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by jallasprit
1200 days ago
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Coming from a country in the nordics, it is quite astonishing to see the scale of the homelessness and social issues in American society. Any of these people sleeping on the streets are someone's daughter, son, brother, sister or parent; and yet the culture prohibits a socialized way of living where everyone contributes (via taxes, etc) to pull people upwards as best as possible. |
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The U.S. is a big, diverse country. European countries are not. Here are some population figures:
2023 Population
Denmark 5,910,913 Finland 5,545,475 Greenland 56,643 Iceland 375,318 Norway 5,474,360 Sweden 10,612,086
Each of the following states has a population equal to or greater than any one of the countries listed above:
California 40,223,504 Texas 30,345,487 Florida 22,359,251 New York 20,448,194 Pennsylvania 13,092,796 Illinois 12,807,072 Ohio 11,878,330 Georgia 11,019,186 North Carolina 10,710,558 Michigan 10,135,438
Homelessness is a serious problem in the U.S., and it is visible on the streets of major U.S. inner cities. However, the percentage of homelessness is just 0.16% of the total population. There are roughly 530,000 homeless in the US. Of these, roughly 30% have mental health issues and roughly 30% have addiction issues. Many of these folks either refuse temporary housing/shelters or are in and out of shelters. It is a complex problem without a single solution.
For those that both need and want help, the U.S. culture does not prohibit pulling people up. In fact, we do just the opposite. There are many state and federal programs to provide help to those who want help (housing, food, infant care, etc.). Of total federal government expenditures, entitlement programs account for 49%-almost half of federal money goes to social programs.
Furthermore, for those things that aren’t covered by government programs, the U.S. population sends more of its personal discretionary income per capita for donations to good causes than any other country in the world (1.5% of GDP).
Our diversity is our strength, as we do not have a monoculture like most smaller European nations. We encourage individuals to be individuals.
It seems that socialism (as a political system) may work better in monocultures, but then again it is still early—Europe was at war twice in the past 100 years and before that was ruled by authoritarian monarchies that provided very little in the way of freedom to prosper for their citizens.
I hope that those countries with social democratic systems, such as the Nordics, will continue to work well as demographics change and monocultures deteriorate as a result of immigration and falling birth rates.