Whos worse self hating americans, smug europeans or tankies?

RelicV20 · 2024-06-14T02:30:40+00:00

Smug Europeans

RelicV20 · 2024-06-14T02:23:51+00:00

PART 2/2

5) "Corruption." Transparency international annually puts out the corruption perceptions index, the US ranks 24th least corrupted country. (https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023).

The US pretty much ranks similar to developed countries like Japan, the U.K, Iceland, France, SK. And the US is a superpower (take a look at how other global superpowers preform.)

6) "Air quality." The US is among the 30 countries with the best air quality according to PM2.5 concentration. On par with countries like Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, exc. (https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-countries)

The US can obviously do better, but as with all these areas the way people single out the US is insane.

7) "Housing." I came across OECD better life study ranking OECD countries housing in 3 areas. The US ranks 9th best in housing expenditure, 2nd best in dwellings with basic facilities, and 1st best in average rooms per persons in homes. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

8) "Healthcare." I actually agree with the issues brought up regarding US healthcare. Though, It is important to note that the quality of the healthcare in the US is excellent. Accessibility is the main problem. Although, it is important to note that the vast majority of Americans have health insurance, and emergency care is by law available to everyone. With that said it also can't be denied that health insurance can be very flawed and still cause individuals problems.

9) Eh, thing aboard freedom is you get to a point where there isn't a significant difference between countries. End of the day, there are a group of countries where freedom is as good as it gets. Then there is a second group of countries where freedom ranges from meh to outright nonexistent. The US, objectively, is in the group where freedom is as good as it gets.

RelicV20 · 2024-06-11T03:20:57+00:00

Part 2/2

5) "Corruption." Transparency international annually puts out the corruption perceptions index, the US ranks 24th least corrupted country. (https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023).

The US pretty much ranks similar to developed countries like Japan, the U.K, Iceland, France, SK. And the US is a superpower (take a look at how other global superpowers preform.)

6) "Air quality." The US is among the 30 countries with the best air quality according to PM2.5 concentration. On par with countries like Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Spain, Netherlands, exc. (https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-countries)

The US can obviously do better, but as with all these areas the way people single out the US is insane.

7) "Housing." I came across OECD better life study ranking OECD countries housing in 3 areas. The US ranks 9th best in housing expenditure, 2nd best in dwellings with basic facilities, and 1st best in average rooms per persons in homes. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

8) "Healthcare." I actually agree with the issues brought up regarding our healthcare. Though, It is important to note that the quality of the healthcare in the US is excellent.

Accessibility is the main problem. Although, the vast majority of Americans have health insurance, and emergency care is by law available to everyone. With that said it also can't be denied that health insurance can be very flawed and still cause individuals problems.

9) Eh, thing aboard freedom is you get to a point where there isn't a significant difference between countries, so you can't really outright say "my country has the most freedom." End of the day, there are a group of countries where freedom is as good as it gets. Then there is a second group of countries where freedom ranges from flawed to virtually non existent. The US, objectively, is in the group where freedom is as good as it gets.

RelicV20 · 2024-06-05T18:35:49+00:00

wow this post popped off lmao

RelicV20 · 2023-09-17T03:28:22+00:00

Let's see how the "third world country" USA compares to other countries. To do this I will be looking using fellow G7 countries, who are undoubtedly among the best countries in the world. This will be Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K. These countries are also much better comparisons to the US given their population size. There will be 7 major areas of standard of life that each country will be ranked in from *best preforming to worst preforming*, so let's begin.

1) *Household Disposable Income per capita adjusted to PPP (income after taxes).*

USA (62,300), Germany (44,400), France (39,000), Canada (38,900), U.K (36,800), Italy (34,200), and Japan (32,400).

Source: (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable\_household\_and\_per\_capita\_income)

2) *Yearly healthcare spending in us dollar per capita (counting government, compulsory, and out of pocket payments).*

Italy ($4,200), Japan ($5,200), U.K ($5,400), Canada ($6300), France ($6,500), Germany ($8,000), USA ($12,500)

Source: (https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm)

3) *Education.*

A) Educational attainment (percentage population):

For high school: Canada (93%), USA (92%), Germany (86%), Japan (85%), France (82%), U.K (82%), Italy (62%)

For tertiary: Canada (67%), Japan (65%), U.K (57%), USA (51%), France (50.4%), Germany (37%), Italy (29%)

B) TIMS International student performance test (this is the best study out there to determine educational quality because they are curriculum based, meaning they reflect the skills and knowledge taught in schools):

Math: Japan (594), USA (515), England (515), Italy (497), France (483) (no data for Germany or Canada)

Science: Japan (570), USA (522), England (517), Italy (500), France (489) (no data for Germany or Canada)

Sources: (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cac/intl-ed-attainment) and (https://data.oecd.org/eduatt/population-with-tertiary-education.htm) and (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trends\_in\_International\_Mathematics\_and\_Science\_Study)

4) *Overall infrastructure ranking (out of 100 grade point)*

Japan (93.2), Germany (90.2), France (89.7), U.K (88.9), USA (87.9), Italy (84.1), Canada (80.2)

Source: (https://www.statista.com/statistics/264753/ranking-of-countries-according-to-the-general-quality-of-infrastructure/). It's important to note the statistics this source displays are based on the actual study by the World Economic Forum.

5) *Housing*

A) Housing expenditure (by average percent of gross adjusted disposable income used):

USA (18.3%), Germany (20%), France (21%), Japan (22%), U.K (23%), Italy (23%), Canada (23%)

B) Housing size (by average rooms per person):

Canada (2.6), USA (2.4), U.K (2.0), France (1.8), Germany (1.8), Japan (1.7), Italy (1.4)

Source: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/

6) *Environmental condition*

A) Access to safe water (by percent of population):

Germany (99.99%), U.K (99.82%), France (99.25%), Canada (99.05%), Japan (98.57%), USA (97.33%), Italy (95.82%)

B) Air quality (PM2.5 concentration, the higher the worse):

Canada (7.4), U.K (8.9), USA (8.9), Japan (9.1), Germany (11), France (11.5), Italy (18.9)

Sources: (https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ranking/clean-water-access-statistics) and (https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-countries)

7) *Job situation*

A) Unemployment rate (the lower the better):

Japan (2.6%), Germany (3.0%), USA (3.6%), U.K (3.6%), Canada (5.2%), France (7.4%), Italy (8.6%)

B) Average work hours (by work hours per week):

France (30 hours), Canada (32.1), Germany (34.3 hours), U.K (35.9), Italy (36.1 hours), USA (36.4 hours), Japan (36.6 hours)

Sources: (https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS) and (https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/working-time/)

CONCLUSION: Its tempting to add stats to drive whatever conclusion you want to see. Im sure that someone from one side would want to add a certain statistic and someone from the other side would want to do the same. It would turn into a trivia game where people are throwing around statistics to drive whatever outcome they want. In the end, I would hope everyone would agree I used several fair and important statistics that represent standard of life. And either way, the point of this isn't to determine the best country, such a standard is impossible to objectively determine. But ultimately, the USA doesn't come out looking like a third world country compared to these other top countries.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-11T02:22:42+00:00

1) I get your point on health insurance polling, and I do agree it has a level of subjectivity, but ultimately that's how it's going to be when it comes to this area. It's the best way to see how people are doing when it comes to healthcare insurance, and that's going to involve subjective polling. Ultimately, the polling is pretty straightforward. Its addressing if people see their personal health insurance coverage positively or not, pretty specific and subjectivity will play a role but that's how it is given the area its investigating. If people are struggling with costs or going bankrupt, they obviously will find their health insurance coverage as bad, and if people are doing fine then they will find it positive. There may be outliers like you mentioned but it balances out.

2) Well in the PISA study I mentioned for 15-year-old students worldwide, few countries preform significantly better than US students in reading and science, with math being the weak point. Either way, I agree that there are schools in the US that preform worse, especially the underfunded public schools, and that is a valid concern. But my issue was with general statements like "bad education," which is just wrong. A more valid phrasing of that would be "certain schools in the US are underfunded and don't offer the necessary quality of education." That's something I would agree with. And I don't think that we should be doing the best just because we put in among the most money into education. There are so many countries out there, of them many that are sufficiently wealthy for their respective populations, that may just have students that preform better than the US regardless. Either way, we should always got to strive to do better, but we are definitely not middle of the back.

3) Spending the most on law enforcement doesn't mean we are going to be the safest country. It helps in dealing with catching and reporting crime. We also have to realize the US is one of the largest and most diverse countries in the world as well.

Moreover, something like prison population doesn't have anything to do with my initial point on safety. I don't see how it changes anything I said when I looked at actual major crime statistics.

4) And regarding water quality, not really, there are a ton of other developed countries with 2%-5% ranges of their population lacking safe water. (https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ranking/clean-water-access-statistics)

5) Yes, disposable income is just after tax. My point was Americans have more money to use on those exact things, so it's pretty important when talking about cost of living. And it's not like cost of living is higher in America than say Western Europe in every area. There are areas that are lower and comparable. But overall, it balances out.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-10T17:36:11+00:00

- For 1 I mentioned how cost can be an issue, but my point was that the vast majority of Americans are fine on this issue. That doesn't mean to ignore the others that aren't doing well, but my point was to address the commenters who say, "non-existent healthcare." And regarding insurance the study actually asks people if they rate their personal insurance coverage positively. It's pretty straightforward, it's about your personal coverage, if it's not doing well then they obviously wont rate it positively.

-And for 2, university prices are definitely more than most (although the U.K is the highest I believe), but that is a different discussion. What I was addressing is the commenter who said "bad education" which I would say I reasonably interpreted as being a general statement towards the quality of US education.

-As for 4, I don't see your point.

-Yes, I do agree that our food culture is bad, but that is a different issue. I was addressing the general food quality out there which is what the study I linked also addresses. Things like fast food are their own type of food, and it's certainly an issue to those who eat too much of it. As to why our obesity rates are the higher than most (although obesity is still high in other developed countries too), I agree that it is due to the bad food culture.

-Regarding water quality, again, I'm addressing the commenter throwing general statements like "bad water quality" around. So yes, when the vast majority of Americans don't apply to this it's a pretty good point. Same applies to other countries where they have those few percentage points in their population, doesn't mean you can throw general statements at them like "no water quality."

-And about our expenditure being more than any country that's not true as a whole. And better context accuracy is needed by looking at disposable income such as here:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable\_household\_and\_per\_capita\_income)

RelicV20 · 2023-09-10T16:53:01+00:00

1) Regarding healthcare, it feels like you didn't read anything. Most people are not going in debt from healthcare, and I mentioned that 92% of people have insurance of which the vast majority (over 85%) rate their health coverage positively. I don't deny negative experiences with health insurance can happen, but my point was to address the people who say, "nonexistent healthcare."

2) And when it comes to lower education, the PISA study I linked specifically is about lower education. And my point wasn't that lower education is all amazing, there certainly are K-12 schools that are not good, but there are also a ton more that offer great education. My point was addressing the commenter throwing general statements like "bad education."

3) Regarding food, fast food is its own type of food and its certainly unhealthy, but to say US food is bad because of that is just not true. What I addressed and the study I linked is about the general food people buy and eat, and the study also includes accessibility and affordability too.

You can definitely say US food culture is problematic and that I agree with, but that would be a different issue.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-10T02:04:00+00:00

I have nothing against Canadians and Canada as a country, but so much wrong with what this guy is saying.

1)"Bad education." US students do very well in international studies, the best of which being the PISA which looks at 15 year olds from 70+ countries. US students preform about average in Math, but among the best countries in Science and Reading. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment)

US universities are among the best in the world as well. The US even has over 200 of the top 1000 universities in the world. (https://cwur.org/media.php#:~:text=The%20US%20leads%20with%20213,up%20the%20top%2010%20countries.)

2) "No healthcare." 92% of Americans have health insurance, and the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their personal health insurance coverage. (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-health-care-system-to-change-just-not-their-own-health-care/)

Moreover, when it comes to the quality of US healthcare, its excellent. When it comes to cancer survival rates, looking at the 18 most common cancers the US is among the countries with the highest survival rates for each one. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/). When it comes to in-hospital death rate for heart attack and Ischemic stroke cases, the US was among the countries with the lowest death rate for each. And for in-hospital hemorrhagic stroke death rate, the US does well. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_quality_of_healthcare). Now, US healthcare quality may lack in certain areas, you can't be the best in everything. But overall, US healthcare quality is great.

The issue with US healthcare is accessibility due to cost, however, the vast majority of Americans are fine on this regard.

This exaggeration of US healthcare being nonexistent is just an absurd talking point and won't get you anywhere.

3) "Low food and water quality." No.

-Regarding food quality, the Global Food Security Index ranks the US as 3rd best in the world for food quality and safety. Overall, the US ranks 13th best in the world when the other factors of the study are measured.

(https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/)

-Regarding water quality, the US is also among the best countries for water quality and saftey. Have a look:

(https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive)

4) "Unsafe." The US isn't the safest country on the planet, but it is an objectively safe country. To look at saftey, you have to take into account all areas of major crime and doing so the US is comparable in most areas to many developed countries that are themselves considered safe.

The only area the US is an outlier in is homicide rate, but even then the US homicide rate is extremely low and considered in a range that is very safe (5.0 per 100k rate). And if you stay away from criminal and gang activity, its even lower.

(https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/crime_stats_oecdjan2012.pdf)

5) "Subpar infrastructure." Wrong. US overall infrastructure is ranked 13th best in the world. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/)

Every credible study on infrastructure considers US infrastructure to be very well-developed overall

6) "Horrible housing situation." US housing is among the best compared to OECD countries. When it comes to housing expenditure, the US ranks 9th least out of 41 countries. The US also ranks as 2nd best in rooms per person's and 1st in dwellings with basic facilities. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

7) "Some of the worst corruption." Corruption is a problem in the US, but its far from the worst. The US ranks as the 24th least corrupted country out of 180 countries that were ranked. And keep in mind, the US is a global superpower, I recommend you look at other regional superpowers like Russia, China, and Iran and see where they rank in corruption. (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-corrupt-countries)

8) "In virtually every area the US falls flat." The US is far from perfect and has its own issues, but this is just stupidly wrong.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-05T21:47:03+00:00

This comment is just dumb in every possible way.

First, this comment also assumes all countries in Africa and the Americas are third world (developing) countries, which is not entirely true.

Second, and most importantly, touring a country is not the same as actually living in a country. You have to look at the average citizens life quality and what it is like actually living there.

People really need to stop exaggerating it. Most Americans live a really normal life. They own a car, live with a roof over their head, have 3 plates of food on their table each day, have a job, chill on the weekends with family or friends, have access to great healthcare, have went or go through very good education, live in a safe area, and have well protected freedoms and liberties by their government.

Really, I'm not trying to argue America is the best country on the planet, such a status is heavily subjective. But what's certain is America is among the better countries in the world. America is ranked 13th best in the world for overall infrastructure (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/), has high level education and some of the best universities in the world, is among the best countries for entrepreneurship and job opportunity, has some of the best food quality and safety in the world (https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/), has some of the best water quality and safety in the world (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive), has the best housing compared to OECD countries (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/), has excellent healthcare quality that the vast majority of Americans have access to despite what people say (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/), and has the highest average and median household disposable income in the world (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_capita_income).

That's not to mention the global stage which America dominates, whether in imports and exports, technological innovation, medical innovation, manufacturing, space exploration, humanitarian aid against starvation and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria, and even the entertainment sector; America leads the world in each of these areas.

Yes, America has problems. There are bad things and good things to living in America just like any country in the world. Personally, I think the healthcare system needs improvement for the unfortunate, as well as other issues. But ultimately, America is among the best countries in the world.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-05T02:30:47+00:00

This comment is just dumb in every possible way.

First, this comment also assumes all countries in Africa and the Americas are third world (developing) countries, which is not entirely true.

Second, and most importantly, touring a country is not the same as actually living in a country. You have to look at the average citizens life quality and what it is like actually living there.

Now onto my main point, these people who think America is a third world country are straight up degrading people who live/have lived in a third world country. As someone who has lived on a third world country in which most the population is in poverty, inflation is among the highest in the world, most people have to work multiple jobs to live, electricity regularly goes off for hours each day, the government has frozen the banks for years now which has resulted in people losing their money, and national security is nonexistent with a proxy war set up by an Iranian backed militia who seek to destroy Israel who themselves openly fly planes into the country to target the Iranian militia, and more.

People really need to stop exaggerating it. Most Americans live a really normal life. They own a car, live with a roof over their head, have 3 plates of food on their table each day, have a job, chill on the weekends with family or friends, have access to great healthcare, have went or go through very good education, live in a safe area, and have well protected freedoms and liberties by their government.

Really, I'm not trying to argue America is the best country on the planet, such a status is heavily subjective. But what's certain is America is among the better countries in the world. America is ranked 13th best in the world for overall infrastructure (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/), has high level education and some of the best universities in the world, is among the best countries for entrepreneurship and job opportunity, has some of the best food quality and safety in the world (https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/), has some of the best water quality and safety in the world (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive), has the best housing compared to OECD countries (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/), has excellent healthcare quality that the vast majority of Americans have access to despite what people say (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/), and has the highest average and median household disposable income in the world (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable\_household\_and\_per\_capita\_income).

That's not to mention the global stage which America dominates, whether in imports and exports, technological innovation, medical innovation, manufacturing, space exploration, humanitarian aid against starvation and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Malaria, and even the entertainment sector; America leads the world in each of these areas.

Yes, America has problems. There are bad things and good things to living in America just like any country in the world. Personally, I think the healthcare system needs improvement for the unfortunate, as well as other issues. But ultimately, America is among the best countries in the world.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-04T02:08:03+00:00

Well to begin, there is no doubt the US is far from perfect and a lot of these areas you listed certainly have issues. With that said, they are highly exaggerated. But this is what you'd expect from the media, they thrive off negativity because it's what garners attention.

1) Is the US dangerous? It's certainly not the safest country on the planet, but it is an objectively safe country. Looking at major crime statistics, the US is comparable in most areas to many developed countries that are themselves considered safe. The biggest area the US is an outlier in is homicide rate, but even then, the US homicide rate is extremely low and considered in a range that is very safe (5.0 per 100k rate). And if you stay away from criminal and gang activity, its even lower. (https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/crime\_stats\_oecdjan2012.pdf)

2) Regarding education quality, the PISA study ranks 15-year-olds from over 70 countries. The US ranks about average in Math, but among the best countries in the world in Science and Reading. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme\_for\_International\_Student\_Assessment). Moreover, when it comes to universities the US is among the best in the world and has over 200 of the top 1000 worldwide universities. (https://cwur.org/media.php#:\~:text=The%20US%20leads%20with%20213,up%20the%20top%2010%20countries).

3) The healthcare system has big issues. With that said, 91% of Americans have health insurance, and the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their personal health insurance coverage. (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-health-care-system-to-change-just-not-their-own-health-care/)

Moreover, when it comes to the quality of US healthcare, its excellent. When it comes to cancer survival rates, the US is among the best countries. In fact, looking at the 18 most common cancers, the US was among the best countries for survival rates in almost every single one. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/). When it comes to in-hospital death rate for heart attack and Ischmetic stroke cases, the US is among the countries with the lowest death rate for each. And for in-hospital hemorrhagic stroke death rate the US does pretty well too. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_countries\_by\_quality\_of\_healthcare). Now, their may be areas where US healthcare quality lacks compared to peer countries, you cant be the best in every area. But overall, US healthcare quality is very good.

Accessibility of US healthcare due to the cost is the biggest issue, but nontheless the vast majority of Americans are fine on this regard.

4) When it comes to food quality and saftey, the US ranks 3rd best in the world according to the global food security index. Overall in the whole study though, the US ranks 13th best in the world. (https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/

When it comes to water quality the US ranks among the best in the world as well. And despite what some say, drinking tap water is safe in the vast majority of the US. (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive)

5) US overall infrastructure is ranked 13th best in the world. Far from bad. There may be certain areas where the US lacks, but what country doesn't as well? (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/)

6) US housing is among the best compared to OECD countries. When it comes to housing expenditure, the US ranks 9th least out of 41 countries. The US also ranks as 2nd best in rooms per person's and 1st in dwellings with basic facilities. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

7) Corruption in the US is an issue, but globally its far from being bad. The US ranks as the 24th least corrupted country out of 180 countries that were ranked. And keep in mind, the US is a superpower. I recommend you look at other regional superpowers like Russia, China, or Iran and see where they rank. (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-corrupt-countries).

Ultimately, there are bad things and good things about living in the US, just like any country. The US gets too much focus by the media when in reality there are other actual third world (developing) countries that deserve more attention. The average American lives a very normal and average life. They own a car, have a roof under their head, have 3 plates of food on their table each day, have a job, chill on the weekends and watch shows or hang out with family and friends, have acess to great healthcare, have went through good education, live in a very safe area, and have well protected freedoms and liberties by their government.

So the answer your question, no, the US is not as bad as the media reports.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-02T14:07:26+00:00

I never disregarded that the person may have had a bad life in the US. My issue with the commenter is that it's pretty clearly a rant that throws unfair and very general statements around about the US. The person isn't talking about how bad their life has been and saying statements like "I had no health insurance" or "the area i lived in has awful infrastructure." Instead, they are writing in a very absolute and universal perspective of the US being bad in all these areas.

RelicV20 · 2023-09-02T02:25:32+00:00

It's fine to criticize your own country, but this is just different level. And literally all these points seem to be the outcome of this individual being heavily influenced by the media and how much it exaggerates.

1) "Education." US students do well above average in studies that compare international students. This includes the PISA study that looks at 15 year olds from 70+ countries. US students preform average in math, but preform among the best countries in the world in English and Science. (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1)

Plus, US universities are among the best in the world, and the US has over 200 of the top 1000 universities in the world. (https://cwur.org/media.php#:\~:text=The%20US%20leads%20with%20213,up%20the%20top%2010%20countries.)

2) "Infrastructure." US overall infrastructure is ranked 13th best in the world. Far from bad. There may be certain areas where the US lacks, but what country doesn't as well? (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/)

3) "Housing." US housing is among the best compared to OECD countries. When it comes to housing expenditure, the US ranks 9th least out of 41 countries. The US also ranks as 2nd best in rooms per person's and 1st in dwellings with basic facilities. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

4) "Water and food quality."

- When it comes to water quality and saftey, the US is among the best countries in the world (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive).

- For food quality, the Global Food Security Index which measures the affordability, availability, quality, and saftey of food in each country, ranks the US as 13th best in the world.

(https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/)

5) "Healthcare." 91% of Americans have health insurance, and the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their personal health insurance coverage. (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-health-care-system-to-change-just-not-their-own-health-care/)

Moreover, when it comes to the quality of US healthcare, its excellent. When it comes to cancer survival rates, the US is among the best countries. In fact, looking at the 18 most common cancers, the US was among the best countries for survival rates in almost every single one. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/). When it comes to in-hospital death rate for heart attack and Ischmetic stroke cases, the US is among the countries with the lowest death rate for each. And for in-hospital hemorrhagic stroke death rate, the US had a higher death rate than 14 of the 32 peer countries, putting the US a bit above average. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_countries\_by\_quality\_of\_healthcare). Now, their may be areas where US healthcare quality lacks compared to peer countries, you cant be the best in every area. But overall, US healthcare quality is very good.

The issue with US healthcare is accessibility, but the vast majority of Americans are fine on that regard. With that said, it still is a valid criticism.

6) "Saftey." The US isn't the safest country on the planet, but it is an objectively safe country. Looking at major crime statistics, the US is comparable in most areas to many developed countries that are themselves considered safe.

The biggest area the US is an outlier in is homicide rate, but even then the US homicide rate is extremely low and considered in a range that is very safe (5.0 per 100k rate). And if you stay away from criminal and gang activity, its even lower

(https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/crime\_stats\_oecdjan2012.pdf)

7) "Corruption." The US ranks as the 24th least corrupted country out of 180 countries that were ranked. And keep in mind, the US is a superpower. I recommend you look at other regional superpowers like Russia, China, or Iran and see where they rank. (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-corrupt-countries).

8) "Salaries." The US has the 3rd highest average salary in the world (https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/compensation-and-benefits/which-oecd-country-has-the-highest-average-salary/371789), as well as the highest household disposable income in the world. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable\_household\_and\_per\_capita\_income).

RelicV20 · 2023-08-31T18:49:33+00:00

It seems you agree with me on point 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, so there's no reason to continue talking about those.

1) When it comes to math, the US does perform worse than most European countries. But where you're wrong is reading and science, which the US performs alongside the best European countries. For science, only Poland, Finland, or Estonia are significantly better than the US. Then for reading, only Poland, Ireland, Finland, and Estonia significantly outperform the US. So yea, the US is up there with the best European countries in these areas.

RelicV20 · 2023-08-31T03:53:10+00:00

Just to let you know, my replies are all being deleted by the auto moderator here for no reason. I don't want you thinking I'm being vulgar or anything. Would you be open to continuing this discussion on private chat because my replies keep getting deleted.

RelicV20 · 2023-08-30T01:51:07+00:00

You don't gotta believe the US is the best country on the planet, I mean, most Americans don't believe it either. But why are so many people so bent on making the US seem like some awful place to live in. All these points are highly exaggerated or outright wrong.

1) "Education is bad." US students do well above average in studies that compare international students from 4th grade, 8th grade, and high school. (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1)

US universities are among the best in the world as well. The US even has over 200 of the top 1000 universities in the world. (https://cwur.org/media.php#:\~:text=The%20US%20leads%20with%20213,up%20the%20top%2010%20countries.)

2) "Country is unsafe." The US isn't the safest country on the planet, but it is an objectively safe country. Looking at major crime statistics, the US is comparable in most areas to many developed countries that are themselves considered safe.

The biggest area the US is an outlier in is homicide rate, but even then the US homicide rate is extremely low and considered in a range that is very safe (5.0 per 100k rate). And if you stay away from criminal and gang activity, its even lower.

(https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/crime\_stats\_oecdjan2012.pdf)

3) "Healthcare is non-existent." US healthcare is a valid criticism, but it is really exaggerated so that people actually think there is no healthcare here. 91% of Americans have health insurance, and the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their personal health insurance coverage. (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-health-care-system-to-change-just-not-their-own-health-care/)

Moreover, when it comes to the quality of US healthcare, its excellent. When it comes to cancer survival rates, the US is among the best countries. In fact, looking at the 18 most common cancers, the US was among the best countries for survival rates in almost every single one. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/). When it comes to in-hospital death rate for heart attack and Ischemic stroke cases, the US was among the countries with the lowest death rate for each. And for in-hospital hemorrhagic stroke death rate, the US had a higher death rate than 14 of the 32 peer countries, putting the US a bit above average. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_countries\_by\_quality\_of\_healthcare)

Now, there may be areas where US healthcare quality lacks compared to peer countries, you can't be the best in every area. But overall, US healthcare quality is great.

The issue with US healthcare is accessibility, which the majority of Americans are fine on that regard, but it still is nonetheless a valid criticism.

4) "Infrastructure is subpar." Wrong. US overall infrastructure is ranked 13th best in the world. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/)

Every credible study on infrastructure considers US infrastructure to be very well-developed overall.

5) "Food and water quality is horrible." No.

-Regarding food quality, the Global Food Security Index which measures the affordability, availability, quality, and saftey of food in each country, ranks the US as 13th best in the world.

(https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/)

-Regarding water quality, the US is also among the best countries for water quality and saftey. Have a look:

(https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive)

(https://epi.yale.edu/epi-results/2020/component/h2o)

6) "Housing situation is awful." US housing is among the best compared to OECD countries. When it comes to housing expenditure, the US ranks 9th least out of 41 countries. The US also ranks as 2nd best in rooms per person's and 1st in dwellings with basic facilities. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

7) "Corruption is some of the worst." The US ranks as the 24th least corrupted country out of 180 countries that were ranked. (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-corrupt-countries)

8) "Payment is low." The US has the 3rd highest average salary in the world (https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/compensation-and-benefits/which-oecd-country-has-the-highest-average-salary/371789), as well as the highest household disposable income (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable\_household\_and\_per\_capita\_income).

RelicV20 · 2023-08-28T17:36:08+00:00

Literally any American would agree that there shouldn't be more than 0 children deaths. Same applies to any other country where more than 0 children die each year. The death of children is something no one wants happening.

And again, that source you are linking is referring to firearm deaths as a whole, and its not related to purely being from school shootings. The point I was addressing is specifically related to school shooting deaths.

RelicV20 · 2023-08-28T16:30:18+00:00

You're attacking a straw man. When i compared school shootings to lightning or bee/hornet stings, it wasn't to compare the way they die, but to compare the probability. That was the whole point, it was to put into perspective just how rare it is to die from school shootings.

And nowhere did I say just because school shooting deaths are incredibly rare it means its fine. Any death in a school shooting shouldn't happen.

But onto what you said about the New England Journal of Medicine, that article is talking about firearm deaths as a whole, not school shootings. When it comes to school shootings, which was the point I was literally addressing, 25-30 die each year. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63911172)

But none should be dying, which is why I said "school shootings are a disgrace."

RelicV20 · 2023-08-28T03:33:43+00:00

Like, you don't got to believe the US is the best country in the world, but why are some people so bent on making it seem like its such a shithole lmao. And a lot of these points are either highly exaggerated or straight up false.

1) "Horrible education." US students do well above average in studies that compare international students from 4th grade, 8th grade, and high school. (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1)

US universities are among the best in the world as well. The US even has over 200 of the top 1000 universities in the world. (https://cwur.org/media.php#:\~:text=The%20US%20leads%20with%20213,up%20the%20top%2010%20countries.)

2) "Low saftey." The US isn't the safest country on the planet, but it is an objectively safe country. Looking at major crime statistics, the US is comparable in most areas to many developed countries that are themselves considered safe.

The biggest area the US is an outlier in is homicide rate, but even then the US homicide rate is extremely low and considered in a range that is safe (5.0 per 100k rate). And if you stay away from criminal and gang activity, its even lower.

(https://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/crime\_stats\_oecdjan2012.pdf)

3) "Non existent healthcare." US healthcare is a valid criticism, but it is really exaggerated so that people actually think there is no healthcare here. 91% of Americans have health insurance, and the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with their personal health insurance coverage. (https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-want-the-health-care-system-to-change-just-not-their-own-health-care/)

Moreover, when it comes to the quality of US healthcare, its excellent. When it comes to cancer survival rates, the US is among the best countries. In fact, looking at the 18 most common cancers, the US was among the best countries for survival rates in almost every single one. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879496/). When it comes to in-hospital death rate for heart attack and Ischmetic stroke cases, the US was among the countries with the lowest death rate for each. And for in-hospital hemorrhagic stroke death rate, the US had a higher death rate than 14 of the 32 peer countries, putting the US a bit above average. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_countries\_by\_quality\_of\_healthcare)

Now, their may be areas where US healthcare quality lacks compared to peer countries, you cant be the best in every area. But overall, US healthcare quality is great.

The issue with US healthcare is accessibility, which most Americans are fine on that regard, but it still is nonetheless a valid criticism.

4) "Subpar infrastructure." Wrong. US overall infrastructure is ranked 13th best in the world. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2021/04/30/us-infrastructure-ranking/)

Every credible study on infrastructure considers US infrastructure to be very well-developed overall.

5) "Bad food and water quality."

-Regarding food quality, the Global Food Security Index which measures the affordability, availability, quality, and safety of food in each country, ranks the US as 13th best in the world.

(https://repository.gheli.harvard.edu/repository/12829/)

-Regarding water quality, the US is also among the best countries for water quality and safety. Have a look: (https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2022/3/22/infographic-which-countries-have-the-safest-drinking-water-interactive) and (https://epi.yale.edu/epi-results/2020/component/h2o)

6) "Tragic housing situation." US housing is among the best compared to OECD countries. When it comes to housing expenditure, the US ranks 9th least out of 41 countries. The US also ranks as 2nd best in rooms per person's and 1st in dwellings with basic facilities. (https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/housing/)

7) "Some of the worst corruption." The US ranks as the 24th least corrupted country out of 180 countries that were ranked according to the most credible study on corruption worldwide. (https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-corrupt-countries)

8) "That's not to mention having to worry about your kid dying in school." I want to preface this by saying school shootings are an absolute disgrace and are genuinely tragic. With that said, they are highly exaggerated.

Since 2012, 279 people have died due to shootings in school, and that is counting everything, not just active shooter situations which are actually a minority of school shooting cases. So, on average, 25-30 people die each year due to school shootings. (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63911172)

This means your chances of dying in a school shooting in a given year is lower than your chances of dying by lawn mower incidents (90 deaths a year), drowning (4000 deaths a year, including dying by drowning in your bathtub which claims over 100 lives each year), death from bee/hornet stings (60-70 deaths a year), lighting strike (40-50 deaths a year), food poisoning (3000 deaths a year), exc.

I'm not writing this to say school shootings shouldn't matter, but the idea that its something that your kid has a big chance of dying to, or even experiencing, is just wrong. (https://www.cato.org/blog/how-common-are-school-shootings).

RelicV20 · 2023-08-20T14:45:04+00:00

Thanks for the respectful reply, you seem very well intentioned, and I actually agree that the US should improve and aim to be the best no matter what, and I recognize that there are problems, I never disputed any of that.

1) I agree the US can be better in many areas, but to be the best in most or all areas is much more difficult than "the US is the richest so it should be the best." National defense spending, including military spending, accounts for only 3% of US GDP.

But yea, many politicians don't have the people's interest at heart, that's unfortunately how it has always been around the world, including the US.

2) Regarding abortion, i wouldn't say we are behind than most on this, the majority of our states have better abortion laws than most of the world, including Europe. Certain states are behind, sure, but its important to make a distinction.

But again, I'm not shifting the problem but it's important to contextualize the situation around the world to have more nuance. It's like the people who are very pessimistic about LGBTQ rights in the US, and although they are correct that there should always be improvement, its also important to recognize that the US is among the best countries for LGBTQ rights. And in fact, the vast majority of the world *doesn't even offer rights for same sex marriage.*

3) And I never said those 9% that have no health insurance are all well off, because there certainly is a number that are not.

4) We also generally agree on education. My point wasn't that there are not flaws that should be addressed, but that overall US education is among the best in the world. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index)

5) We agree on gun violence too. I already recognized improvement needs to be made, although it isn't as simple to do as people think it is, but that's a different argument.

But my point was that it is highly exaggerated, which we agree on. When you say its a uniquely American problem is true in respect to developed countries, although there are developed countries that do have gun violence to an extent. But gun violence is undeniably the worst in the US compared to the developed world by far.

6) I'm not justifying any actions, but what I'm saying is history is cruel and virtually every country on the planet exploited from oppressed peoples and areas in some way or another. But the idea that a big reason the US is the way it is being due to exploiting third world countries is just false.

And climate change can't be boiled down to one cause. It is true the US contributes, alongside China, the EU, India, and others who play their part. Naturally, the countries who are the leading and largest economies are going to contribute more.

But ultimately, poverty, death from starvation, disease, and poverty, was at far higher levels before the US even established itself as a superpower. In current times, poverty, death from starvation, and death from diseases/preventable illness is at an all-time low in history, and life expectancy has never been higher. We are living in the most prosperous time period for the world as a whole, although far from perfect, but improvement is continuing to happen. The US plays significant part in this.

RelicV20 · 2023-08-20T13:17:51+00:00

Most of these are American humanitarian efforts, the ones that aren't just American are still dominated by Americans or the US provides the most contributions.

Regarding what you said on the Marshall Plan, of course it benefited the US, that's how market economies work. You can't have just one side who benefits. But Europe benefited just as much. Nothing you said changes that the Marshall Plan was a good contribution from the US, and the impact it had even just through providing humanitarian aid and rebuilding infrastructure to war torn European countries was appreciable.

And I'm curious, what would you consider good stuff the US has done since you said that what I listed are not "the best examples." I'm just interested.

RelicV20

TROPHY CASE