Ok, here's my first person experience. Anecdotal, take it with whatever grain of salt you wish. I want to state up front that I love living in the US, I love th

Ok, here's my first person experience. Anecdotal, take it with whatever grain of salt you wish. I want to state up front that I love living in the US, I love the outdoors here in particular, and I'm happy to be back. But... --- After over a decade in Asia my wife and I moved back to the US to have our second child. Our first child was born in Hong Kong. There we had weekly ultrasounds by one of the most experienced doctors there (a real master of both the machine and reading of the results). Minimal cost which we paid for ourselves (about USD80 per session). This was, notably, a private clinic, not public. For our second baby, in the US, we've had precisely two. They cost over USD400 each. The ultrasounds we had in HK were spitting out 3D imaging for us, detailed sonograms, etc. In the US we got a couple of standard ultrasound printouts and a "thumbs up". (note: I don't care whether we need a weekly or not, the point is that the basic level of attention and care was much higher in HK... the ultrasounds are just one of many examples of this.) And the US airports? Not third world yet, but they are often decrepit (LA) and invariably inefficient compared to the majority I've been in elsewhere (HK easily has a better airport than anywhere in the US). Cell phone coverage still sucks here. The whole subsidized mobile phone industry is a drag on the market. --- What is better about the US? Try ordering anything online... easy, delivery is fast, no customs hang-ups. I love logistics in the US. The US iTunes store has a better selection of movies, tv, music than any international iTunes store. Same for most media sales online. --- It's not so much one thing (airports, health care, etc.) as all these little things combined. Where did the US that believes in excellence go? It was here when I left, I swear. I want the US to be better than this. I want us to excel in our transportation and communications infrastructure, our health care. Sure, we're not the third world, but our first world systems and services are looking pretty shoddy lately. --- (edit: I wanted to add that most of the examples in the article are ridiculous and for the most part poor comparison for the us... the taxis in singapore are cool but you can do a lot of cool stuff if you entire country is a small, paved city controlled by a small cabal of efficient, commerce minded technocrats. The health care, airport and telecoms examples I find more relevant.)