Miami
Body halo MTB only
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2024
- Posts
- 232
- Reputation
- 711
Why the USA is the GREATEST country on Earth.
People love to hate and bash the United States on social media. Everywhere you look online you see the same narratives: “bad quality of life”, “Europe is better”, “high gun violence”, etc. Most of this comes from people who have never even stepped foot on U.S soil, or from Americans who have never been outside the U.S and therefore have nothing to compare it to. People often focus only on the negatives of this country while ignoring the obvious positives. No country is perfect, but looking at the bigger picture, America comes closest.
The reality is that the U.S. is held to a completely different standard than other countries, mostly due to its huge global influence and success. In this thread I’ll respond to common criticisms of the U.S., and also talk about the many great benefits this country offers.
For reference, I came to this country a year and a half ago from Europe (UK). As a legal immigrant myself, I feel I can better appreciate the huge positives of the country better than someone who was born here and takes it for granted. I can also compare better due to living in Europe too.
RESPONDING TO COMMON CRITICISMS
“American Healthcare is terrible”
American healthcare is definitely not “terrible”. It may be expensive, but it is definitely not terrible. In terms of the quality of care itself, it's among the best in the world. The U.S. leads the world in pharmaceutical research and innovation, meaning that Americans are often the first to receive access to newly developed drugs / technology. The U.S. also leads the world in cancer survival rates and has the lowest post operative complications. If you have some special health condition then American healthcare is what you want.
Universal healthcare is overrated. Having first hand experience with the NHS (The UK’s health provider), I found the wait times to be terrible and the quality of care being disappointing. It seems as if they don’t really care about you. I had a broken finger and they didn’t treat it properly and it's now slightly bent JFL. UKcels can vouch for this
While universal healthcare can reduce costs it usually comes with slower service and longer delays. Personally, I would rather pay more for healthcare that's quicker and higher quality than pay less for healthcare that’s way slower and lower quality. Many Canadians come down to the U.S. to pay extra for healthcare because of wait times in their own country. Universal healthcare sounds great in theory, but in practice it isn’t what it's made out to be at all. For many people including myself, paying for faster higher quality care is preferable to long delays and inadequate care.
“Gun violence and safety”
This narrative is extremely over inflated in the media and completely over exaggerates the risk for the average person. The U.S. also has 330M+ people so total numbers look higher. Violent crime tends to be hyper concentrated in specific neighbourhoods (the hood) in certain cities (Philly, Chicago, Detroit, etc). If you live outside of those places, like in the suburbs, gun violence really isn’t an issue. Most Americans live normal lives without ever encountering gun violence.
School shootings statistics are also misunderstood. Most databases define school shootings extremely broadly including:
Accidentally discharging a gun
Shootings near school property
Incidents after school hours
Situations where nobody is injured
Only a very small percentage of school shootings are what most people actually picture a school shooting as (someone with a gun inside a school looking to kill as many people as possible). While they still happen, the chances that you are in one are extremely low.
Also, how cool is the 2nd Amendment? If someone breaks into your home you have the right to shoot them dead.
“Lack of public transportation”
Can’t really argue with this one tbh, it's true. Only really NYC has a good metro system. Some other bigger cities also have some buses and trains but nothing major. Public transportation just isn’t really in America’s culture. It is very car centric. America was just built differently than Europe. Cities are more spread out and there is a lot more space / land which naturally led to a car based system. Tbh I prefer being in a car than being in cramped / dirty / busy public transportation so I don’t mind it but I can see why others would.
ONTO THE MANY BENEFITS:
Thread OST:
THE ADVANTAGES
The world’s strongest economy (water)
The U.S has the strongest economy in the world with the BIGGEST nominal GDP by a long shot.
The dollar is the global reserve currency. International trade and financial markets are denominated in dollars.
The U.S dominates in industries like:
- Technology
- Finance
- Entertainment
- Pharmaceuticals
- Aerospace
- AI
- Energy
The individual earning potential is the highest in the world, especially for highly skilled professionals like doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Culturally, the “American Dream” is still alive. The idea that you can come here and achieve success if you work hard is still real.
You’ll sometimes hear people bringing up countries with a higher GDP per capita, but they are all significantly smaller than the US. It’s a lot easier to maintain a high GDP per capita with a small population, and it’s harder to have a high GDP per capita with a very big one.
The U.S. is the only big country on this GDP per capita list. Among the top 10 countries with the highest populations (India, China, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Russia, and Mexico), the U.S leads in economic metrics.
The average disposable income is the highest in the world and income tax + tax burden is lower than most Western countries. (depends on state)
Stunning natural beauty
America has quite literally won the geographic lottery. The U.S. has some of the most breathtaking landscapes with no other country coming close in terms of diversity. You pretty much have every biome.
Absolutely breathtaking. This blessed geography is the reason why many Americans never even leave the country in their lifetime. They simply don’t need to travel to other countries for vacations. This huge range of biomes also lets you choose the type of climate you want to live in, while still living in America. Prefer tropical weather? Live in Florida or Hawaii. Want colder weather? Go to Alaska or Minnesota. Want a year round mediterranean climate? Go to southern California.
Few countries allow you to ski on snowy mountains, surf tropical beaches, explore deserts, and hike massive forests within the same country. You can do all these things in the same day just in California. The National Parks system is also well made.
Friendly and extroverted culture
When I first came here on holiday to Florida I noticed this immediately. Everyone here is a lot more talkative and approachable. Strangers will strike up a conversation with you completely randomly. If you have social anxiety it will improve so much upon coming here. You feel like you are being judged less and have more room to be yourself. If you’re in high school it's hard not to have friends even if you’re a loser. Service culture is also friendly and informal.
World’s strongest military
The U.S ranks #1 in the strongest militaries.
With a trillion dollar defense budget, you can be rest assured that you are safe. Veterans also experience many benefits in college loans, home loans, healthcare, etc.
Massive Sports Culture
The sports culture is huge. The sheer scale was impossible for me to comprehend when I first came here. Most countries only have 1 or 2 sports that are primarily played. America has many.
American football (peak entertainment), basketball, european football, lacrosse, baseball, hockey, motorsport etc. Professional leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLS, NHL, MLB have huge watch counts. A unique aspect of American sports is college sports. Millions of people watch college players play, even though the players are technically not professional.
Some college stadiums
By being good at a sport in high school, you can basically go to college for completely free and train at billion dollar facilities. Even big high schools have huge facilities. There's a team for pretty much every sport in high school. American football, soccer, basketball, lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey, track and field, rowing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, softball, bowling, even more I can’t remember right now.
This is a high school stadium lmao. Flirting with the cheerleaders after trucking some kid must be EVERYTHING. Obviously most schools don’t have stadiums like this but there are some big public schools in Texas that focus HEAVILY on sports and have these.
And you can’t forget tailgating, people literally having a barbecue before a game.
Patriotism + Culture
A huge culture shock when I first came here was that the American flag is literally everywhere. Compare that with the UK where it's almost illegal to put the flag up now…
America ranks in the most patriotic countries. Also caging at India being there JFL
American culture is also fire. The high school experience really is a movie. Homecoming, prom, football games, pep rallies, etc. National holidays like Memorial Day Weekend, Labor Day, Independence day (4th of July), Thanksgiving get family and friends together.
Best Universities
The U.S. has around 11-13 universities in the top 20 best universities worldwide (depending on the ranking). Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, Cornell, Brown, are all famous names. If you want to pursue a high level of education, America is perfect for you. The college experience overall (fraternities, sororities, partying, sports, etc) is crazy.
Cultural Influence
American culture dominates the world. Hollywood, tech, fashion, and music shapes global culture. People worldwide watch American movies, listen to American artists, and use American platforms and technology everyday. No other country exports culture at this scale.
Beautiful cities + neighborhoods
American neighborhoods are stunning, especially for someone who wasn’t born here.
Unmatched choice + freedom of lifestyle
One of the cool things about the U.S. is how different it can be depending on where in the country you are, and thus how many options you have on what type of life you want to live. Each state is almost its own mini country with different laws, politics, taxes, and types of people. Even different cities in the same state can be drastically different. Don't mind high taxes? Go to Massachusetts / New York. Want low taxes and fewer regulations? Go to Texas / Florida.
This also applies for the type of people you want to be around. Don’t like liberals? Go to Texas. Don’t like conservatives? Go to California. Want to be around stricter Christians like Mormons or the Amish? Go to Utah or rural areas of Pennsylvania. Want a blue collar lifestyle? Go to Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, etc. Want more of an office job? New York, Chicago, etc. You get the gist.
Big beautiful houses
Obviously I slightly cherrypicked and didn’t show any lower end houses in the U.S. but these are like middle - upper middle class homes and they mog the shit out of what you get in most of Europe for the same price range.
What $579k gets you in Texas
VS
What $600k gets you in a UK suburb JFLLL
I love the huge front and back gardens in the U.S and that lawns are neatly mowed and well maintained.
New single family homes in 2025-2026 average around 2,300-2,400 square feet. Compare that to Europe typical homes range from 800-1,200 sq ft in places like the UK (average ~1,000 sq ft), Germany, or France.
There’s a vast range of architecture styles in the U.S. (Colonial, Victorian, Craftsman, Spanish Colonial, Ranch, New American, etc).
Housing prices greatly vary by state and city though and are very expensive in NYC and coastal California. Houses in middle America are dirt cheap. The funny thing is that house prices have almost doubled in the last decade and Americans now think they’re giga expensive but they’re still dirt cheap compared to other Western countries.
For example this house was $495k in 2005
Now its $880k. Imagine buying that shit in 2005 lmao
Food
Fuark I love American food. Steaks, burgers, ribs, shakes, brisket. So delicious. Fast food tastes so good even though its filled with literal goyslop. There’s healthier fast food options too like Chipotle. And don’t get me started on unlimited soda refills. Drive thrus are also giga useful you don’t even have to get out of your car.
CONCLUSION
I could name sooo many more advantages but I don’t want this thread to be longer than it already is. I can already tell some people are gonna say "Muhh America sucks if you're poor", but isn't this really true for every country? The US is one of the best countries for increasing your wealth too.
Thank you so much for reading this thread. No country is flawless, but when you look at the bigger picture (opportunity, innovation, freedom, geography, culture, people), the United States of America is on top. There’s just something about this country that you wouldn’t get until you’ve been here and interacted with the people for a while. It really is like the movies.
