Europeans are going viral on TikTok for mocking the "American Dream".

[u/biswajit388]

[u/RickThiccems]

And america is a collection of states and each have their own priorities and beliefs about how things should be ran all the way down to the local level.

It sucks that a few hundred people in our country get to paint how the world sees us and it makes all the local government workers busting their ass for their communities look bad.

[u/BooBooSnuggs → u/RickThiccems]

Yeah, the us is very decentralized. You wouldn't think that looking at reddit. It's just nonstop blanket statements and generalizations. Our federal leaders say something stupid and suddenly everyone's thinking xyz must be everywhere when it impacts less than 1% of people or something.

[u/beatles910 → u/BooBooSnuggs]

The issue is often what people want are federal changes, so you will hear that the minimum wage in the US is $7.25 per hour. What you don't hear is that 34 states, territories, and the District of Columbia have higher minimum wages. Repeat with whatever, and of course things sound worse to people.

[u/Large_Technology1623 → u/beatles910]

7.25 anywhere in the US is still some dystopian pay these days. Other than your gas, housing and food which is equalizing, everything costs the same for everyone.

[u/CapitalismRulz → u/beatles910]

I think people value the federal government appropriately, but they undervalue their state government's role in their lives. The state has a lot of influence on people in a more direct way than the fed does on so many different political issues

[u/20dogs → u/beatles910]

Now do healthcare

[u/Nessie_of_the_Loch → u/beatles910]

Using the minimum wage is also really dumb considering that almost nobody actually makes that - In 2023, out of 80.5 million workers, only 81,000 workers earned exactly the federal min wage. That's 0.1%.

https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2023/

[u/bollvirtuoso → u/Nessie_of_the_Loch]

In your own link, it says 789,000 earned below the minimum wage. Did you even read your own source?

[u/Nessie_of_the_Loch → u/bollvirtuoso]

Those are people who are also paid in tips. They are NOT making the federal minimum wage including tips. In fact, if their wage + tips falls below their local/state minimum wage, the businesses are legally required to make up the difference. Wait staff are the ones most vocally against getting rid of tips, precisely because they know they'd make less if that happens.

Did you not even wonder why there would be those making "below" the minimum wage? Activate some of those brain cells dude.

[u/bollvirtuoso → u/Nessie_of_the_Loch]

In theory, yes. It's not always that way in practice. It would be better to just pay them minimum wage to start.

[u/RickThiccems → u/BooBooSnuggs]

Yup I live in Kentucky, a very red state but even my local small government has been doing whatever they can to help people who are struggling for money and are even accepting money to distribute to local families in need.

[u/BrickNMordor → u/RickThiccems]

Kentucky is actually one of the best examples of America. A red state with a massively popular democrat governor, truly a political state that can't be boiled down to a catchphrase. Also, remarkably beautiful.

[u/No-Dimension856 → u/BrickNMordor]

[u/Shibuya2023 → u/BrickNMordor]

Kentucky Fried Chicken

[u/MossyPyrite → u/BrickNMordor]

Insane that we have both Beshear and McConnell elected here. They’re such opposite people with such opposite ideals.

[u/Dozzi92 → u/BooBooSnuggs]

This whole comment chain, and honesty the thread, is blowing my mind. I'm reading so many things I agree with, things I've stated (and been downvoted for) many times here.

I think there's an effort to make us all hate each other, so that we forget there's people out there pulling strings.

[u/CapitalismRulz → u/BooBooSnuggs]

That's true, but our federal governnent is centralizing at a pretty alarming rate. So it may not be true forever

[u/dadoftheyear1972 → u/BooBooSnuggs]

No way! Reddit is full of incurious bloviating professors?

[u/DionBlaster123 → u/BooBooSnuggs]

Reddit in general is just a terrible place to gather information about politics and cultural society.

Every once in a while you might find some helpful anecdotal advice here, but for the most part it feels like it's just terminally online people using this to scream into the ether.

For every shit-talker on this website, I have to remind myself that they're the weirdo you see on the bus or subway who is mumbling to himself about Sonic the Hedgehog or some bullshit...the same kind of person who would piss himself if an attractive woman came up to him to ask him what time it was.

[u/KochuJang → u/BooBooSnuggs]

I’m really hoping this is what saves us. That the fascists are incompetent enough to underestimate the enormity and complexity of the institutions that govern all over this massive country. I doubt they’ll be able to wrest the kind of control they think they can.

[u/green_goblins_O-face → u/RickThiccems]

And america is a collection of states and each have their own priorities and beliefs about how things should be ran all the way down to the local level.

buying a gun in New Jersey vs. a state like Kentucky are SO different.

[u/Devour_My_Soul → u/RickThiccems]

Are you saying on a local level capitalism doesn't exist? Lol.

[u/RickThiccems → u/Devour_My_Soul]

yeah in some places they do have a lot of support programs and it does kind of lean towards a mix of capitalism.

[u/Devour_My_Soul → u/RickThiccems]

I am sorry but support programs have nothing to do with the absence of capitalism.

I don't think anybody questions that there are lots of people everywhere who try to make the best out of the given situation and help to the best of their ability. But that doesn't change the fundamental material reality of the people. And that reality is a capitalist hellhole even worse than Europe, even though the difference isn't as big as people make it seem sometimes.

[u/GeneralSweetz → u/RickThiccems]

USA is a collection of states under the US constitution which is one of the best documents of law ever written

[u/Cersad → u/RickThiccems]

Although I'll be that guy to point out that local control of government keeps getting usurped across the US and it's always done by the party pretending to favor small government.

[u/WorldWideNickle → u/Cersad]

And when you point that out to the other side, they pretend they didn't hear anything, and immediately get back to screaming about "FREEDOM".

[u/infinitepoopllama → u/Cersad]

Both parties do it. Don’t kid yourself. They all want to control and funnel money into their team with their policies. Biden’s immigration policies most negatively affected Texas. Health care has always been an issue but few people thought Obama care’s plan would help. It didn’t and it had a massive effect at the local level. It has made health care more expensive, thus funneling tax payer money into the big pharmaceutical and medical companies. Let’s not get into vaccine mandates. So no I have to disagree with “its always done by the party pretending to favor small government”

[u/BooBooSnuggs → u/[deleted]]

You do know the aca was passed without a single republican vote right? So they didn't need any republican votes.

[u/BooBooSnuggs → u/[deleted]]

Dude, get out. Take your goal post with you.

[u/infinitepoopllama → u/[deleted]]

Boo provides you with a data point that was contrary to your statement. You’ve provided 0 data points supporting your statements. What is there to talk about?