<story><title>Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries?</title><url>https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>voodootrucker</author><text>Due to work, I spent:&lt;p&gt;- 3 months in Japan
- 3 Months in Germany
- 3 months in the US
- 3 months in India&lt;p&gt;The transition was alarming. I see bits of both Germany and India in the US. Unfortunately (having grown up in America) I see the trend as towards India. I don&amp;#x27;t mean this as a cultural slight, but as a cultural observation. I&amp;#x27;ve seen high-trust vs low-trust societies brought up many times on HN. Traffic was most pronounced. In Germany, they obeyed the rules to the extent they wouldn&amp;#x27;t J-walk even if there was no traffic. In America, you&amp;#x27;d look both ways then cross. In India might makes right, big cars get the right of way, pedestrians have to be aggressive and just make their way, eyeballing cars down with a death stare of determination.&lt;p&gt;Anyway all this is to say, it seems like there are two types of wealth:&lt;p&gt;- In India, you can found a startup, make money, buy a Ferrari, but that would be a terrible move because if you drive it anywhere on public roads you will go max 30kph, and it will get destroyed on the roads
- In Germany, you can have a modest Skoda and still hit 200 kph on their impeccable freeways with confidence that the person in the right lane will never, ever change lanes without a signal and mirror check&lt;p&gt;So, my personal take, and I realize that this is highly reductionist, but I hope, relevant is that there are two types of wealth:&lt;p&gt;1. a type where society is wealthy, and that translates into well being for the individual and the whole
2. a type where wealth is relative, and the wealthy take joy not in having an absolute sense of wealth (as in compared to a German), but as in &amp;quot;my neighbor lives in a shack and I live in a gated tower high rise&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I fear America is at a cross roads and will make a choice that makes us poor in a global sense.</text></item><item><author>xwdv</author><text>Which half made you happier?</text></item><item><author>TuringNYC</author><text>There really are two Americas - wealthy america and the rest of america. I&amp;#x27;ll bet if you split America into two sets of counties, the graph would be much different -- one would be a super-outlier and the other a super-laggard.&lt;p&gt;I know this personally, as I&amp;#x27;ve spent 21yrs of my life in one half, and another 20 in the other half.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve also lived overseas for several years, and they also have stratas, but much less pronounced than here in the US.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bleepblorp</author><text>Another way to describe the difference between Germany and India is that&amp;#x27;s the difference between a rich society and a poor society that has (a few) rich people in it. This distinction also correlates with multiple factors of collective well-being, including life expectancy, and income inequality.&lt;p&gt;America made the choice in the 1980s, with the arrival of Reagan, to transition from being a rich society to being a poor society that has a fair number of rich people in it. Income inequality has deteriorated since then, the quality of public services&amp;#x2F;public infrastructure has severely degraded, and social trust is rapidly eroding. It&amp;#x27;s almost certainly too late to change course.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why is life expectancy in the US lower than in other rich countries?</title><url>https://ourworldindata.org/us-life-expectancy-low</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>voodootrucker</author><text>Due to work, I spent:&lt;p&gt;- 3 months in Japan
- 3 Months in Germany
- 3 months in the US
- 3 months in India&lt;p&gt;The transition was alarming. I see bits of both Germany and India in the US. Unfortunately (having grown up in America) I see the trend as towards India. I don&amp;#x27;t mean this as a cultural slight, but as a cultural observation. I&amp;#x27;ve seen high-trust vs low-trust societies brought up many times on HN. Traffic was most pronounced. In Germany, they obeyed the rules to the extent they wouldn&amp;#x27;t J-walk even if there was no traffic. In America, you&amp;#x27;d look both ways then cross. In India might makes right, big cars get the right of way, pedestrians have to be aggressive and just make their way, eyeballing cars down with a death stare of determination.&lt;p&gt;Anyway all this is to say, it seems like there are two types of wealth:&lt;p&gt;- In India, you can found a startup, make money, buy a Ferrari, but that would be a terrible move because if you drive it anywhere on public roads you will go max 30kph, and it will get destroyed on the roads
- In Germany, you can have a modest Skoda and still hit 200 kph on their impeccable freeways with confidence that the person in the right lane will never, ever change lanes without a signal and mirror check&lt;p&gt;So, my personal take, and I realize that this is highly reductionist, but I hope, relevant is that there are two types of wealth:&lt;p&gt;1. a type where society is wealthy, and that translates into well being for the individual and the whole
2. a type where wealth is relative, and the wealthy take joy not in having an absolute sense of wealth (as in compared to a German), but as in &amp;quot;my neighbor lives in a shack and I live in a gated tower high rise&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I fear America is at a cross roads and will make a choice that makes us poor in a global sense.</text></item><item><author>xwdv</author><text>Which half made you happier?</text></item><item><author>TuringNYC</author><text>There really are two Americas - wealthy america and the rest of america. I&amp;#x27;ll bet if you split America into two sets of counties, the graph would be much different -- one would be a super-outlier and the other a super-laggard.&lt;p&gt;I know this personally, as I&amp;#x27;ve spent 21yrs of my life in one half, and another 20 in the other half.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve also lived overseas for several years, and they also have stratas, but much less pronounced than here in the US.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ddingus</author><text>I found your take thought provoking.  HN is always a surprise.</text></comment>