4 ms·

Believe it or not, America is a welfare state and while not as generous as Europe, no one is lacking for $3 to buy food unless they are blowing their government

Believe it or not, America is a welfare state and while not as generous as Europe, no one is lacking for $3 to buy food unless they are blowing their government money on something they shouldn't be.

heavyset_go 6y ago
> no one is lacking for $3 I mean, it must be nice to believe this, but the lived experience of millions of Americans would beg to differ.
- bhupy 6y ago
  "Lived experience" is just a fancy word for "anecdote". I can also point to the lived experience of millions of Americans that enjoy dinner every day (myself included), and we'd be no better off in understanding what the truth is. Per the data, the US is ranked #11 in the world for food security: https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
  - throwaway8581 6y ago
    “The lived experiences ...” is what sanctimonious rich liberals say to sound profound when they don’t have anything intelligent to say.
Valkhyr 6y ago
> Believe it or not, America is a welfare state [...] Compared to where? Certainly not most industrialized western countries.
- swebs 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_welfare_spending#Per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_we...
  - Valkhyr 6y ago
    Thank you for the source. I can't help but feel confused how the US can spend so much per capita on social welfare, yet I hear all those horror stories about medical costs, people having to work multiple jobs etc.
    - bhupy 6y ago
      Believe it or not, the United States has a higher median income PPP adjusted after taxes and transfers than pretty much every European nation; it's ranked #3 in the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income#Median https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c... The US also has a lower percentage of low-income people than almost any European country, despite having greater inequality: https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1376074233642557442 https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1376074233642557442 Also, the US is ranked #11 in the world for food security, ranked higher than Canada, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, France, Norway, and Australia (to name a handful): https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
    - verall 6y ago
      Because our medical (and other professional) cartels are powerful. A massive amount of that money is literally directly transferred to the world's least-efficient healthcare industry. The vast majority of that money is never given to people.

Believe it or not, America is a welfare state and while not as generous as Europe, no one is lacking for $3 to buy food unless they are blowing their government money on something they shouldn't be.

heavyset_go 6y ago

> no one is lacking for $3 I mean, it must be nice to believe this, but the lived experience of millions of Americans would beg to differ.

bhupy 6y ago
"Lived experience" is just a fancy word for "anecdote". I can also point to the lived experience of millions of Americans that enjoy dinner every day (myself included), and we'd be no better off in understanding what the truth is. Per the data, the US is ranked #11 in the world for food security: https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
- throwaway8581 6y ago
  “The lived experiences ...” is what sanctimonious rich liberals say to sound profound when they don’t have anything intelligent to say.

Valkhyr 6y ago

> Believe it or not, America is a welfare state [...] Compared to where? Certainly not most industrialized western countries.

swebs 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_welfare_spending#Per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_social_we...
- Valkhyr 6y ago
  Thank you for the source. I can't help but feel confused how the US can spend so much per capita on social welfare, yet I hear all those horror stories about medical costs, people having to work multiple jobs etc.
  - bhupy 6y ago
    Believe it or not, the United States has a higher median income PPP adjusted after taxes and transfers than pretty much every European nation; it's ranked #3 in the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income#Median https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c... The US also has a lower percentage of low-income people than almost any European country, despite having greater inequality: https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1376074233642557442 https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1376074233642557442 Also, the US is ranked #11 in the world for food security, ranked higher than Canada, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, France, Norway, and Australia (to name a handful): https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index https://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com/Index
  - verall 6y ago
    Because our medical (and other professional) cartels are powerful. A massive amount of that money is literally directly transferred to the world's least-efficient healthcare industry. The vast majority of that money is never given to people.