American culture puts 100% emphasis on how much money you make, and how you make it. More than health, or stability, or a well rounded life, American's are taught that money is the cure-all.
And sure, when you are in the top 1/4 of income earners, the U.S. has quite a bit to offer. But what good is all that money if your job can literally disappear over night? Or you get sick and can no longer work? Or any other unexpected tragic circumstance.
Somehow, we as American's have been brainwashed to believe that we are all just 'down-on-our-luck millionaires'. The opportunity exists, but it is certainly not a fair playing field - and offering assistance to those who experience bad luck or tragedy will not take away from someones ability to make what they wish, despite what we are being sold.
I'm not sure I'd say "brainwashed" -- this is a founding mythos of the United States. It's embedded in our most sacred documents -- the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, etc. -- that the individual (in theory) reigns supreme and (in theory) has ultimate control over his/her life.
It's a noble ideal, truly, but also a damn convienent excuse for those in power ("I/my ancestors didn't get lucky, they made smart decisions and worked hard, and so did I, so I succeeded") and those in poverty ("I can win if I just work harder/emulate those more successful than I -- ultimately I'm in control and nothing else matters").
It's both our ace-in-the-hole and our fatal flaw IMO.
The American Spirit (for lack of a better term) is at odds with the economic and political structure of current-day America. We are led to believe (for good reasons) that we control our fate, but the infrastructure no longer supports it in a way that makes it available to every American.
While obviously there are things outside individual's control, is this really a harmful outlook? I'd certainly rather look at my life as if I had agency vs thinking I had none, or it was incredibly limited.
Not really the same thing.
When compared to countries with similar quality of infrastructure & “development” the US fares extremely poorly.
Take it all with a huge grain of salt and stick to the facts and figures.
As many other techies I frequent message boards on reddit and other sites. A majority of users are from the US and many posts are written from a US-centric point of view.
What I've observed on those message boards regarding workers rights and health has made me deeply concerned about US workers. And that's only in the tech field. I can't even imagine how it compares to other industrial fields.
I'm not qualified to debate this but I am convinced that I would never want to work in the united states.