Image Credit – Michael Ivanov License- CC BY 2.0
Whether you’re ready to acknowledge it or not, as a whole, this country is a mean, hateful place. As a nation, we’re greedy and self-serving, and we’re oftentimes a big, fat bully. And not only to the outsiders and “illegals” (though that is a huge issue of ours in and of itself), but we’re big, mean bullies to our own, as well.
My last piece covered just a portion of the problem with the USA’s attitude – the fact that my 64 year old grandmother doesn’t have access to decent, affordable medical insurance or treatment, and was recently smacked with a big ole diabetes diagnosis. And it’s certainly not just an issue for my grandmother. It’s not just a problem for any particular demographic in this country. It’s an ever-pressing problem for everyone that’s not lucky enough to be a part of the 1%. Living in America, unless you have millions in the bank, you have to worry about being able to afford healthcare. It doesn’t just affect the “poor” percentage either. Even the blue-collar folks are paying hundreds and often thousands of dollars out of pocket in deductibles, co-pays, and insurance costs.
Other countries, such as Canada, have state-funded insurance nationwide for EVERYONE. No one in Canada has to worry about how they’ll pay to get medical treatment. Dozens and dozens of other countries around the globe are following this example. In France, Australia, Israel, Sweden, Norway, Japan… – Free healthcare for all their citizens. But not in America, boys. Never in America. Why on Earth would we want to ensure that our citizens can have access to affordable and decent medical care when we can instead hold their health over their heads like some sort of fucked up extortion? Why would we ever want to spread the costs evenly across our taxpayers with a small percentage, rather than line the pockets of every politician, insurance company, and pharmaceutical company across the nation?
Our health insurance costs us astronomically more in the U.S than other developed countries, leaving approximately 11.3% of American adults without health insurance altogether. The cost of medical treatment in the U.S is exorbitantly higher as well. The United States is currently the most expensive place on Earth to give birth – coming in at around $30,000 for an all-natural birth and upwards of $50,000 for a cesarean. And this is just a national average. Whereas the total bill in Singapore, for a non-citizen, would come in at around $10,000. If you’re a Singapore citizen, you get a $6,000 baby bonus. And Singapore isn’t even the cheapest country to give birth in, it just doesn’t take much to outdo the good ole United States of America.
“We’re flushing the dream, and splendor, and wonder of what America is truly supposed to be down the shitter. We no longer care about anyone but ourselves.”
With the price of treatment being so high in this country, doctors and hospitals have a tendency to do more. Because, why not? Every time they walk into your room, touch you, run a test, or prescribe a medication they’re making more money. Whether they charge that to your insurance or put it on your tab, they don’t much care. They overdo, because they can, and it makes them more money that way. It’s a sad truth when millions of American citizens are now opting to travel to other countries for any extensive medical treatment or procedures, because it’s the only way they’ll be able to afford it.
But don’t think for a moment that medical care is the only way America lines its velvet pockets. We’re slicker than that. We like to screw you over with a healthy heaping of student loan debt as well. College in America is more expensive than literally anywhere else in the world, with a bachelor’s degree averaging out to around $21,000. The same degree in New Zealand is about $4,200, and in Portugal it’s only a hair above $1,100. Now keep in mind that the good ole U S of A does not like to give much government help to anybody. So, students are usually left eating thousands and thousands of dollars in student loan debt to pay for the education that our country says they should have.
Around 44 million Americans share a total student loan debt of $1.4 trillion. As a matter of fact, the rates of education are rising even faster than inflation in the country, making an affordable education even less and less attainable. Again, we’re faced with the fact that many young adults are choosing to travel outside of our country to seek an education, simply because that’s the only way they can afford it.
Now, we know that our medical costs are increasingly rising, and our education costs are continuously going up at an exceeding rate, yet our wages… well, our wages ain’t going any damn place. Our average hourly wage has only grown around 0.2% per year since the 1970’s. Our economy has grown, our national debt has grown, and our average cost of living has increased exponentially, but our pay hasn’t gone much of anywhere. It costs us far more to live, to survive here, than it used to, but we’re not being paid enough to keep up with that. We haven’t been since somewhere around the early 70’s.
We literally can’t afford to live, even working 40 hours a week. Yet, our country deeply frowns upon any sort of government assistance, our president even going so far as trying to replace the SNAP program that helps feed literally thousands of Americans – including the elderly and children, with a box of prepackaged shit food delivered to your door every month.
And since we’re talking about the cruelty of America already, I want you to just take a moment and consider what you just read. Our president, our country, wants to take away a program that helps ensure that children don’t go to school hungry, that our elderly can still feed themselves, and instead send them a small box of nearly inedible, innutritious, bottom-of-the-barrel, Trump wouldn’t eat it if you paid him, food. That’s just how truly mean and downright fucking hateful we are as a country.
How does a nation get to a point where it doesn’t give a damn about its own people? We, the citizens, are what makes America. We ARE America. Yet our nation bullies us. Our government is stuffing us in lockers and flushing our heads in the toilet. We’ve forgotten what it means to love and care for our own. We’ve lost sight of the gratification involved in helping our fellow brother. We’re flushing the dream, and splendor, and wonder of what America is truly supposed to be down the shitter. We no longer care about anyone but ourselves. The lining of a politician’s pocket is taking precedence over making sure our veterans are housed, our elderly and sick, our weak and weary are cared for, our children our fed and educated. We’re a mean fucking country. We’re mean spirited and unaccepting to any that doesn’t belong to us, and we’re cold-hearted and hateful to our own. When our very own citizens, the very blood and heartbeat of America feels the needs to flee this country – Well, boys, we got a fucking problem.
Grab the book that will lift your spirits with laughter.
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Andrea is a freelance writer based out of Kentucky. She is the mother to a 3 year old little girl and step-mother to a 6 year old boy. She’s been married to her husband and best friend for 5 years. She enjoys fishing, camping, hiking and the occasional glass of wine by a bonfire.
Andrea is a freelance writer based out of Kentucky. She is the mother to a 3 year old little girl and step-mother to a 6 year old boy. She’s been married to her husband and best friend for 5 years. She enjoys fishing, camping, hiking and the occasional glass of wine by a bonfire.
