I didn’t expect to start my new blog with a rant on America. But having just spent 4 straight weeks in Europe, I’m both saddened by my country and worried that we’ve lost our way.
Transportation
I think that transportation can define a society. In Germany, the transport is efficient, clean, and rigid. In Italy, a little rougher around the edges with a little less predictability. In London, it’s regal (the Heathrow express plays classical music on your journey to Paddington Station). In Paris, you’re “on your own” – rarely are the metro stops announced.
But one thing that has constantly amazed me is how GOOD European public transport is. Every major airport has an express train right into the city. The Eurostar from London to Paris is a miracle, taking a little over two hours to go from the center of London to the center of Paris. Bullet trains, efficient metros, and great connections are at the center of European life, and make doing business and getting around a joy, on a (startup) budget.
Fast forward to China. China is spending $30 billion a year for 10 years building out what will be the world’s fastest, newest, most efficient high speed train system. It will be faster than Japan (which started it all) or Europe.
The United States, for all its current economic woes, still represents a staggering 25% of the world’s economy. Yet it feels like we’ve fallen behind. Our trains are a joke. Especially in my hometown of Los Angeles, public transport means a series of traffic-clogged busses and freeways. We are just getting around to exploring a true metro system, and it’s going to take us 20 years to build it. Why can China cover their entire country (which isn’t that much smaller than the US) in 10 years, and LA can’t even deploy a proper public transport system over the next 20? Why is the US government’s entire high speed train budget a measly $8 billion this year?
Welfare
I’m a capitalist, and a big believer in the free market. But, I have to say I am jealous of European welfare systems, especially when it comes to healthcare. Europeans by and large believe that healthcare is a right, not a privilege. In France, healthcare is free. In the UK, their beloved “NHS” (National Health Service) takes care of its population. For all of the “reform” we just passed in the US, we lag behind European countries in terms of providing for the masses. The wealthy get the best care in the world, and the rest of the public may get care, if they have insurance. Where are our priorities?
Education
In most European countries, education is free, up through college. The schools are so good in Italy that people actually want to go to a public school. When was the last time in the US, that someone who had the economic freedom to choose, chose public? Europe seems to have created an education system that doesn’t fail its young, that recognizes that only by providing children with a quality education do we maintain a society that gives a level playing field to all children who can then prosper based on their interests and talents.
Summing it up
I’m feeling sad for the US. I feel like we’re wasting our money on war and government inefficiencies. I feel like we are the laughing stock of the world with public transport. I feel like we’re failing the disadvantaged with what should be a given right: education and healthcare. And I feel like our government has (and continues to) run up such a large debt fighting war that the quality of life that I knew growing up may be a distant memory for my children.
I like to think of myself as an optimist. The US is still the most entrepreneurial country in the world. Millions (if not billions) of people still dream of coming to this country for a better life. And I love my country. But I want us to wake up and reprioritize before it’s too late.
Let’s raise taxes a little bit and fix our roads, schools, and healthcare. Let’s balance the budget, even if it requires cuts to military spending. Let’s show our brilliant American ingenuity and build a world class bullet train system (imagine going to San Francisco in 2 hours from LA, or Chicago in 6… it’s possible with today’s technology). Let’s act like the superpower we are, and use our resources wisely. I don’t want to feel like my country is a second rate power traveling anymore, and typing this on a TGV train, that’s exactly how I feel.
