Posted: 23 May 2007, 13:57
well lets see...in the US, money runs basically everything. this is a double-edged sword...if you are on the top rungs, you are screwing other people. if you are middle class or below, you are getting screwed.
we are big and spread out, so our internet sucks and mass transit sucks. to live in anything but the hugest metropolitan areas requires owning a vehicle. land is much cheaper than any other 1st world country, and in rural areas the cost of living is much lower in comparison.
education is free until high school ends, but this isn't as good as it sounds. the quality of education in one town may be ten times better than that of another. this is where rural and poor people really get screwed - the schools in poor areas and backwater towns are completely shit. the urban schools are leaps and bounds better, but there's still problems. laughably mediocre wages for teachers ensures that smart people who would teach subjects well procure other jobs that make them money, and thus, the only teachers in public school are mediocre. private schools exist which are only affordable to rich families, and the quality of education in them is much higher.
any post high-school education is not funded by the government. those who wish to go to college and have no money must take out student loans which can fuck them in the ass for all of their working years. this wasn't too large of a problem ten or twenty years ago when a high school diploma actually meant something, but it's to the point now where most decent jobs will only hire those with college education, and a high school diploma is more or less just a requirement to enter college.
capitalism brings the best skill to the table, because it offers the most money. the most skilled people of any profession will most likely make the most money in the US. at the same time, there is no normalization - the spectrum of wealth ranges from utterly dirt poor to unbelievably extravagantly rich with every shade in between.
we only like new things. there's enough room to expand around cities for hundreds of miles, so what ends up happening is that every 20 years or so the cities grow a lot. city centers aren't renovated, but are left to turn in to lower land value and lower income housing.
the worst part of capitalism is the reckless power that corporations have. companies exist as these uber-powerful entities that have little to no accountability, whereas those in other 1st world countries are closely regulated. politics and business are not separate here, as they should be, but are actually one in the same. all the huge corporations and the government all operate as a huge business together, and morality is not ever on the top of their agendas. nothing is, except generating money, both for the company, and for those leading them.
the US is by and large an aristocracy, and the way it's set up is to keep everyone on their rung of the ladder as best as possible.
we are big and spread out, so our internet sucks and mass transit sucks. to live in anything but the hugest metropolitan areas requires owning a vehicle. land is much cheaper than any other 1st world country, and in rural areas the cost of living is much lower in comparison.
education is free until high school ends, but this isn't as good as it sounds. the quality of education in one town may be ten times better than that of another. this is where rural and poor people really get screwed - the schools in poor areas and backwater towns are completely shit. the urban schools are leaps and bounds better, but there's still problems. laughably mediocre wages for teachers ensures that smart people who would teach subjects well procure other jobs that make them money, and thus, the only teachers in public school are mediocre. private schools exist which are only affordable to rich families, and the quality of education in them is much higher.
any post high-school education is not funded by the government. those who wish to go to college and have no money must take out student loans which can fuck them in the ass for all of their working years. this wasn't too large of a problem ten or twenty years ago when a high school diploma actually meant something, but it's to the point now where most decent jobs will only hire those with college education, and a high school diploma is more or less just a requirement to enter college.
capitalism brings the best skill to the table, because it offers the most money. the most skilled people of any profession will most likely make the most money in the US. at the same time, there is no normalization - the spectrum of wealth ranges from utterly dirt poor to unbelievably extravagantly rich with every shade in between.
we only like new things. there's enough room to expand around cities for hundreds of miles, so what ends up happening is that every 20 years or so the cities grow a lot. city centers aren't renovated, but are left to turn in to lower land value and lower income housing.
the worst part of capitalism is the reckless power that corporations have. companies exist as these uber-powerful entities that have little to no accountability, whereas those in other 1st world countries are closely regulated. politics and business are not separate here, as they should be, but are actually one in the same. all the huge corporations and the government all operate as a huge business together, and morality is not ever on the top of their agendas. nothing is, except generating money, both for the company, and for those leading them.
the US is by and large an aristocracy, and the way it's set up is to keep everyone on their rung of the ladder as best as possible.
