Take this with many grains of salt. A knee replacement for free?? You’ve got to be kidding me. I travel abroad extensively and don’t believe much of what you are saying, except the status part.
Actually, the blogger is pretty arrogant. Having spent what, three years living in unidentified foreign locations now this qualifies him as the only expert on what’s wrong with America and who is right about his 10 points? Blecch!
I feel the lesser after having read this screed.
No wonder his brother is an alcoholic.
This guy sounds like Obama.
I vote he stays in whatever third-world craphole he wishes so he can enjoy the 6-story cineplex to his heart’s content and I’ll stay right here. That way, both of us will be happy and never have to put up with each other. Oh, and BTW, please have him send back his US passport while he’s at it since he’s found Nirvana elsewhere.
Speaking as an expat living in Japan, I can’t account for all of this, but most of it, especially regarding attitudes, is bang on. Most of my Japanese friends have written off America as a tourist destination and are reluctant to accept business appointments that take them there.
Canada is much preferred, South American appointments are very competitive, Europe is a city-by-city decision, but going to America even as a highly paid middle management type is just more hassle than its worth.
Comments? Just one. When someone uses obscenities in a blog I quit reading and dismiss them as an idiot
No, I really don’t care what else they have to say, they’re idiots...period.
I agree with all 10 - I don’t know about the free health and the circumstances behind it — I remember going to a Kuwaiti hospital - for as rich as they are - it was dirty and over crowded...I guess it depends...but yes - most US citizens (largely the youth) are idiots to world politics and obese people are everywhere...but then again - look at the politicians we keep sending into office and the deals they make with food producers and Monstano!
I think I just ignored him. Later on I found him glued to his TV and watching CNN International and soaking up all the bad crap they were spouting.
The liberal media has destroyed our country and for the life of me I can't understand why they did it.
All the comments until yours, Ronin, epitomize what the author was talking about. There are none so blind as those that will not see. I agree with everything the guy says, including medical care. Some travel extensively but never learn. Some prefer to remain in place and not learn. The reflexive knee-jerk reaction is just sad but does prove the point.
My son lives in South Korea and he says status and consumerism is much bigger there.
Debt ceiling increase?...Obamacare? BOTTOMS UP!
In my 12 years between central Europe and the Philippines, I do not hear many comments one way or the other. I think many know that the American dream is not what it use to be.
I have traveled and lived all over the world. Every time I went to a new country, I thanked God for the blessing of being born and raised in the United States. Sure there were some things in each country that I liked but overall there is no place in the world like the US. I am not saying we the US people are the greatest, I am saying that our land, our type of government, our freedom, our Constitutional rights are far superior than any I have seen. However, with our current President and Congress, I am sadly seeing much of what makes this country great quickly eroding. May God help us.
I actually concur with several of these. But then again I’m a realist.
Every one of those charming folks in brand-Xville would cut your throat if they had the opportunity (yeah, I know, the denizens of Detroit would too but we won't go there).
More food for a given price means more profit?
Sure. When I was an exchange student in France, the French described Americans as friendly and shallow, in comparison to the French, who are more aloof, but whose friendships are far deeper.
Although this guy describes living in multiple countries for the past three years, I doubt he stayed in any one country long enough to get to really know it. As an exchange student in France, I lived with two different French families, and got a very good view of France. I still wouldn't claim to know France. I also lived in Spain for three years--I wouldn't say I know the Spanish well. I'm afraid that unless one spends a prolonged period of time fully immersed in another culture, one cannot get a real perspective on that culture.
Also, this guy is totally off on his pronouncements about medicine. On an apples-to-apples comparison--which you don't get by looking at UN or WHO data--medicine in the US *is* better. Despite the promises of socialized medicine, it does not and cannot deliver quality care. He has no clue about the real prices of medical procedures. Shots costing hundreds of dollars? I believe the flu shot for my son cost around $30 this year--last year, it was about $20 (thanks, Obamacare?). Socialized medicine is not free; it is paid for by excessive taxes on everything--you aren't paying for your own care with those taxes, you are paying for every person with hypochondriac tendencies to go visit the doctor every time they sneeze, plus the salaries of all of the bureaucrats whose numbers keep increasing far faster than the number of actual health care professionals. Furthermore, he should look a little below the surface in his pronouncements on the quality of healthcare, and where American medicine stands in that regard. We really are the forefront there. Every country in the world seeks to emulate the US; their goals are to implement regulatory standards comparable to ours. One last thing is that the prices we pay for drugs as opposed to everyone else is high, because no one else is paying the research and development costs of those drugs. This puts Americans in the position of having to pay not only our share of the R&D costs, but subsidizing Canada's share as well. If we ever go to a system where drug companies are told to eat the costs of R&D (because they make "too much" profit), we will never see a new drug again.
Otherwise I'd say, MAYBE it's all understandable... but in the end... WHO steps up to the plate every single time there are thousands and millions of people (whole nations, many of whom are our avowed enemies) all over the world when they need assistance, food and medical help, etc. in a disaster?
The cold, greedy, passionless and spoiled Americans, THAT'S who!
I happen to be Australian and think the USA is special so strike up a whoop-te-do for me. A lot of those points I see as right for a large amount of Americans mostly lefties. Also he is wrong about people not caring about what the USA does - lefties all over the world go apoplectic when something like voting for a Right-wing President happens in your country.
I personally went around correcting the lies told about Sarah Palin when she was running for VP. These jokes and lies are never spread even in Australia about lefties. I know a lady, who seems commonsense in many ways, and she said how she loved Obama - I ran off a quick 10 things that Obama had done that she would have hated if GW had of done them and she said “I still like him anyway”.
I cannot speak to living conditions for the working poor. The only major problems with the USA is that you have been living well beyond your means (especially your government) for a lot of years and the rest of the world has been encouraging you to spend, spend, spend. It is time for a correction or a change of path but even a small one is going to feel radical to everyone and not only you guys but to the whole world - we will see how little attention they pay to you then.
Mel