3 ms·

The first sign many Roman citizens had that their empire had collapsed is when a bridge near them fell down and nobody showed up to repair it. America's been i

The first sign many Roman citizens had that their empire had collapsed is when a bridge near them fell down and nobody showed up to repair it. America's been in that mode for a long time.

deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
giardini 7mo ago
That is your local city and county, not the "American empire". And your judgement in choosing where you live!8))
- pocksuppet 7mo ago
  Is your local city and county not part of the empire? If the empire doesn't have any cities and counties, it must have already collapsed.
- dh2022 7mo ago
  Take a drive on an interstate highways. Whenever I take an Uber/Lyft to the airport I ask the usually (more like 100%) foreign born driver to compare the highway (I5) and the airport (SeaTac) with the same from his country. The comparison is bad for the US. US is a third world country, but Americans do no want to admit that.
  - xienze 7mo ago
    > I ask the usually (more like 100%) foreign born driver to compare the highway (I5) and the airport (SeaTac) with the same from his country. The comparison is bad for the US. > US is a third world country, but Americans do no want to admit that. So why do so many people want to keep coming here?
    - dh2022 7mo ago
      The Uber drivers I talked have their families back home. That is how we end up comparing airports. That tells you where third world people see their future.
      - ryandrake 7mo ago
        Every foreign-born person I (American) have as friends is either: 1. planning on moving back to their home country soon (which comparatively has its shit together) or 2. has already moved back to their home country. They know when they're no longer welcome here, and most have made a decent enough living here to coast back in their countries. Hell, I'm seriously considering what it would take to escape, before we turn into some horrible mix of Idiocracy and the Handmaiden's Tale, and I'm naturally born here.
    - pocksuppet 7mo ago
      It's a financial accident. After World War 2, the USA was the least damaged country on the winning side, so it got to own the western world's financial system. It used that [exorbitant privilege](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege) - possibly unintentionally - to import money and export inflation for decades, keeping the exchange rate skewed in its favor. People aren't coming for the scenic canyons, they're coming to get some of that USA money, so they can be on the benefitting side of the skewed exchange rate, instead of the losing side. Many of them exchange part of their salary for their home currency and send it home, in quantities that would be impossible to accrue if you did the same work in that country.
    - nyargh 7mo ago
      > So why do so many people want to keep coming here? They don't, in fact, at least not anymore: "We estimate that net migration was between –10,000 and –295,000 in 2025, the first time in at least half a century it has been negative." https://www.brookings.edu/articles/macroeconomic-implications-of-immigration-flows-in-2025-and-2026-january-2026-update/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/macroeconomic-implication...
    - raincom 7mo ago
      Still better than the third world. For instance, UK is seen as a vassal state of US, and it lost its old glory. Still people want to migrate to UK. Many French speaking folks from Africa want to migrate to France and others. Politicians and folks in the third world are not keen on developing their own countries. Clean water, clean energy, better education, less corruption are not something they are striving for. Politicians there want to make money for generations, while sending their kids to US/UK/EU for studies, while at the same time selling bad policies for public (freebies, this or that scheme just to garner power to make more money off looting via contracts, natural resources).
  - pocksuppet 7mo ago
    The first world is defined as the countries that are affiliated with the USA, so that's not strictly accurate. However, we can say it's a developing country - a first-world developing country.
    - joquarky 7mo ago
      It's probably time to sit down, drink a cold one (or whatever relaxes you) and admit to yourself that the semantics have drifted.
    - autoexec 7mo ago
      We can't be a developing country when we're doing the opposite of developing.

The first sign many Roman citizens had that their empire had collapsed is when a bridge near them fell down and nobody showed up to repair it. America's been in that mode for a long time.

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

giardini 7mo ago

That is your local city and county, not the "American empire". And your judgement in choosing where you live!8))

pocksuppet 7mo ago
Is your local city and county not part of the empire? If the empire doesn't have any cities and counties, it must have already collapsed.
dh2022 7mo ago
Take a drive on an interstate highways. Whenever I take an Uber/Lyft to the airport I ask the usually (more like 100%) foreign born driver to compare the highway (I5) and the airport (SeaTac) with the same from his country. The comparison is bad for the US. US is a third world country, but Americans do no want to admit that.
- xienze 7mo ago
  > I ask the usually (more like 100%) foreign born driver to compare the highway (I5) and the airport (SeaTac) with the same from his country. The comparison is bad for the US. > US is a third world country, but Americans do no want to admit that. So why do so many people want to keep coming here?
  - dh2022 7mo ago
    The Uber drivers I talked have their families back home. That is how we end up comparing airports. That tells you where third world people see their future.
    - ryandrake 7mo ago
      Every foreign-born person I (American) have as friends is either: 1. planning on moving back to their home country soon (which comparatively has its shit together) or 2. has already moved back to their home country. They know when they're no longer welcome here, and most have made a decent enough living here to coast back in their countries. Hell, I'm seriously considering what it would take to escape, before we turn into some horrible mix of Idiocracy and the Handmaiden's Tale, and I'm naturally born here.
  - pocksuppet 7mo ago
    It's a financial accident. After World War 2, the USA was the least damaged country on the winning side, so it got to own the western world's financial system. It used that [exorbitant privilege](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege) - possibly unintentionally - to import money and export inflation for decades, keeping the exchange rate skewed in its favor. People aren't coming for the scenic canyons, they're coming to get some of that USA money, so they can be on the benefitting side of the skewed exchange rate, instead of the losing side. Many of them exchange part of their salary for their home currency and send it home, in quantities that would be impossible to accrue if you did the same work in that country.
  - nyargh 7mo ago
    > So why do so many people want to keep coming here? They don't, in fact, at least not anymore: "We estimate that net migration was between –10,000 and –295,000 in 2025, the first time in at least half a century it has been negative." https://www.brookings.edu/articles/macroeconomic-implications-of-immigration-flows-in-2025-and-2026-january-2026-update/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/macroeconomic-implication...
  - raincom 7mo ago
    Still better than the third world. For instance, UK is seen as a vassal state of US, and it lost its old glory. Still people want to migrate to UK. Many French speaking folks from Africa want to migrate to France and others. Politicians and folks in the third world are not keen on developing their own countries. Clean water, clean energy, better education, less corruption are not something they are striving for. Politicians there want to make money for generations, while sending their kids to US/UK/EU for studies, while at the same time selling bad policies for public (freebies, this or that scheme just to garner power to make more money off looting via contracts, natural resources).
- pocksuppet 7mo ago
  The first world is defined as the countries that are affiliated with the USA, so that's not strictly accurate. However, we can say it's a developing country - a first-world developing country.
  - joquarky 7mo ago
    It's probably time to sit down, drink a cold one (or whatever relaxes you) and admit to yourself that the semantics have drifted.
  - autoexec 7mo ago
    We can't be a developing country when we're doing the opposite of developing.