To someone from Europe like me, the US very much feels like a dystopian hellhole whenever I read stories like these. How can a government hate its people so much?
I was just feeling this yesterday, picking through the damaged can/box section of our super market, walking down the street and seeing how alienated and alone we are and how normalized that is, being sent two hours of paperwork that is the exact same questions I spent two hours on the phone answering in spring as I try to access our public safety nets.
The feeling in the U.S. of A. is like living on a well polished turd that no one wants to admit still smells like a turd. At least, not in public.
It is a viscous loop where the ppl are told to hate their gov so they elect Republicans who want to dismantle it. The Republicans do and then gov sucks so ppl hate it more.
And this isn’t even a theoretical or metaphoric description.
We have candidates now already laying out plans for massive workforce reduction in the already overworked, short staffed federal government, which will make them even less productive, which will prompt these people to point out that lowered productivity as evidence for why they should take even more resources away.
They’re literally pushing to eliminate jobs, not create jobs, and to bring unemployment to veterans (who are a big demographic in the federal workforce).
The same people who set up public education to be measured on standardized testing, in which your students falling short on their test scores means your funding gets cut, not increased.
Most people here are brain dead idiots that don’t know that a politician’s job is to create policy. They think it’s a team sport and if you cheer louder for your guy, they’ll punch the other guy in the nuts. This is why we don’t have nice things like attractive cities, public transportation that actually works, or actual culture.
Top half of the median salary is 95k a year. Nearly all of them will have decent health care. They’d be making less than in Europe in many cases and that includes cost of healthcare.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t improve, especially for low earners, but much of this country is very well off compared to our European counterparts.
I spent many months in Europe. From Spain to Kosovo and pretty much every where in-between
As if any of that matters at all in the least bit because your complaint is just a massive strawman but I’ve been all over including the pesky countries you all like to forget even comparing quality of life in the States.
Not a straw man. Personal experience. I’ve spent most of my life in Europe, in several different countries. And spent more than a decade in the US.
I can comfortably say that most Europeans, especially those in the middle and on the lower end of the income scale live vastly more comfortable lives than most Americans with similar incomes without having to worry about medical bankruptcy and crushing student debt. Not to mention having the time off to travel and parental leave to form families without all the financial stress Americans experience.
I’d agree to have a conversation on the details. It’s nuanced. But the median salary in us is 90k. That’s enough to live comfortably compared to most of the world.
To someone from Europe like me, the US very much feels like a dystopian hellhole whenever I read stories like these. How can a government hate its people so much?
To somebody trapped in the U.S., it feels like a dystopian hellhole from in here as well.
I was just feeling this yesterday, picking through the damaged can/box section of our super market, walking down the street and seeing how alienated and alone we are and how normalized that is, being sent two hours of paperwork that is the exact same questions I spent two hours on the phone answering in spring as I try to access our public safety nets.
The feeling in the U.S. of A. is like living on a well polished turd that no one wants to admit still smells like a turd. At least, not in public.
I guess I’m glad I have dual citizenship but jfc, my parents brought us here because it was supposed to be better lol.
It is a viscous loop where the ppl are told to hate their gov so they elect Republicans who want to dismantle it. The Republicans do and then gov sucks so ppl hate it more.
Rinse and repeat.
And this isn’t even a theoretical or metaphoric description.
We have candidates now already laying out plans for massive workforce reduction in the already overworked, short staffed federal government, which will make them even less productive, which will prompt these people to point out that lowered productivity as evidence for why they should take even more resources away.
They’re literally pushing to eliminate jobs, not create jobs, and to bring unemployment to veterans (who are a big demographic in the federal workforce).
The same people who set up public education to be measured on standardized testing, in which your students falling short on their test scores means your funding gets cut, not increased.
Most people here are brain dead idiots that don’t know that a politician’s job is to create policy. They think it’s a team sport and if you cheer louder for your guy, they’ll punch the other guy in the nuts. This is why we don’t have nice things like attractive cities, public transportation that actually works, or actual culture.
Like all corrupt governments in the world, they care about making money and not paying taxes. They don’t care about other people.
deleted by creator
Only shitty if you don’t have money. If your are in the top half it’s fantastic.
Half??
Top half of the median salary is 95k a year. Nearly all of them will have decent health care. They’d be making less than in Europe in many cases and that includes cost of healthcare.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t improve, especially for low earners, but much of this country is very well off compared to our European counterparts.
Where are you getting that number? BLS shows median male income per week at ~1200 which is not 95k a year
I may be wrong, but you don’t sounds like you’ve spent much time in Europe.
I spent many months in Europe. From Spain to Kosovo and pretty much every where in-between
As if any of that matters at all in the least bit because your complaint is just a massive strawman but I’ve been all over including the pesky countries you all like to forget even comparing quality of life in the States.
Not a straw man. Personal experience. I’ve spent most of my life in Europe, in several different countries. And spent more than a decade in the US.
I can comfortably say that most Europeans, especially those in the middle and on the lower end of the income scale live vastly more comfortable lives than most Americans with similar incomes without having to worry about medical bankruptcy and crushing student debt. Not to mention having the time off to travel and parental leave to form families without all the financial stress Americans experience.
I make about 45k and my SO half that but we have no kids and I just wish I could retire. I’m almost 40 and just tired lol.
Top 20% maybe
I’d agree to have a conversation on the details. It’s nuanced. But the median salary in us is 90k. That’s enough to live comfortably compared to most of the world.
Median salary in the US according to the BLS is slightly over $50k