Flu surges in Louisiana as health department barred from promoting flu shots
Flu is rising around the country, but Louisiana is well ahead of the curve.
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it's like every southern state is in a furious competition to be the worst place on the planet
It's not just the south, to use Idaho as an example of another state that is in a race to the bottom.
Please...
No matter how much US Republicans and trump mess things up, the USA will still be a better place to live than 90% of the planet, even for the persecuted minorities.
90% ? Come on you can't be serious with that.
Maybe they were referring to the ocean and the poles, like 90% by surface area? Maybe even by volume, as the US is better than living at the Earth's core?
Give it a year or two. I bet the mantle starts looking pretty appealing.
Talking out of my ass.
But it's certainly more than the vast majority.
Really depends on your values and desired lifestyle. I think you'd be very surprised how the rest of the world lives. It's not all terrible out there. Also very dependent on socio-economic status, there are some truly terrible living conditions in the USA for way more people than there should be.
Stroll through your nearest city "ghetto" and see first hand how some live. Or take your pick of squalor. It's not pretty and I'm not talking out my ass. I've slept in some questionable places in my life. Nothing that ever felt truly dangerous but very bad living situations.
Anyways, I'm just saying we have a lot of room for improvement.
I don't mean to minimize the problems of the US, and I'm sure there are plenty examples of squalor, and they should be treated seriously.
But proportionally and relatively speaking, most ghetto people in the US live like kings compared to most of the planet.
most ghetto people in the US live like kings compared to most of the planet.
Then I guess we should start figuring out why the rest of the planet is being exploited for our gain and maybe cut that shit out. Capital gonna capital though.
Like kings?... so they have sheverants and no issues with food security and live in castles?
Just because they have electricity hardly makes them kings...
I mean relatively.
Search for images of "favela". Tens of millions of Brazilians live in those. The better ones are built with brick, many are just scrap wood and cardboard.
And Brazil is one of the "developing" countries.
Whats funny.. if youre living in poverty youre probably better off in brazil. Atleast they have healthcare as a right.
The only reason the us isnt like brazil today was because the new dealers in the 30's-50's actually had the great idea of investing in the common people and had hundreds of billions of dollars poured into communities and all the shanty towns were torn down and affordable housing was built in their place. But since the progressives lost power, the us is quickly tipping away from wealth equality, and shantytowns are making their way back. We're a single depression from having millions living in favela's.
I've lived in a destitute country and I'm not so certain about that
I'm genuinely curious; which places have you travelled to outside of the US?
How? We can't afford healthcare or to own a home. After paying for rent and healthcare most of us make less. The inequality is heading for Saudi Arabia levels.
Upward mobility is a joke. Education requires a 20 year debt which is required for no reason even for jobs that are now educated poverty.
We are about to be led by idiots who are going to put our economy back in the toilet again. I'm only 44 and I've seen 3 major crashes and that was all in the last 25 years.
We are the worst developed nation in the world.
So cringe...
I certainly am...
L.O.L.
You need to actually take a look at all the QOL statistics available out there. The US is better than, say, Mexico or most 3rd world countries but almost every other Western nation is kicking their ass when it comes to most living metrics.
In this summary it gives inordinate value to purchasing power without consideration for things like needing to pay for healthcare and even still gets ranked 12th overall, and that is almost certain to change if your felon leader starts implementing tariffs for everything.
Personally I was shocked to see Canada below the US because as a Canadian I can say without a doubt that every other Canadian I've ever met would absolutely prefer to live in Canada given the choice. Housing crisis be damned.
The irony of ya'll needing a 'come to jesus' moment to realize how much of a shithole the country has become is real.
But do it by state....
Indeed, Massachusetts is kicking ass while Okla-fucking-homa is a dump.
Indeed the amount of streamers and conservatives gushing about Japan right now is kinda surreal.
Like they genuinely thought the US has a monopoly on freedom -_- name a western country that ain't.
And isn't the 3rd world most of the planet? The western developed countries are a small minority.
I have the perspective of not being USian and living in the 3rd world.
Most maybe, but not 90%. Even so, chances are depending on where you live you have a greater average lifespan and access to healthcare, your diet isn't killing you slowly, attending school doesn't put your life in jeopardy, you have more free time, and closer ties to family and community.
The US is not a leader, nor even a good representative of a 'better place to live'. Even if you are thinking about applying for asylum I strongly recommend you put the US at the bottom of your list if that is an option.
Spoken like someone who's never traveled outside of their own small town
aren't we like, close to bottom rung on major things like healthcare? and lower 50 on education?
Yes
Tell that to all the minorities that Trump has rounded up and deported without even the most basic attempts at due process.
I agree that that's terrible and USians should be furious with it.
But living a little bit in the US, even if getting deported/killed later is still a better situation than most of the planet.
How is it better? Several people have pointed out that standards of living in the United States are well below most developed nations. There US ranks 48th in the world in life expectancy, and 66th in the world in maternal mortality, behind Egypt, Ukraine, Lebanon, Romania, and… the Gaza Strip.
"Developed Nations" is a small minority of the world.
Maternal mortality, yes, you are right, but that's just one metric.
The US ranks below many nations not considered developed as well. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.
I cited two metrics, not one: maternal mortality and life expectancy. The US is also in the bottom 60 for income inequality.
Mm, yes. I should stay here for a bit before I get sent to prison for being trans.
You’re absolutely correct and are probably very sane with no secret agenda or propaganda guidelines whatsoever.
I will follow your advice and stay here before going to prison for being a crime.
Thank you, random man on the internet. I have no reason to believe you don’t use toilet paper.
I may be a cringy idiot, but I'm an ally.
I genuinely hope you stay safe and if we ever crossed paths I would shelter you from the government without hesitation.
I'm just pointing out that most likely you will still be better in the US than in most of the planet.
I do have toilet paper and live in one of the most developed regions of my country. Even then my city only has 40% of sewage coverage.
Only 40% sewers in your city?!?
What state is that in, may I ask, so I can never go there.
40% of centrally treated sewage. The rest goes into domestic septic tanks.
It's not ideal, but we don't have sewage running on open air if that's what you imagined, and if you visited you wouldn't notice.
The state is Santa Catarina. As I said, it's one the most developed in the country, the living quality is similar to some European countries.
My apologies, I assumed that you lived in the United States, where 40% sewer coverage for a city would not be good.
How many countries have you visited?
"My red state is better than 90% of the world!"
--people that have never left their small town
How brain damaged are you? Have you been drinking raw milk again?
I may live in a worse country, but at least we don't have that silliness of people drinking raw milk.
I think people tend to vastly underestimate the extreme poverty that is widespread in southern states especially. Very high homeless population with barely any services for them, people living in dilapidated buildings with slumlord landlords, no grocery stores, very high unemployment and wages well below the poverty level being the only jobs around. This is the case in parts of every inner city and many rural towns in the south.
Yeah, because it feasts on the superprofits of the South through systematic underdevelopment and periodic warfare whenever they get to uppity with nationalization or promotion of domestic industry.
It's not even a better place to live than 90% of the planet now. How delusional do you have to be to think that the USA is anywhere near the best place to live 😄
90% is an exaggeration, sure, but it still is true for a large majority of the planet.
No, it's really not, mate. You need a massive reality check.
I was gonna provide some links or reports, but a quick Google search was pretty overwhelmingly against you, so I'm gonna have to assume you're just being disingenuous at this point and move on.
Hopefully I'm wrong, but that's what I learned of the world. If I'm being disingenuous it's not intentional.
Search images of "favela", tens of millions of Brazilians live in those, and Brazil is one of the "developing" countries; most countries are poorer.
I'll be honest, I was in a bit of a mood when I initially responded, so I apologise for the unnecessary hostility. Christmas is a difficult time, so I hope you understand.
I think the problem here is the perspective. There are problems in the world, sure. Many of them much greater than American problems, even at their worst. However if we are talking about general living conditions and quality of life unfortunately the USA falls short on a lot of the fundamentals. Health care, general education standards, overall public safety, etc. The US should be one of the best places to live, and it's certainly not terrible when compared to third world countries, but when compared to first world countries it doesn't hold up well at all.
ETA: I live in the UK, so we are really not far ahead of you 😄 we have healthcare, but they are actively trying to privatise it. And it feels like general living conditions are declining. Still there is some hope left
And is that a good standard, a bad standard, or neutral?
Like, no one in a great situation goes, "Well at least I'm not.." That's the type of thing one says when they are trying to cope with a poor situation.
And I'd also argue that the dead minorities would disagree with your assessment, give that they are.. dead.
Yes, it's terrible.
But living even a little bit in the USA and dying is still a better situation than most of the planet.
I don't disagree, my only addition is that we should set our standards higher than that. We went from generations of "We're the best!" (whether true or not) to "Well we aren't the worst.."
I just wish more people could notice the slow changes like that which I think are indicative of a need for systemic change.
But yeah, while I don't endorse your message, you aren't wrong.
Yes. I also don't want to say that because there's worse in other places that the US problems aren't legitimate.
