The American flag: To some it’s Old Glory. To others it’s a MAGA hat on a stick.

  • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    The idea of the “Great American State Fair” and the fact we were hitting 250, sounded like it’d be a great way to celebrate. I read about some of the original plans and what the Smithsonian was working on and it really felt like a tribute to us, the people.

    But now, I’ve had zero desire to celebrate anything that’s been going on, and it’s just felt like a damper on everything. What about the US is there to celebrate? I know people can say “well, acktually, compared to Burma….”, but that’s not the point. I also know we weren’t at the top, but we’ve fallen so far, so quickly.

    • baller_w@lemmy.zip
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      6 days ago

      Totally agree. We’re the most prosperous country in the world but we basically fail all social health markers. Literacy rates, quality of healthcare, infrastructure, deaths during child birth…all these are inferior to many European countries with a fraction of our GDP. It’s shameful. We can and should do better.

      The major takeaway: wealth does not equal a good life.

      • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        When you remove the top 10% of earners, the average American wage drops to something like $35-40k. America may be the most prosperous country in the world, but it’s only going to a few people.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Wealth helps a lot. What doesn’t help is having a few absolutely insanely wealthy people to offset hundreds of millions of poor people.

      • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 days ago

        The major takeaway: wealth does not equal a good life.

        Yeah you misunderstand. The actual individual people with the wealth are doing just fine in all of those categories.