[B0ycey]

America, the world's biggest economy has never been so divided between classes. There is no universal free health care, no fair tax credits, anyone can buy weapons and there is the death penalty in some states. We are told the America is free. Is it? Obviously (or at least debateably) there is a unofficial race war taking place there today. Do minorities feel free? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Then there is the constitution. Or more specifically the second amendment. A right what has killed many more people than 'Western'' Islamic terrorism. Yet because the founding fathers created this right back in 1791, nobody believes it should be updated to the 21st century (like society is somewhat the same!). Do school or cinema shooting not bring any sense to US politicians? Then you have healthcare. Tell an Canadian or a Brit that healthcare should be privatised and paid through by insurance. You'd get linched. Healthcare in the UK is a priority, yet in America the politicans have somehow convinced their electorate that Obamacare is evil. That universal healthcare is Communism even. What! You should bankrupt yourself or die. Fuck that. What kind of backward thinking supports that? The tax system is a joke. The rich pay no tax and the poor like waitresses rely on tips. So no great wealth spreading policies like tax credits. And the death penalty exists too. So try getting equited if found innocent once you have sat in the chair.

Today I look at America is dispair. It is so damn wealthy. Nobody should be poor there. NOBODY! A nation that was so great back in the 60's has now resorted to pillage of oil - and the destruction of the ME, so some oil tycoon can buy his wife her third bathroom. America was once a utopian dream. But like all dreams that rely on power, the dream is only as good as the leader in charge. And unfortunately the US is currently being ran by Trump. So my question to you all. Is America a Dystopian society?

[Igor Antunov]

If you turn on the news, it's nothing but propaganda 24/7, so, in some ways sure. And all that wealth is propped up by colossal debt. It's not real. It will crumble, sooner rather than later it seems.

[Zagadka]

If you turn on the news, it's nothing but propaganda 24/7

I think that is pretty much true of every country on the planet, especially if you define "propaganda" as "things I disagree with".

[Igor Antunov]

It's not so detached from the voter base elsewhere. You literally have the media at war with the electorate in the US. This is different.

[Zagadka]

It's not so detached from the voter base elsewhere. You literally have the media at war with the electorate in the US. This is different.

You make it sound like half of the country defines the position of all of it. It could just be a war against stupidity and half the country is stupid. Well, well more than half.

[Average Voter]

It is dystopian, in that there seems to be a predominant idea that wealth distribution is the answer to the counties problem. The poor are not allowed to live affordably first of all. Affordable homes are basically illegal due to zoning laws and city codes preventing development, and incentives to hoard land as an investment vehicle. Affordable transportation is banned with development that requires vehicle ownership to work. Affordable healthcare is illegal: Doctors have an oligopoly with banned nurse practitioners; diseases of affluence, the most common ailments, residents feel entitled to be treated with drugs and surgery instead of being prescribed a change in diet and lifestyle. Debt is used to perpetuate the high standard of living Americans feel entitled to, when true cost of living is relatively cheap. Americans debt themselves with a mortgage to buy homes, where other countries homes are abundant and can be bought with a short amount of savings.


The cost of living imposed on Americans ban the country from affordable labor. Americans are forced into low-value-producing jobs, demanding a high rate consumption in return. It essentially requires a national exploitation of imported labor and products, all funded through further debt.

But Americans dystopianly think that policies that guarantee legally inflated costs of housing, moving, living, and educating is a problem with minimum wages, tax distributions, and other entitlements. Obamacare gave effectively universal care at the federal level, and the states are able to handle the rest; and it is still law.

[Suntzu]

It is horrible over here, don't come!

I am just a working class slob. I own a couple of houses, farm, four cars, two motorcycles, just bought an airplane, fresh out of boats at the moment.

[QatzelOk]

It is horrible over here, don't come!

I am just a working class slob. I own a couple of houses, farm, four cars, two motorcycles, just bought an airplane, fresh out of boats at the moment.

Maybe you should donate one of your houses to America's many homeless.
Or some of your cars to people who are trapped in the suburbs and can't go anywhere.

Though I suspect that what America really needs is income equality and a much higher level of general education. Not more motorcycles or recreational boats.

The poor are not allowed to live affordably first of all. Affordable homes are basically illegal due to zoning laws and city codes preventing development, and incentives to hoard land as an investment vehicle. Affordable transportation is banned with development that requires vehicle ownership to work. Affordable healthcare is illegal...

The cost of living imposed on Americans ban the country from affordable labor. Americans are forced into low-value-producing jobs, demanding a high rate consumption in return. It essentially requires a national exploitation of imported labor and products, all funded through further debt.
...

This is a very good explanation of America's businessmen-imposed poverty.

[Finfinder]

Maybe you should donate one of your houses to America's many homeless.
Or some of your cars to people who are trapped in the suburbs and can't go anywhere.

Though I suspect that what America really needs is income equality and a much higher level of general education. Not more motorcycles or recreational boats.


This is a very good explanation of America's businessmen-imposed poverty.

No its not a good representation what a joke. You watch and read too much media propaganda.

[Ned Lud]

It is probably fine for those whose income is rising and for those who know how to take orders and eat grass. It never tempted me in the slightest, fair play, but it seems now to be putting off much less cynical persons. Digging Mr Trump out of the cess-pool was a stroke of genius!

[Rancid]

Yes it is, and every day I live in fear in America. Every single day.

Other than the health care thing. Things are quite good here.

Violent crime has done nothing but drop since the 1970s. This fiction that America is awash in guns, and it's a bloodbath on every street corner is pure bullshit. So please shut the fuck up about that.

"Crushing debt" is a feature of pretty much every single government on this planet. The US debt is still not terrible so long as we can keep the GDP growing, which it is growing. Various state governments are doing very well in terms of debt and investment. Interest rates have gone up a bit, which is a good thing. Inflation is at around 2%, so none of the run away inflation people warned about in 2008 has happened. Things are look pretty stable overall. Personal savings has shifted away from being red to being black in the last 10 years too. The average American doesn't have much savings, but they are also not in debt.

All the racism stuff is just stuff that has always existed and has finally come out more in the open. We'll get through it just fine.

So no, America is not a dystopia.

Seems like the OPs strategy is "a broken clock is right twice a day." Just say the world is going to end everyday, eventually, you will be right.

[One Degree]

The US is 99% of the people doing their best to get along while the media bombards us with how much we really hate one another.

[B0ycey]

I never mentioned US debt in my OP, but lets be frank here, the only thing saving the currency at the moment is Japanese and Chinese investment in it. It certainly isn't Trumps policies in growth.

Nonetheless @Rancid, I have seen figures that ain't pretty when it comes to gun crime in the US. Do you think America doesn't have a gun crime issue? Being a US citizen I will give you the benefit of opinion on the rest. You are after all having to live with Trumps administration.

[Ned Lud]

Rancid and One Degree - that sounds hopeful. I never met an American I disliked, never looked at an American discussion-site without being filled with horror and contempt. Is your Republican Party perhaps a plot of the 1% and nutters locked in cellars with computers? I still say fix the gerrymandering and give ordinary people a say in government.

[One Degree]

I am not sure what an ordinary American would be. It is a huge country of people with different views of rights, freedom, and equality. It is at it's base, individual rights versus community rights. People thinking things are right and wrong miss the point that they are actually just choices. Right and wrong are wrong headed.

Edit: I may not have been clear. The US is large and diverse. We argue about right and wrong, but we really are arguing about lifestyle choices. Some choose one, some choose others. We are normally tolerant until these choices become politics forcing us to defend our choice. This is why I see local autonomy as a possible solution. It gives everyone a place to exercise their choice. The 1%, on both sides, demand we agree on choices which is foolish in a country this large and diverse.

[Rancid]

I never mentioned US debt in my OP, but lets be frank here, the only thing saving the currency at the moment is Japanese and Chinese investment in it. It certainly isn't Trumps policies in growth.

Nonetheless @Rancid, I have seen figures that ain't pretty when it comes to gun crime in the US. Do you think America doesn't have a gun crime issue? Being a US citizen I will give you the benefit of opinion on the rest. You are after all having to live with Trumps administration.

Obviously there's a gun crime issue in America, just as much as there's a knife crime issue in the UK. The point is, gun crime (and violent crime in general) is not increasing, it is decreasing, and has been for over 3 decades. This is a fact the media and politicians like to ignore. America is increasingly becoming a safer place to live. It's ignored because it doesn't serve the interest of politicians and the media.

Hyping up gun crime issues is simply a useful tool for politicians to payoff their essential supporters and sway influencers. the media likes it, because bad news sells.

Rancid and One Degree - that sounds hopeful. I never met an American I disliked, never looked at an American discussion-site without being filled with horror and contempt. Is your Republican Party perhaps a plot of the 1% and nutters locked in cellars with computers? I still say fix the gerrymandering and give ordinary people a say in government.

I would argue the very fact that Trump got elected shows that ordinary people do have a say in their government. Recall, the Republican establishment did not want Trump as their candidate. All Trump supporters (ordinary people) were able to shoe horn him in against the Republican establishments wishes.

As for Gerrymandering, yea, something should be done, however the solution is certainly not to cut up the US into squares either. The thing with Gerrymandering is that both parties do it, it's just that Republicans have been more effective at it.

I do believe that the institutions of the US government are strong enough to get passed this weird shit that's happening right now. We'll see.

[Finfinder]

America, the world's biggest economy has never been so divided between classes. There is no universal free health care, no fair tax credits, anyone can buy weapons and there is the death penalty in some states. We are told the America is free. Is it? Obviously (or at least debateably) there is a unofficial race war taking place there today. Do minorities feel free? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Then there is the constitution. Or more specifically the second amendment. A right what has killed many more people than 'Western'' Islamic terrorism. Yet because the founding fathers created this right back in 1791, nobody believes it should be updated to the 21st century (like society is somewhat the same!). Do school or cinema shooting not bring any sense to US politicians? Then you have healthcare. Tell an Canadian or a Brit that healthcare should be privatised and paid through by insurance. You'd get linched. Healthcare in the UK is a priority, yet in America the politicans have somehow convinced their electorate that Obamacare is evil. That universal healthcare is Communism even. What! You should bankrupt yourself or die. Fuck that. What kind of backward thinking supports that? The tax system is a joke. The rich pay no tax and the poor like waitresses rely on tips. So no great wealth spreading policies like tax credits. And the death penalty exists too. So try getting equited if found innocent once you have sat in the chair.

Today I look at America is dispair. It is so damn wealthy. Nobody should be poor there. NOBODY! A nation that was so great back in the 60's has now resorted to pillage of oil - and the destruction of the ME, so some oil tycoon can buy his wife her third bathroom. America was once a utopian dream. But like all dreams that rely on power, the dream is only as good as the leader in charge. And unfortunately the US is currently being ran by Trump. So my question to you all. Is America a Dystopian society?

You sound like a millennial Bernie Sanders supporter. You need to get out there and see the country for yourself not from from a smart phone and social media. The country is not more divided there is no universal free healthcare because the people don't want it. They want cheaper healthcare. BTW the only real division is the crappy rigged media propaganda, the SJW and snowflakes telling you the country sucks and you drinking the kool Aid.

[Rancid]

I never mentioned US debt in my OP, but lets be frank here, the only thing saving the currency at the moment is Japanese and Chinese investment in it. It certainly isn't Trumps policies in growth.

Sources? Not the Trump part, that's obvious. I want to see a source that claims that if it wasn't for Chinese and Japanese investment, the US would be in big trouble.

[B0ycey]

Sources? Not the Trump part, that's obvious. I want to see a source that claims that if it wasn't for Chinese and Japanese investment, the US would be in big trouble.

You need a source for $2 trillion of US debt? You spend it, they buy it. What do you think would happen if they decided to sell it (cheaply)? Money has no value, only what someone is prepared to pay for it. Being that the US is bankrupt, the Far East is keeping it alive. If you need a source to believe otherwise then I will let you keep your fantasy.

[Rancid]

It would be a stupid move of China to sell off all it's debt instruments. At least all in one shot anyway. China could not afford to tank the US economy in this way. It's not as big an issue as people make it to seem. All of the advanced economies of the world are joined at the hip. That's he beautify of globalization.

So long as the economy continues to grow, and we don't add too much additional debt, it should be all good. At the end of the day, all we need to do is balance the budget, and the debt issue won't be an issue at all.

Most governments are carrying large amounts of debt, again, it' something that should be addressed, but it's not as doom and gloom as you think.

But sure, you're right. People have been screaming this same stuff for 20 years, hyper-inflations this, debt that. Has it happened? Nope... why? because it will hurt fucking everyone.