Is the United States really a developed country?

[Jon-Erich]

HomokHarcos said:

Jon-Erich said:

Except you guys pay a lot more in taxes, so your education isn't exactly free. Also, how come Europe or Canada doesn't have their Silicon Valley or Hollywood? They have film studios and tech companies, but not like the US. Is it because it is far easier to be an entrepreneur in America because of the lower taxes and fewer regulations or are there other reasons? We got Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Facebook, Twitter and a lot more. We've got most of the major film studios and most of the major music labels. Then when you look at the music industry, the NFL and NBA, you realize that the US has more wealthy black people than any other nation on Earth? In fact, I remember reading somewhere that if you added up all the wealth of the entire black population of the United States, you would have the 14th largest economy in the world. Why is this? What is it that we were able to get right that you guys weren't? 

I definitely agree that the United States is more innovative. Canadian cinema is such a joke that most people can't even name one Canadian movie. I also think the US has more freedom of speech than in Canada. But the social services are very poor in the United States than Canada, and if you're not well of Canada is better.

The point I am making is that the US does a much better job of lifting people out of poverty that a lot of other developed nations. As far as the social services are concerned, that may very well be a cultural issue. The US seems to do better when there is less government involved. With healthcare, cost wasn't very much of a problem until the federal government became more involved in healthcare about 50 years ago. With education, the United States had some of the best public schools in the world up until the 1970s. That is because public education was run mostly by local and state governments. When the federal government became more involved by establishing the department of education, the quality of education dropped quickly. With higher education, it was very affordable until the government got involved in the student loan business. It has been going up ever since. I can't speak for Canada and Europe so much, but in the US, it seems like every time the federal government becomes more involved in something, they screw it up.