Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "America Compared: Why Other Countries Treat Their People So Much Better" video.

Patriotism is the real problem in the US, it's almost designed in a way to blind Americans from the truth of how things are around the world and to ignorantly buy into thinking the US is the best at everything when a lot of the facts say otherwise. I've lived in both the EU and the US and it's quite shocking how much better Europeans do so many things compared to Americans. It's ironic because you wouldn't think so with how Europeans complain a lot about a lot of things but maybe it's that complaining that is getting real changes in the system whereas in the US, they seem to think they are the best and accept the system doesn't need to get better. The real problem is, unless Americans get a more broader view on how the rest of the world is and not how they want to think it is, things won't get better for Americans and as the video points out, the system in the US is working exactly as expected for corporations and the rich 1% I also think another big part of the problem in the US is how Americans view socialism and communism, the Cold War has distorted the views in how they see those systems and that is probably part of the reason why the US is one of the few modern countries that lack a lot of the benefits that rich countries expect.
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@jsebby2284 That's what patriotism tells you but it doesn't mean it's true, I've lived in both the EU and US and if I had to pick one, I would pick the EU every time and even many Americans that have lived in Europe for a few years will tell the same story. But don't get me wrong, the US isn't a bad place but in many areas, they fall way behind other modern countries and that really does impact living standards for the poor and middle classes, now if you are rich, the US is great, almost by design, but let's be honest, if you are rich, almost anywhere can be great.
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@jsebby2284 Well as I said, I've lived in both the EU and US, Europeans don't realize how good they got it as they love to complain a lot about almost everything lol, but having lived in the US for a few years, you start to see the real flaws in the system in where Europe and I suspect most other modern countries do a much better job and I'm not just talking about wealth, I'm talking about well-being of the citizens and how happy people are. In any case, you want to get a real indicator on whos doing better, living in other countries is the best way to see that but I do notice one thing, a lot of Americans that live in Europe tend to have different views on how they see the US then before they lived in Europe and most of the time it's in a negative range when it comes to basic things like health care, workers rights, social system, even workers wages.
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@jsebby2284 From what I remember, in the US, the system really tries hard to say they are the best in almost every area, I felt it was a bit off-putting considering I knew better, in Europe, you don't see that constant hype about how good they are, the irony is, Europeans don't even see themselves as the best but a lot of European countries are doing a lot better than the US in many areas and having seen both sides myself, Europeans don't realize how lucky they are. Now don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean the US can't be a great place to live, but the problem is, it's for a select few and it seems to leave too many of it's people behind, the system also feels less caring where it feels you really are on your own with very little safety net.
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@jsebby2284 But it's not horrible, but given the choice, I would pick an EU country over the US going on what I've seen but that doesn't mean the US doesn't beat much of the world when it comes to living standards because they do but they are not the best like many want to think. Having pride in ones country is fine, having it blind you is another thing, in the US, there is too much flag waving, too much patriotism which blinds them from how things really are and usually Americans only tend to see the truth when living aboard for a few years. Considering the US is suppose to have one of the largest welfare states in the world, it seems to deliver some of the worse results out of the modern world, something clearly isn't right, besides, why do you think taxes are higher in Europe, it's to balance things out from welfare, the state and the people and Europe does do a better job at that as it's a system that tends to look after, poor, middle class and rich. But like I said above, the US isn't a bad place to live, but having seen both side, Europe, especially EU country are doing it much better for it's citizens.
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@jsebby2284 It's always the peoples fault regardless of country as they are the ones with the real power no matter what system of government they live under, the problem is with the people is that they are too divided and easierlly manipulated by the system. Unless you've lived out of the US, you're none the wiser of how the rest of the world is and can only go on what the system tells you and boy does the American system harp on about being the best at everything, you should ask yourself the simple question, why would a system need to keep telling you that you're the best, like keep re-enforcing it into peoples minds? most other countries don't do that, at least not to the degree the US does it and when I say most countries, I mean modern countries. It's a form of papagander in brainwashing a people into thinking they are the best without basing it on anything and unfortunately, people only realise the truth when they live abroad for a few years and see the other side, I've done that and it's clear as daylight that EU countries are doing a much better join when it comes to the people and even many stats back that up.
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@jsebby2284 It's always the peoples faults, a lot of people like to blame governments for how things are but the reality is that governments are a reflection of the peoples actions, they can change that if they want too but most of the time they make a real mess of it as we saw with the US in voting Trump or the UK in voting for Brexit. Now I'm not saying that individuals shouldn't take responsibility for improving their life but it's nice to know there is a big safety net to fall back on in hard times and that is what EU countries are really good on. As for things like poverty and crime rates in the US, a big part of why they are higher is because of the system that doesn't really look after the people that well, if hard times kick in, there is little to no support network and that can make some people desperate., now some is of their own doing but a big part of it is the system leaving them behind, especially the poor and to a less degree, middle classes. It's easy to say it's the individual peoples fault but it seems to be far less of an issue for European citizens, if it really was the peoples fault then we should be seeing the same kinds of numbers in Europe and around the world, the truth is, the system plays a big part in it and the reality is, the US system is designed around the individual where you're more or less on your own with little support by the system whereas the EU system is designed more like a community effort where there is a lot of support, I know which system I would rather live under.
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@jsebby2284 Nothing but look at the results, both countries have become a laughingstock to the world, even to many of the people inside those countries, both of which promised a lot but under delivered. Now the US might be fine with Biden but I think it's too little too late for the UK as the odds are quite high that Scotland will leave the UK and Northern Ireland to follow after. As for the safety net, yes it might be large in comparison to third world countries but by first world standards, the US does really poor on it. The high crime rate is a few factors, easy access to guns is one of them, but the real problem is inequality in the US, that's driving crime rates high. It simple comes down to one simple thing, more people are likely going to cause more problems and crimes if they feel the system doesn't look after them enough and that is the real indicator when it comes to comparing the EU countries to the US.
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@jsebby2284 The problem is, it was mostly the rich that benefitted from Trump and beside, the debt burden Trump past onto Americans is pretty steep. Also remember that Trump benefitted by a lot of policies that Obama put into place for the first 2 or 3 years, Biden might end up in the other direction in having to clean up all the mess that Trump made but not being thanked for it. But in any case, the burden in the west, especially the US and EU countries is going to be pretty high for the next 5 or 10 years thanks to the cost of the pandemic and I expect the opposition parties to take full advantage of that even thought in many ways, it was them that created part of that mess.
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@jsebby2284 The tax cuts is give with one hand and take with the other, it's politics 101, beside, who do you think is going to pay off the debts? besides, if it really benefitted the average Americans then why are they complaining that they are worse off now than they were 4 years ago? the problem is with GDP per capita is that it doesn't tell you much about the wealth of the average person, many times I hear governments from the UK to the UK boost about how well the GDP is doing and yet people are complaining that things are getting worse. Things have not been on the right track for decades, that's where the real problem is, it's also why Trump got into power and how Brexit happened in the UK, people are angry because too much wealth is in too few hands, basically the system is broken, Trump didn't fix that, in fact he made it worse, just like the Conservative Party in the UK made things worse for the UK. The pandemic is one big part of the mess on Trump, he could have handled that much better as could most of the west, beside, it's not by chance that the two countries with some of the worse records on this pandemic are the US and UK, two countries that were led by governments that don't care much about the people and care more about the economy, basically, those governments don't care how many people die just as long as the economy is moving and the rich are getting richer and if you look closely at a lot of the policies of both governments, you'll see that. In any case, the Republicans will blame the Democrats for the mess the Republicans made, that's what they always do and will do that now, as for the UK, well the Tories are screwed because they had an election just a year ago so it's going to be hard for them to pin the blame on anyone else.
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@jsebby2284 The problem is with lower taxes is that it usually ends up into fewer hands, usually the rich, it's said if you give a rich and poor man a million, the poor man will eventually lose most if not all of it whereas the rich man will have many millions, this works across the system. Whereas higher taxes means there is a much stronger safety net for all, that benefits the poor and middle classes the most. The main point being is that most people are not that good with money and are quick to lose it. With a government like Trump in power, Gallup polls can be twisted to look however they wanted, it doesn't really mean much when so many people think things are getting worse. As for wealth inequality, that's not going to get fixed until we have a new system in place because capitalism is designed about enriching the few at the expense of everyone else, that's been getting a lot worse since the early 80's, sooner or later it's going to hit braking point where people have had enough, Trump being elected was a warning on that but he's an elite so was never going to help the average out, this pandemic might shake things up but we'll have to see, I suspect things will get much worse before they get better. Speaking of welfare systems, it's clear the EU countries have some of the best but that's because the taxes allow, after all, money doesn't grow on trees, also, we see that with the pandemic, EU countries have been far better on supporting the people by paying most of their wages to stay at home which is very costly but it shows how they are willing to put the people first before the economy, the US was only giving scraps to the people in the early days whiles not protecting their jobs, it was only later on where enough pressure forced Trump to act.
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@jsebby2284 Problem is, it doesn't seem to work like that, if we look at a lot of modern countries around the world, the countries with some of the highest taxes seem to be doing much better when it comes to wealth among it's citizens, equality and poverty, the US has some of the worst of which in the modern world but it also has some of the lowest taxes, higher taxes are not a bad thing if you have more competent governments, many other countries do. As for the welfare state, it's true that in areas like health care, the US spends more but because it's for profit, the US ends up with a health care system that doesn't cover many of it's citizens and even many it does, there are lots of loopholes for them to make sure you pay for that coverage, in Europe for instants, that's isn't an issue, pretty much everyone is covered. It's easy to say it's their fault if they are not good with money bit it's quite shocking how little savings most people have, the real problem isn't how bad they are with managing money but the system they live under which pushes them to keep spending to boost the economy, that's capitalism after all, and they don't care where they get that money just as long as they are spending, it's an unbalanced system. No what I said is that polls can be twisted to show whatever they want us to see, it happens all the time. Also, this isn't about who spends the most money, it's how it's being used, other countries around the world are doing a much better job than the US is doing, basically, it's not about the amount of money being spent, it's how that money is being used that counts and this is where the US does quite poor compared to a lot of other rich countries.
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@jsebby2284 Did you know, there's an actually saying that if you was to give everyone a million, eventually, most of that money will end up back into the top 5% The sad reality is that most people are not very good at decision-making and money management, you only have to look at the saving rates to see that. As much as people say they don't like the nanny state, their actions are saying otherwise in that they want the state to look after them to some degree or another. In any case, the system is part of the problem, it doesn't reward people that save whereas it seems to reward recklessness and risk-takers, in the case of the US, the system is built on consumerism at all cost, no matter where the money comes from and that's what we see, people are spending money they can't afford on things they don't even need, it's quite shocking that there are many millions of Americans that have less money saved then they get on a weekly pay check. Now yes I know the people are to blame but just like there is inequality on wealth, there is also inequality on brains, in the case of the US, the system doesn't really care about the people and leaves them to their own devices, whereas the EU, the system does a much better job at looking after a lot more of the people.
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@jsebby2284 In the past, saving was rewarding, for the last two decades, interest rates have been so poor that you get little to nothing for them and that's because the system doesn't want you to save, they want people to spend to boost the economy and in the US that is more the case, it's all about spending and consuming. I agree that we should be responsible for ourselves but unfortunately, it's the rest that drags the system down and with that, drags us down with them, real change comes about when people on mass changes not when the few smarter ones do.
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@jsebby2284 For most that might work but no point for me, I learned at a young age that to make it in life, you shouldn't work for someone else as they'll pay peanuts and you'll never make it by working for others, at least in most cases. I tried all sorts from work, to creating a business and in the end, settled with investing as the best option because it takes the least effort and you can make more or less as much money as you want if you play the game right.
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@jsebby2284 Saving rates are not as good as they used to be, the 90's was the best time for that were getting 10% back was quite easy, today it's more like getting blood out of a stone unless you got with one of those deals that ties your money up for years and most of the time they are still not as good. Working for yourself is something anyone can do but most either don't beleave they can or are not determined enough to try, I sometimes wonder, if most people put the same amount of effort on themselves as they do for someone else at a job, most likely could retire before they hit 30 or 40 at the latest. The problem is, most want to be told what to do in life, want to have job security but the problem with that it rarely pays well and the hours are bad, still it boggles my mind that so many put 40 odd hours per week to make someone else rich, most are bright enough that if they used that 40 hours on themselves, they would make far more money than working for someone else.
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@jsebby2284 Anyone can work for themselves, the problem is, if everyone did, the benefits of doing so much disappear, a bit like the lottery, as long as few wins it, it's great but if everyone wins on it, it's kinda pointless, in other words, the system is designed for very few to make riches, you just like to think outside the box to make it. But I do think that most people are capable of making it if they put the kind of effort in that they do with working for someone else but on themselves, most don't seem willing. Working rarely pays well because it's designed in a way to make others rich at the workers expense, in other words, most of the workers do the hard work whiles a few of the upper management take most of the money. As for the markets, the US has been one of the better performer thanks to Trump but it's way overpriced at the moment and I suspect a big crash could be one it's way, likely a year after the pandemic is over with, the UK market is one of the worse performer since Brexit, the German market has more or less doubled since the Brexit vote, a clear indicator that investors are taking money out of the UK and putting into the EU market with the Germans benefitting a lot from that.
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@jsebby2284 A lot of it does have to do with effort but most don't feel they can make it and in truth, if most could, it wouldn't be worth doing, the system is designed for the very few to break out of that bubble and make it, most of us can do it but most won't because they rather be told what to do and want a stable wage week in week out. It's the same with goods we buy, it's designed in a way that companies will charge whatever they think they can get away with, if everyone had a million, we wouldn't all be rich because everything we buy would skyrocket in price to keep most of the public dependent on the system, that's how it's designed, at least for most. Basically, it's not hard to break out of the cycle of poverty which I consider the middle class living under because they have little savings and are very dependent on work that without a job, they soon find out they have no money left or are dependent on the government to give hands out, thats a heck of a lot of people on the poverty line and the irony is, most don't see it that way because it's become normal for them.
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