.

Over the last 30 years we have been marching toward a corporatist oligarchy in which workers have no rights and an ever increasing portion of the population lives paycheck to paycheck... with only a very shoddy safety net.

On the other hand, we probably have one of the best consumer economies— meaning the average person has a greater array of shit available to buy, at a relatively cheap price, compared to any place else.

Basically, if your dream is to have a phone that will also make you waffles, then America is a pretty great country. But we’ve sold our soul— not to mention our fiscal security and public institutions— for trucks, guns and gadgets.

I would argue that if your dream is to be a small business owner, the US is still the best country to live in.

However, your point statement has merit as well.

 

[HIMBOB]

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/m.e...tter-place-to-live/amp_slideshow/57875320.cms

USA comes in 12th.

It's not great but it's not all terrible.


I think it's upsides are almost as good as Australia, but downsides rival south America

 

[Neph]

It seems like a pretty great place to live.

 

[HIMBOB]

Minimum wage isn't 7.50.

I don't get what your comment has to do with my post. I live in the US. I live in an area with low crime and relatively low cost of living. Its a good, safe place to raise a family. Health care is no issue. So yeah, I'd say in the big picture, I've got it pretty good compared to much of the world.



I wasn't comparing myself to someone from some 3rd world country.

In what way is healthcare no issue?

 

[Seano]

In what way is healthcare no issue?

Because its not. There are resources for every citizen.

 

[Diamond Jim]

Was stationed in Germany and loved it but I’m sure living there would be a much different experience. My in-laws lived there for 3 years on a DOD contract and loved it. Beautiful country but I’m happy here in the U.S.

 

[Trotsky]

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/

Sorry for the delayed response.

That only measures minimum wages, not minimum wage positions. If you're hired to a minimum wage position like fast food, you generally get a 0.25 bump after <6 months, so it makes sense that only temporary workers would remain at the minimum wage. So while, yes, this is true if you're taking the "7.25" literally (as opposed to a rhetorical stand-in for extremely low hourly wages), it does not encompass people that are in minimum wage positions above the federal minimum wage but still considerably below the poverty level. And even that (bare minimum wage) encompasses, per your link about 1.6 million adults.

 

[Trotsky]

If person hate "cultural marxism" I see poster on here says then the USA is horrible to live and so is many liberal European countries. I think USA probably best country for rich people though cause it so big so much land and stuff to do. You can rule the people with your money to.

Switzerland or Norway would get borin for a multi billionaire I think.

Not necessarily all rich people, but yes I would generally agree.

 

[oldshadow]

It depends what you want in life.

We have more freedoms then most other countries.

However with freedoms you have to take some bad with the good.

 

[Neph]

This is my response to "Is USA the best country in the world". I just so happen to be biased because I live in a foreign country (Australia), but I would like to share my experience of travelling your incredible country in July last year.

I met non-stop awesome people who were outrageously helpful and kind, even if sometimes they thought my accent was French (or British or who knows where)! Thank you all for allowing me to visit your country and helping me have such an awesome time. You truly do have an amazing country and should be proud of it.

I've taken a single photo from each city out of the many hundreds I took.

My first stop: San Francisco during 4th of July celebrations. Photo is of the flags at the Lone Sailor Memorial, next to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Next: Las Vegas during international fight week. Photo is of the Grand Canyon by helicopter. We landed inside and drank champagne.

Next: Boston. Did all the historic bits and the photo is in Fenway Park, Red Sox v Yankees.

Up Next: New York. It felt like everything (good and bad) I had pictured it from the movies. Here is Central Park which really was a beautiful place surrounded by the city itself.

Second Last: Philadelphia. More historic interest to me. Pictured is when I saw Slayer at the Electric Factory.

Last: Washington DC. Amazing. I didn't have enough time and I have to go back. The National Mall was much larger than I expected and it was simply beautiful. Pictured is the Marine Memorial on the backdrop of the Washington Monument and Congress. Everywhere in the National Mall was incredible. I was also lucky enough to see the silent Marines conduct their drills/performance at the Marine memorial.