Europe can keep doing its regulatory thing while the US works to improve. At least someone is doing something.
- people dying earlier than their European counterparts
- the price of insulin and healthcare in general is hundreds of times bigger than in other countries
- people being less free than anywhere in Europe: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/freedom-i...
- school shootings numbers rising each year
It feels that the US is "improving" in the wrong direction.
As the rules says “ Please don't use Hacker News for political or ideological battle. That tramples curiosity.”
> Europe can keep doing its regulatory thing while the US works to improve. At least someone is doing something.
is perfectly fine.
On the other hand, somebody questioning what's actually improving in the US is a low quality comment because "it's politics".
The US has regressed down in every possible human development index in the last 2 decades, from happiness and freedoms, to longevity, inequality and societal division.
Here are some receipts:
- Freedom index https://sites.uci.edu/energyobserver/2020/01/15/the-united-s...
- Longevity https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/25/1164819...
- Inequality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_Unite... (inequality, by the way, is inversely correlated to strength of labor unions)
- Medical costs https://www.statista.com/chart/8658/health-spending-per-capi...
Since when are statistics and facts considered low quality posts and "politics"?
My point is that the low amount of regulation in the US is part of the reasons why US consumers are taking a hit, whether it's monopolistic app stores that can crank prices, exorbitant medical costs, plummeting living standards and rampant inequality, and crashing longevity and happiness.
In this thread, Europe has shown regulation is possible. The US has as well, with the FTC and DOJ actions of late. So while there are lots of problems left to solve, it’s okay to appreciate what has been solved so for, and to work to understand the burden of work that remains. Lets not rant, lets solve problems. And stay hopeful!
Tangentially, I think sentiment has declined and “low effort posts” are more frequent because the world has become an objectively worse place over the last 10-15 years. Posts are simply reflecting reality.