Americans and Non-Americans, What is Your Opinion on the United States of America in General

[freedquaker]

I am not sure about the nature of the original question but I will assume a comparison with the quality of life in USA vs other developed countries, and OECD in particular.

 

America WAS a dream country in 1950s... Europe was devastated, so was Japan and other remote parts of the developed world today. So, when one looks at the historical charts, (s)he would see that America has been far ahead of other countries for a long time and only recently others have been catching up. That is not the whole story though. Germany, for example, was as developed and advanced as US, if not more before the world wars. So was Britain and many others. The continuous conflicts during the late 19th and early to mid 20th centuries devastated those countries and while US has siezed the opportunity and abundant resources in a far away safe haven.

 

For the last 20-30 years, things have changed big time. Just look at any economic statistics, US has started to lag severely. The wage rates are trailing, inequality is on the rise, health care system is shattering, and the education quality is suffering, not to mention the decades old infra structure. Just take a look at the following statistics and you'd be hard-pressed to believe that this is supposedly the leading country in the world!

US vs OECD
http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/CN%20-%20United%20States.pdf

Wealth Inequality in US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM

Stagnant Wages
http://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/
http://www.epi.org/publication/a-decade-of-flat-wages-the-key-barrier-to-shared-prosperity-and-a-rising-middle-class/