Anyone notice the ever-increasing number of things that America is supposedly uniquely unable to do.

senseamp

Lifer
Feb 5, 2006
35,785
6,187
126
It seems like every year we are adding to the list of things America, the richest and most powerful country in the world, is just incapable of doing that developed or even developing countries can? Or at least the right wants us to believe we can't.
-Can't provide health insurance for all citizens
-Can't stop pharma companies from ripping off citizens
-Can't build decent infrastructure and public transportation
-Can't keep the economy running without huge deficits
-Can't stop corporations from buying politicians
-Can't tackle global warming and pollution
-Can't do taxes automatically and for free, even though the government has all the info it needs to tax most people already in the database (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript)
-Can't have net neutrality
-Can't protect voting rights have people vote without waiting in lines for hours
-Can't perform basic public health functions like testing and contact tracing during a pandemic.
-Can't wear masks in sufficient numbers to limit the spread.
-Can't keep the mail running to deliver ballots from voters in same or neighboring zip code to polling sites.

If this trend continues, in a few years, I am worried we won't be able to tie our shoes as a country. How can we get out of this downtrend before it's too late?
 

SmCaudata

Senior member
Oct 8, 2006
969
1,532
136
- can't guarantee a living wage for full time workers
- can't provide paid parental leave
- can't keep our police and military from operating like we live in an authoritarian state
- can't compete with other countries in education outcomes
- can't reduce firearm deaths
- can't pay teachers like the highly trained professionals they are


I got to depressed after those...
 

DaaQ

Golden Member
Dec 8, 2018
1,278
923
136
It's all about personal responsibility (not Corporate) and them bootstraps. Not enough people where cowboy boots with bootstraps.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,402
8,038
136
can't stay in decent physical condition, e.g. the high percentage of overweight or obese citizens

can't lay off the salt and sugar

can't inform themselves by reading books

can't learn from the past/history

can't face the facts, respect science and stop lieing to themselves (and others)
 
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Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,280
5,053
136
It seems like every year we are adding to the list of things America, the richest and most powerful country in the world, is just incapable of doing that developed or even developing countries can? Or at least the right wants us to believe we can't.
-Can't provide health insurance for all citizens
-Can't stop pharma companies from ripping off citizens
-Can't build decent infrastructure and public transportation
-Can't keep the economy running without huge deficits
-Can't stop corporations from buying politicians
-Can't tackle global warming and pollution
-Can't do taxes automatically and for free, even though the government has all the info it needs to tax most people already in the database (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript)
-Can't have net neutrality
-Can't protect voting rights have people vote without waiting in lines for hours
-Can't perform basic public health functions like testing and contact tracing during a pandemic.
-Can't wear masks in sufficient numbers to limit the spread.
-Can't keep the mail running to deliver ballots from voters in same or neighboring zip code to polling sites.

If this trend continues, in a few years, I am worried we won't be able to tie our shoes as a country. How can we get out of this downtrend before it's too late?
Step one would be to learn the difference between not being able to do something, and choosing not to do something.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
33,379
7,443
136
-Can't do taxes automatically and for free, even though the government has all the info it needs to tax most people already in the database (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript)

We would rather jail people like Martha Stewart if they do not cross their Ts and dot their Is properly.
Or... if in the case of an investigation you fail to remember something specific about an exact date and number. Boom, jail.

Americans love that kind of !@#$.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,402
8,038
136
We would rather jail people like Martha Stewart if they do not cross their Ts and dot their Is properly.
Or... if in the case of an investigation you fail to remember something specific about an exact date and number. Boom, jail.

Americans love that kind of !@#$.
Yeah, it never occurred to me, but all that crap I go through leading up to April 15, the envelopes in the mail, the buying Turbotax Premier legit as cheap as I can get it, the hours entering all the data and looking through the labyrinth of weird tax laws and byways. Then, doing the "free" state return, then electronic filing of federal return, then printing the state return, finding an envelope, having to weigh the letter and then figure out the postage and sending it in to my state (CA), all because the jackasses somewhere won't let me electronic file my state return unless I fork over another $25, and they make the print and mail option not easy. BASTARDS! Why? Fact is I didn't owe a single penny the last two years, it just cost me over $60 and a lot of my time.

They do this because rich people have complicated taxes. They hire tax attorneys to do their taxes. But if you choose not to or can't afford a tax attorney they make you do it. Before turbotax it used to be a lot harder to do my taxes. It was awful. Now it's a major inconvenience.
 
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Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,856
4,974
126
We're first in the ONLY category that matters though!


RankCountryNumber of millionaires
(thousands)
Millionaires per 100,000
1
23px-Flag_of_the_United_States.svg.png
United States
18,6145,671
2
23px-Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg.png
China
4,447310
3
23px-Flag_of_Japan.svg.png
Japan
3,0252,385
4
23px-Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg.png
United Kingdom
2,4603,643
5
23px-Flag_of_Germany.svg.png
Germany
2,1872,619
 

FaaR

Golden Member
Dec 28, 2007
1,056
412
136
They do this because rich people have complicated taxes.
Also, because the makers of Turbotax and similar software lobby against simplifying the U.S. tax code (because that would kill their livelihood.)

I did my own taxes literally in...30 seconds. Tops. Tap tap tap, most of it in the government's own app. Done. Didn't cost me a single penny either.

I could be making bold claims about living in the greatest country on earth, but I prefer instead of empty bragging simply letting facts speak for themselves... ;)
 
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HomerJS

Lifer
Feb 6, 2002
35,959
27,638
136
Step one would be to learn the difference between not being able to do something, and choosing not to do something.
We can launch reusable rockets into space yet what should be one of the easier things to do

Can't protect voting rights have people vote without waiting in lines for hours

Like you said there is a group preventing this from happening because they don't want it and that's the Republican Party. The only way to fix a lot of these is for Dems to take over all branches of govt with a filibuster proof majority. For the item I mentioned fix the 65 Voting Rights Act. Then proceed to set minimum standards for all 50 states. No waiting in line for > 30 minutes and paper backups mandated by law. In person voting at a minimum must begin the Friday before Election day and vote by mail must be made available at least upon request.
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,280
5,053
136
We can launch reusable rockets into space yet what should be one of the easier things to do

Can't protect voting rights have people vote without waiting in lines for hours

Like you said there is a group preventing this from happening because they don't want it and that's the Republican Party. The only way to fix a lot of these is for Dems to take over all branches of govt with a filibuster proof majority. For the item I mentioned fix the 65 Voting Rights Act. Then proceed to set minimum standards for all 50 states. No waiting in line for > 30 minutes and paper backups mandated by law. In person voting at a minimum must begin the Friday before Election day and vote by mail must be made available at least upon request.
I have no issue with that. Two things matter in this particular topic. That every eligible voter has the opportunity to do so, and that the integrity of the election is absolute. Those are both achievable, the issue is that neither side want's to achieve both.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
72,326
6,039
126
What do you guys think the reason behind this is?
All those other countries don't have the Republican party.
What causes the Republican Party or more generally, the authoritarian right? Fear. What causes fear? The anticipation of pain. What causes anticipation? A previous experience of pain, and all of the associations that go with it that can trigger it in the future, essentially PTSD. What is the primary cause of that pain. Being put down with negative language, being made to feel identified with something despicable and hated along with physical and emotional threat, bodily harm and the withdrawal of loving support. What causes children to be put down by adults, the reminder of how vulnerable the adults were when they were children. We kill our kids to save them from being socially outcast, to make they safe in normalcy, in other words, emotionally dead and conformist. Authoritarian conservative control keeps us safe from feeling how bad we were made to feel. It keeps us backward and emotionally dead. Progress is change and change is a threat, deviant behavior and look out if you go down that road. You are only ever safe if you suffer from Stockholm Syndrome.

Now forget you read this because if taken seriously it might awaken how you feel. Who wants to know that everything we believe that makes us feel safe is nothing but a gigantic cosmic joke. We have all these sacred cows that make us feel we are good except for the only one that matters, the knowledge felt within that we were born that way.