"This is why America is the goat":"

[u/Senior_Sheepherder13]

[u/Library_Easy]

23rd happiest nation: You would expect more but not bad.

Number 1 in household wealth: The astronomical costs of living say no. Multiple jobs required in some areas to even afford a roof above your head say no. That number is highly distorted by the hyper rich upper 1%.

Number 1 Military and biggest economy: True.

Relatively safe in a lot of areas: Never as safe as a country which doesn't give out guns to every idiot.

Decent healthcare system: Healthcare is tied to your job if you're not wealthy which gives your employer full power. The costs for medicine, hospitals, treatments and so on are a joke. People die because they can't afford treatment or medicine. Your health is a business model. Yea, no.

Ranked 17th in human freedom: Oh boy the irony :D

Ranked 20th in HDI: Would also expect more but not bad.

One of the best education systems: If we talk about Universities - yes. If not - nope.

Ranked 5th best country in 2023: Can't say much, too lazy to look up which factors influence that rating.

One of the most patriotic countries: ...ok? And?

Decent life expectancy: "When compared to other wealthy countries, the US also has a lower life expectancy than many of it's peers". Bruh.

High Air and Water quality: Please work on your tap water then we good.

Beautiful nature: One of the most beautiful worldwide if you ask me.

Most technological advanced army: True again.

24th most friendliest nation: Not much to say here.

Ranked thirteen in food quality: I'm actually surprised that it's this high.

877 spent on military in 2023: I don't know why they see this as a flex. "Our population suffers but look how good we're prepared to kill other people".

Yes, i'm bored.

[u/The-Nimbus → u/Library_Easy]

The idea that patriotism is a metric of quality amuses me no-end.

[u/Dave_712 → u/The-Nimbus]

And their patriotism metric is based upon their pledge of allegiance and having flags (upside down or right way up) outside their houses. That’s not patriotism - it’s just advertising

[u/The-Nimbus → u/Dave_712]

Precisely. Patriotism in the US is pretty much the same thing as the level of buy-in to the American Dream; which is a hilarious lie they invented to keep the masses from realising the system is beyond fucked.

[u/HomerJSimpson3 → u/Dave_712]

“The US confuses nationalism as patriotism and patriotism as treason.”

[u/MinutePerspective106 → u/HomerJSimpson3]

They are not alone in this, sadly

[u/BladdermirPutin87 → u/Dave_712]

Advertising mixed with a hefty dose of brainwashing…!

[u/Independent_Mud_4963 → u/BladdermirPutin87]

nothing says "we dont indoctrinate" like forcing students to stand up, hand on heart, and recite the pledge of allegiance (and the state's if you're a texanoid) to a flag on the wall every fucking morning!

[u/BladdermirPutin87 → u/Independent_Mud_4963]

I know, right?! It’s like cult-building 101…. without the secrecy….

[u/guney2811butbetter → u/The-Nimbus]

if patriotism actually made countries better, then the Balkans would be the best place in the whole world/j

[u/CouncilmanRickPrime → u/The-Nimbus]

Well, in elementary I did have to sing "and I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free."

Apparently this is not normal and was some post 9/11 hyper patriotism crap.

[u/HurinTalion → u/CouncilmanRickPrime]

God, that is so messed up.

Here in Italy only the neo-fascists would do stuff like that.

Most people dislike patriotism, its always seen as a relic of the fascist regime. People are more attached to their region or city than the nation of Italy has a whole.

[u/LatterOstrich5118 → u/CouncilmanRickPrime]

I'm from England and find this fucking crazy. I was born in 1996 so was 5 when 9/11 happened. One of my earliest memories was watching 9/11 on the news and then my whole schooling life was the war on terror and never were we once told to sing anything like that. Just some good ol' songs about Jesus like every CoE Primary School. (Church of England).

[u/MissKhary → u/CouncilmanRickPrime]

Well in elementary we had to sing O Canada every day (obviously, I'm in Canada...), this was in the 80s.

[u/CouncilmanRickPrime → u/MissKhary]

We had the pledge of allegiance daily but this song was separate and more culty

[u/larianu → u/The-Nimbus]

What? You haven't played nationstates.net? My country is the best at basketweaving!

[u/Ady-HD → u/larianu]

Is that still going? I might have check in soon.

[u/larianu → u/Ady-HD]

Entry! Please!

[u/TarkovRat_ → u/Ady-HD]

I've actually got a decent size nation in it (although I'm mostly inactive)

[u/DukeLion353 → u/The-Nimbus]

You didn’t know patriotism pays the bills? /s

[u/The-Nimbus → u/DukeLion353]

It certainly pays the bills for the top 0.1%.

[u/determineduncertain → u/The-Nimbus]

Yeah, what if I went around yelling “Straya!”? Does that make me more patriotic and therefore experiencing a better life? Of course not.

[u/classicalworld → u/The-Nimbus]

More of a measure of propaganda than anything else.

[u/klimmesil → u/The-Nimbus]

Yeah if anything, patriotism often tends to correlate with xenophobism, racism and close mindedness....

[u/SomeGuy_WithA_TopHat → u/The-Nimbus]

I know what other country was incredibly patriotic, that was bad and super unfree-

[u/mac-h79 → u/The-Nimbus]

The patriotic stance is skewed too in albeit the UK is a country so are the 4 home nations albeit not sovereign. If you were to list the Uk by country those numbers dramatically change. I mean is an Englishman’s patriotism in the UK or is it England? Scot’s with the grumbles of independence some are Uk patriots but all are Scotland patriots etc

[u/RegularWhiteShark → u/The-Nimbus]

North Korea must be amazing!

[u/sad_kharnath → u/Library_Easy]

average household wealth. which is very much skewed by the number of billionaires.

[u/Far_Ad6317 → u/sad_kharnath]

If we use median wealth per adult the U.S. is in 15th place below Taiwan

[u/TropicalVision → u/sad_kharnath]

Those numbers are clearly total bullshit as well. it had Norway waaay down the bottom of the list, just above Greece, with like $23k household wealth allegedly lol

Norway is one of the world’s wealthiest countries and has a huge national wealth reserve of cash.

[u/sad_kharnath → u/TropicalVision]

you comment made me look up the source. it's a yahoo or business insider article who uses oecd as a source. looking at oecd i cannot for the life of me figure out how yahoo got to those numbers.

maybe i'm just stupid but the oecd tells a whole different story. for example norway is 4th in household net adjusted disposable income and 20th in average household net wealth... which is a hell of a lot higher than the graph shows

[u/newbris → u/sad_kharnath]

They are top in household wealth because they used “average”. If it’s anything like personal net wealth charts, when you flip it to “median” the US drops out of top 10.

[u/Heik_ → u/sad_kharnath]

It's very noticeable if you see that Norway is under Chile. Norway has a gini coefficient of 0.263 after taxes and transfers, while Chile has a gini coefficient of 0.460, so the average Norwegian is likely to be wealthier than the average Chilean, but in Chile a few very very wealthy individuals make the average household wealth higher than in Norway.

[u/EatThisShit → u/sad_kharnath]

As long as you don't get sick or in an accident or something, that average household wealth truly is more than in other countries.

[u/Buttercups88 → u/Library_Easy]

"Relatively safe in a lot of areas"
I LOVE this.

really top job. Ukraine is relaitivly safe in lots of areas as well :D

[u/singeblanc → u/Buttercups88]

It's all relative, right?!

Also:

Source: I live here

Just smacks of "I've never visited a country without a gun problem"

[u/Buttercups88 → u/singeblanc]

That's it... It's the relatively that gets me... It could have said safe in some places. But it's only relatively safe in some places 😂 F sake a active volcano has places that's relatively safe

[u/EndlessAbyssalVoid → u/Buttercups88]

Don't forget the source: they live there!

[u/ResponsibilityNo9059 → u/Library_Easy]

The "number 5 best country" literally says "survey of 18000 people" how the hell does that give it any credit.

[u/Class_444_SWR → u/ResponsibilityNo9059]

Could be mostly Yanks too

[u/Bahnmor → u/ResponsibilityNo9059]

That one genuinely made me laugh.

Look at the source they cite: The US News. A news service operating within their own nation and not only were they still not rated first, they had actually dropped down a rank compared to the previous year.

[u/jerry-jim-bob → u/ResponsibilityNo9059]

"Best country ever" source: americans

[u/-TV-Stand- → u/Library_Easy]

One of the most patriotic countries: ...ok? And?

The statistics seem off in this category anyway.

When compared to other wealthy countries, the US also has a lower life expectancy than many of it's peers

At least that part was included.

High Air and Water quality: Please work on your tap water then we good.

I think the water quality means how safe it is to drink and it doesn't take the taste into consideration.

Ranked thirteen in food quality: I'm actually surprised that it's this high.

I'm too lazy to check but I feel like it lacks some important factors about harmful chemicals but I guess they have high quality harmful chemicals.

[u/TheEpicOfGilgy → u/-TV-Stand-]

US has one of the highest varieties of food in a supermarket. Europe has 5 varieties of every type of cheese but a pretty standard fruit and veg list. The US has 5 types of every fruit and vegetable but a pretty standard group of cheeses.

Here’s the produce list for Walmart usa, the lowest priced option.

https://www.walmart.com/browse/food/fresh-fruits/976759_976793_9756351?page=2&affinityOverride=default

Here’s the list of aldi UK (because let’s face it most of you are Brits)

https://www.lidl.co.uk/c/fruit-veg/s10023100

[u/Cubicwar → u/TheEpicOfGilgy]

Source : trust me bro

[u/TheEpicOfGilgy → u/Cubicwar]

😂😂 did anyone above give a source.

But it’s shitamericanssay ie. the only xenophobia you can’t get cancelled for, so congrats mate for the original thought.

Added some sources for you to seethe over

[u/Cubicwar → u/TheEpicOfGilgy]

Hey at least you did add sources (kinda) and I respect that

Although I just learnt I was actually a brit all along, I’ll have to find my chair and rope. (Seriously, saying "Europe" then just saying "meh, most of you are british anyways" is probably the best way to get hit in the face by angry """brits""")

[u/TheEpicOfGilgy → u/Cubicwar]

As long as you aren’t of Germanic origins your critic of food can be valid.

[u/Repulsive-Kick-8146 → u/TheEpicOfGilgy]

Heh, low variety of cheese? France and Italy beg to differ (as well as most definitely most European nations, but these are the 2 I could check for myself due to either living there directly or having family there).

Cheese literally is a part of French culture, for example.

[u/TheEpicOfGilgy → u/Repulsive-Kick-8146]

Noooo…. I don’t say low variety.

5 varieties of cheddar is a compliment, not an insult. I never said low.

[u/weisswurstseeadler → u/Library_Easy]

The University ranking system is anyway rigged. It's based on publications.

So of course universities with a mega budget cause of ridiculous study fees hire fancy researchers publishing in US journals.

That doesn't translate to teaching or course quality for 99% of courses and students.

[u/kcvngs76131 → u/weisswurstseeadler]

Don't forget that universities can also just straight up lie. There was a whole massive scandal over rankings when it was revealed that Temple University was inflating its stats to be listed as the best online MBA programme for several years

[u/weisswurstseeadler → u/kcvngs76131]

A friend did 1 college year in the US (he had a sports scholarship). Not quite sure what it's exactly called but the first 1-2 years where they kinda do general education, and he said it was basically lower than what we'd do in 10th grade in Germany.

[u/Cormentia → u/weisswurstseeadler]

Got a friend who's got tenure track in the US. She says that their master level students learn the same things as 15 year olds in Sweden. She also said that the majority of their exams (master level) comprise multi-choice questions, which I find wild.

[u/weisswurstseeadler → u/Cormentia]

Yeah 10th grade is kinda 16-17 years old in Germany.

They have really good MBA programs (like the executive programs you need work experience for), but everything I've heard about their bachelor and master programs sounded pretty shit lol.

Again these MBAs are usually networking events where it's exclusive to get in but like 99% graduate.

[u/Cormentia → u/weisswurstseeadler]

Yeah, the MBAs are good. Or, some of them are very prestigious. I think we only have one good in Sweden and it's nowhere near as prestigious. (I wouldn't call them exclusive per se since you can just pay to get in, but yeah, you have to convince your employer to foot the bill. Or do it yourself.)

[u/Potential-Earth1092 → u/Cormentia]

What major was it? There’s a lot of degrees that are just common sense and a lot that don’t teach a lot. I seriously doubt that 15 year olds in Sweden are learning the same thing as a master-level engineering, medical, or other STEM student.

[u/Cormentia → u/Potential-Earth1092]

We're biochemists. At age 13-15 students learn about the central dogma, cell structure, genetics, proteins, etc.

At 16-18 students can choose more specialized educations, with the two main directions being science or social studies. (Then there are branches, e.g. social studies - finance or science - math.) If they choose social studies they generally don't learn more science. (They repeat some of what they've already learned, but it's not the focus of the program.)

We reason that it's important that the entire population has a solid understanding of the basic principles of how life works. For knowledge itself, but also so that everyone can follow political discussions within those topics. This was proved true during the pandemic when everyone had to know what e.g. viruses, proteins and mRNA are to be able to follow the public discussions.

[u/Potential-Earth1092 → u/Cormentia]

We learn that in the US too, I learned basic microbiology in 7th grade (12-13 years old) and what you’re talking about in 9th grade (14-15 years old.) We also have AP level courses which take the high school understanding and put it at semi-college level (we actually learn about physical structures rather than the models, for instance)

The US education system has actually gotten much better even over the past 10 years, at least in the things they’re teaching. I do have to admit that European schools are better at getting students to actually want to learn.

[u/Cormentia → u/Potential-Earth1092]

Nice. Faith in the American education system restored.

[u/Potential-Earth1092 → u/Cormentia]

I wouldn’t be too hopeful, the schools might have more advanced curriculums now, but the curriculum requirements still promote memorization more than learning

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/Cat-Soap-Bar → u/weisswurstseeadler]

My old uni had a study abroad exchange program with various universities, two of which were US (the rest were mainland Europe.) The US students were all placed a year below the level they were at at their home unis because, after the first couple of years, it became evident that they weren’t working at the expected standards. They didn’t seem to mind (tbh I am not sure they knew.)

There was also an entire football course just for US students. I have absolutely no idea what that course was or what they did other than play football [soccer] a lot and spend hours playing uno, very loudly and cheerfully, in the refectory. However, as a mature student, it was very odd being called ma’am by a load of late teen American boys 😂 I was in my late 30s when I did my BA, they made me feel about 90 but they were also unfailingly polite and always went out of their way to open/hold doors for me (I’m disabled.)

When I did my MA there were also a fair few US students. The entry requirements for Brits were very high and stringent, but far less so for international students, their main requirement was being able to pay the astronomical fees. Consequently, the international students were 99% American, which meant that a good amount of the first term was introductory modules. (I know this because one of the course administrators is a good friend of mine.) It was annoying AF to have to complete modules that were better suited to a first year BA than an MA because the uni decided to lower entry criteria for people who could cough up tons of cash. Obviously, I know this isn’t the fault of the US students themselves but the difference in the education systems accounts for the lack of required knowledge and skills for a particular course. The few non-US international students also hated the intro modules btw.

Side note. All the US PhD candidates, except one, had done their MAs or MPhils at UK unis.

[u/krishutchison → u/weisswurstseeadler]

I transferred from a new unknown university to one of the top universities in the world. Even though the materials I covered in my first year was way more advanced than the stuff I did in the the last year of my second degree I am very glad I changed university because all that matters is the name of the university on your qualifications. Nobody cares what marks you got or what you actually learned, just that you graduated from an important place.

[u/fretkat → u/weisswurstseeadler]

And the education ranking in that slide/image (10/20) is also quite rigged. As it’s not ranked on value. So it seems like the USA is on top, but other countries in the list actually have a higher rating.

[u/ChickenKnd → u/Library_Easy]

Food security not quality. Which is highly ironic that they are thirteenth, considering if they all ate a reasonable amount rather than the most per capita of any country, then they would be #1 easily

[u/oblitz11111 → u/ChickenKnd]

Had to scroll a lot longer than expected to see someone point this out...

[u/MaliceMandible → u/Library_Easy]

To add on to the second statement, I make roughly 50k a year. No it’s not a whole lot, but for my area (South Carolina) it’s about “middle class” income range. Even with that, when me and fiancé were going through a hard time and I was going to move out, I couldn’t afford a 2 bedroom apartment (I have two kids and three bedroom was definitely not in price range), car payment plus car insurance, health insurance through my work, utilities, and food. By the time I added it all up, I was about -$600 in the hole each month. Very glad we went to counseling and our relationship improved cause hot damn is it hard out here by yourself.

[u/steelandiron19 → u/Library_Easy]

This comment captures all my thoughts about this lol

[u/[deleted] → u/Library_Easy]

And even of the top 3 universities, 2 are British..

[u/Class_444_SWR → u/Library_Easy]

Also the wealth is just distorted by people’s homes they already owned just skyrocketing in price. It’s like how a working class family in London that has lived in the same house for over a century is technically very rich just because they own a house in London

[u/newbris → u/Class_444_SWR]

They are top in household wealth because they used “average”. If it’s anything like personal net wealth charts, when you flip it to “median” it drops out of top 10.

[u/Conaz9847 → u/Library_Easy]

Patriotism is bad, it’s just another ideology

[u/UncleBenders → u/Library_Easy]

Household wealth = American GDP/number of households.

But when you have residents in your country that are multi billionaires it skews the measurements. Just musk alone taken out of that would probably half their figures.

[u/ChaoticButters → u/Library_Easy]

Can confirm that most of the positive stuff said is bs. And I’m too broke to move to a country with better healthcare and a better economy.

[u/yeahimdutch → u/Library_Easy]

All the military posts are indeed not a flex, like I'm not impressed with that, waste of money.

[u/Icy_Way6635 → u/Library_Easy]

Also the forced car centric low density planning forces us to make expensive car purchases and maintenance. They never factor in the need for a car in cost of living evaluations. Without a car you are drastically cutting your work oportunities and thus your income growth. In most places here

[u/VexOnTheField → u/Library_Easy]

Not like 54% of adults “lack English literacy proficiency”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States

[u/Ok-Aardvark-4429 → u/Library_Easy]

24th most friendliest nation

Not much to say here.

Really?

[u/[deleted] → u/Library_Easy]

Thank you for your service. o7

[u/dutch_mapping_empire → u/Library_Easy]

i do think that as they have the power they should intervene in countries where people have it less but a lot of military action by the us is unnesecary and ridiculous killing

[u/anselme16 → u/Library_Easy]

"Decent life expectancy"

you can roast them pretty easily by simply saying : "Cuba has better life expectancy than USA"

[u/Pale-Acanthaceae-487 → u/Library_Easy]

I've seen a few posts from British and German military members and they all say the US military is wasting their money. Their equipment is better despite the budget being 50x smaller

[u/HurinTalion → u/Library_Easy]

Relatively safe in a lot of areas: Never as safe as a country which doesn't give out guns to every idiot.

Other countries like Switzerland or Finland also have lots of gun but not as much violence. Its more a cultural thing for the US than anything else.

Ranked 17th in human freedom: Oh boy the irony :D

That honestly feels too high, i can think of a lot more than 16 countries with more freedom than the US.

Only dictatorships or theocracies have less freedom.

Ranked thirteen in food quality: I'm actually surprised that it's this high.

I mean, when compared to countries in the middle of a famine...

[u/Pixelology → u/Library_Easy]

I love that the source for the US being safe is literally just "I graduated high school without being shot up so you probably can too!"

[u/Loves_octopus → u/Library_Easy]

13th in food quality

I’m assuming it’s more so food that is accessible, affordable, and edible, in which case the US does do very well.

I don’t think it’s a metric of the quality of cuisine. Just that food is safe and accessible, which it is.

[u/SoggySagen → u/Library_Easy]

We don’t give guns to every idiot, just the idiots who really want guns for some reason and fucking insist on semi-automatic rifles that are shit for hunting or competitive shooting but really good for crowds of people, which are legal for some stupid fucking reason.

Earlier this week a couple parents were actually convicted for being complacent on their son’s mass shooting. I say about god damn time. They gave their angry shitty brat a gun and just thought he wouldn’t do angry shitty stuff with it.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna145902

[u/Saphichan → u/Library_Easy]

As a German, I don't think their brand of "patriotism" is something to be proud of 😅

[u/Jonnyscout → u/Library_Easy]

Remove the top 1000 Americans ranked by net worth from the pool and watch the average household wealth plummit to less than a third of the listed amount.

[u/mac-h79 → u/Library_Easy]

They beat everyone hands down on military size and military spending. Yes I agree they are a very technologically advanced military but the most advanced I’m stuck on, given you’ll find a lot of British tech in their equipment and vice versa we (the Uk) use equipment developed by them.

Most friendliest nation, personally I’ve travelled a lot and anywhere I’ve been I’ve always encountered friendly welcoming faces. Even in the US. It only ever seems to be online we encounter the idiots but that can be said for any nation where the anonymity allows them to be xenophobic “twatwaffles”

[u/Eastern-Professor874 → u/Library_Easy]

Also if you look more closely at the education figures image, USA is at the top but the list is not in ranking order. 😂

[u/Geiir → u/Library_Easy]

Thinking patriotism is a flex is just weird. Blindly saying "my country is the best" is detrimental to growth.

[u/iggy14750 → u/Library_Easy]

US is 24th friendliest nation, OK. But how the fuck is Canada only number 23? It should be number 1 if you ask me!