No, adolescent (focused on this age since it’s where data is most readily available and when most addictions start) addiction rates are down (
),
Here's more recent data showing increases across the board:
in fact, teenage risky behavior is down across the board - from premature sex to crime (
,
Nobody said anything about sex. Sex is natural; drugs are not.
They've moved on to harder stuff as seen above LOL
Arrests, not actual crime rate, which is reported and has been demonstrated to be increasing above. Reduction in arrests with a rise in crime means an inadequate police response, and that is most likely because of new laws in America making petty theft basically not a crime.
however those with drug addictions just much more severe addictions (
)
Yeah things get more severe in the US, I get that.
No, it’s actually decreasing -
What's with the selective year and age group? Did I say child povety only??
"The U.S. poverty rate saw its largest one-year increase in history. 12.4% of Americans now live in poverty according to
, an increase from 7.4% in 2021. Child poverty also more than doubled last year to 12.4% from 5.2% the year before."
Better. The U.S. is doing substantially better than before in nearly every aspect. Americans are wealthier than they ever have been and deal daily with (US-originated) technology that even 30 years ago would’ve been considered black magic.
This is why I said that you need to consider things relative to the world and to your main rival(s). It is an incredibly low standard to say that you are, in raw wealth (aside from the house, of course, which is most people's most expensive and important possession), stronger than you were 30 years ago, or even a few years ago. The whole world, minus only a few incredibly incompetent countries, sees a rising standard of living and of wealth with time. The point is whether you are moving faster or slower than the rest, or if you are a competitive country like China, USA, Russia, the standard is even higher; you have to consider your progress in relation to the top of the world, not just some average. Failing to do this would be considered a relative decline, and although you're ok with it, the majority of Americans are not. They want to compete with China, and compared to China's rise in wealth and technology, the US is just moving backwards every day.
Once again, if you set your standards to an incredibly low threshold of absolute progress rather than relative progress and you want to say that the US just wants to be left alone and not to compete with China, your points are fine. But the context of this entire forum, and the desires of the majority of the US population (or at least its elite), is to compete with China. So your personal lense is basically inapplicable.
Correct. China is a reasonably well managed poor country experiencing catch-up growth.
No, not correct. China
was that, but after the initial teething issues, management basically shot up to the top of the world. Now, it has taken the leading positions in the world in many fields and it is moving faster in all parameters regardless of whether they be lagging or leading and this is due to it being the best-managed country in the world.
Correct. I think it simply doesn’t matter for the United States which direction its foreign policy takes since the U.S. is so wealthy and so large that both serve to be prophylactic for the U.S. in the event of any foreign shock (exogenous or endogenous)
Are you an American? Do you live in America? Or are you just some cheerleader from abroad?
You're basically the first person I've spoken to who thinks that America should just step aside to China and try to do well in its own bubble. An American politician would be lynched for saying it. Polls in the US show hostility and hatred towards China.
Unfortunately, your opinion just doesn't apply to America's goals, no matter how great it would be if they did.