really jarring coming back to the US after traveling to Asia for the last three weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And seeing how horrendous our infrastructure is. How does America have the largest GDP in the world, yet it seems like we.have given up on development of the country since the 70s? America's development post-WW2 seems to have stalled out a long time ago. As soon as I get back to the US, it took almost 75 miites to get through customs and to get our bags on a well outdated carousel at JFK. In Asia, they have the entire process already automated in many countries, where you are in and through customs in a matter of minutes. Bags are rapidly delivered to the carousel. As soon as we leave JFK via air tram, there were homeless people everywhere in the station, and the trains everywhere were late. Piles of trash were everywhere near the rail lines once we got on Amtrak, and there were shanty towns and boarded up buildings everywhere along the way going south from NY to DC. Contrast that to South Korea or Japan where trains are super clean, there are basically zero homeless people anywhere, and it truly feels like you're in a modern country with 21st century development and infrastructure. Hell, something as basic as cell phone service and wifi works anywhere you go on a train in South Korea and even if you're in a tunnel, because because of how well connected the country is. As soon as we left Penn Station, cell phone service stops working in multiple spots because of lack of reception in some tunnels. It is just super jarring to come back home and see just how horrendously behind we are with the rest of t developed world. America just seems to have given up on improving itself for a long time now. But at least we got a $1T fighter jet program I guess?

Possibly because we don't use mites in the US. If you like it so much, why don't you relocate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well that’s one narrow part of Asia. Visit Bangladesh and you’ll kiss the linoleum at JFK.

Bangladesh is a third world country.

US, S.Korea and Japan are first world countries.

My nephew's wife is Japanese and they lived there for a year during Covid. He got Covid and came close to dying because Japanese doctors kept telling him that all he needed were antidepressants.

The came back just in the nick of time so he could be treated by American doctors. His wife said she would never live there again.

[Anonymous]

OP is correct. We lived 15 years in 5 countries and feel the exact same. We have fallen way behind. Just as an example, we pay a lot for poor internet in the U.S., because of de facto ISP monopolies/collusion. Our government represents corporate interests, not the people's. We trail in education, infant and maternal mortality, suicide, and many other metrics.

Re: airports, visiting Incheon Airport near Seoul is like visiting the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is correct. We lived 15 years in 5 countries and feel the exact same. We have fallen way behind. Just as an example, we pay a lot for poor internet in the U.S., because of de facto ISP monopolies/collusion. Our government represents corporate interests, not the people's. We trail in education, infant and maternal mortality, suicide, and many other metrics.

Re: airports, visiting Incheon Airport near Seoul is like visiting the future.

Allocation. In fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2020), the US government allocated $51.05 billion US dollars in economic and military assistance to foreign countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because corporate and personal tax rates are much higher in Japan. Next question?

But their money is being put to good use! Do you want to think of your family as an island or have safe bridges, good schools, fire and police? Ambulance service? Libraries? Free health care , college?

[Anonymous]

America is in decline and has been for my entire lifetime (51 years). We don't invest in our people and our infrastructure and then put up excuses like homogeneous populations, taxes, winning WW II, and a bunch of other things that don't really hold up to scrutiny or make sense when you really look at them.

Our defense budget is astronomical and yet the Pentagon has never passed an audit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean Japan can afford all that because they aren’t really funding a military are they? We are their defense. Did they have that great infrastructure before the war? We didn’t destroy the entire country.

The US is by no means the perfect place but it really bothers me when people visit abroad and suddenly think they are so worldly to come home and trash their home country because they spent two weeks visiting tourist traps. The world is a bit more complicated than that and if you truly were well-traveled you would know this.

So isn’t it a reasonable conclusion based on what you wrote to say, “hey, maybe we should be spending less money on military jets that are so poorly designed that they crash immediately after takeoff, and more money on our citizens and infrastructure?”

Yes, I never said it wasn’t. I simply explained why it’s likely the Japanese can afford those projects. It’s also a bad look to negatively compare the hand that feeds you after a mere snapshot of the greener grass. As a tourist, you have zero understanding of the challenges of living in another country but your own. I’ve lived abroad in many different countries and once you pull back the curtain you understand every place is less than ideal.

Having a critique of your country’s failures is not “biting the hand that feeds you.” I find that statement just completely bizarre. We have lived with a lot of complacency for a long time and for people to recognize that is a good thing.

I’ve actually lived abroad, but in a poorer country, and it alarms me how much of the dysfunction in the US is making it seem more and more like that country over time. So sort of a reverse perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:America is in decline and has been for my entire lifetime (51 years). We don't invest in our people and our infrastructure and then put up excuses like homogeneous populations, taxes, winning WW II, and a bunch of other things that don't really hold up to scrutiny or make sense when you really look at them.

Our defense budget is astronomical and yet the Pentagon has never passed an audit.

This post is breathtaking.

[Anonymous]

Becasue us has low personal and corporate taxes and does not soend on infrastructure. And private entities want profits for shareholders snd not convenience for users. All those things in other countries are state funded. We put profits into the pockets of stock owners and ceos and dont build things to better our own society. Capitalism at its best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America is in decline and has been for my entire lifetime (51 years). We don't invest in our people and our infrastructure and then put up excuses like homogeneous populations, taxes, winning WW II, and a bunch of other things that don't really hold up to scrutiny or make sense when you really look at them.

Our defense budget is astronomical and yet the Pentagon has never passed an audit.

This post is breathtaking.

Because it’s completely true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean Japan can afford all that because they aren’t really funding a military are they? We are their defense. Did they have that great infrastructure before the war? We didn’t destroy the entire country.

The US is by no means the perfect place but it really bothers me when people visit abroad and suddenly think they are so worldly to come home and trash their home country because they spent two weeks visiting tourist traps. The world is a bit more complicated than that and if you truly were well-traveled you would know this.

So isn’t it a reasonable conclusion based on what you wrote to say, “hey, maybe we should be spending less money on military jets that are so poorly designed that they crash immediately after takeoff, and more money on our citizens and infrastructure?”

Yes, I never said it wasn’t. I simply explained why it’s likely the Japanese can afford those projects. It’s also a bad look to negatively compare the hand that feeds you after a mere snapshot of the greener grass. As a tourist, you have zero understanding of the challenges of living in another country but your own. I’ve lived abroad in many different countries and once you pull back the curtain you understand every place is less than ideal.

Having a critique of your country’s failures is not “biting the hand that feeds you.” I find that statement just completely bizarre. We have lived with a lot of complacency for a long time and for people to recognize that is a good thing.

I’ve actually lived abroad, but in a poorer country, and it alarms me how much of the dysfunction in the US is making it seem more and more like that country over time. So sort of a reverse perspective.

Such a DC/East Coast bubble! Travel and live in other parts of your own country for a different perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is correct. We lived 15 years in 5 countries and feel the exact same. We have fallen way behind. Just as an example, we pay a lot for poor internet in the U.S., because of de facto ISP monopolies/collusion. Our government represents corporate interests, not the people's. We trail in education, infant and maternal mortality, suicide, and many other metrics.

Re: airports, visiting Incheon Airport near Seoul is like visiting the future.

Allocation. In fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2020), the US government allocated $51.05 billion US dollars in economic and military assistance to foreign countries.

South Korea can afford to invest in its infrastructure courtesy of the security provided by US military. And it’s not just the cost of what we actually have in the country, it’s the deterrent factor that if North Korea started something, they wouldn’t have to deal with only South Korean military, they’d have to deal with the US. If the US pulled out tomorrow, imagine the resources they’d have to reallocate to insure their own security.

https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-270

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America is in decline and has been for my entire lifetime (51 years). We don't invest in our people and our infrastructure and then put up excuses like homogeneous populations, taxes, winning WW II, and a bunch of other things that don't really hold up to scrutiny or make sense when you really look at them.

Our defense budget is astronomical and yet the Pentagon has never passed an audit.

This post is breathtaking.

Because it’s completely true.

SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean Japan can afford all that because they aren’t really funding a military are they? We are their defense. Did they have that great infrastructure before the war? We didn’t destroy the entire country.

The US is by no means the perfect place but it really bothers me when people visit abroad and suddenly think they are so worldly to come home and trash their home country because they spent two weeks visiting tourist traps. The world is a bit more complicated than that and if you truly were well-traveled you would know this.

So isn’t it a reasonable conclusion based on what you wrote to say, “hey, maybe we should be spending less money on military jets that are so poorly designed that they crash immediately after takeoff, and more money on our citizens and infrastructure?”

Yes, I never said it wasn’t. I simply explained why it’s likely the Japanese can afford those projects. It’s also a bad look to negatively compare the hand that feeds you after a mere snapshot of the greener grass. As a tourist, you have zero understanding of the challenges of living in another country but your own. I’ve lived abroad in many different countries and once you pull back the curtain you understand every place is less than ideal.

Having a critique of your country’s failures is not “biting the hand that feeds you.” I find that statement just completely bizarre. We have lived with a lot of complacency for a long time and for people to recognize that is a good thing.

I’ve actually lived abroad, but in a poorer country, and it alarms me how much of the dysfunction in the US is making it seem more and more like that country over time. So sort of a reverse perspective.

Such a DC/East Coast bubble! Travel and live in other parts of your own country for a different perspective.

Wow, you couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Try not making assumptions about posters you disagree with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean Japan can afford all that because they aren’t really funding a military are they? We are their defense. Did they have that great infrastructure before the war? We didn’t destroy the entire country.

The US is by no means the perfect place but it really bothers me when people visit abroad and suddenly think they are so worldly to come home and trash their home country because they spent two weeks visiting tourist traps. The world is a bit more complicated than that and if you truly were well-traveled you would know this.

So isn’t it a reasonable conclusion based on what you wrote to say, “hey, maybe we should be spending less money on military jets that are so poorly designed that they crash immediately after takeoff, and more money on our citizens and infrastructure?”

Yes, I never said it wasn’t. I simply explained why it’s likely the Japanese can afford those projects. It’s also a bad look to negatively compare the hand that feeds you after a mere snapshot of the greener grass. As a tourist, you have zero understanding of the challenges of living in another country but your own. I’ve lived abroad in many different countries and once you pull back the curtain you understand every place is less than ideal.

Having a critique of your country’s failures is not “biting the hand that feeds you.” I find that statement just completely bizarre. We have lived with a lot of complacency for a long time and for people to recognize that is a good thing.

I’ve actually lived abroad, but in a poorer country, and it alarms me how much of the dysfunction in the US is making it seem more and more like that country over time. So sort of a reverse perspective.

Such a DC/East Coast bubble! Travel and live in other parts of your own country for a different perspective.

I grew up in the rural Midwest and have lived abroad in both wealthy and impoverished nations. What “different perspective” is PP supposed to have? From what I’ve seen, their observation seems correct.