The US is definitely a wealthy and successful country, comfortably above the global average. At the same time I wouldn't say that US citizenship stands out as particularly better than other developed countries (e.g. most of the EU).
Ehhhh, lets not get crazy. I'm a US citizen and have lived in the US all my life, and I could name a handful of countries much better, based on GDP, happiness, or the accessibility of affordable housing and healthcare.
I strongly disagree with the statement, United States, although behind a lot of countries in social mobility index, still ranks pretty high in the world. It also leads with 8.8% of the adult population being millionaires, only behind Switzerland and Australia. That speaks volumes on how many opportunities exist in this country to make yourself better.
Do you have any reason for that claim ? To an outsider, The US is mostly a supersized version of Canada or Australia. A lot of its current success depends on
- its geographic location and strong connection to the early core of Industrialization in NW Europe
- WW2 , which was a boon to American industry and simultaneously wrecked large parts of Europe
Now these are all very successful societies relative to most of the world but imo its pretty hard to argue that the US is special.
The U.S. is one of the most developed countries in the world, by any reasonable metric.
It's true that it's not doing the best in the world, or that it has no problems -- especially when you compare it to a narrowly cherry-picked set of countries in Western and Northern Europe[1], or island/pseudo-island megalopolises in East Asia like Japan and South Korea. But its massive GDP per capita lines up well with other measures of development, like its HDI.
[1]: As an aside, it's probably more fair to compare Europe as a whole to the US as a whole, and places like Norway and England to places like California and Washington.
US definitely has exceptional successes, but there are so many systemic flaws which other countries may or may not have, and where US could vastly improve.
* High medical costs
* Highest maternal mortality among developed countries
* Highest income gaps
* High education cost & the vicious circle of college debt.
* Increasing trends of bankruptcy & paycheck-to-paycheck sustenance.
* Lack of public transportation issues in most places
* Very oil dependent economy.
* Gun violence. So many lives needlessly lost every year.
* Growing mental health & opiod crisis
* Lack of public awareness about current affairs (& to some extent apathy even)
* Waning trust in judiciary & in parallel the rise of the rich oligarchy
* Interference in politics of other countries
* Equality of diversity (in true sense) is still to be achieved given racial profiling persists
* The extent of personal freedom without state agencies keeping track of activities.
It definitely has successes but there is a long road to being a model nation. But US as a nation has demonstrated the capacity to overcome odds in fortitude. There is hope - but a sense of cautious hope
The US does indeed do better than most of the world. I just don't think it's fair to credit its success to its status as a "top dog" or superpower. In my opinion, the vast majority of the credit goes elsewhere, e.g. its (largely) free enterprise system, capacity to attract foreign talent, top universities, culture, etc.
I don't really see America ranking dead last among developed countries. I see it average in almost every statistic. Perhaps average in everything actually makes for a great country?
Can you be more specific with your assertions? Linking to a huge dump of statistics and making claims about them is a bit disingenuous. What makes it not good for an 'average joe' compared to developed countries?
This is wonderfully North American. I would judge countries like France, Germany much more successful than the US because they still have functioning political and cultural life. Those are only things that can survive if individual financial success is not the only metric used.
“ The US performs very well in standard of living measures compared to other countries.
According to the OECD’s Better Life Index, the country ranks first in housing, and above the world average in income, health status, education and skills, jobs and earnings, security, and environmental quality. About 70% of people aged 15 to 64 in the United States have a paid job while 91% of all adults have completed their upper secondary education. Overall, Americans are more satisfied with their quality of life than the world on average.”
Despite what you read, the US is a big, beautiful country with lots of friendly people. We do argue a lot about important things, and compete like crazy, but we cherish our freedoms to do so. We need more good people to be a part of the experience.
The United States may be the most prosperous depending on how you define that, but it's not any of the other three. To call it those is to blatantly ignore other countries doing certain things better than the United States. Furthermore, I'd argue that since the prosperity is concentrated to a greater extent in the United States than in other countries, that that prosperity is mostly illusory for the majority of the population.
Agreed, the US doesn't rank first in virtually any metric that citizens would consider to be desirable (like healthcare, education, safety, freedom of the press etc). And it's no more democratic than say most European states.
Taking into context its size is a whole different matter, though. It's relatively easier to build an awesome small country (say the Netherlands where I'm writing from) than a massive union of states spanning multiple time zones and climates. Perhaps if the US is compared to the entirety of the EU, then Congress and the American system of governing can be said to be one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive, experiment in government in history at that scale (although I'd much prefer Europe to the US even on average). But that's more a function of it being the only 300m+ country in the world that is also rich than it being the best among many of them.
I don't see much evidence that the US is the best functioning country around. It has a great geographic position and managed to get a great economy (in no small part due to said geographic advantages in WWI and WWII), but in measures that involve the government providing good services the US isn't doing any better than other developed countries.
Someone above already said 15 out of 195-ish countries is pretty good, but more specifically, it's actually kinda on par for the US.
While its easy to assume the US is #1 on many metrics due simply to having the largest economy, it's not in the top 10 in areas such as quality of life, quality of education, press freedom, crime, and so on. The US's biggest asset is its diversity and I doubt the US will ever be #1 in most of these areas while it retains the power of its diversity.
As someone who has lived in the US, AU & the EU in a few places I'd have to say this article is great. It's something you wind up doing if you live in other places.
America is #1 in quite a few things, such as software, just try naming non-US software companies that matter, it's an interesting exercise. Also the US highway system is excellent, the US's culture of entrepreneurship is also awesome. The best US colleges are the best in the world. US computer games, TV shows (Breaking Bad/Mad Men/Louie/The Sopranos etc) and other things are great from the US.
But in many things the rest of the rest world laughs at the US. US High School education, for instance, is not well regarded. The US health care system is regarded as scary and pretty poor.
There are even other countries that are really good at seeing things overseas and copying. Australia, for instance, got a points based immigration system from Canada, Universal Saving for retirement from Singapore and looked around the world for ways to reform the Australian Reserve Bank.
Thanks for the numbers! The US is great if you're in the top 20%, especially if you're married to another in the top 20%, but otherwise I think most people would be better off in more equitable countries.
I know US has lot of problems. However, I was just thinking this earlier that if you are a US Citizen, you already have so many advantages and opportunities that many don't just because of that Passport. It is a great privilege especially as an Immigrant who became US citizens years ago. Not saying we are perfect obviously and just had a mass shooting earlier this AM (an unfortunate normal now) but if I had to choose a country to get ahead in life with the most opportunities possible as an immigrant, US is still the country to be at. Especially if you are entrepreneurial and want to control how you live your life.
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