Maybe this one is better?
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Could also put BIFF at the top
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The last few cartoons are not far off the mark sadly.
What is perplexing to the rest of the world (including me) is that the USA could be a paradise but is not. It has more natural advantages than any other country but doesn’t manage to realize its full potential. Maybe because it has all these advantages it is easy to just squander them? Other countries with less to work with are forced to work harder to have reasonable societies?
Just had to get that off my chest. 
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A paradise for whom?
And to what degree of “paradise”? Eutopia?
I know of some families with strong ties to some former Soviet Block countries that view America as a paradise compared to what’s available in their home country. They acknowledge that there are still problems to be addressed, but they prefer the current environment in America than their “homeland”.
I meant a paradise for ALL its people. No doubt many citizens of certain other countries already view the USA as paradise but that is a low bar. The USA could be much better for many more of its own people.
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I think you’re still going to run into a conflict of definition trying to attain this.
And you’re going to have some groups whose idea of paradise are going to be diametrically opposed to each other. Now you’re going to have the job of who decides which groups to use for such a definition or to what degree we include components from each group.
Bottom line, I think just about any definition that is created is going to leave nobody happy (except for those who were involved in creating said definition).
Cooke is Canadian… so maybe “paradise” means the US could be more like Canada. 
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That would be a nice goal to have…
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They have a better national anthem, that’s for sure.
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Sounds like folks here are content with the way things are in the US so who am I to talk about improving things!
Thought there might be some suggestions on having less income inequality, better health outcomes for less advantaged groups, etc., in the US but folks on this thread at least seem to be happy so why change anything, eh?
Yep, I’m diametrically opposed to spending half as much money on health care, while also having wider coverage, better outcomes, and higher satisfaction. Sounds disgusting and unamerican.
The three C’s Capitalism, Consumerism, and Corporatocracy. Most of the boon and good fortune the US has is due to the three C’s. Most of the problems the US has were created by not limiting the negative effects of the three C’s.
Capitalism allocates resources to best increase the wealth of a nation but it is indifferent to who controls the wealth once accumulated. Capitalism breaks down once the largest holders of wealth become more concerned with controlling the system to reduce competition against them rather than competing to increase wealth. Government must maintain the balance of wealth (power) such that the concentration of wealth does not have undue influence. Since the 1980’s the US has failed miserably at this.
Consumerism drives luxury to the masses. It provides a wide range of wants and allows most individuals choice in how they want to live their life. Consumerism does not address the needs of those that do not have the ability to participate in the marketplace. Consumerism is in conflict with meeting the needs of the neediest. “I have to pay for mine, they should pay for theirs.” Consumerism is at best indifferent to a belief that society should pick up the slack and care for its neediest members. Due to the scarcity of individuals’ resources a consumerist market is in direct conflict with funding the “tax” needed for the neediest. This describes the conflicts within the US population regarding care for the needy.
Corporations are legal entities to pool power (wealth, income). As a single legal person the corporation can better maneuver within the marketplace than its individual stakeholders. As a created legal person it is amoral. The only morality or concern for society a corporation has is that which is written into its charter. A business corporation created to pursue profit will pursue profit without regard for anything else. This structure supercharges capitalism, all that’s good and bad with capitalism. Government not limiting the reach of the legal personhood of corporations generates an enormous concentration of wealth with a legal person that is only held accountable to its charter. The US has ceded control to the corporations.
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I recently read a book about that – “Slouching Toward Utopia” by Brad DeLong.
The idea is that people in a few Northern countries in the late 19th and early 20th century could look at the rapid advances in technology and expect that a continuation would lead to a material “utopia” in the future. One popular book of the time was “Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887” which took that approach.
It didn’t happen for lots of people. tl;dr – DeLong says greed and stupidity. Big advances for lots of people require lots of things aligning at the same time. That doesn’t happen by chance very often. Humans get in the way.
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29 posts were split to a new topic: Wealth Redistribution: US vs. non-US
1850s ?
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