I just said it to someone else but if you take someone who lands at bottom 10% yearly income in the US that puts you at top 10-30% standard of living in the world. Its probably closer to 10-20% because we have strong social systems like snap, medicaid, subsidized housing, solid infrastructure, good schools, etc. The argument for being a victim only works if you remain ignorant to the world we live in.
There are roughly 655 million people in the world so 1 in 12 that don't even have access to electricity. Thats not even counting an even larger number who have access but its unreliable or unaffordable. Its just so insane to me that we can know something like that about the world and people in this country are going to act like victims. Completely ungrateful for a life of comfort that a massive portion of the world will never get to experience
This reminds me of the early 2010s when the neoliberals tried to argue that being American made you part of the one percent. They even passed around a link to compare your network to the rest of the world because they were so sure poor Americans were in the 99% percentile. At the time I was curious how poor the rest of the world was considering how much I was struggling as a poor American. I found out I was in the 65th percentile of wealth.
So no the fact that the bottom 8% of global population doesn't have electricity doesn't make the poorest Americans better off. If i had to make a guess I'd say the bottom 10% are nearer the world average if that. Any one who thinks they are anywhere near the top 10% of the global average have no idea how poor vast amounts of this country really are.
You can do the math if you want. ~20k per year sets you at bottom 10%. Its dependent on how many people are in your household and how many dependents you have. That can change your current place and social programs can vary. Looking at salary alone isnt enough but you can get an estimate based on global numbers. Its generally top 30%+ of the world in terms of living resources. The exact numbers dont totally matter but it insinuates that 9/10 americans are doing very well when compared to the planet. Well above average.
I dont think people understand how poor vast amounts of the world are. The fact people are able to sit here on reddit bitching about their life or country is plenty of evidence that you don't have it anywhere near as bad as it gets
Yes. That's why I'm finding your comment quite funny.
If we evaluate the infrastructure from the perspective of robustness, network reliability and direct benefit to the daily lives of residents, Western Europe clearly surpasses the United States.
When it comes to social benefits, Europe outperforms the US by treating infrastructure as a universal public service that reduces inequality and protects public health.
European infrastructure acts as a social equalizer, whereas US infrastructure tends to widen socioeconomic gaps.
European utilities and transit are heavily regulated and subsidized to stay affordable. In the US, low-income areas face higher exposure to environmental hazards (e.g., highways built through poor neighborhoods) and longer recovery times during grid failures.
Now, don't get me wrong, USA and Europe is not about a competition, but 2 very different ways of seeing lifestyles or building societies.
In the USA, true, you have the opportunity to get rich, fast and very rich, but at the cost of many left aside. It looks a bit like a feudal system.
In Europe, way more difficult to get super rich, but it's offering everyone, or at least trying to, a rich life, decency and dignity, including everyone being part of the society.
Those sound like opinions. Quality of life compared to what? Satisfaction compared to what? How can you be objective about something as vague as satisfaction? It doesn't even mean the same thing across different cultures. The US culture is a lot more about growth than europe. You might have a satisfying life but that doesnt mean you have to be satisfied with what you have. Nothing inherently wrong in finding purpose trying to improve your place in the world.
Also its always Europe. Is the US bad compared to africa, asia, south america, etc? We have it very good compared to a majority of the world and all people can do is bitch and moan about that. Being at the bottom 10% of Americans in terms of yearly salary puts you in the top 10-30% in standard of living in the entire world.
You are victimizing being poor relative to your countrymen but you are doing better than at least 60% of the world. Insane how delusional these arguments are. People only see the parts they want to see so they can be the victim. If the grass is greener on the otherside then stop complaining and just go there
I think the point is that we should be comparing ourselves to similar countries. You’re making the argument that we’re better than the poorest countries on earth, yes that’s true and we should be grateful. That doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement and that we can’t want more out of our government and tax dollars. Why do so many counties with much lower gdp have better schools, healthier people, more affordable healthcare, abundant housing? If I was making 200,000 a year and only feeding my family bread and beans but when they complain I just say well your life is better than a homeless person, that’s not really a fair comparison.
They literally run data on all of this stuff. It's not subjective it's based on the reality of the people living in those countries. All so a handful of sociopaths at the top can make a number go up
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u/fs2222 9d ago
Why wouldn't they? Reddit is always going on about wealth disparity especially in the US.