I find it strange that you feel confident enough to say the US is definitely not the best (whatever best means) country on earth but when pressed to name the country that is refuse to do so.
Secondly, disasters have an economic impact worth discussing. Discussing it doesn’t mean it’s the all anyone cares about or takes precedent over the human toll. It is also not unique to the United States to discuss the economic impact when something bad happens.
Well as it's an opinion thing, listing countries better than the U.S. would be an opinion of one. It certainly is an odd claim, and I'm not entirely sure what it means to be the best country, yet we have tens of millions of people who insist it's the case. Sure, they lack much evidence, but that doesn't seem to limit their vigor.
Their claim is that the U.S. is the best country and I'm simply unconvinced of that. Judging by the group who are most ardent about it, I deem it highly unlikely that it is #1.
I guess my claim is that by the most statistical measures of quality of life and happiness, the U.S. does not average out at the top of the rankings. That's all. I could probably get along pretty well in any number of 100 countries that have flushing toilets and non-oppressive regimes. I probably don't care about many of the things that probably are strengths in measuring the quality of the U.S. I probably take for granted many strengths of the U.S. and would miss them if they were gone.
But I also know that academia isn't mistrusted in many other countries. I know there are countries who are progressing socially, without the nationalist overcorrection we're seeing here. There are many building up and improving - ours has been on top for at least 80 years and possibly 140 and are showing the signs that it's difficult to be so great for so long.
And I'm possibly wrong. Duh.
