Are Americas not as wealthy as the rest of the world think they are?

[antira11]

I’m a 30 yo Latino and I very constantly read messages or posts here about people who kind of imply how they are struggling to get their own place or just can’t afford having a dog or maybe just little details like not being able to afford a king size bed or having a high-end phone, it was a little surprising for me to read about it, In the country where I live, it might not be too easy for some people to do it, but you sure could afford it by organizing well your finances.

I always thought that Americans had much better opportunities for basically everything.


I’ve never Been to U.S. so I got to say that me, asking about this, has also been Influenced by some Americans I’ve known, people who never seemed to struggle in any aspect.

So I’d like to read from you, what are the thing that are putting you in a position like this one when living in a first world country.
( just to compare it to the place I live in and other places I’ve been)

 

[dartel]

No America is not the glittering rich utopia. The "country" may be rich, but we have MASSIVE weath disparity. Everyday Americans have next to nothing. The richest 1% control 90% of all the money. Everyone else barely gets by.

 

[ElectricSheep]

I don't even have an answer, but I wish like hell I did. I've grown up on stories of people buying homes for less than the costs of a used car today, and people who bought a brand new muscle car off the assembly line with their part time fast food job money during high school. Two generations ago a single income could support a family.

Housing prices have increased on average 5% per year for the last decade and spiked by 11% last year alone, someone else can do that math but I think that's a >60% cumulative increase over 10 years. I don't have any hard or fast numbers for this, but I think a lot of this has been speculation by real-estate investment groups, the lack of supply of starter homes being built possibly still due to the 2007 housing crash that shook up the construction industry, and of course the raising costs of materials from inflation and a myriad of other reasons. That's just housing. I think there are problems with the cost of insurance and medical care too. The cost of education. The stagnation of wages. The cost of transportation because you almost have to have a car in 90% of the country if you want to get anywhere.

I'm honestly starting to believe we live in the shittiest first world country on the planet, but hey, I guess we have guns or something.....

 

[dartel]

I don't even have an answer, but I wish like hell I did. I've grown up on stories of people buying homes for less than the costs of a used car today, and people who bought a brand new muscle car off the assembly line with their part time fast food job money during high school. Two generations ago a single income could support a family.

Housing prices have increased on average 5% per year for the last decade and spiked by 11% last year alone, someone else can do that math but I think that's a >60% cumulative increase over 10 years. I don't have any hard or fast numbers for this, but I think a lot of this has been speculation by real-estate investment groups, the lack of supply of starter homes being built possibly still due to the 2007 housing crash that shook up the construction industry, and of course the raising costs of materials from inflation and a myriad of other reasons. That's just housing. I think there are problems with the cost of insurance and medical care too. The cost of education. The stagnation of wages. The cost of transportation because you almost have to have a car in 90% of the country if you want to get anywhere.

I'm honestly starting to believe we live in the shittiest first world country on the planet, but hey, I guess we have guns or something.....

It's not just durable goods. We pay ungodly more for even modern "necessities" than anywhere else in the world - first or third. In most of Europe the average cell phone plan costs something like $20 a month, here it's $80+ per month. Why? Partially because it's a fucking ginormous country and people on the east coast are forced to pay for the cell tower infrastructure on the west coast that they'll never use, all cause it's one network. Remember roaming? That made it so you didn't have to pay for all that infrastructure unless you ended up in range of it, that's loooooong gone. The rest is cause of "good old" capitalism and 2 monopolistic mega corporations manipulating prices to line their 1% pockets.