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The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
301–310 of 399 posts
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#302Earlier quoted context omitted.
Americans spend a lot of time in their vehicles. Big vehicles are simply more comfortable and practical on a daily basis, at least outside of a few dense cities. If you're going to be stuck in traffic then might as well have some space to stretch out instead of being squeezed into a compact car. Safety is less of a concern for most buyers. You can argue that this is irrational based on handling or fuel economy or wha…
I’m around 195cm. There is plenty of space. I can fit very comfortably into most vehicles (passenger planes excluded). Outside of leg and elbow room, what can you even do with that extra space when stuck in a traffic jam?
You may leave less room for rear seat, adult passengers if you drive a compact car.
It's still manageable, and fine for occasional trips, but I wouldn't choose that car to drive 4 adults daily.
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh, we Brits are no models of good diet and exercise. According to [1] while Americans have the highest obesity rates among major countries, Brits have the third-highest obesity rates. [1] https://metro.co.uk/2018/03/21/british-people-fat-no-denying...
American breakfast cereal is probably a good example of the problem. In the UK, don't you have to buy stuff like Cinnamon Toast Crunch from speciality outlets? I was under the impression much of what passes for breakfast in the US is considered confectionary across the way.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch is 30% sugar: https://www.cinnamontoastcrunch.com/products/cinnamon-toast-...
But something like Frosties, a popular cereal in the UK, is 37%: https://www.kelloggs.co.uk/en_GB/products/frosties.html
So although breakfast in general might be an example, that particular cereal doesn't seem too different.
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#304The numbers, and explanations, are both fascinating and despairing. But, as an outsider (AU) looking in, they're not at all surprising. Getting most of my information about the USA from what might be called (there) as left-leaning (but elsewhere as centrist) -- or witty aphorisms like 'Russia's about to find out why we don't have health care' (wrt weapons shipment to Ukraine), or the despairingly persistently applica…
As an affluent tech industry Australian living in the US (Bay Area) I’d say there’s very little practical difference in my standard of living here compared to back home. It’s more the poorer parts of society here where the figures quoted in the article apply and that feels just as removed from my life here as it does to you sitting in Australia. The US is a big place.
This is what pains me the most about the US. Out of sight and out of mind but these poorer parts of society represent xx millions of fellow humans. If you could have similar standard of living in Australia where the poorer parts of society perhaps have more accessible healthcare and better social safety nets, then why the hell can't we do that in the US!? (I know the answers to that question, but it just makes me sad and angry).
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#305The Financial Times column from where it comes from: https://enterprise-sharing.ft.com/error-pages/expired-link?c...
Thanks, but the link has "expired".
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#306Earlier quoted context omitted.
Something happened during the initial stages of the pandemic. People lost their absolute minds and aggressive and reckless driving got way, way worst than I've ever seen. Hell, about an hour ago a cop tailgated me while I was going 15 over the limit, wove through traffic to cut me off, run a red light, then damn near ran another driver off the road. No lights, no emergency, just an asshole. This is the behavior you h…
I thought people in the US drove like insane idiots long before the pandemic. Weaving in and out of lanes, excessive speeding, road rage over the slightest inconvenience and, the dumbest one to me because it is virtually effortless, failure to use turn signals. It's very easy to drive safely but a good chunk of divers seem to outright refuse. Having said that, the data backs you up. 7% increase in per capita road fat…
I've found that drivers vary tremendously in the US. The best average drivers I've been around were in the California Bay Area. Oregon drivers are generally out of it (left lane freeway camping always started the moment I crossed from CA into OR), and only moderately angry. Arizona had wildly incompetent "snow birds" in the winter and insanely aggressive road raging locals in the summer. I've heard that Boston and New Jersey are like Mad Max with potholes.
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
Woah! Deaths by billion vehicle miles in UK - 5.2. In US - 12.5. (both have tens of thousands of KSI, but the US has over twice as many per cap. In fact, way, more KSI from car accidents than even gun related homicide in the US. I hadn't realized that!) Deaths by gun related homicide in UK - 200. In US - 20000. (Both numbers pale in comparison to motor vehicle deaths, but there are a lot more in the US. Probably to b…
The road deaths surprise me the most , as most American roads are big and straight and most British roads are small and squiggly!
It's counterintuitive, but broad and straight roads are often more dangerous, as they invite faster driving.
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
It seems pretty likely that the US healthcare decisions at the federal level are to blame. This data suggests it isn't the access to healthcare that is to blame as much as the governance of the entire system is forcing bad outcomes. The effect here is too widespread to be "pub culture". I could see city planning being a contributor. But the effect is so extreme the place to start is deliberate policy. It would be har…
Nailed it. The tying of healthcare to one's job is its primary problem in the USA. This idiotic relationship arose because of incompetent legislation during WWII that was never fixed. The government applied wage caps, but failed to anticipate employers' substitution of "benefits" for wages. So companies sweetened the pot with health insurance to work around wage caps, and the government neglected to close that loopho…
That last paragraph... why should employers go from being a health insurance broker to a child care broker?
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you have enough information to say this? Certainly that Americans die young, but that could be because American healthcare does worse for people between 5 and 40. Eg. You'd prefer to be in a car crash in Canada, because it's more likely that the healthcare will take better care of you
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The difference is that in the UK if your kid is sick (article mentions that it is mainly young people dying early) then you can go get your kid seen for free, and not fear about the potential bankruptcy.
My personal recent experience with two young kids in the UK in London is that urgent care is very good. So like emergency see-someone-right-now care like sudden fevers, unexplained rashes, injuries etc. You get seen and usually quite quickly (at least for triage). My daughter was 10 weeks old in mid-2022 when she got an infection and we went to A&E (i.e. ER) and were triaged, IV'd with antibiotics, and settled into a single room (with ensuite and space for parents to sleep too) within 2 hours, then stayed for 48 hours with observation from nurses every 4 hours. Someone even offered us tea and coffee and breakfast. All for free. That is pretty good I think.
But the issue with the NHS in my opinion is the doctor/GPs. It is very difficult to get an appointment for non-urgent stuff. You have to explain to a receptionist why you need an appointment and often it is an untrained receptionist deciding if you get to see a doctor or not. If you do manage to convince the receptionist, then you are often facing a 2 or 3 week wait for the appointment, which may get cancelled or if you are lucky only be late by 2.5 hours. At our physical doctors building there are three separate clinics all duplicating the same service - there are 3 separate receptionists doing their own separate clinic and work betide you if you go to the wrong desk!
Of course as the GPs are so useless, everyone goes to the hospital to try to get seen.
Re: The average American has the same life expectancy as the worst part of England
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
American breakfast cereal is probably a good example of the problem. In the UK, don't you have to buy stuff like Cinnamon Toast Crunch from speciality outlets? I was under the impression much of what passes for breakfast in the US is considered confectionary across the way.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch is 30% sugar: https://www.cinnamontoastcrunch.com/products/cinnamon-toast-... But something like Frosties, a popular cereal in the UK, is 37%: https://www.kelloggs.co.uk/en_GB/products/frosties.html So although breakfast in general might be an example, that particular cereal doesn't seem too different.
I don't know if it makes much difference, but observe that the British cereal has a red mark for high sugar content on the box. It will be shelved near other cereals with green marks.
The American one has a similar label, except it's not coloured.
My parents bought Frosties as a very rare treat. My American cousins seemed to always have sugary cereals.