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Leaves
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Not gonna pretend that the unhoused in this situation are being helped or anything, but it goes to show that the US government is capable of improving things for its people but choses not to.
Also, remember when Beijing hosted the Olympics and Westoids accused China of hiding all the beggars? Lmao.
Hopefully no one here thinks it's utopia. They have generally better policies economically than the US but there's still a ton to do on all aspects, not to mention social conservatism runs rampant there.
But I'll support them over the US and the west on most things, which is generally I think where the confusion comes in
That's assuming they're living in the US. Compared to Guatemala, China does feel like a utopia. It was very surreal to be walking down a street and not fear getting mugged or hearing gunshots. The standard of living is lower compared to what many Americans are used to but it's significantly higher than anything I've seen in Guatemala.
There were some pretty bleak signs of poverty as well like you mentioned and the social conservatism is something I'm very used to experiencing in Central America. I wish we could one day raise our standard of living the way China has, but corruption in the government runs so deep that I doubt it will ever happen.
Compared to what you're describing, my shithole (Iran) is also a 34th century mega utopia
The point of comparison shouldn't the the lowest possible denominator or it's meaningless
I wouldn't say Guatemala is the lowest possible denominator when we have a higher standard of living than Iran.
I mean lmfao if you're hearing gunshots and shit outside then your standards are definitely much lower than us
Looked into it and yeah you're right. We make slightly more money but live less, are less educated, and experience more violence. Despite all that it surprisingly isn't that much lower.
Still wouldn't say we're the lowest possible denominator when El Salvador and Honduras exist right next to us. Calling China a utopia is definitely an exaggeration but it was especially inspiring to see it's growth from when I first went in the 90's to the 2010's. Seeing the strides it took and the astronomical growth from what I saw in the 90's blew me away. It was different than my experiences in Germany or the US because I understood how those countries attained their wealth.
China being a country that's part of the global south made the leaps and improvements that much more inspiring. It was much safer than what I experienced in the US and on par with Germany. It would be nice to see countries like ours attain a standard of living on par or better than China's. There are times when I have my doubts because of how corrupt the institutions are in our countries. Costa Rica and Panama have proven that some level of development is possible with them surpassing both of ours in standard of living, but even they have their setbacks.
Dollar exchange rates make Iran look much more shit than it really is, so I'm not surprised.
Anyway yes, China has done a great deal, and we should learn from them to reach our own potential
Yeah my view point is very western centric if I wasn't clear, I have no place to talk from your perspective and was not attempting to speak from it