Is USA the best country to live in?

[Mark Hunts FIST]

Sick is most often temporary and a symptom of poor public policy. Literally go to any European country and there is no charge to get advice and treatment to get well from any ailment for citizens.

Not sure anyone is dumb at everything. Certainly some people have a proclivity for trouble but that's often environmentally influenced. Nouveau riche people are often good at only 1 thing and are oblivious to all else.

For the unlucky I think handicapped counts right? Well if you are an unlucky handicapped Dutch person, they get laid, paid for by tax dollars.
https://mic.com/articles/85201/the-surprising-way-the-netherlands-is-helping-its-disabled-have-sex

What? You guys give money to the handicapped? We just throw them in the sewers here.

 

[Brazilian HKD]

Kind of broad no? I mean even within countries living in one city is often completely different than another in the same country. Not sure Suriname/Venezeual/Ecudaor are places anyone immigrates to.


Very few counties outside of France have refugee problems. Germany has tons and they have no significant issues.




The indigenous people who settled what is now the US nearly 20,000 years ago. There is so much native history it's not even funny, you could spend years in the southwest and not experience it all.

California has been a state longer than Italy has been a country.

Sure, I mean to make a post, detailing my experience would take a wallpost.
But yeah, maybe with the exception of Venezuela, people do immigrate to these countries....mostly for some shady motives

About refugees, I wasn't speaking about them, for again, I was there before the crisis.

Indigenous history, or even pre history is interesting, but honestly central america indigenous history sounds at leat to me much more developed and relevant.

 

[curryjunkie]

Apart from a decent cup of tea , fucking savages .

and a decent bit of cheese...

 

[Winstone]

Syria seems like a nice place.or a Christian in Saudi Arabia

 

[HIMBOB]

If you live in a first world country then the only reason your standard of living is possible is because of the US military.

Without the US military, the world's oceans, trade routes, and natural resources would be divided up by and controlled by China, Russia, etc. All your merchant ships that wanted to travel through Asian seas would get charged 'tolls'. All your oil imports would be 'taxed'. Oil and other natural resources would be periodically cut off to extort you whenever who controlled them didn't like your politics. Etc.

Of course, you've never had to live without the US military protecting you from these things. So, you don't appreciate what the US military does for you. However, in a world without the US military, European countries wouldn't be able to survive spending 1% of GDP on their militaries then redistributing the artificially low military spending to social services. You'd be crushed via geopolitics.

You'd either have to increase your own military spending to be on parr with the US' own military spending that you mock so much or you would have to accept living as 2nd/ 3rd world vassal states.

And none of that refutes what I said.

I do realise the benefits the American military machine provides to me for very low cost.

However me drawing benefits from it does not sustain it. I too have interest here and that's why I think about how it holds up long term.

 

[HIMBOB]

i'd say that for someone living in the third world, that would like to elevate their standard of living. the u.s. is still the best option. the reason for that, is that it's the best country for upward mobility in that it has always been a nation of immigrants. here in the u.s., you are not discriminated against, so long as you learn the english language, and ally yourself with this country, and choose to become an american.

in europe, it seems that the continent is trying to integrate outsiders into their countries, but i don't think all the natives approve of this. and to make things worse, the people who arrive, don't even want to integrate. they want to maintain allegiances with the countries they came from, while attaining the benefits of living in europe. it's no wonder that there is conflict, tension, and strife in europe.

it's cliche to say, but in america, you can have parents who came from poverty, and within a generation, if their children were born and raised in the u.s., they can immediately become middle-class, and become full-fledged american. i say it because i'm a product of it.

"In the US, this type of mobility is described as one of the fundamental features of the "American Dream" even though there is less such mobility than almost all other OECD countries.[5]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility

As I said it's possible but compared to other first world countries it's a laggard not a leader.

 

[RollsRoyceGracie]

There's also a good chance of getting into medical debt if you live in the US.

But, you're alive, right?

 

[Squarechoke]

What I've seen in wide surveys and estimates it's not the best place, but it should be a good place to live I'd think. Given the strong economy I think there's lots of room for people to have it better.

One of the luxury issues that I think seems unfortunate for the Americans is that they have good wages but don't get much paid leave from their work so they can enjoy it as much.

 

[Badger67]

Having lived there, fuck no.

 

[Neph]

 

[LMP]

And this is why we love Australia.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Nope.

 

[freakroor]

I hear skid row is nice

 

[kuromusha]

By far

 

[Prutfis]

I would think that if you are poor to lower middle class, many of the western European countries would be much better than the US. Even middle to upper middle class depending on what you prioritize.

Personally I have lived in the US and Denmark. Have travelled to 22 countries. Prefer living in Denmark.

 

[Prutfis]

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.

2016 you say?

Increase in real value of the minimum wage since 1990: 21%

Increase in cost of living since 1990:67%

One year's earnings at the minimum wage: $15,080

Income required for a single worker to have real economic security: $30,000

Summary. You all got a lot poorer and it's getting worse.

Essentially this means that the Federal minimum wage needs to be doubled and that Hilary Clinton's shameful climb down to $12 will still leave many Americans in poverty. In a country as rich as the USA nobody who works hard should have to struggle financially.

According to the Economic Policy Institute’s State of Working America, a stunning 35 million Americans – 26 percent of the USA workforce – earn less than $10.55 an hour.

Of that number according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, last year 1.532 million hourly workers earned the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour; nearly 1.8 million more earned less than that because they fell under one of several exemptions (tipped employees, full-time students, certain disabled workers and others), for a total of 3.3 million hourly workers at or below the federal minimum.

Bear in mind that the 3.3 million figure doesn’t include salaried workers, although BLS says relatively few salaried workers are paid at what would translate into below-minimum hourly rates, though many of them fall under Bernie Sander's proposed $15 an hour.

So in terms of the number of people actually on the minimum wage, not really that many; it's the rate between 7.25 and $10.55 that is important since both areas leave you in poverty. But that's not the end of the story either, because, as we saw, you need to work two full time minimum wage jobs to have economic security. Earning $10.75 an hour is better than $7.25, but not by all that much.

How many earn under the $15 that Bernie Sanders has pledged?

Turns out it’s 42% of all U.S. workers.

https://www.quora.com/How-many-US-citizens-work-for-a-minimum-wage-as-of-beginning-of-2016

 

[GOATER]

It's a fair place to live in.


OP mentions people with guns....uhhhh bro...the homicide rate is like 5 out of 100k.....Sure big compared to western countries, but it's still 5 people out of 100k people...Think about that.

Most gun homicides are people in crime anyways...the likeliness you get killed are really really unlikely.


Say what you want but America has always been the leader in equality.....Yes even though white privilege etc exist, America is still trying to be as fair as possible....We have a shitload of minorities too.

Unlike Western Europe.....I really doubt you people are ready for minorities or any of this sort of thing, which America has been dealing with forever...We seen the western Europe have to deal with refugees/immigrants lately, and your countries can't even handle it LMFAO.


As for the military....If it wasn't for the USA protecting western Europe, your GDP would go way more into military and their would be more conflict thus your whole way of living will be way different.


I love America...Is it the best? IDK I never lived anywhere else...but it's fair...ill tell you that.

 

[Chappi]

The amount of religious people and guns ( and plenty other reasons) makes the USA a place I would never want to live.

 

[Son of Jamin]

I wouldn't mind settling down in Florida when I retire and increase all the erratic and crazy stunts that occurs there.

I've been numerous times to America and I always long to go back. I know generalizations can be troublesome but people are much more social and friendly in America than in Absurdistan. Spontaneous conversations about random things occur frequently. One time a man began to talk to me about fluoride in drinking water that was used by the government to make people dumb and more docile, another time I met a Swedish-American that operated a photo store that heard me speak Swedish and he began to talk about his Swedish ancestors.

I enjoyed Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas (despite 115 degrees Fahrenheit), NYC, Orlando, New Orleans, Atlanta.

I have to take D-vitamin supplements because my body doesn't receive enough sunlight here and I despise the long autumn/winter in Sweden that ranges from October to April.

Pros with America

* Financial mobility
* Service oriented society
* Climate
* Nature
* Taxes
* 2nd Amendment
* Shopping
* Car prices

Cons with America

* Extreme social inequality
* Opioid epidemic
* Crime
* Racial tensions (my sister studied in the south, she was too white for blacks and too black for whites).

Pros with Sweden

* The healthcare (it used to be great and it still is when you finally receive help)
* Clean environment
* Nature
* Quality of houses and apartments
* Social cohesion (albeit it's deteriorating quickly)
* A well-structured and functioning society

Cons with Sweden

* Climate
* Climate
* Climate
* The welfare system isn't capable of supporting people due to mass-immigration
* Taxes
* The spike in violent crime and sexual assaults
* Lack of liberty
* Not one party that I can support, they are all a blend of socialism.

 

[Panmisiek]

I got better solution. Take Police to streets where the highest crime rate occurs, scrap 2nd amendment and keep death penalty. Introduce it in all other states that dont have it. At the same time dramatically ramp up jail sentences for drug dealers, smugglers and other high profile crimes, assault, robbery and so on.

Also get rid of Employment at Will law and introduce proper reasons for which you can be fired and start protecting workers.

First big steps in right direction.