I can think of a few dozen countries in which the overall life quality is considerably higher than in the U.S., and I can do that backed up by sources such as HDI and the Gini Coefficient. Want some examples of "first-world" countries that have a lower Gini Coefficient than the U.S? Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain are just some of the countries, and this is disconsidering the galore of countries that, despite their economical weakness, display a better distribution of wealth. This, according to data gathered and displayed by the UN.
The U.S.A is ranked 90th* with a coefficient of 0.45 in the Gini Coefficient list (which measures the income (in)equality in a nation's society), behind countries such as Russia, Canada, Ireland, Turkey, Norway, Germany, Denmark and even Ukraine -- Namibia, the world's worst, is at 0.707, and similar to the U.S is Iran, with 0.445.
How can a country that has, among the developed nations, the worse education and healthcare systems, and is deemed to be one of the worse countries for kids to grow up in (Unicef), be considered the best country in the world? The North-American middle class has this false notion that jobs are accessible and life in the U.S. is fair: how can a fair nation have an average of 17% of its population beneath poverty, a number that in cycles of ten to fifteen years oscilates up to 40%?
I respect the U.S. for what it is: an economical behemoth and the world's strongest military. I won't, however, lie to myself and say that it's a good country for everyone, or that its welfare state is developed. It isn't the worst country to live in, but it's far -- and when I say far, I mean VERY far -- from the best.
*From 0 (complete equality) to 1.0 (maximal inequality).
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