What's Wrong with the USA Today

What's Wrong with the USA Today

This article presents some of my perspectives on what is wrong with the USA today (December 2025).

Debt - Household, National, Infrastructure, Social Security

Household debt is of many types and takes many forms: college loans, auto loans, mortgages, credit cards, medical services, and increasinly, new forms such as auto title loans, payday loans, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) programs, and otherwise.

The national debt represents money borrowed by previous generations and owed by current and future generations.

Due to fiscal malfeasance that is arguably fraud, the Social Security program is basically insolvent, meaning that it is just another tax on current workers that are unlikely to receive any compensation in the future.

Mental Health - Stress, Anxiety

Christianity Corrupted by Capitalism

Stress and Anxiety

Big Pharma

Happy when people are on drugs - anxiety, depression, diet, lack of exercise

Health

Processed foods, stress, sedentary lifestyles

Wealth and Income Inequality

Ignoring the national debt and household debt, the United States is a relatively wealthy country. One problem is that wealth is high concentrated among a very small proportion of the population that controls tremendous wealth. Many American individuals and families have gone bankrupt, many more are in considerable debt, and millons are homeless, wandering the streets without shelter.

The corporate structure, economic system, and extremes of capitalism in the United States allow individuals and families to amass highly concentrated capital. The GINI coefficient, which is a measure of wealth disparity, has been increasing relatively steadily for decades.

Due to a political system driven by money, such as political campaign contributions and lobbying, wealthy individuals and the corporations that they run have undue influence over government and population at large. Especially because the wealthy also own the media empires including social media, in the American capitalist system, they have incredible power over the government and other people, many of whom function as powerless and destitute endebted wage slaves.

Excess wealth and control is known to affect brain structures in ways that reduce empathy and compassion. Throughout all of human history, many rich and powerful people have been known to be truly heartless. The wealthy few look down on and treat the poor majority as inconvenient peasants necessary to produce wealth that flows upwards by genearating the labor and consuming the products and servics of their corporations,

As a regressive form of taxation, meaning that lower-income people pay a higher percentage of their earnings, tarrifs are just another tax that increases costs for everyone living in the USA.

Stupidity

Media Ownership and Bias

Hyper Post-Late-Stage Capitalism

Corporate Control

Incarceration

Roots in Racism, Slavery, and Land Theft

Money in Politics

Two Party Political System

Electoral Collage

Single Branch Government

Corruption

Decades of Trauma

Invalid Laws

American Exceptionalism

Reserve Currency

International Bullying

No Consequences

Artificial Intelligence

Profit Motive

In the USA, an overwhelming profit motive trumps all other considerations. It truly is the wild wild west, where financial ends justify any means. While both major political parties have been corrupted by money in politics and the personal interests on which they can capitalize due to their positions, the Republican party typically rolls back regulation imposed by the Democratic party, where such regulation is often intended to provide social services, reduce inequities that financial capitalism guarantees, protect the environment, and otherwise serve the public good.

As an example, corporations profit through addiction by including ingredients such as refined sugar, corn syrup, and chemical additives to highly processed foods. These are known to result in health problems including heart conditions and type 2 diabetis. Many Americans live in chronic financial stress, resulting in anxiety and depression, both of which canbe exacerbated by social media and other forces prevalent in that culture. At the same time, corporations including health insurance and especially pharmaecutical companies profit from treating these conditions -- or not treating them, depending on your experience and perspective. America even allows pharmaeceutical companies to advertise specific drugs in through mechanisms such as television that expose even the youngest children to these influences. These are additional reasons for the overlords to keep the population uninformed and lacking critical thinking and media literacy skills.