05-15-2020, 01:04 AM
The pleasantness or otherwise of US folks at the micro / individual level is not really the point, nor the opinions of the ever dwindling and dubiously appointed liberal class. Taking a big picture / broader view, consider this random collection of fun facts, bearing in mind this is currently the wealthiest country on earth :
- Trump should have been impeached on the first day he took office, via the Emoluments Clause. He wasn't. Breakdown
of the rule of law, or selective appliaction of the law ? You decide.
- the gap between rich and poor has never been higher in the US than now
- they have the most expensive healthcare in the developed world, with the worst health outcomes
- real wages have stagnated or declined over the last 30-35 years
- facts such as unemployment rates are presented in a way that conceals the real numbers. E.g,
if you work 1 hour/week, you're considered employed.
if you work 28 hrs/week at Walmart, it puts you below the poverty line
if you stop looking for work after 4 weeks of searching, you are automatically erased from the
unemployment numbers
unemployment numbers don't count students, don't count prisoners, don't count retired people who have
gone back to doing temp work to make ends meet etc.
- the US has the highest number of guns in civilian ownership in the world, both per capita and in total
- among the highest suicide rate in the developed world
- they have reached the highest level of recorded debt in history
-they have the highest number of prisoners of any country, both per capita and in total. Half of US prison population
never harmed another person. 94% never get a jury trial. They have 25% of the world’s prison population, yet
5% of the world’s population - mostly people of colour.
- there is a clear push to roll back civil liberties, following a very hard right, fundamentalist Christian agenda, as exemplified by the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh - one of his main orders of business is to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade case from 1973.
Consider yourselves warned.
- Trump should have been impeached on the first day he took office, via the Emoluments Clause. He wasn't. Breakdown
of the rule of law, or selective appliaction of the law ? You decide.
- the gap between rich and poor has never been higher in the US than now
- they have the most expensive healthcare in the developed world, with the worst health outcomes
- real wages have stagnated or declined over the last 30-35 years
- facts such as unemployment rates are presented in a way that conceals the real numbers. E.g,
if you work 1 hour/week, you're considered employed.
if you work 28 hrs/week at Walmart, it puts you below the poverty line
if you stop looking for work after 4 weeks of searching, you are automatically erased from the
unemployment numbers
unemployment numbers don't count students, don't count prisoners, don't count retired people who have
gone back to doing temp work to make ends meet etc.
- the US has the highest number of guns in civilian ownership in the world, both per capita and in total
- among the highest suicide rate in the developed world
- they have reached the highest level of recorded debt in history
-they have the highest number of prisoners of any country, both per capita and in total. Half of US prison population
never harmed another person. 94% never get a jury trial. They have 25% of the world’s prison population, yet
5% of the world’s population - mostly people of colour.
- there is a clear push to roll back civil liberties, following a very hard right, fundamentalist Christian agenda, as exemplified by the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh - one of his main orders of business is to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade case from 1973.
Consider yourselves warned.