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Comment by bobabooey02 | Hacker News Reader

This is all well and good if you live in a wealthy family in the US. However, the global economy means nothing to me if my entire family is seeing a declining quality of life, I have to wait for years and go tens of thousands of dollars in debt to find a good job, and I live in fear of getting sick because I don't know how I'll afford it. That's why my priorities are for my family first, country second, and global "community" last.

If globalization is needed so badly to lift the world, we need to find a way to change it in a way that doesn't destabilize us in the process.

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> country second, and global "community" last

If healthcare in America has shown anything it's that Americans will proudly throw other Americans under the bus if it suits themselves.

I'd question whether the people you are prioritising care about you at all.

I meant my country as a group of people, not our government. I don't care about my government, it has failed me, but my country is full of everyday people just trying to get by. Because we are of a same or similar culture, and because we live in closer proximity, it's only natural that I care about them more than people of other countries.

> I meant my country as a group of people, not our government.

Yet, you somehow focus on people living within artificial boundaries created by your government.

Americans are solidly opposed to the Republican party's agenda to gut health care. [0] Blaming Americans for their health care problems is like blaming Russians for Putin's largesse. It's just generally much harder for the masses to hold the few accountable than for the few to keep the masses in check.

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/0...

This problem has existed long before the most recent iteration of healthcare "reform". People (real Americans!) have consistently voted in the representatives who are trying to undo a medical system that covers everyone because they are so enamored with the free market ideal and hate the idea of contributing to their country in the form of taxes.

> and I live in fear of getting sick because I don't know how I'll afford it

Thats an unrelated issue that much of the rest of the world has solved a long time ago.

It is related to the declining quality of life Americans are experiencing. If the economy was still incredibly unequal but quality of life was still going up, there wouldn't be nearly as much disdain for the rich as there is right now.

From the article, it didn't sound like the Chinese are exactly generous with sick time. Admittedly it wasn't directly addressed other than by the general "Chinese workers work more hours" observation.

> my family first, country second, and global "community" last.

Well, in many cases (but not all of course), people who put "country" first, get much better outcomes in the end. In fact, if you look at the poor half of the world -- it's where everybody mostly put themselves first.

So I argue that for the best life quality, there should be some balance between the two. Although figuring out the best balance is a very hard problem.

This is quite the catch-22. Domestic wealth inequality within the US has widened. Global wealth inequality has narrowed (dramatically). These two trends are very connected.

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