America’s and Americans’ unique problems: some probably spread to the world too. My observations over the years. I have been in this country for over 27 years now. I can see the problems and it seems on political front, things are not getting better either.
Poverty issue or wealth gap widening
Refer to America poverty issue – series I
Also, the most recent election, the re-election of Donald Trump on Nov 5, 2024 seems also confirmed the widening gap of household wealth and ideology.
They Used to Be Ahead in the American Economy. Now They’ve Fallen Behind. – The New York Times (paywalled).
Trump won on the economy: what does that mean? (note its a 5 decades problem).
Overly depending on cars. Junk food. Shop until drop
(consumerism): Black Friday, Cyber Monday etc. George Carlin has a YT video on these topics, and I tend to agree.
Entitlement. American Exceptionalism… to less extent, Christian Zoinism, conspiracy theories on pandemic, covid 9 virus and vaccines. American football. A good example of American Exceptionalism is the recent news on DeepSeek AI.
Political division: blue and red states – getting worse in last 24 years, since the Bush vs Gore in late 2000. It briefly got better after September 11, 2001, but George W Bush squandered the golden opportunity and invaded Iraq for no legitimate reason.
American not-so-helpful mindset
Not my fault, such as this one
https://x.com/AmyMcGrathKY/status/1884840465867956671 (also why does he knows everything, plus he needs to express opinion on everything)
Not in my back yard (NMBY): if someone wants to setup a homeless shelter, or high-density housing. This is very common problem.
Drug problem
I don’t know how long this web page will exist – both are US government web pages: but it seems the new admin is purging a lot of web pages in the government websites.
(CDC) Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 2003–2023
Products – Data Briefs – Number 522 – December 2024
(NIH) Drug Overdose Deaths: Facts and Figures
Drug Overdose Deaths: Facts and Figures | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Btw, the American drug problem is a symptom of the society’s problems: it’s definitely not only on Mexico’s Cartel or the supply of raw material from China. If the Americans don’t take Fentanyl, the drug trade from Mexico will be cut in half. But it’s much easier to blame on others, and the new and dumb president started to apply additional tariffs because of this.
PS: I published this on 01-31-2025, but it seems WordPress has my old date of 12-02-2024