Things looking up?
No.
I was wondering though how the average person evaluates their country, where for instance, Finland has been recently cited as "the happiest country on earth" but if you ask most Finns, they will definitely not have that impression. And in general, things are pretty good here in many respects, but nothing is ever going to be good enough.
I have worked with many Americans over the years with some living here, some visiting regularly, and some less often, yet despite the weather and look of the buildings, they all quite enjoy the difference between the US and Finland, where they like the safety (despite sharing a long border with Russia) and the social provision and the general laid back nature of society, where people walk around and enjoy doing quite normal things. There is no glitz and glamor, it is all pretty basic.
Yet, it also seems the average American believes that they have the best quality of life on earth, and perhaps if looking at it from an average economic perspective, that could be true. But does the average American really have a high quality of life, or is it a fallacy? Does the American dream exist in reality, or just in the ether of dreams?
While there is plenty of wealth gap in Finland, it isn't as stark as it is in the US and perhaps due to a smaller population and some policies around how suburbs are built, there is a lot more mix in Finland. There are wealthier and poorer suburbs, but it hasn't descended into gated communities and ghettos, where never the twain shall meet. And because of the smaller population and the way people are spread through schooling and moving for work, everyone pretty much knows everyone through an acquaintance or two. As a result of closer averages in living standard, Finland is pretty down to earth.
But very few will ever be obscenely wealthy.
There is a little old money in a few businesses and there are some tech millionaires from gaming companies and the like, but there are very, very few billionaires. Not because the companies haven't been successful, but the system just doesn't allow for them. The US has over 900 billionaires, which means there are almost three per million people. That means there should be almost 18 in Finland, but there are only seven. And four of them are from the same family and company.
From an American perspective, this makes Finland a failure as an economic venture, but from the human perspective, is it a failure? I kind of feel like people in the US will defend a system to create billionaires, even though they themselves will never be a billionaire, and will be restricted and suffer from the same system they defend. To me, this is nonsensical, but I might have quite a different value profile when it comes to this than that of the average American.
Is that the case?
When people from America defend the system to me, I always wonder what part of America they have experience with. I have never been to the United States, but the Americans I talk with area also affected by a selection bias. Those that live here are the type of people who are willing and able to live outside of the US and those I have worked with who live in the US, are all professionals able to work in an international environment. Their view of America is not from a ghetto or a trailer park, and they have all been pretty well educated.
But, is that the average American's experience?
And what does "average" mean when applied to a population of 350 million people, with a lot of diversity in economic, social and cultural upbringing? I was reading an article the other day where Paris Hilton was saying that she is "self-made", which is delusional for anyone, let alone her. Even the sextape that made her famous in the first place, was only famous because she was a Hilton. She lived in a bubble as an American, that the vast majority of Americans will never see.
And while I am talking about the US a lot here, none of this is specific to the US, as we all have our own experiential bubbles that we see the world from. But as the US is the driving economic force through much of the world, and they have a president saying how awesome everything in the US is, I question how many Americans actually believe it. Is the economy really so great for the average American? Are the cost of living issues really not so bad? And if the average American is struggling in the current economic and cultural environment, why are they still supporting it?
Patriotism?
Is it patriotic to support systemic problems? Is it unpatriotic to question the government? If the government is built as a mechanism in service to the people of the country, the government itself is not the country, the people are. That means that patriotism shouldn't be for the government or office, it should be directed toward what is best for the people of the country. The government is a tool for the people to organise themselves for societal betterment, not a tool to control most people to benefit a few at the expense of society.
How many people in America believe things are getting better?
I wonder how many people in any country believe that things in their country are improving. There are always going to be some, but like the types of Americans I interact with, is it a selection bias? Even for people in America who have first-hand experience with the local conditions, are they giving an opinion on the average state, or the average they see? Are they walking daily through the ganglands, or in schools with drug problems, trying to make ends meet from an old trailer, or spending time in a fentanyl drug den?
Is their view any more accurate than mine?
Maybe, maybe not. But what I think we should all consider in society isn't about how high a few people can climb economically, but how we all live socially. The level of our wellbeing as individuals and communities is far more representative of how we are doing as a country, than how the billionaires are doing.
But, no one is interested in normal people.
So it is okay if they increasingly struggle.
Taraz
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Very few people will look at life the way you're looking at it but it is absolutely true.
An economy where only a certain class are valued, where the common man is regarded as nothing.
Can we claim to be wealthy when halve of our population struggle, live from hand to mouth and are not even able to meet up to their basic human needs.
While you talked about America, I guess the same situation is found in most societies. The government work for the rich, make rules to suit the rich.
Eventually it comes back round, but there is no need for this cycle at all. We should be able to do better by now.
Democracy is meant to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people. But hardly in any society can you see true democracy.
The kind of government that praises itself as wealthy but focusses on the rich and affluent while majority of its population are poor is either lacking true democracy or is deviating from it.
It's just so sad that there's nothing the common man can do about his predicament. Sometimes it seems like the system is designed to fight against his progress while focusing on only the wealthy and prominent.
Eventually, it ends up in common revolution, with a lot of violence and bloodshed. Then it starts again.
I would not say that things are getting better. I think things have been getting worse.
This in my view caused average Americans swing to Trump as they were told to do so in churches and by Trump promising that they will be winning so much that they will get tired from winning. Naturally it was a complete and obvious populist lie, but masses of average Americans are still in denial and are slowly coming to terms with it. Or I might be too optimistic and they could still be blaming Biden for what is going on.
How do you think that regular of at least average intelligence people, can deny such clear metrics?
Media is very effective at brainwashing even above average intelligence people... And when people are suffering from declining economic opportunities for years they become even more susceptible to the populist messaging and blaming others and hate...
It's definitely a hot mess, but it is still my home. What a miserable life that would be if I absolutely hated it. We have so much natural beauty here and a lot of freedoms that we often take for granted.
I completely get it! But at the same time, I think you are one of the selection bias people I talk to - not quite an average American, even if in America, you might seem average. You spend so much time in other views of the world and people here on Hive.
This is quite interesting, because from the Americans I know here in Finland, Europe is freer. But I don't think you guys think that in the US.
That could be very true about us not having as many freedoms as I think. It's definitely hard because where I live is kind of a small subset of the world. Like small town middle America can't really be compared to the big cities on the coasts which is what most people think of when they consider America. People tend to see all these extremes and forget about the masses that live somewhere in the middle just trying to live their best life possible.
I probably won't be a billionaire in any economy so I might as well sit this one out...lol
Hibernate until there is a more suitable society.
But Taraz looking at wellbeing of people, will hurt the moolah trickle that falls into their purse. So they naturally look the other way 😁🙃
We look the other way too, as they take everything from us.
Well most Americans see their country as the greatest nation in the world, and they are right, American being the only superpower around now. But they'd be delusional to think that that translates to the fact that they live better than people in other countries.
I assume the people that called Finland the happiest nation on earth did their research. So while the average America's view of the quality of life in their country is based largely on way they feel and what they see of America's economy, that of Finland is based on facts. Plus being wealthy doesn't immediately mean your life is better, someone can be less wealthy and have a better life than you.
And I think this is the problem. There is a conflation between superpower and superliving.
Except interviewing Finns. *It is calculated based on various metrics, not people's opinions.
well, as one of the definitely NOT a billionaire (more like the opposite) I do not think America is the best in anything.. well, except diabetes and overweight, lazy ppl! :P
However, I think our prez is good at messing things up, so now things are looking up (maybe) as the stupid shutdown is over. :)
They excel, but many countries are fast catching up with their fatology - which should totally be a word.
Your last two statements got me paused for awhile still processing it.
Why so?
your post is really deep,and the struggles are indeed real
this part of the post got me.
Increasingly
Ha! So you actually don't understand anything about it and are just commenting hoping for a vote.
I do understand your post because I am among the normal people. The struggle to make ends meet is real and doesn't get better, it's even difficult to express myself because the normal people don't matter. struggling for the basics and even what you do for the basics is no longer sustainable, you need to increase and double up your struggle if you still want to get this basics because its getting harder and difficult and the structures in charge are not making things easy.
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STOPFinland is undoubtedly one of the most peaceful countries in the world. On average, Finns are happier than Americans, although this is not only measured by economic criteria.It is true that Americans are economically strong and they consider everything with money and they look for it in others. However, I found in several statistics that Finland is one of the most peaceful countries. Although it may be different for the people of that country, the safety or quality of life of the people of that country is much better and happier than other countries.
Supporting a government that fails to help its citizens seems illogical to me, but a lot of people continue to do it.
I would hate living in America. I think that life in Lithuania is calmer and more peaceful. Sure we live closer to russia but I don't hear news about shootings at schools in Lithuania. Recently news said that some kid brought fireworks to school and used them in the toilet(?). That is already unusual news here. Also I think last year a police officer shot a person with mental illness in self defense. Sometimes sadistic bastards torture/ kill dog or a cat... But despite all that I still believe that Lithuania is safer than America.
Also for some reason I imagine that if I was living in America I would be in debt up to my neck. And it is better to have little but not have debt than live in a fancy house with multiple cars at the cost of enormous debt. Sure salaries are big in America but that only means that everything also cost more.
At risk of also being affected by selection bias, I remember some past conversations I've had with people who are in pretty good jobs and doing pretty well for themselves extremely confidently asserting that social security should be abolished because it promotes people being lazy and just "living off the dole" and I'm like have you ever tried to live off the dole and pretty much 100% of them had never had to and just looked at me completely blankly when I told them that speaking from personal experience it was basically impossible.
Some kind of syndrome? x_x
Cheers.