Buenos Aires seems safer and nicer than Los Angeles, what happened to the United States?

[QuilmesSlo]

What's wrong?

- Healthcare is broken, and bankrupts people.

- Significant drug problem specifically opioid related, limited treatment programs. Health problem is criminalized.

- Monetary inflation causes asset inflation, pricing out working and middle class from owning assets. Wages don't cover asset inflation.

- Student debt is saddling lots of young people.

- Politicians are morons and blame problems on outside forces, not their own mismanagement.

Yes, many want to emigrate to the US because besides those issues life in general is MUCH better in the US than Haiti, Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala, etc, etc, etc. People can make better wages, save dollars, send back to family.

That doesn't invalidate the points above. You sound like a flag waving triggered boomer.

People want to (and do) emigrate to the US from lots of wealthy countries, too.

The US is far from perfect, but it's a great country with lots of opportunities.

 

[toongeorges]

People want to (and do) emigrate to the US from lots of wealthy countries, too.

The US is far from perfect, but it's a great country with lots of opportunities.

Not wanting to stir controversy, though the US has lost a lot of it's shine in the last 20 years (for me as a European and I guess many others as well). I am not saying the US is a bad place either. The US is still respected, but more like it is one among all the others while in the past, it was the example everyone looked up to. Some bad PR-moments, without wanting to be exhaustive: Powell (under Bush) trying to convince everyone that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, while everyone except US citizens knew this was not the case and the US being furiated at Europe, because France, Germany, ... not wanting to invade Iraq to put Iraq's oil under Halliburton's control. Trump proclaiming America first and wanting to go it all alone, ... and also economically, the US is not the promised land anymore it used to be. It is often easier to stay home and start a business there than trying to make it in the US.

 

[jeff1234]

In the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's we were unified against actual (or at least perceived) enemies. (IMHO) since the end of the Cold War we have turned to fighting among our selves.

So is there are new promised land?

 

[Ries]

The original question was about Los Angeles.
LA and SF are the most extreme examples, but Seattle and NYC and Phoenix all have enormous homeless problems too.

The difference between the salaries and the housing prices are the number one cause.

Prop 13, passed in 1978, makes California pretty unique- it has effectively acted as a mechanism to transfer unbelievable amounts of wealth from the young to the old. IF the old own houses in cali.

I actually lived in LA, owned a house and commercial property there, had a business there, had employees there, and paid all kinds of taxes.
And it was still a great climate for business, and it still is- 44,000 new businesses started in California last year.
The problem is for low wage employees, competing in a housing market that is global, not local. Your neighbor in LA could easily be a Korean student at Caltech, a Russian millionaire, a Brazilian actress, a Chinese investor, an Israeli restraunteur, a French boutique owner- prices of housing are priced based on global demand for a place in LA, not on local wages.

California has about the same population as Argentina, and its GDP is $2.1 trillion, vs $380 billion or so for Argentina.
Manufacturing alone has a higher gross income in Californian than all of Argentina put together.
People complain about housing prices and rents in BA, but they are pennies compared to California.

Funny how I am actually seeing fewer homeless sleeping on the street this year than in 2019, in Buenos Aires.
Must be the low taxes and right wing goverment, eh?

 

[QuilmesSlo]

Not wanting to stir controversy, though the US has lost a lot of it's shine in the last 20 years (for me as a European and I guess many others as well). I am not saying the US is a bad place either. The US is still respected, but more like it is one among all the others while in the past, it was the example everyone looked up to. Some bad PR-moments, without wanting to be exhaustive: Powell (under Bush) trying to convince everyone that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, while everyone except US citizens knew this was not the case and the US being furiated at Europe, because France, Germany, ... not wanting to invade Iraq to put Iraq's oil under Halliburton's control. Trump proclaiming America first and wanting to go it all alone, ... and also economically, the US is not the promised land anymore it used to be. It is often easier to stay home and start a business there than trying to make it in the US.

Sure, and a lot of bad PR moments in Europe, too.

What I also know is that the youth unemployment rate in Spain is 37%, and the youth unemployment rate in Italy is 29.8%.

So, you can tell me how much you like, say, Denmark, but in large swathes of Europe the future is pretty grey.

 

[Dougie]

People want to (and do) emigrate to the US from lots of wealthy countries, too.

The US is far from perfect, but it's a great country with lots of opportunities.

I agree - I think that can be true, plus it can have many issues that cause problems too.

That someone brings up some of those problems doesn't mean they are tired cliches and that the person is some anti-american zealot.

"Wages don't cover asset inflation from monetary inflation. There is a drug problem without adequate and accessible treatment options. University costs are out of control."

Does that warrant a..."go print some anti american bumper stickers!!!" response? Sounds like a grumpy old man lol

 

[QuilmesSlo]

I agree - I think that can be true, plus it can have many issues that cause problems too.

That someone brings up some of those problems doesn't mean they are tired cliches and that the person is some anti-american zealot.

"Wages don't cover asset inflation from monetary inflation. There is a drug problem without adequate and accessible treatment options. University costs are out of control."

Does that warrant a..."go print some anti american bumper stickers!!!" response? Sounds like a grumpy old man lol

I think Newman got us in a lather, tbh.

 

[wineguy999]

What's wrong?

- Healthcare is broken, and bankrupts people.

- Significant drug problem specifically opioid related, limited treatment programs. Health problem is criminalized.

- Monetary inflation causes asset inflation, pricing out working and middle class from owning assets. Wages don't cover asset inflation.

- Student debt is saddling lots of young people.

- Politicians are morons and blame problems on outside forces, not their own mismanagement.

Yes, many want to emigrate to the US because besides those issues life in general is MUCH better in the US than Haiti, Honduras, Cuba, Guatemala, etc, etc, etc. People can make better wages, save dollars, send back to family.

That doesn't invalidate the points above. You sound like a flag waving triggered boomer.

You had me right up to the boomer part. You can blow the boomer bit out your backside. We don't all support moronic Trumpist attitudes, and many of us realize the serious problems in the USA. Lots of boomer's eyes are wide open.

 

[Newman_ZA]

I was being inflammatory on purpose. I admit that, but USA has serious issues that flag waving americans cannot see somehow. Perhaps its being too close to the problem? I am not anti-american either. I have lots of family in USA who live there happily and are citizens. Personally, having been there twice, I don't understand how americans can ignore the problem so blatantly when the causes are so obvious.

 

[Ries]

You had me right up to the boomer part. You can blow the boomer bit out your backside. We don't all support moronic Trumpist attitudes, and many of us realize the serious problems in the USA. Lots of boomer's eyes are wide open.

you do realize I am a boomer, right? Born in 1955, I enjoyed the same unfair advantage as the rest of my generation- subsidized education, relatively high wages, and very cheap real estate, followed by 40 years of wage stagnation, thousand percent and more appreciation in real estate values, and huge increases in the cost of most everything.
I have kids in their late 20s and early 30s- and their world is so different from the boomers, even "woke" ones like me, and, you with your eyes wide open.
I am discussing structural political and economic policies since the 70s, as well as the consistent voting against social services, higher taxes, or progressive policies, by the anti-Trumpist fat and sassy boomers of my generation, in places like Seattle, Portland, and Mill Valley.