Most "third world" or "developing" countries aren't that bad, and there are places in the US far worse than the median developing country.
Also most people in most places do not want to go to the US, even to visit much less immigrate. It's generally either the worst of a particular society or those specifically harmed by the US previously and feel their chances are better off with the abuser instead of in the abused country. It's not a wanted destination.
Needing two jobs to survive isn't a good thing.
International rankings of the US are abysmal https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_the_United_States
The main reason US can and could ever delude itself into being great is for having a ridiculous people-to-land/resources ratio. There is nothing inherently great about how the US does things, it just seems that way because you can do whatever you want if you have essentially infinite resources compared to everyone else.
A while ago I watched a live stream of CSPAN (I think?) where the House failed to form a government for several consecutive days. The way the entire process started with a prayer, and the many references to religion throughout, is just as disturbing as the personality cult around Stalin. That whole gang is fucked in the head.
As an American, I'm gonna barge in with my loud opinion, 'cuz that's what we do. Here's something which people living elsewhere might not know that Americans aren't ready to hear:
Automobiles are luxury toys and fashion accessories, and we shouldn't base our entire lives on them. No, the car industry didn't make our economy strong; it took off after we already had a lot of extra wealth to burn after becoming a world economic powerhouse. We can't afford to keep wasting all that wealth on them as the world starts to burn, and half of our citizens sink into poverty.
For millions of United States Americans, the so called "American Dream" is achieved in Mexico. They're often illegal immigrants. They often have mental health problems. They gentrify our cities and are entitled as fuck.
Pot calling kettle and all, but I do wish they'd go back to their own shithole country. They have demonized my country for decades and have weaponized the cartels to feed their own addictions. Most of the problems here can be tied directly to their humongous drug problems.
Yankee go home. The United Mexican States is tired of your shit.
Your traffic laws are weird.
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Overtaking/passing on the right
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4 way stops and whoever comes first can go
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No strict right of way when coming from the right
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Right on red
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Grinding all traffic in all directions over multiple lanes to a stop when a school bus stops
At least the last one I can understand a little with the nearly non-existent pedestrian infrastructure.
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US was founded on Capitalism and is a basket case of rampant Greedy Capitalism, Slavery, War Profiteering and Bullying. It has always been the case and has never stopped. Ever since the British tried stopping George Washington from usurping American Indians' land. The lofty ideals were mere veneer.
The only thing that has changed is that there are many more players in the field and US' shortcomings as a modern society is getting apparent.
Where to begin...
But I'll touch on something no one else has here.
Shopping carts. It's mindblowing to me that the country that sent men to the moon still hasn't figured out that its easier for everyone if they turn on all 4 wheels rather than the 2 front ones.
That way you can slide your cart sideways to make room for other shoppers. And turning it takes no effort.
And even... even if it is some weird cost cutting thing. Why not make them turn on the rear wheels? That would still make it easier than in the front. Since you steer the cart from the rear.
Get your shit together. Put gun controll aside, put your dumb ass two party politics aside and focus on what matters. Your godawful shopping carts.
You have a massive obesity problem that is killing you and it is not normal.
Credit scores only exist in the US. Everywhere else just compares your income to your debt.
Edit: apparently there are several other countries with credit scoring systems. The more you know... The US system, at least, is still bullshit designed to stratify economic class not only individually but by gender and with generational impact.
Not everything on Lemmy is US specific.
!politics@lemmy.world shouldn't be limited to US politics. Same for !news@lemmy.world
Edit: from the sidebar
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Please make US specific communities like !AskUSA@discuss.online more active instead of bringing your local issues to every community
The gun rights y'all have?
Now, most people would tell you that Gun Control Works and that you should just do that and get less dead kids per month which is a generally good thing.
....... But here's another thing to consider. As long as you're allowed to purchase weapons for cheap and easy.
You do realise you can in fact do something about the assholes in your government and your oligarchies with those guns, right? That they can be used for more than just killing children?
Luigi Mangione seemed to get it.
Anybody on this platform already knows all the problems and how it can be better. Anyone preaching here hoping an American will read it and change are just wasting keystrokes.
We know it's bad. Unfortunately there's not much anyone of us here can do besides bitch and moan, or else we wouldn't be on Reddit Ultra.
That being said, German McDonald's have chicken wings and they're pretty amazing.
The level of uneducation in the US is a threat to the entire species. Most of Ylyour people are uneducated, fat and dangerous. After the last election, I have lost hope in the US as a collectivity, you deserve your unfair system because you chose it. You elected a convict rapist, fellon, racist, fat billionaire who doesn't pay taxes and tried to steal the election, your deserve to be treated the way you will be, you made a choice.
Ok another thing people haven't really touched on is government restrictions on dangerous shit generally. I'm not just talking about guns, but also cars. When I was in the states I saw so many car accidents and bits of car on the road. That doesn't need to happen. It turns out that if you have proper driving tests and mandatory classes, people don't crash as much. Same with guns though. Owning a gun is fine if you learn how to properly use and store it.
Gun control works.
And OK maybe it doesn't solve the problem 100%, but it solves it 99%, and that's a lot of schoolkids that aren't dead any more. Look at any first world country for working examples; I'm in the UK, and yes we still have some gun violence, but it's a whole load less than it would have otherwise been.
And it's incredibly short sighted to reject any solution that doesn't solve a problem 100%. Partial solutions are good.
That most of the world would be better off with the collapse of US hegemony.
You need gun control. Your country isn’t that great. Youre loud and can come across as false.
Humanity is doomed because of America. Your anti-environmental capitalism and rapacious foreign policy have altered the world in an entirely negative way, and the only realistic scenario for the US to cut this shit out is by losing a war to a major competitor, such as China. China is hugely flawed itself, but is the less harmful option imo.
You're the "Old World" now.
It's basically been
350250 (edit: correction) years now since US independence, and a decent while now at being a global power (~100-150 years?). These are timelines akin to that from the European Renaissance to the US Revolution (~1400-1800) and the UK emerging from the 1500s to being the "super power" in the war of independence.Now, with the world's oldest constitution, and probably, depending on who you talk to, an increasingly critical mass of antiquated ideals and systems, the Presidency is more like the Monarchs of past revolutions than what remains of those monarchies, and the US's ideals and cultural influence something which most would rather move on and upgrade from.
Generally, I'd say it's one of the weirder and subtler historical events happening right now: the dissolving of the old lines between the "old" and "new" worlds. For me personally, this was once made clear when visiting Hannover, Germany, and its tourist attraction, the "New Town Hall", where someone who lives in British Columbia, Canada pointed out the similarities with their Parliament Building. The thing is though that the Canadian building is about 15 years older (both being just over 100 years old). Colonialism is long enough ago and Europe (and likely any other "old" culture, such as China) rebuilt enough and recently enough, that like X-genners and Millennials, the whole "young, hip, cool rebel" thing just doesn't mean anything anymore.
Mom says I get to post the "shit on the US" thread tomorrow!
To some Americans, it is that the US isn't the pinnacle of democracy but far from it. To others, that the EU isn't better policy wise than the US, it just has far more competing interests which mean lobbyists have to hand out more than a lump sum of sucking up to people. To some Americans, that your health care system is really shit, to others, that their public health care is increasingly under attack in some EU countries by an industry pouching and locking down medicine through the profits their greed has allowed them to accumulate in countries like the US to such an extent that there are real tradeoffs now to the for-profit alternative.
Even if someone you don't like asks you not to draw Muhammad, you still have the option of not drawing Muhammad.
South Central and Caribbean duh
You may have heard about North America but that's a hoax. Who would be gullible to believe there's people who behave like USA'ians?
Canada is another hoax, it's just the part of Greenland where people live.
I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you are talking about Americans in the sense of the Americans who live in the USA.
God-damnit guys, not everything is about you.
Now, I don't know if USA inhabitants are not ready to hear it, but certainly Lemmy USA residents are not.
Like it or not, you guys have a GREAT COUNTRY in the USA
Worldwide, people envy you. The poorest inhabitant of the USA has rights, possibilities and duties that only the richest in any other country can only dream of.
For God's sake, people are literally willing to kill themselves trying to reach your country, to have an atom of freedom that you guys squander with petty squabbles.
No USA proper citizen has ever been in the need so dire to escape the USA that they need to build a raft to risk their lives to go anywhere from their Homeland.
For that same reason, collectivists worldwide hate you and your country with undying hate. Because you (as in your society) don't need them. And they do need you. And they resent this so much, that they're willing to destroy you all just to stop that from being true.
You guys have lived so cozy and accommodated lives, thanks to the disrespected sacrifices made willingly by millions that you are bored out of your minds.
So much in fact, that with a little nudge from the collectivists worldwide seeking your destruction, you yourselves plunge willingly into the chaos of unmaking by allowing the collectivist mindset to pollute your youngest.
Make no mistake, the USA will keep growing and thriving, like it or not.
But not thanks to your internal or external enemies. That's for sure.
Edit: the upvote to downvote ratio tells me I followed the post premise to a T
The irony of euros unloading in a thread that the people who most need to see it will never see, just to feel better about having unloaded, is peak self-serving uselessness.
Get the fuck off of Lemmy and go unload in conservative and Republican cesspits like the fox news vomment section, xhitter, OANN, not here where the vast fucking majority already fucking agree with you.
But you know you can’t do that because that would actually mean going for a swim in political sewage, which means doing actual work for your personal beliefs, and which also means you’re most definitely going to get backlash that you know you won’t get here.
TL;DR: non-US bitching about the US on Lemmy, where nearly all lemmy Americans already agree with them, are as functionally idiotic as the conservative white Americans they’re bitching about.
Canadian healthcare is so bad that anyone who can actually afford it will head south to actually get quality treatment, immediately. Up here a friend of my family is probably going to head to Mexico for knee surgery because the waitlist in Canada is far too long and he can't afford to be off work until it's his turn.
