What's Wrong With America?

First let it be understood, "America, love it or leave it" comments will be ignored. However, solutions to right the "wrongs" are welcome.

Within budget restraints, I believe there are two pressing issues facing America today:
1. Wealth inequality
2. Health care.

America has, by far, the largest income/wealth inequality of any third world country. History has shown this is unsustainable. Either social decline or revolution will be the eventual end result. Fortunately, America has a scheduled "revolution" every two years. The American tax structure massively favors the rich. This arises not only from wages but from investment where the rich gain a huge advantage over average Americans. The solution is obvious, revise the tax system so the rich pay significantly more.

Health care is nearly 20% of American GDP. This is nearly double the next most expensive nation that offers universal coverage. Half the bankruptcies in America arise from medical bills. Much of "Obamacare" works well, some does not. "Obamacare" offers an opportunity to make careful and strategic changes to our health care system rather than the sweeping "Medicare for All" currently proposed by Warren and Sanders. I favor building on "Obamacare" expanding what works, eliminating what doesn't.

Comments please.

 

What's wrong with America...easy.

One word: "Overabundance". Leading to the other dreaded word "hedonism". This is nothing new or unique to America - almost all civilizations that were once fabulously successful (note that America still is and I'm not being predictive here) eventually underwent the same sort of process. Sometimes that process is drawn out, sometimes not. To be continued with the US I guess.

Anyways, overabundance leads to gluttony, weakness and an insatiable need for 'more' - by any means. In the United State's case 'any means' here means expanding the reach of the government in order to attain free ****. There are invariably going to be other reasons stated for voting in free **** (no one wants to admit they just want free ****) but at the end of the day - it's free ****.

So in other words, to borrow from the Romans, the Plebeian in mentality (Leftists) have no real value system and abuse the power of the state to vote in free ****. This is what's wrong with America - it's pretty simple stuff and we've seen it in the past multiple times now in history. Democratic systems always end up the same way

 

Everything was great until the introduction of the 401k in the late 1970's it finally gained traction in the early 1980's and by 1990 over 100,000 private pension plans had been cancelled by U.S.companies.The companies took those saved funds from no longer funding pension plans and spread it around among their executives and boards of directors.When they saw how well that worked for their benefit they systematically began to withdraw other company benefits while simultaneously downsizing employees over age 50 who had accrued long vacations and other benefits under the old more liberal benefits plans,again they divvied up the savings amongst themselves.Once they established these plans to enrich themselves they stuck with them.

 

I wish I could remember the name. Its the innevitable cycle:
adversity > reform > prosperity > stagnation > collapse > adversity. Some guy named it after himself... anyway, this cycle has been repeating itself since recorded history. We're on the tail end of the stagnation phase.

 

Yeah it's like the german barbarism --> civilized --> decadent process. This is all obvious stuff if you look at what's going on dispassionately (which kind of sucks to do but least it's an objective look)

 

The Corporations are all Corporationary and they sit there in their big Corporation buildings...and they make money.

 

What's Wrong With America?

Far left wing aholes

 

I think you are talking abut the Kondratiev wave



An interesting concept that assumes that economic supercycles are overlayed over the normal short-term business cycle.

The fact that growth seems to be unescapably slow, even with ever increasing economic stimulus, seems to indicate that we are approaching the peak of one of those waves.

 

I think people with so little love for their country they even refuse to celebrate Independence day are dragging us all down!

 

That doesn't make sense. Why are you comparing America's wealth inequality to only third world countries?

And, even compared to third world countries, your statement isn't accurate.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsa...e-country-with-the-worlds-worst-inequality-is

 

The problem with the loaded question of “why is there wealth inequality” is that it subsumes several false premises.
1. There is a finite amount of wealth to be had.
2. Wealth inequality is the result of a rigged system.
3. All people deserve to be wealthy. Or the mere existence of others entitles a claim on unearned wealth.
4. It is the proper role of government to fix such inequities.
To complain about inequities of people who all have the same basic rights is really ludicrous.
Who is better off? The man who works 40 hours a week and gets taxed, or the man who doesn’t work pays no tax and still gets to eat.
Who is really the slave here?

 

Nice wreck. Just don't expect much - value systems are becoming increasingly stark - they don't follow the basic principles that were (mostly inferred) established by our predecessors in the US.

 

We have become spoiled, unhealthy, and incredibly selfish.

 

Americans haven’t become selfish enough. If we were selfish we would fight to keep what we earn instead of laying down every time the collectivist left digs into our paychecks.

 

Quite frankly I am *******ned tired of people saying that health insurance is health care. They are NOT the same. Health care is getting off your whiney good-for-nothing fat ass and exercising/putting the fork down. Health insurance is for the RARE times you are ill....it's not your every day maintenance plan. Health insurance is NOT a system whereby you waddle your snotty ass into the emergency room every time you cough and then bitch about the high cost of your POOR personal decisions.

When this country collapses....and it will....I hope that I am alive to see it so I can LAUGH at the pathetic LEFT that cried like a bitch long enough to destroy it and then they are the ones starving.

 

We suffer from income inequality. 4 of the 6 wealthiest counties in the US owe their good fortune to the Federal Government of unelected bureaucrats, consultants, lobbyists and politicians. The inequality driven by success and hard work in the private market is not much of a concern. The real concern is an overweight government made up of oligarchs whose interest is self-interest and who have the power to reach into our wallets and make our earnings and assets their reward for their totalitarian power.

The best quote I've heard to describe Obamacare: "So good we had to mandate it".

This is easy to solve. Xi has shown us the way. The world takes advantage of our free market system. We develop drugs, sometimes with partial funding from the government and interest groups, and foreign governments enforce price controls.

To understand what that does, one must understand pharma. It isn't hard. Drug companies spend billions of dollars developing drugs, executing clinical trials, and complying +with an overbearing, expensive regulatory regime at the FDA. Once approved, the cost of production of the drugs are cheap. By allowing foreign freeloaders to control pricing and not restricting the US market, Americans end up subsidizing drugs for other countries. The solution is finally coming. FINALLY a law that will force drug companies to charge Americans no more to than they charge in foreign countries for the same drugs.

Xi brags about how easy it is for China to exploit us because of our freedoms.

 

Thats prolly it.

 

Since we don't even agree as to what the most pressing problems are it's doubtful we will ever agree as to a solution. The most pressing problem we have is far and away an overabundance of bureaucracy. That is a huge cost multiplier for almost everything we do in this country on top of that it tends to concentrate not spread wealth.

 

Wrong they not only didn't do that legally they couldn't. do that with pension plans. It's called ERISA look it up. I worked for two different companies that ended their pension plans. I was fully vested in both the first one, ended before 401 k's became available. I was given a couple of hundred shares of stock it split shortly there after I sold it for like six or seven dollars a share, within two years the company was no more.

The second we were given the option of a lump sum payment or rolling it over into a 401k I chose the latter. Mergers probably cost more extended vacation time than downsizing. Change company logo you lose your seniority. The biggest problem the post office has right now is manpower. Because of vacation and sick leave policies they have to have four or five people on the job to do the work of three.

 

We've agreed enough to have elected Donald Trump. Defend our border, lower taxes, cut regulations that are strangling business creation and you will be tackling income disparity. There will always be a lot, I hope. But wages, for instance, for black people, are rising like we've not seen in over 50 years.
Health care coverage is trickier. The Left rammed the ACA down our throats and now tell us it sucks. No duh. What we'll do about that is going to be tricky.

 

Let's consider the OP's "most pressing factor" that America is facing.

Okay, let's look at wealth inequality, and so let's look at the most unequal country on the planet.



What caused the wealth inequality problem in South Africa? Unchecked capitalism? Corporate greed? Donald Trump?

Let's look and see, shall we?



Ah, there's your problem, lady.

Mass, unchecked immigration. South Africa built a booming, thriving economy that generated much wealth, and then Apartheid ended, and the teeming masses flocked in their tens of millions to get "their fair share" of the wealth of others.

And therein lies your problem- unchecked immigration.

Solution:

 

Nicely done Sir!

 

I was referencing specifically the author of the OP and I.

 

I see wealth inequality as having as many positives as negatives.

As for health care, I think Americans are over treated, over medicated. Having Americans become accustomed to NOT running to a doctor at every pain would be an improvement.

 

Wealth inequality beyond certain limits is largely a function of excessive taxation and over bureaucatization.