Lolol maybe in terms of sacred cow that is GDP... but as for some other measures that actually indicate quality of life:

- The US is one of FIVE countries in the entire world that link. The others are Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland (all of which are developing countries).
- It is the only developed country link. Yet it spends more than double the OECD average on healthcare.
- Second-highest poverty rate amongst developed countries (17%), second only to Israel. 23% of US children live in poverty.
- Not even a government loan scheme for tertiary education. Meanwhile most European countries literally have their unis completely free.
- Apparently public transport is pretty rubbish in many places or even non-existant, and some cities are even terrible for pedestrians
- Highest income inequality of any OECD country
- One of the lowest voter turnouts among high-income countries (67%. Compare to France's 80%, Belgium's 89%, Luxembourg's 91%). In fact the entire political system is a yikes compared to other high-income countries
- link compared to other developed countries (literally 5x that of the UK, France, Germany, Ireland)
- The level of police brutality straight-up belongs to a shitty authoritarian regime. Other developed countries still have problems with police's treatment of minorities but nothing compared to that.
- This pandemic response is third-world quality. In fact many third-world countries are doing better because they appreciate its seriousness

I've been reading shit about people LOSING THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE because they just lost their job due to corona. How fucked is that? Losing your health insurance in the midst of a pandemic because you just lost your job due to that same pandemic?? How was health insurance tied to employment in the first place???

Overall: maybe the US is first-world economically. But by other measures... oof.

(I'll come back and add sources for these stats but wrote this in a hurry sorry)

Tbh I think that especially in regards to healthcare and education prices I feel really unsure of America's status as a first world country. And the pandemic response is a joke and an embarrassment. I feel like rising unemployment is a concern too.

Like America looks like a developed country, it has the technology of it but once you actually get into it, a whole lot less clear.

^Agree. And yeah healthcare is really the biggest indicator against it being "first-world" lol

And the other poll reminded me: The US is link to retain the death penalty.

This country needs to get its shit together tbh.

@Americans wtf my dudes link

Why are some areas allowed to be so drastically underserviced in terms of polling booths? Surely of all the things that a government should spend money on, a fair election is pretty high up there??

I feel more validated in my "sort of" pick on this poll. Watching some failed state shit rn

Oh they’re doing all sorts of shit to make it harder for low income and working class people.

Lmao pretty much America's MO by now

Late stage capitalism be like "the underclass is a design feature, not a bug"

I feel like capitalism unchecked will inevitably lead to this kind of thing. Tbh I feel as though this would apply to literally any system. Power tends to corrupt people over time.