The bus after we crossed in Mexico is luxurious comparing with all we took in US. I cannot restrain not to think about the public fare, capitalism and …

In feb 2006 I came back from NY with the following image: at the underground floor of Empire State Building is a Chinese shop, with the very cheap products. I couldn’t say what is wrong, but it seamed like a tatami carpet covering a hole.

After 9 years, I get of US with a more complete image. Under the carpet there is something rotting, so it smells stronger and stronger.

After 6 months spent in US, I have some arguments.

Lack of concurrency:
America has the image of the country of freedom, concurrency. But actually too many domains are dominated by very few actors:
– camping cars – only 2 very big companies, we had a very bad experience with one
– internal flights are double the price in Europe, when the gas cost about 3 times less
– Greyhound bus is the only intercity operator. The price is more twice expensive as in Europe, with worse quality ( delay, clearness comfort)
– supermarket products – it looks rich, but actually for all the products there are maximum 3 producers.
– mobile communication and internet – 3 providers. I could not buy a prepaid sim for less than 40$, and the prices are more expensive than in Europe
These are just a few examples lived directly, but the idea is: after the fight among companies, 2-3 succeeded to dominate the market, and now they can increase prices, downgrade quality, and have a stronger position regarding their employees.

Education:
at the undergraduate level, US is average in Pisa ranking, despite much more money invested per student, see

at university level, the taxes are so high that it’s not the best investment.

In Portland we saw a student begging in the street to complete the money for the 2 part-time jobs he had. Why not a third job ? Because this way he could study while begging.
The value of the school taxes are one year of salary when he graduates and gets a job in his field. The interest is Y per year.

Why the cost of university increased so much since the 70’s, when there are more and more students ? why there are no new universities ? The rich men of XIX century bought the immortality of their name by creating an university, like Harvard, or Stanford. For charts about the increase of tuition, check

The libraries are amazing. We visited almost in every city the public library. In each of them, there is an important section with crappy books.

 

– technical innovation:
the majority of students at technical fields are foreigners, from China and India. More this countries will evolve, less attractive for their best students will be to move to US. So more innovation will be develop in these countries.

– startups:
40% of Fortune 500 were founded by emigrants, or first generation. A Chinese entrepreneur drove us from San Francisco to Los Angeles. He has more than 30% of the rental market for ski chalets. He was saying that a lot of the startups in Sillicon Valley start first in China and India and they come in US only to get the money to expand in the American market. The Chinese people are much more open to test a new app than the Americans.

since 2014 there more Chinese patents than American ones. see

– health:
I never have seen so many people walking in a sick way in touristic places, so these people are the rich ones. the prices are 3 times greater than Europe. And the quality is not better. How come ? Because people don’t pay directly from their pocket, but by assurance companies. A birth procedure can cost even 30.000$. Luxury conditions, but still. When people lost their job, they cannot afford the medical insurance. If they get sick during the unemployment period, the road to homeless in the street is straight and short. see

–food quality 
The normal food is crappy and not cheap.Organic food is 2-3 times more expensive than in Belgium. The consumption of meat is the highest in the world, see. The agriculture became industry.

– security & guns:

In this walmart, there are no real guns. The vendor gave me the address to another walmart, where with the weekly cart, I could get a real gun.

I cannot understand how it’s possible to have each week a mass shooting and that in big parts of big cities they are more than 1000 shot dead people per year. In South Chicago, where Obama comes from, one night there were 80 shot dead people. I talked with a lot of people about banning the guns. A lot of them are against:
–  it’s a family tradition – there are a lot of traditions that now the ‘advanced societies’ consider them dangerous and illegal: marrying with a cousin, smoking
– it’s in the constitution, people need to be able to fight against their government. The American constitution had to be changed to ban the slave. Since the government controls the atomic bomb, it is impossible to imagine a war where the government could lose a war.
– In other countries where they banned the guns, only the good citizens gave back, so the gun crime increased. The good citizens can use non lethal guns to defend themselves, as well as the police.

Car culture

Apart of the cities on the East Coast, it was a strange feeling to walk on the sidewalk. In Alburquerque, Detroit, we saw only homeless people in the street and parks. A lot of them in the center of Portland and SF.

– public transportation:
the majority of the people who use the bus within and intercity are homeless, drug addicts and very poor. Several beggars asked money to buy a car so they can look for a job. The intercity buses are very expensive, almost like a cheap flight ticket, but the city bus is very cheap.

– democracy:
460 families donated for the presidential elections more than 50% of all funds, the majority to the Republicans. see new york times.The companies have no limit for donations. They are controlled by a few stockholders, pay small taxes, but can support whomever they want. The politicians get their money from those 1%, so it is normal that the policies are to cut taxes. And the price for the elections is raising each turn. The democracy depends on the middle class. Its state is described by Nobel prize winner, Stiglitz, here

– penitential system

in the country of freedom, there are 25% of all prisoners from the planet, or 1% of its population. The racial discrimination is very strong, one in six Blacks and Hispanics are in prison. Since the 70’s, the percentage increased 7 folds due to: the war against drugs, about trillion cost until now, and that the states have all the financial incentives to send people to prison even for the minor things. The result: in the last 40 years there are more prison built than universities ! A very good article is here 

– social cover

Walking in the street you can see a lot of homeless people. Even a war veteran can get into this situation. In a lot of tourist places, we saw reduction for war veterans: national park entrance, motel

– Work hard, buy hard; 
The companies are not obliged to pay holiday, not even for pregnancy. In China they have problems with human rights, but they have this right. People have on average more than 7 credit cards, and the majority less than 3000$ in the savings account.see

Overconsumption ==> climate issues

CO2 emmiters

historical stats

oil consumption

An average consumption per capita in a developed country is 30. In US is 60. But checking this site, I found that Belgium and Netherlands are behind US just by a fraction.

Meat consumption

The average American eats per year 120 kg of meat, comparing with about 90 in developed countries. see

from another source:

Religion

I cannot understand how a population which is mostly religious, can be outraged by ObamaCare, which would provide basic medical coverage for unemployed people. The percentage of creationists is 46% see

Private Property & Public Property

The private property is sacred.

I think is crazy to drive in a very beautiful valley and not to be able to have a picnic. Everywhere there were fences, and each 300 meters, there were this warning signs, and even after the fence.

Or on Lake Tahoe, in Montana State, not to be able to get to the shore, without paying 10$ for parking.

On the other hand, it’s quite cheap to buy a memorial bench in a park, it’s about 1600$. And you can buy your immortality even in a national park, like Redwoods. Anyway, it’s better than to engrave the name on the bark of the trees.

 

 

 

Conclusion 

The system is really bad. I regret that in Romania so many people, for so much time ‘waited for the Americans’. I regret that it took me so long to wake up from ‘the American dream’.

Despite everything I said about the system, the people are amazing. They are so helpful, it is so easy to have a very good conversation.

We took a bus to get to Great Falls. The bus driver made a detour of 15 minutes to get us to a motel, trying in several places which were fully booked.

America is a cracked country, but fortunate to be populated by Americans.