America has somehow spent more on healthcare than any country on earth and still dies younger than Slovenia. It has the most food, in the largest portions, available at 3am, and is simultaneously one of the most food-insecure developed nations on the planet.
A Belgian losing his mind at a Waffle House is not civilisational proof of anything. That’s novelty and portion size.
Yes, Americans got richer after 2008. Tremendously richer. In aggregate. Which is doing the structural work of a single bolt holding up the Golden Gate Bridge. The gains went to people who didn’t need them. The median American works longer, retires later, goes bankrupt from hospital bills, and dies sooner than his counterpart in Germany or the Netherlands.
We have no idea how rich we are, says the country where forty percent of people can’t cover a $400 emergency.
Remarkable.