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> Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump There are several comments in this thread already with this general vibe. As a CA resident, I definitely don't

> Outside of certain special areas, it's a dump There are several comments in this thread already with this general vibe. As a CA resident, I definitely don't disagree, but I travel a lot in the US and outside it, and have done so for most of my life (immigrated here fairly young), and I'm really confident when I say that, in terms of infrastructure and general urban/suburban aesthetics, the US has gone from "fairly bad for a developed country" to "complete shithole" pretty quickly in the last ~20 years. (My experience is mostly with larger urban areas, for context, so maybe rural USA doesn't feel as much like Mad Max.) Every time I come back to the US, as soon as I deplane into the (inevitable) 65 year-old airport with low popcorn ceilings and stained carpeting, I sense it more and more. If I'm coming back from another 1st-world country, it's like "this feels like Guatemala", and if I'm coming back from Guatemala, it's like "this feels like Guatemala". (No hate on Guatemala btw it's an incredible place with incredible people, but it's very poor (thanks in large part to US but that's another hot take for another thread).) This is an anonymous internet comment on an emotional issue so maybe I'm like 10% exaggerating here, but mostly not.

usrn 4y ago
We've imported a ton of people from third world countries to the point that the demographics have substantially changed. I don't think we should be surprised that the country changed as well.
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  Much of the worst degradation is (somewhat unsurprisingly) in locations with stagnant or declining population. Hardly where in-migration is highest. And areas with the highest levels of migration tend to be magnets strictly on the basis that they do have more vibrant economies. The fact that the US saw massive growth in the decades following WWII, and that much of that building stock and infrastructure were built quickly and cheaply, or are just simply old, also contributes. 40--60 year infrastructure, particularly where weather is a factor --- freeze-thaw cycles, salt, and moisture especially --- can beat the heck out of virtually anything surprisingly quickly. It's also news to me that a generalised opposition to government and community investment is an ideology especially acquired from immigrants, unless you're referring to, say, the Murdoch family.
- maybelsyrup 4y ago
  Jfc dude. What do "the demographics" have to do with the bridges falling down?
  - usrn 4y ago
    These people bring their culture with them. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.
neither_color 4y ago
From my own trips to central America I'd say you'd have to be staying only in 5 star hotels in the Northern Triangle to find it comparable to the US, the squalor in those countries is on a different level. The closest thing I've seen in the US that comes to it might be in a biased YouTube video of a few city blocks of homeless tents(and indeed that's a reputation California is gaining on the east coast), only I'd feel safer walking through that tent city than parts of Honduras or El Salvador.

usrn 4y ago

We've imported a ton of people from third world countries to the point that the demographics have substantially changed. I don't think we should be surprised that the country changed as well.

dredmorbius 4y ago
Much of the worst degradation is (somewhat unsurprisingly) in locations with stagnant or declining population. Hardly where in-migration is highest. And areas with the highest levels of migration tend to be magnets strictly on the basis that they do have more vibrant economies. The fact that the US saw massive growth in the decades following WWII, and that much of that building stock and infrastructure were built quickly and cheaply, or are just simply old, also contributes. 40--60 year infrastructure, particularly where weather is a factor --- freeze-thaw cycles, salt, and moisture especially --- can beat the heck out of virtually anything surprisingly quickly. It's also news to me that a generalised opposition to government and community investment is an ideology especially acquired from immigrants, unless you're referring to, say, the Murdoch family.
maybelsyrup 4y ago
Jfc dude. What do "the demographics" have to do with the bridges falling down?
- usrn 4y ago
  These people bring their culture with them. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad.

neither_color 4y ago

From my own trips to central America I'd say you'd have to be staying only in 5 star hotels in the Northern Triangle to find it comparable to the US, the squalor in those countries is on a different level. The closest thing I've seen in the US that comes to it might be in a biased YouTube video of a few city blocks of homeless tents(and indeed that's a reputation California is gaining on the east coast), only I'd feel safer walking through that tent city than parts of Honduras or El Salvador.