As an American, let me assure you... no, it's not that bad. It's much worse.
this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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I find the first world problems in my life literally inescapable. I mean I am stuck being lonely and stressed because of political policies. More broadly though, Americans are bolstering the progressive leftism we will need to change our conditions, so in my lifetime these most immediate problems will be fixed. Is america bad? Yes, it is, and American's are angry about it enough that we have prevented a lot of those shitty laws from getting passed and put into effect. We'll be okay.
Honestly it isn’t that bad.
I’m over fifty now and have never been even close to a mass shooting. Outside of a gun range I’ve never heard a gun shot. I’m definitely not middle class or upper middle class and other then a 2 year stretch I’ve never had a problem getting insurance or getting insurance to pay my medical bills.
In the last year my mom has started having a problem with certain medical bills getting paid by insurance. They always pay but sometimes it requires a call or two to the insurance or doctors office to fix it.
It’s amazingly easy to start your own business in the US. The number of opportunities is crazy. That goes for both people who just came to the US and for those that were born here.
Are there problems? Yea. Same as in any country.
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Interesting question...
As an overall answer: humans are incredibly adaptable, so as a person living in the US, it almost never subjectively feels bad. For goodness' sake, I knew people who lived in Chicago's Hyde Park (one of the most dangerous neighborhoods) and happily biked to work. I personally lived in what people would describe as a "hood" and a "third-world country" for a good year and a half, and honestly felt really safe over there. Because of this, I honestly don't think anyone can give an objective answer solely from their living experiences.
Objectively, the US is a developed country and is not terrible, but regarding your specific points:
- Yes, the government passed shitty laws, and chose to not pass a lot of not-shitty laws.
- Yes, there are more mass shootings than the country should have. I'm not going to say why.
- Insured healthcare isn't expensive (correction: some stuff are still too expensive even after insurance). However, uninsured healthcare is incredibly expensive, and unfortunately people without employment/self-employed have to purchase their own insurance... which is also stupidly expensive. Also, a lot of things that should be insured aren't.
- The different states are certainly different. US politics is very polarized, so heavy-blue and heavy-red states are quite different in their approaches to... many things in life. Whether they are good or bad is up to you.
I mean, people living in Switzerland complain about their countries all the time, even though almost everyone else in the world envy the way they live... so it is possible that some might be a bit overblown.
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