That is similar, but mildly different, to how I feel when returning to (or visiting, respectively) the UK or US after living elsewhere in the first world. I th

That is similar, but mildly different, to how I feel when returning to (or visiting, respectively) the UK or US after living elsewhere in the first world. I think the point is that the US and UK are kind of basket cases among the first world countries. Every time I go home to the UK from South Korea, the UK has less and less there: - Bus routes to nearby major cities have been removed - You're on your own with COVID, gas bills, climate change, etc. - Roads are unmaintained, hard shoulders have been converted in to lanes - You walk through a crowded city centre, nobody wears masks, not even on the bus, and people walk around with sandwich boards saying "MASKS SPREAD FEAR" (which seems a strange thing to be afraid of, since nobody wears them anyway??) - Even the road maintenance vehicles are unmaintained and sit rotting - Climate deniers occupy government, and the government avoids even minor action on the most immediate issues Then I go back to south korea and there are: - New train lines - New bridges over the han river - The infrastructure is constantly being maintained, upgraded, recreation facilities added - People wear masks, there are free COVID test/vaccination centres on every corner - Utilities are nationalized and price controlled - There is a state response to the climate emergency In the UK it is increasingly clear that the political system has collapsed and is unable to address itself to crises, and increasingly unable to address itself to the basic maintenance of its own deployed capital. It is a wealthy failed-state in which some high quality public institutions still manage to function despite the failure of the central government.