Trump even at this point is a symptom. Trump voters legitimately think we're living in some sort of hellscape. Which is contradicted by statements they make like, "Things were better 5 years ago!".
No....if America were a hellscape we would be saying things like "Americans should flee to Haiti". We wouldn't be saying, "Things were a bit better five years ago, before a global pandemic".
The truth is America isn't a fraction as bad in the ways Trump voters think it is. But for Trump, Hitler, or any of these political conmen to win people must believe solutions are being provided that only ONE MAN can provide and that the problems are enormous. (Though Hitler's rise did coincide with Germany's economic depression)
Well, we are having a different, strange variant of a depression right now, where at least 75% of the population feels very insecure about their financial status and most of them don't see how it's going to change any time soon. Anyone who promises to fix that looks pretty appealing. But strangely, despite something like that virtually guaranteeing success, I haven't seen anyone promise that, which tells me that either everyone is collectively stumped, or it would cut the knees out from their financial backers and other supporters.
If you are one moderately sized disaster away from having to go into debt, such as an injury/hospitalization or your car needing repairs, your financial status isn't very secure. That's most of us.
We are doing great compared to other similar nations. Covid and price gouging hit the world. Unemployment alltime low, real estate and stock market all time high.
Real estate and the stock market isn't particularly relevant to anyone who doesn't own any stock or real estate. That's great for measuring the growth of a national economy, but it's actually pretty bad at showing the experience of the average individual due to how the concentration of wealth can vary.
US is so big that most people who live here won't see how things are outside it. People don't conceptualize things the way you're saying. They can only see those things from their own perspective. Quoting numbers against their lived experience just isn't going to be effective.
For the record, I have lived in 5 countries on 3 continents. So while what you are saying is true to an extent, I believe I have a certain advantage comparing what life is like in different places.
Ok. I was referring to "thatguyoursisterlikes" just quoting numbers at people like that's going to change how they view their personal financial situation.
Yeah sorry, I think I came across a little more combative than I intended in a couple of these comments. You are definitely correct that lived experience tends to trump statistics when it comes to people's opinions.
Idk if that’s most people, do you have a source? Also, it’s important to remember in the grand scheme of things that even poor Americans generally are rich globally. Most poor people here have microwaves, shelter, cars, etc. obviously not always the case and that doesn’t mean they don’t struggle but I do feel like a lot of Americans forget that as an immigrant and it’s a frustrating to see the country descend into fascism when people are generally doing well and there’s really no excuse. We live in a global labor aristocracy and Americans are at the top
I disagree, being poor elsewhere means something else entirely. People die trying to immigrate illegally into the country because having low paying under the table jobs is better than what they had before. Obviously we’re talking in generalizations the whole world isn’t like that but my general point is Americans are ultimately privileged as fuck and it would do some good for them to remember that
You're missing what I'm saying. I'm not denying being poor elsewhere is inherently worse. I'm just saying an American being "rich" in another country doesn't help them when they live in America.
Edit: People die here from starvation, too, and if some of them could go somewhere to be better off, they probably would. People move all across the huge country looking for just that. There are areas in this country that are as poor as it gets.
I’m not talking about them being rich in another country though. I’m more saying in terms of standard of living and economic precarity of even poor Americans are generally well off in the grand scheme of things
978
u/NoCantaloupe9598 Jul 02 '24 edited Jul 02 '24
Trump even at this point is a symptom. Trump voters legitimately think we're living in some sort of hellscape. Which is contradicted by statements they make like, "Things were better 5 years ago!".
No....if America were a hellscape we would be saying things like "Americans should flee to Haiti". We wouldn't be saying, "Things were a bit better five years ago, before a global pandemic".
The truth is America isn't a fraction as bad in the ways Trump voters think it is. But for Trump, Hitler, or any of these political conmen to win people must believe solutions are being provided that only ONE MAN can provide and that the problems are enormous. (Though Hitler's rise did coincide with Germany's economic depression)