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there's absolutely no evidence to
support the statement that we're the greatest nation in the world we're
7th in literacy 27th math 22nd science 49th in life expectancy 178th in
infant mortality 3rd in median household income number four in labor
force and number four in exports we lead the world only in three categories
number of incarcerated people per capita number of adults who believe angels are
real and defense spending we spent more money than the next 26 countries
combined 25 of whom are allies when you ask what makes us the greatest country
in the world i don't know what the- you're talking about
this video was inspired by some of the comments in the expats groups
and some of the comments on my channel and questions that i got
and it got me thinking about different
issues that we face or that we faced in america
and the sad part is that they're still present there and we have different
reasons for why we move to a certain place why we move from one country to
another or in general the choices that we make but there's some undeniable
truths that probably play a part
in why we make certain decisions although the us it's one of the richest
societies in history it still falls behind other developed
nations in some crucial indicators of human development like education health
care homelessness infrastructure culture and social intelligence the us it's a
mixed bag of people ideologies and literally every person wants a different
thing from their neighbor but we're all human beings and there's some basic
things that are vital to all of us regardless of our background in today's
video i want to discuss why i think spain is richer than america
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in america every person is for himself
the whole nation is based on survival and that's not because of poverty but
ideology it is me generation no one really emotionally cares about the other
person everybody is focused on material gains rather than the humane aspect of
society which leads me to my next topic which is a very painful and sad topic
homelessness
their billion dollar companies in the bay area and chronic homelessness
how can even these two be put in the same sentence how is this normal
they're bacterias in some states in the water that are found only in the poorest
regions of africa how is this a first world country
so this is a bank in the center
and i want to keep their privacy but
this is how they let homeless sleep in the bank
in spain
and here i am under a bridge in turia park
which is a vast huge park with many bridges
and there's zero homeless people here if this is in la
it will be filled with tents in valencia which is the third largest
city in spain i have barely seen any homeless people the two homeless people
that i saw were both reading books one of them he was sitting in front of
consum and i saw a guy walk by and he gave him his dog and he gave him some
change while he shops but there is no schizophrenia no sick people on the
streets in l.a for example i was pushed by a shopping cart by a homeless lady in
the middle of the street in downtown where i work i was terrified i was
scared and i was sad at the same time because these people are not just only
homeless they're sick they need to be in a mental institution they need to be
taken care of and how can you measure the wealth of a country
if you see how these people are being taken care of
how else can you measure the wealth with numbers with money
in austin there is a tech company that recently started a project dealing with
homelessness which is also a huge problem in texas in austin specifically
and they are creating something that is based on the blockchain they will create
digital identities for all these homeless people because it's very hard
to keep track of their documents their identity most of them
have no birth certificates no id no social security and these people
struggle to get the care that they can from the government even
so through these digital
digital identities they can start giving them
health care and and shelter and other things that will help them and make
their life a little bit better
as many of you probably know in most european countries the education it's
free and everyone has access to it which creates
a better labor force more entrepreneurs skillful
members of society and so on and we all want to give a better education to our
children one of the reasons i think spain
is richer than america it's also based on education in america the average
tuition it's five thousand to fifty thousand dollars per year
in spain this number goes from eight hundred and eighty dollars to twenty
five hundred dollars a year another huge difference is that in spain there are no
school districts you can enroll your child in religious
school in a regular public school in a private school but you're not limited to
the region that you live in i think this makes it very hard for for
americans because it's determining
where you can live where you can afford to leave to pick a better school for
your child and i even have an example with a friend of mine who lived in
chicago and she had to change she had to leave
her apartment and go to a completely new house
just because her daughter was studying in a different school she can keep going
to the same school if she lives in a different location
and that's pretty sad because you want to find the best education
for your child and at the same time keep it safe because as we know
their mass shootings in american schools which leaves the parents in america
terrified and they're known here that's not even a concept in in spain i've
never heard any news about mass shootings in a shopping mall or in
school or in the park or anywhere
speaking of education things don't stop
only with academia how we teach our children on values lifestyle health
habits will shape their life what we eat and how we exercise will determine our
well-being and spain leaves america
in their food culture as well one that the mediterranean diet it's one of the
best in the world but also in the european union and since spain is part
of the european union there are a lot of ingredients that are banned in spain and
in europe which are still present in american products a study last year have
found that in american counties especially the ones in the deep south
the life expectancy is lower than the one in algeria
bangladesh and nicaragua america is the only one the only
developed country that does not offer health care to its citizens on the
contrary spain has free health care for all its residents with an option to
private care which costs about 90 dollars a month and they
will accept you with pre-existing conditions
why because that's your human right and not
a privilege and in america we have people that go bankrupt because of bills
they couldn't pay in a report from unicef
america was listed as the only country that does not offer paid maternity leave
in spain the maternity leave is 16 weeks
with an option to extend it for 13 more weeks
15 years ago the new debts were allowed only two days
of work paid two days off work to see their newborn in 2007 based on the
spanish law of gender equality this was extended to two weeks which was
pretty revolutionary even for the rest of the european countries
january 1st 2021 spain gives the new dads
16 weeks paternal leave which is equal to the maternity leave
most spanish are in a better shape than most americans and there are few reasons
for that one it's that the regional governments
in spain created facilities free public facilities sports facilities in pretty
much every neighborhood and village and also
the urban layout it's in a way where it promotes walking and biking whereas in
american cities in most american cities people
get on their car and they go grocery shopping or they go to the coffee place
and partially it's habit-based but on another hand the urban layouts are not
made for for walking and biking and
this really reflects on the health on the american people the wealth of a
country it's not being determined only by the material gains of that country it
is based also on how the government takes care of the people living there
what's provided to us how is it the access to health care and education
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culture is another really important factor that enriches our soul it adds to
the value of the country of the people living in that country i watched an
interview it was actually a lecture with jordan peterson just this morning
and it was about how staggering beautiful europe is
and what was so interesting there was the concept of beauty and how much
society is willing to give in to invest
physically financially emotionally into art and
culture and he gave example with segrega which is in barcelona it's still
not being completed it's been built for like 300 years or so and in america
things are measured in quarterly reports everything is fast everything is instant
and immediate and there is no patience to invest in beauty and in
culture and i think this is also affecting
it's affecting our souls it's affecting us emotionally
there is a lot of street art here in spain there are a lot of free events and
festivals and constantly something going on on the street and again this
accessibility that i'm talking about people can witness and they can be part
of something of a cultural event at any time at any season at any given moment
and in america unfortunately for most things most
things that i visited and i love going to galleries and museums
everything is paid and it's not cheap which again it prevents some people from
going and seeing and connecting with art
the us focuses on work consumerism and
corporate profits and while some people are being pushed to the bottom others
simply forgot how to live spain focuses on happiness health and
well-being and their simplified version of success
it's what i think makes spain richer than america and soon also we'll stop
comparing the wealth of one country or another the wealth will be measured by
our human values by our ability to care for one another i hope i inspired some
some thoughts some additional moments of wonder and give it a like and
i will see you in my next one ciao
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although the us is one