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Really? While places like Chicago and Baltimore have murder rates now up there with warzones. And where they filmed Rocky in Phili looks like the zombie apocaly

Really? While places like Chicago and Baltimore have murder rates now up there with warzones. And where they filmed Rocky in Phili looks like the zombie apocalypse: https://youtu.be/-FD7xxo5ApY?t=518 https://youtu.be/-FD7xxo5ApY?t=518 Same place but parental warning, this one is rough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i45JMm9hM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i45JMm9hM4

adventured 5y ago
The areas you're talking about are isolation zones. That's how the US functions, it's huge, sprawled out and heavily bifurcated as a society. The war zone areas of St Louis (60 per 100k murder rate, astronomical, from ~2015-2019) don't directly touch the majority of people that live in or near St Louis and go out of their way to avoid those areas. The same is true of Chicago. They don't buy houses near those areas, they don't drive through those areas, they don't shop in those areas. That's how you get Baltimore in a country with a GDP per capita of $68,000 - fourth highest in the world, after Switzerland, Ireland and Norway. Consider the context of matching up on per capita economic output to hyper rich tiny nations with 5m-8m people. The US low outcome is very low compared to those nations, it's median is high compared to the EU median, and it's top 1/4 is exceptionally high. The top 10%-15% in the US are far richer than the top 10%-15% in Europe. Economically the top 10%-15% outcome in Europe is Germany, Britain and France. The top 10%-15% outcome in the US is Switzerland. People that think of the US as one nation economically, are thinking about it entirely wrong. The US is more like Europe as a whole in both its diversity of outcomes and crime, with a far higher median income and wealth level. The worst parts of Baltimore are as dilapidated as the various ghettos of the eastern EU like Stolipinovo Bulgaria. When you picture the US top 10% you should picture Switzerland; when you picture the US ~10%-35% bracket you should picture Germany or France. When you picture the bottom 10% in the US, you should picture poverty in poor EU nations, you should not picture the bottom 10% in Switzerland. That will help you get your head around how the US is arranged.
- neither_color 5y ago
  I wish people were more mindful of this when they critique our "averages" so incessantly. Certain parts of the country bring down the average hard, and while we SHOULD be doing everything possible to improve these areas, I roll my eyes when a European tries to use an average weighed down by places like Baltimore to tell me my likelihood of getting shot, having access to healthcare, or overall risk of catching a certain pandemic disease. My state had lower case rates than most of Europe, buddy.
  - freeflight 5y ago
    > Certain parts of the country bring down the average hard, and while we SHOULD be doing everything possible to improve these areas, I roll my eyes when a European tries to use an average weighed down by places like Baltimore European countries have their own Baltimore's also dragging their averages up/down, averaging such statistics is not some kind of American exceptionalism. Just like it's a bit misleading to compare a country to a continent, or even to the EU. The EU is not a country, it's no federal government, it's mostly a economic, and to some degree political, union.
  - irthomasthomas 5y ago
    Funny, because I said nothing about averages. I named three problem areas and linked to videos of actual human suffering in one of those places. It is the rest of you using statistics to dismiss those problems.
- goatlover 5y ago
  Talked to an Uber driver in Chicago who said he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else because Chicago has everything he could want, while acknowledging that certain neighborhoods are dangerous, like in most cities.

adventured 5y ago

The areas you're talking about are isolation zones. That's how the US functions, it's huge, sprawled out and heavily bifurcated as a society. The war zone areas of St Louis (60 per 100k murder rate, astronomical, from ~2015-2019) don't directly touch the majority of people that live in or near St Louis and go out of their way to avoid those areas. The same is true of Chicago. They don't buy houses near those areas, they don't drive through those areas, they don't shop in those areas. That's how you get Baltimore in a country with a GDP per capita of $68,000 - fourth highest in the world, after Switzerland, Ireland and Norway. Consider the context of matching up on per capita economic output to hyper rich tiny nations with 5m-8m people. The US low outcome is very low compared to those nations, it's median is high compared to the EU median, and it's top 1/4 is exceptionally high. The top 10%-15% in the US are far richer than the top 10%-15% in Europe. Economically the top 10%-15% outcome in Europe is Germany, Britain and France. The top 10%-15% outcome in the US is Switzerland. People that think of the US as one nation economically, are thinking about it entirely wrong. The US is more like Europe as a whole in both its diversity of outcomes and crime, with a far higher median income and wealth level. The worst parts of Baltimore are as dilapidated as the various ghettos of the eastern EU like Stolipinovo Bulgaria. When you picture the US top 10% you should picture Switzerland; when you picture the US ~10%-35% bracket you should picture Germany or France. When you picture the bottom 10% in the US, you should picture poverty in poor EU nations, you should not picture the bottom 10% in Switzerland. That will help you get your head around how the US is arranged.

neither_color 5y ago
I wish people were more mindful of this when they critique our "averages" so incessantly. Certain parts of the country bring down the average hard, and while we SHOULD be doing everything possible to improve these areas, I roll my eyes when a European tries to use an average weighed down by places like Baltimore to tell me my likelihood of getting shot, having access to healthcare, or overall risk of catching a certain pandemic disease. My state had lower case rates than most of Europe, buddy.
- freeflight 5y ago
  > Certain parts of the country bring down the average hard, and while we SHOULD be doing everything possible to improve these areas, I roll my eyes when a European tries to use an average weighed down by places like Baltimore European countries have their own Baltimore's also dragging their averages up/down, averaging such statistics is not some kind of American exceptionalism. Just like it's a bit misleading to compare a country to a continent, or even to the EU. The EU is not a country, it's no federal government, it's mostly a economic, and to some degree political, union.
- irthomasthomas 5y ago
  Funny, because I said nothing about averages. I named three problem areas and linked to videos of actual human suffering in one of those places. It is the rest of you using statistics to dismiss those problems.
goatlover 5y ago
Talked to an Uber driver in Chicago who said he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else because Chicago has everything he could want, while acknowledging that certain neighborhoods are dangerous, like in most cities.