4 ms·

The question then becomes, when did things start to become this way? Was this culture always a US way of thinking or was there a time when the government and pe

The question then becomes, when did things start to become this way? Was this culture always a US way of thinking or was there a time when the government and people in charge did focus on the long term benefit of its citizens? If corruption and incompetence was the path the whole time, how do you explain the US system becoming #1 in the world? Was it a fluke and that now that we have gotten 100 years of lucky wins the luck has run out and now we have the grim reality of the US system actually being trash? You look at FDR and how close the US population supposedly almost came to eating the elites. Around that time we finally got breadcrumbs in the form of Medicare and Social Security. Now we are seeing moves to even get rid of those programs so we are left with nothing. You can't have a society where a certain percentage is playing by the rules while everyone else is picking whatever they can on the dying carcass.

smileysteve 5y ago
> how do you explain the US system becoming #1 in the world? The US was part of the industrial revolution, but suffered few domestic casualties (infrastructure) from either World War. The dollar becoming the world reserve currency for oil/capitalism cemented it. (Where Russia, Continental Europe, and China were ravaged by WW2)
macksd 5y ago
In addition to smileysteve's comments, I'd also question the idea that the US is the #1 system in the world. By some metrics? Yes. By other metrics? No. It seems to be a subjective argument thrown around with about as much basis behind it as the people who seem to think we have a free market healthcare system when we obviously don't. We have a weird public / private mix that's incredibly complicated, not a free market at all, and honestly I've had so many problems with debt collectors coming after me for massive bills that nobody can explain for me (all stemming from either childbirth or routine preventative care mind you, like I said I'm pretty healthy) that I consider the panic attacks I get from the process my #1 health risk. I can't imagine what it must be like for people who get cancer, though I've heard horror stories.

smileysteve 5y ago

> how do you explain the US system becoming #1 in the world? The US was part of the industrial revolution, but suffered few domestic casualties (infrastructure) from either World War. The dollar becoming the world reserve currency for oil/capitalism cemented it. (Where Russia, Continental Europe, and China were ravaged by WW2)

macksd 5y ago

In addition to smileysteve's comments, I'd also question the idea that the US is the #1 system in the world. By some metrics? Yes. By other metrics? No. It seems to be a subjective argument thrown around with about as much basis behind it as the people who seem to think we have a free market healthcare system when we obviously don't. We have a weird public / private mix that's incredibly complicated, not a free market at all, and honestly I've had so many problems with debt collectors coming after me for massive bills that nobody can explain for me (all stemming from either childbirth or routine preventative care mind you, like I said I'm pretty healthy) that I consider the panic attacks I get from the process my #1 health risk. I can't imagine what it must be like for people who get cancer, though I've heard horror stories.