Years ago, I heard a colleague refer to America as a “capitalist hellscape.” It was strange for me because this colleague did quite well financially. I wondered if this was just performative poverty to fit in with the plebs, or if there was something more to this contempt of America.
The “America sucks” sentiment has become so prevalent that it’s practically a cultural zeitgeist. As a born-here-left-and-returned Asian American, I’ve been hearing this perspective more and more.
It’s not just anecdotal. Check out data from these Gallup polls:
- 2024 poll: the percentage of Americans who are “very satisfied” with their personal lives dropped to 47%, near the record low in 2011.
- 2022 poll: only 24% of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country.
And of course, no more stats are needed to illustrate the problems plaguing our country, especially affecting the younger generation: inflation, the American Dream increasingly out of reach, depression and a general social malaise.
America has a lot of problems, and the discontent is particularly strong during an election year.
My goal is to give you a reprieve from all the negative news, and share with you some ideas that have helped me understand America more, and hate it less.
If you’re stuck living in America for the foreseeable future, then you have to keep reading.
Think of America as an ongoing experiment
It was around the year 2003 when I installed DSL internet in my family home. Coming from dial up, I was ecstatic to get broadband.
Then I went back to Taiwan on a family trip later that year. I expected to flex on my cousins, thinking that everyone would still be on that slow dial up game. After all, America invented the internet.
To my chagrin, not only was broadband already available in Taiwan… but it was FASTER than speeds back at home.
This reminds me of a quote often attributed to sci-fi author William Gibson:
“The future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed”
Conceptualizing America as an ongoing lab experiment is the best way I can resolve my cognitive dissonance about the country.
America is a laboratory
With its 50 states, America is an experiment onto itself.
When it comes to policy change, America legalizes marijuana in one state and bans it in another.
And yet, it’s very easy to cross state lines; not every country as vast as America offers this type of mobility without rigorous intervention from authorities. (Ever play license plate punch as a kid?)
This internal mobility gives America the flexibility to experiment. For more progressive policies, move to the coasts. For lower taxes and a more business environment, move to Texas or Florida.
Maybe this contributes to why America is such a good a place for business, innovation, and making money.
America is great for innovation
Americans come up with successful products that become common place around the world. Electricity. Cars. The Internet. Taylor Swift.
When I stumbled into the field of UX design, you could only find jobs in California. The best jobs were in the Bay Area. Slowly and surely, UX design became a job around in major cities like New York. Today, UX design is a recognized role around the world. But it was an U.S. exclusive for a while.
You’ll find the newest jobs and emergent industries in the U.S.
If you want to experiment with careers, America is the place to do it.
Remote jobs.
Unlimited PTO.
Gig work and contract jobs.
Bootcamps that help graduates skip 4 year degrees.
Jobs that don’t require diplomas nor credentials, just a portfolio.
(I’m pretty sure America invented the side hustle.)
America ranks 6th out of 190 economies for ease of doing business, according to the World’ Bank’s Doing Business reports.
Maybe that also helps explains why America has one of the best-performing stock markets in the world, second only to Australia.
America is an amazing place to invest
Citizens of each country have what is called a “home bias” – meaning they tend to invest in their own country’s stock markets. That means choosing the “domestic” stock market over the international stock market.
Americans are lucky that the home bias works out for them.
It’s not just that, but Americans get access to the most interesting financial innovations first.
Crypto. Fee-free stock trading on your phone. Fractional shares. Automated trading and robo-advisors.
It has never been easier to build wealth today because investing has been democratized. And Americans are at the forefront of accruing all the benefits of this financial technology first.
Outside of investing in the stock market, there’s plenty of wealth to be made in real estate.
America has a lot of land.
Not only land, but investable land.
For better or worse, America is another innovator here: AirBnBs, short term rentals, and flexible deal structures to make money from real estate. (Though personally, I think making money in real estate is hard).
America never promised charming European streets or Japanese-level politeness.
But if you want to work hard, invest, and have a shot at retiring early…America is a great place to do that. You don’t even have to stay in American—you can take your hard earned U.S. dollars and get more for it elsewhere. Which brings me to my next point.
The irony of geoarbitrage
Expats and Americans who move to other countries sometimes shit on America extra hard because they’re impressed by the lower cost of living.
In a way, that’s biting the hand that feeds: most of these expats have the luxury of feeling this way because they’ve earned their money in U.S. dollars and get more for it somewhere else.
Let’s flip it around: If you’re a foreigner and want to live in America – and there are plenty of people who want to be here – your currency is usually way weaker than the dollar. And yet, immigrants come in droves everyday.
People come to U.S. is to work and for the prospect of a better economic future. Many also come for safety, fleeing dangerous situations in their home countries.
I think geoarbitrage can be a smart lifestyle design hack. But where’s the gratitude and recognition of privilege?
For its level of diversity, America does OK
Travelers to Japan are often charmed by how advanced society seems to be there. The streets are clean and safe. Everyone knows to stay on the right side when lining up and how to move through the public spaces in almost an eerily organized way. The food and level of service are amazing, and tip is optional.
We lament: why can’t the U.S. do the same?
Then I land back in LAX and the answer is immediately clear: the moment I get back to LA, I’m surrounded by so much diversity.
Most of the people living in Japan are…Japanese.
The more diverse your population, the harder it is to govern. Different cultures have different values.
Here’s America’s diversity compared to other countries.
Fun fact: did you know that Uganda is the most ethnically diverse country? It has the most number of ethnic groups, whereas America and other countries have the
For its level of diversity, America does surprisingly well. The fact that we are able to coordinate and do things as a society, given some of the highest levels of racial diversity, is something I appreciate after traveling to many countries that aren’t as diverse.
All the while America is at the forefront of pushing forward the most innovative forms of social progress. Same sex marriage. Gender equality.
But America needs to up its game, because it’s been slipping on the Social Progress Index in the past decade.
No country is perfect
Think of every country like a product. You can choose a country for certain features and benefits, but there will also be tradeoffs.
America, as a product is good for…
- Finding high paying jobs, in often new and emergent fields
- Starting a business
- Investing and building wealth
- Technological and creative innovation
But America as a product really sucks at:
- Healthcare
- Safety (gun violence…)
- Lack of social safety nets
People still come in droves from other countries seeking a new dream; and many times that is simply achieved by escaping a nightmare.
Seeing things from an immigrants’ perspective is helpful; while one passport bro fantasizes about leaving, another immigrant is just trying to get a green card.
Finally, I’ll say that while America is an extremely flawed country, a bright spot is that its citizens do use their freedom of speech to criticize the country.
As James Baldwin once said, “I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
If you’ve been feeling down on America, I hope that reading this gave you a different perspective to balance out all the deserved criticism America gets. This country is an ongoing experiment, and you have a hand in helping it move in the right direction.
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