America has by far the highest standard of living in the world

Kanton-Ex wrote:

I live in Switzerland and have also lived in Germany, France and The Netherlands. I was shocked at the poverty in the US when I went there and I am not sure if it's really first world.

Some people literally live in tin shacks, as in some third world African countries. Not even proper houses. Their are huge numbers of homeless people living in filth on the streets in some cities. They are actually pooping on the street. The education system is poor. A lot of people can't afford proper healthcare. The public transport in many areas is terrible and not clean. Infrastructure is poor in general with things like el ctrucity cables not buried underground and no foot/bicycle paths. Life expectancy is 6 years lower than in Switzerland. Most people only have one home and have to rent somewhere for summer or winter skiing holidays. Food is cheap but a lot of the cuisine is very basic level so it isn't prepared well.

Although houses are very very cheap. You can buy a 5 bedrooms luxury house in one of those suburbs for the price of a small apartment in Zurich or Geneva suburb. I know several people here in Switzerland who are just average in terms of prosperity who have a large house in Florida that they keep for holidays. I've also noticed that some of the luxury hotels in the US are not that clean.

I've also noticed that quite a number of Americans are not well behaved in public - their manners are not good. They are too loud and boastful and if they get into an argument, they quickly start using low language which here indicates that you have no education or maybe come from a family of criminals. I see at the world indoor championships some of the American medallists were behaving in a rather brash, ignorant way, as if no one had ever won a medal before.

jamin wrote:

You go into a mini mart in Europe and the only drink options you have are like Coke, diet Coke, Fanta (orange) and Sprite. In America you go into a mini mart and there are about 50 options of soda, 12 options of energy drinks. Grocery store in America has an entire aisle dedicated to cereal. We have this place we go to called Costco where instead of shopping carts you push around a giant pallet.

Another thing is cities. In any other country in the world, there is 1, maybe 2, major cities where you can find employment. Everything else is small villages with no restaurants, maybe a pub. In America everyone is highly mobile and has about 20 options of major cities to live, plus the "suburbs" where there are these things called "neighborhoods" (the concept doesn't exist in other countries), plus of course plenty of small towns.

Average Joe in America can own an SUV and giant house and take his family out to eat 2x per week at Applebee's. Unthinkable in any other country.

Best health care system in the world. It's almost a miracle how unhealthy we are and yet we have the technology to keep them alive till their 70s or 80s. We even get advertisements on TV for drugs to ask our doctor about. In countries with socialized medicine, if you want some heart or brain medication, the system makes you visit a general practionioner and there's a very high bar to get referred to a specialist and get perscribed a medication and you might have to wait months and months. In the U.S., you can go straight to any doctor and he'll be happy to provide any necessary or unnecessary service you want to pay for.

jamin wrote:

You go into a mini mart in Europe and the only drink options you have are like Coke, diet Coke, Fanta (orange) and Sprite. In America you go into a mini mart and there are about 50 options of soda, 12 options of energy drinks. Grocery store in America has an entire aisle dedicated to cereal. We have this place we go to called Costco where instead of shopping carts you push around a giant pallet.

Another thing is cities. In any other country in the world, there is 1, maybe 2, major cities where you can find employment. Everything else is small villages with no restaurants, maybe a pub. In America everyone is highly mobile and has about 20 options of major cities to live, plus the "suburbs" where there are these things called "neighborhoods" (the concept doesn't exist in other countries), plus of course plenty of small towns.

Average Joe in America can own an SUV and giant house and take his family out to eat 2x per week at Applebee's. Unthinkable in any other country.

Best health care system in the world. It's almost a miracle how unhealthy we are and yet we have the technology to keep them alive till their 70s or 80s. We even get advertisements on TV for drugs to ask our doctor about. In countries with socialized medicine, if you want some heart or brain medication, the system makes you visit a general practionioner and there's a very high bar to get referred to a specialist and get perscribed a medication and you might have to wait months and months. In the U.S., you can go straight to any doctor and he'll be happy to provide any necessary or unnecessary service you want to pay for.

jamin wrote:

You go into a mini mart in Europe and the only drink options you have are like Coke, diet Coke, Fanta (orange) and Sprite. In America you go into a mini mart and there are about 50 options of soda, 12 options of energy drinks. Grocery store in America has an entire aisle dedicated to cereal. We have this place we go to called Costco where instead of shopping carts you push around a giant pallet.

Another thing is cities. In any other country in the world, there is 1, maybe 2, major cities where you can find employment. Everything else is small villages with no restaurants, maybe a pub. In America everyone is highly mobile and has about 20 options of major cities to live, plus the "suburbs" where there are these things called "neighborhoods" (the concept doesn't exist in other countries), plus of course plenty of small towns.

Average Joe in America can own an SUV and giant house and take his family out to eat 2x per week at Applebee's. Unthinkable in any other country.

Best health care system in the world. It's almost a miracle how unhealthy we are and yet we have the technology to keep them alive till their 70s or 80s. We even get advertisements on TV for drugs to ask our doctor about. In countries with socialized medicine, if you want some heart or brain medication, the system makes you visit a general practionioner and there's a very high bar to get referred to a specialist and get perscribed a medication and you might have to wait months and months. In the U.S., you can go straight to any doctor and he'll be happy to provide any necessary or unnecessary service you want to pay for.