How and when did the United States become such a terrible place to live?

I was born in 1949. The America of the 1950s and 1960s was prosperous for many (although not all) Americans. We had the largest and most prosperous middle class in the history of the planet. People from all over the world wanted to immigrate. What happened?

First there was the Vietnam War. It was extremely expensive, causing deficit spending, and spurring inflation. It cost 55,000 young American lives and many thousands more lives that suffered long term physical or emotional damage.

Nixon precipitated our present health care crisis by overturning the regulation that had previously forbidden health care from being a profitable concern. The biggest cause of personal bankruptcy became medical debt.

Then there were the “trickle down” economic policies of Ronald Reagan. The principles of John Maynard Keynes were abandoned and programs helping the poor were curtailed. Taxes on the wealthy were sharply reduced. Subsidies for higher education were sharply curtailed. Higher education became so expensive that millions of college graduates are burdened with a lifetime of debt that they can never pay off. Many of them can’t afford to leave their parents’ basement, let alone get married and raise children.

The New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt instituted a number of banking regulations including the Glass Steagall act which separated commercial from investment banking. The Clinton Administration overturned this act. Lack of regulations on banking and real estate led to the crash of 2008, in which millions of Americans lost their jobs and their homes.

George Bush started two long term and unnecessary wars which caused thousands of American deaths, injuries and long term psychological damages to soldiers and vastly increased the federal debt. His tax cuts were also a large factor in increasing the federal debt.

Do tax cuts for the wealthy improve the economy? History shows that the answer is a resounding NO. The wealthy hoard the money or invest it abroad. Nothing has trickled down. The vast bulk of the wealth has flowed up to the already wealthy. We can expect the same results from the Trump tax cuts.

We are now in a situation where the middle class has been eroded to the point where fully fifty percent of American households live paycheck to paycheck with no savings at all. For these households a $500 auto repair bill can make them have to choose between paying the rent and utilities or putting food on the table.

Our wars and our economic policies that serve only the desires of a small clique of billionaire oligarchs are what have destroyed America.
Source: https://www.quora.com/How-and-when-did-the-United-States-become-such-a-terrible-place-to-live


Perfect Money/Payeer/Epay/Neteller/Skrill: ItuGlobal

USA was never stable in the first place

A capitalist state is just good for business There should be a middle ground because a socialist state is as bad as a capitalist state

timesup234

In 2018, only a toddler still believing in the American dream. If you are over 30yrs of age and believe America is worth it then you need to have your head examined. Only those without a vision believe they need to travel to America to make it in life. The American dream is the greatest lie ever told
https://thegrio.com/2018/05/19/broke-americans/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/42-percent-of-americans-are-at-risk-of-retiring-broke.html

beatmonster:
timesup234

Is it still not better than Nigeria?

The funny thing is that those Nigerians who usually say America is a terrible place to live refuse to come back home.

Come home first and stay. Then we will take you serious.

timesup234:
In 2018, only a toddler still believing in the American dream. If you are over 30yrs of age and believe America is worth it then you need to have your head examined. Only those without a vision believe they need to travel to America to make it in life. The American dream is the greatest lie ever told
https://thegrio.com/2018/05/19/broke-americans/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/42-percent-of-americans-are-at-risk-of-retiring-broke.html

This is shoking bro

e no easy, e no easy and you no wan come back home.... if USA is terrible then Nigeria is terribuest(if their something like that in English language)

NothingDoMe:
The funny thing is that those Nigerians who usually say America is a terrible place to live refuse to come back home.

Come home first and stay. Then we will take you serious.

I agree with you. Let them come home first

For those with analog or job seeking skills, Nigeria might be best for you. If you are IT inclined, there is no way Nigeria will be better than the USA. Its virtually impossible especially those who need large business credits to run enterprises or businesses offline or online.

I have a friend who is staying in Sweden and prays to be in the US every time because of his lack of access to business credit cash to explode his Amazon US business. With a good credit score of 700+, some residents get as much as $250k-$300k to run their businesses.
Countries who come close to US are Australians business owners

EMMAACHILE:
For those with analog or job seeking skills, Nigeria might be best for you. If you are IT inclined, there is no way Nigeria will be better than the USA. Its virtually impossible especially those who need large business credits to run enterprises or businesses offline or online.

I have a friend who is staying in Sweden and prays to be in the US every time because of his lack of access to business credit cash to explode his Amazon US business. With a good credit score of 700+, some residents get as much as $250k-$300k to run their businesses.
Countries who come close to US are Australians business owners

Yes. US is built for entrepreneurs. Na banks de call people to come borrow money sef. Lol

"This caravan with over 6,000 migrants has departed Mexico City en route to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. This caravan will likely follow the Viacrucis caravan that made its way to the California border in April 2018," Cuellar said in a statement.

"It is expected that it will take approximately two weeks before a significant portion of the caravan will reach the U.S. border near San Diego, California. There are another 4,000 migrants headed north in three additional caravans, according to the International Organization for Migration."

Okay here we go.

First let me say that there are organizations in the USA and around the world that attempts to effect policy changes, motivates policy, change public opinion by mounting an online campaign. I could be one of them, you can never know. I say this to nudge the savvy and educated reader to not always believe everything read online. Not even if I wrote it.

Since I am a Nigerian that has been living in the USA continuously since 1986 I believe that I have some valid opinion about this. I have watched and seen how the country has changed right before my eyes in terms of immigration policy. When I first came in, you could work for a company for say 6 months without them trying to validate your employment and when they start hassling you then you can easily change jobs and start the process over again. Those days are long gone. Now employment authorization happens near instantaneous between the company and immigration.

There are two distinct group of immigrants to the USA and each group has it's subgroups.

MAIN GROUP: Legal Immigrant

A legal immigrant group are those immigrant that applied for and was granted specifically the right to live and work in the USA.

Some subgroups are students, entrepreneurs, senior citizens, etc

Students: I don't know why student will complain about the USA because they are supposed to be here temporarily and then go back to their country

Entrepreneurs: This group might have legit complaints like I do about high corporate taxes, environmental laws and other laws that actually do very good thing and come from good intention but they stifle competition. A lot of companies have moved their factories across the border to Mexico.

Senior Citizens: These are retired folks with investments or those with children in the USA. They can complain of missing traditional activities in the home country. But in exchange they are availing themselves to decent, affordable healthcare. Sometimes we might forget the progress and prowess of the USA. This is a country that has actually fired nuclear weapon on an enemy, went to and walked on the moon, have spacecrafts that have left the universe, funded and founded many inventions, brought us or make environment possible for most of the technology that we use today like internet, computers, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Amazon, eBay, PayPal, etc

Regular workers: This group should not have any complaint as far as I am concerned. Well, they can have complains like traffic, cost of housing, child care but these are faced all over the world and is not unique to the USA. The USA is a great place to raise a family, employment is plentiful (my employer alone has over 5,000 openings as of last Monday - if you are skilled then you should get employment). If you decide to migrate to the US at a later age like some over 50 year old guys that I've met and not in a specialty like Doctor/Lawyer then it will be harder.

MAIN GROUP: Illegal Immigrant

These are the major group of people that are complaining and rebel rousing. It will be much harder for an illegal immigrant to make headway in the USA. A life of menial job and getting paid under the table is ahead for them for a while until they regularize their stay. Should this group complain? It's like a thief complaining that it was hard/tough breaking into your house.

Long story short, the USA is a wonderful place to be. Even though I can't wait to leave but I am always appreciative of all that she has given me.

EgunMogaji:
Okay here we go.

First let me say that there are organizations in the USA and around the world that attempts to effect policy changes, motivates policy, change public opinion by mounting an online campaign. I could be one of them, you can never know. I say this to nudge the savvy and educated reader to not always believe everything read online. Not even if I wrote it.

Since I am a Nigerian that has been living in the USA continuously since 1986 I believe that I have some valid opinion about this. I have watched and seen how the country has changed right before my eyes in terms of immigration policy. When I first came in, you could work for a company for say 6 months without them trying to validate your employment and when they start hassling you then you can easily change jobs and start the process over again. Those days are long gone. Now employment authorization happens near instantaneous between the company and immigration.

There are two distinct group of immigrants to the USA and each group has it's subgroups.

MAIN GROUP: Legal Immigrant

A legal immigrant group are those immigrant that apply for and was granted specifically the right to live and work in the USA.

Some subgroups are students, entrepreneurs, senior citizens

Students: I don't know why student will complain about the USA because they are supposed to be here temporarily and then go back to their country

Entrepreneurs: This group might hav scaled complaints like I do about high corporate taxes, environmental laws and other laws that actually do very good thing and come from good intention but they stifle competition. A lot of companies moved their factories across the border to Mexico.

Senior Citizens: These are retired folks with investments or those with children in the USA. They can complain of missing traditional activities in the home country. But in exchange they are availing themselves to decent, affordable healthcare. Sometimes we might forget the progress and prowess of the USA. This is a country that has actually fired nuclear weapon on an enemy, went to and walked on the moon, have spacecrafts that have left the universe, funded and founded many inventions, brought us most of the technology that we use today like internet, computers, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Amazon, eBay, PayPal, etc

Regular workers: This group should onto have any complaint as far as I am concerned. The USA is a great place to raise a family, employment is plentiful (my employer alone has over 5,000 openings as of last Monday - if you are skilled then you should get employment). If you decide to migrate to the US at a later age like some over 50 year old guys that I've met and not in a specialty like Doctor/Lawyer then it will be harder.

MAIN GROUP: Illegal Immigrant

These are the major group of people that are complaining and rebel rousing. It will be much harder for an illegal immigrant to make headway in the USA. A life of menial job and getting paid under the table is ahead for them for a while until they regularize their stay. Should this group complain? It' like a thief complaining that it was breaking into your house.

Long story short, the USA is a wonderful place to be. Even though I can't wait to leave but I am always appreciative of all that she has given me.

Very nice write up.

I see you've been in the US since 1986, you must be one of the first generation of Nigeria immigrants to the U.S...wow!

Anyway, in your last statement you stated that you cant wait to leave....is there any reason behind that?

Beautyaddy:


Very nice write up.

I see you've been in the US since 1986, you must be one of the first generation of Nigeria immigrants to the U.S...wow!

Anyway, in your last statement you stated that you cant wait to leave....is there any reason behind that?

I apologize for some typos and have corrected them.

My reason of leaving the USA is that I long for life in Nigeria. There's no better place for me to retire to than in Nigeria. Now, please keep in mind that I am coming back fully prepared to run my own empire and leave on my retirement. I won't be on the work force looking for contract, I'll be supplying my own electricity via solar, my own water via a borehole. My existence will be different from that of a young man just starting out looking to get a career, marry and raise children. Most of the diasporas that have failed and ran back to whence where they came did not go to Nigeria with a plan or their plan relied on another person or government.

Long story short, I am not running away from the USA, I am running to Nigeria to try and recapture what I missed.

.

America is a terrible place because even someone earnong just 50,000naira in Nigeria has more money saved than 70% of Americans. Americans are broke and miserable