https://archive.ph/5dEFc
Another reminder that the US is not a normal liberal democracy. It is a very corrupt pseudo-democracy whose extreme wealth lets it have a higher level of development than other countries to which that description applies.
Another reminder that the US is not a normal liberal democracy. It is a very corrupt pseudo-democracy whose extreme wealth lets it have a higher level of development than other countries to which that description applies.
If anything, the US's relatively high level of political liberalness serves as a counterbalance against its own oligarch class.
The exact rank depends on how you measure, of course: according to Wikipedia, the US’s median income is first in the world; I found some other sources saying it’s fifth. At any rate, very high.
The safety net in the US is actually quite strong for citizens (there is a huge illegal immigrant class that gets very little) as SNAP benefits (free food) and Medicaid expansion for low-income people are quite generous. If you can get a Section 8 (free housing) voucher you can essentially live without working.
The pros outweigh the cons IMO but there are some very weird incentives, like poor people are far less likely to get married after having children because government benefits are much stronger for single moms with multiple kids. It’s counter-productive.
And permanent residents. This used to not be the case but changed in the late 90s for reasons I won't derail the thread on.
> SNAP benefits (free food) and Medicaid expansion for low-income people are quite generous
I'm not sure our definitions of "quite generous" are the same. In Washington State, if you are a family of three who makes under $2,300 per month and pays rent and utilities, you qualify for $383/month in food benefit. In western Washington, this is not enough to pay for an entire month of food for three people. It's about a third, or half if you try really hard. (If you have a small child you can qualify for another program, called WIC, but what you get through it is more regulated.)
> If you can get a Section 8 (free housing) voucher you can essentially live without working
The phrase "if you can get" is doing a great deal of work here. The public housing voucher--of all types, not just section 8--waiting list for every populated county in Washington State is closed right now due to far more applicants than availability. In most of the country the waitlist is years long, if not decades. There is that notable story of a person who is now an Alderwoman for the City of Chicago[0] who was on the waiting list for 29 years and finally reached the point where she could apply for (but not yet receive) housing benefits.
The social safety net in the US is neither as strong nor as ubiquitous as you might suspect.
0 - https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/1104338319/chicago-public-hou...
The purpose of the system is what it does. The bureaucracy must ensure the continued existence of the dependent population it was built to serve. So it breaks up families and support networks in an effort to keep breeding more dependents.
According to this page, the US's median wealth is 21st in the world: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_...
Traditionally America had the 'you can only gamble in Vegas' model for decades, then it was forced by court decisions to extend that right to native casinos, then more recently it was forced by the Supreme Court to open it up to states who want it. It really has little to do with lobbying politicians, the US has been forced to relax gambling laws mostly by the courts
Casinos are very good at courting (or grooming) rich and powerful people. It would be very strange if they never applied that skill on politicians - or judges.