Its absolutely important that you listen to me now: dont take advice from reddit. It can do you no good.

Seriously the average demographics on reddit is very very young and most teens are at best very naive, at worse cynical arseholes. Mute some subs and live happy.

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I’ve been “earning decent” at every job until I wasn’t a few years later despite reasonable raises. Cost of living will tear you a new asshole unless you give up considerable comfort. MANY moving here severely underestimate it.

I have to pick up jaws from the floor whenever I tell my visiting foreign family how much I make and how much is left after my necessary expenses.

The US may not be that great in the future, but other countries will be worse.

With the whole geopolitics and climate change, one thing good about America is we are pretty self sufficient in terms of natural resources. It's a big country with different ways of living. No adjacent enemy states is also a big plus. Worst come to the worst, the US may just go back to the old policy of neutrality and non-interventionism like it did before the second world war. Our budget may not support a global military presence anyway, but definitely enough to defend North America.

Most countries in the world depend on other countries to feed them, to provide for the energy, as well as raw material to manufacture essential goods. The "global south" is also more vulnerable to climate change. Countries like Japan and New Zealand have high standards of living, but prone to natural disasters. Europe, on the other hand, has its own cost of living and refugee crisis.

But the above is just for basic living. I think in America the odds of running out of essentials is pretty low. We will have food on the table. As a surgeon though I do recommend people to live near a metro area. Lots of rural hospitals are shutting down and they are not coming back.

The US is amazing if you earn far above the average. It really is almost impossible to beat. However, it can also be quite suffocating on the lower ends of income. Future issues in the US will not affect you if you're a top income earner. I make ~300k and my wife makes ~175k and we are not remotely worried. I do think things will get worse for the bottom % of earners though.

America is an oligarchic plutocracy. But it will be okay for a couple more decades, I think. The best jobs to be in are probably government jobs, as they are the slowest to change.

I'd encourage people to go visit other countries where there is virtually no middle class and one might get a glimpse of things to come. I don't think it will be full on Thunderdome, but things may be very different in fifty years. Of course, things were very different fifty years ago, so maybe this is just the natural progression.

Our problem is that our government is so divided, even good ideas are voted against out of partisanship. Look at the Infrastructure Bill. We needed that desperately, in fact, I think it one of the prime achievements of safeguarding our role as world innovators. Look at other countries like Japan, with their bullet trains. Look at Europe with their public transportation hubs.

The one bit of bright news is that we got a domestic microchip manufacturing bill passed, that was absolutely essential. We need to aggressively be pursuing energy independence by switching to 100% wind and solar, just as a minimum.

Define "decent" and ask yourself who is allowed to earn "decently."

There already exists a massive divide between the rich and poor. The thing thats changed, is that the middle class is getting squeezed as well.

The corporate oligopoly don't want some of the money. They want all of the money. Thats going to leave less and less for working people.

As the contradictions between the promises and realities of capitalism become more apparent, the violence will only increase: the USA already had one attempted coup and one months long uprising against police brutality. This is only going to increase.

As climate change continues unabated the extreme weather events are going to get more frequent and more extreme.

The question you are actually asking is, "do I earn enough money to isolate myself from all this" and I'm afraid unless you're a multi millionaire the answer is no.

Reddit hates EVERYTHING, don't worry and just live your life. Go to any mountain biking, gaming or car subreddit and see for yourself.

Reddit is a very small minority that has a very loud echo chamber.

As long as you understand that Democrats and Republicans are equally horrendous, useless and unfathomably dangerous. And basically the entirety of the government is set up to fuck the citizens out of their lives, energy, and money, while protecting a bunch of Rich burdens. and they only seek out to extract the livelihoods of the citizens to cushion their own finances. And will trade millions of lives (globally not just domestically) for the sake of bitch money.

Their solution for not being able to pay for retirement, is just to have every citizen work 10 years longer. So goodbye retirement. Goodbye social security. Etc. And unless you luck out, and land a lucky lawsuit or something like that. You should probably be content with the fact you're going to work till you die. Don't rely on any of the government resources because they'll take it away as soon as they feel like it/has no actual value anymore.

And you're going to have to desensitize yourself to the excessive gun violence/ hate crime culture. The only country in the world whose highest cause of death for children, is gun violence.

Understanding that "freest country in the world" was a bastardized self-proclaimed title, because history can show and does that it has never experienced true freedom and peace. And in comparative to other developed countries it's honestly quite pathetic and understandably why America sits at number 13 in the freest country. Fuckin bozos

Highest incarceration rate in the entire world. surpassing North Korea by a mile. Has been involved in war for 96% of its entirety. Race riots, that continue today, just to treat people like fuckin PEOPLE, Unfathomable amounts of taxes for the citizens but loopholes for the burdens in suits, resulting in over 75% of Americans living check by check. So any change in their livelihood will absolutely decimate their financial standing. And that almost 90% of Americans will cripple their financial standing with an emergency $300 hospital visit.

Since Trump's bitchass 1 term presidency, the amount of American citizens denouncing citizenship has skyrocketed almost 200%. And it's honestly deserved, the old generation hates the Young generation, because the Young generation doesn't care about the prosperity of the country, they don't care about the money, they don't care about the power, they will gladly watch the shithole burn and dance in the ashes of a falsified flag. It's not that the Young generation is lazy is that we understand we're going to work till we die and we don't care to do that. If you want to go stroke your boss's dick till you're 60-70-80, go on ahead. but personally, guillotining rich people sounds way more adequate and enjoyable.

America has a lot of opportunities to be an amazing country but it's definitely not something to be proud of. And before other people from other countries, decide America would be a good place to move, do research about the better countries. Every country has its flaws but Jesus Christ, America is pathetic.

Don't listen too much to people on reddit is the first important step.

Go outside more, see things for yourself and decide.

Reddit caters to people who want to listen to people and talk to people who only agree with them. It's not a place for unbiased anything.

I figure US decline will go slowly, then all at once, and it’s virtually impossible to know how long the slow phase will last; it could easily last through my lifetime.

They’re being dramatic, Reddit skews HEAVILY left leaning and trump really brought out the loonies on both sides. We’ll be fine…maybe

US is heaven if you are a high-income earner. It is hell if you are poor or bottom earner.

So your income decides whether usa is great or not.

The question and how it's raised is like 100 red flags in the first place.

The fact that we have to specify "for those who earn decent" is indicative of a future society that still finds a way to omit the poor from leading respectable lives. In other words, the exact same as present day America.

It'll suck if we still reject part of our populace from receiving care, goods and services even after AI are widely available and the majority of diseases have been eradicated. Just the way this question had to be phrased to remain realistic is telltale of our failure as a society.

Ideally, it'll be great for everyone who lives here or wants to live here. Ideally, classist divisions of power based on wealth will no longer exists. Ideally, "liberty and justice FOR ALL" will be a reality rather than just a fleeting promise. I want to believe that's possible but it's highly unlikely. Especially with have and have-not attitudes persisting long after Capitalism and false scarcity no longer exist.

You actually listen to what people say on the internet?

Probably pretty good. The problems people worry about are the ones they solve

Depends on how the next decades worth of Presidential and Midterm elections go.

Once the mass migration of climate refugees begins, nowhere will be decent.

It's extremely plausible. And the rest of the world will follow. Just read, Tragedy and Hope...

just find others from your country that have moved here and ask them what they think. I'm American and think we're a great country to come to, but I'm going to be biased, of course. the media makes us look really bad, but that's what it's like to have full freedom of speech

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I am 45 years old and they have been saying the same thing about America my whole life. Don’t believe the hype of the conspiracy theorists or the Trumpsters.

If you're a top 10% earner US is and probably always will be one of the best places to live since most policies benefit the top 10%. If you earn above average but below top 10% you are probably in a similar position as people in western europe that are in the same income bracket. Below that and the US is not so great anymore. I don't think there's any reason for this to change in the future either tbh.

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Lmao I bet USA will have paid subscription for air

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As an aside, part of our culture is to worry about our own demise; and as the ascendant culture, the USA is currently exporting that part of its culture.

Whatever you’re worried about, just change the channel. You’re listening to the wrong propaganda. America will be just fine.

I’m homeless with 3 jobs. I own a business that employs 8 people and has done 1 million+ in revenue 6 years running.

It’s unfathomable how tough it can be when you’re on your own.

If you have friends or loved ones to team up with, things can be a lot easier.

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Life is getting tougher everywhere, just in slightly different ways. Americans like to pretend their living situation is getting so bad... but if you roll some random country generator - you'll find that living conditions in the resulting country are much worse.

Trouble with USA is that it's very expensive, has very little government support for healthcare and has a workaholic culture. On the plus side - earning potential here is one of the highest.

My father kept moving around trying to find an ideal place to live, after a lot of work they relocated to New Zealand. Lived and worked there for a while - found out that pensions there are tiny and the country was getting expensive. Had to move back. Now retired to Bulgaria, it's cheap and fairly nice - but turned out that Healthcare is awful and there are year long lines to the clinics with good Healthcare. Plus a lot of beurocracy and they almost force you to learn Bulgarian to get through it.

It's very difficult to move permanently to a lot of countries and be able to work. Many nations don't really allow it, or only allow it for some professions and you have to do a lot of work to get through their systems. And that's before language barrier comes into play.

Reddit is a tiny minority of the overall USA population. It's also a population that consumes a lot of news, which is usually negative and click driven. I would not take Reddit seriously and just go touch grass.

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I don't think there will be a dictatorship. However, there are political movements that are actively censoring people which is reminiscent of fascism and Soviet Russia/China happening here in real-time in the west. Continuation of this censorship is going to start to cause the populace to revolt in anger and cause civil unrest. Ostracizing a demographic of people based on their values results in people turning to extremism new research shows. With the cost of living increasing exponentially and men not going to school at the same capacity the west will ultimately collapse unless policies are laid in place to make school malleable for men again. There are a lot more facets and focal points to address but the west is heading toward a decline with the destruction of the family ideology.

How much ever you earn, you will always be one medical bill away from bankruptcy

Depends how many more trains spill dangerous chemicals into major water ways.

North America will tend to be insulated from global instability caused by climate change because it has much lower population density than any other big developed country.

The geography of the United States isn't that bad for climate change, but the big benefit is like there's only like two big countries besides the US and there's just not that many people compared to almost everywhere else in the world.

So there's basically like no way that's not a significant benefit and like as long as Yellowstone doesn't explode or something North America will probably be the premium location on the planet for many decades.

But of course you have to be able to put up with Americans and that might be a significant challenge.

The downside is that you know Americans have been on top too long and they've kind of gotten fat lazy and disconnected from reality so you could argue America is a bit more mentally fragile and most certainly spoiled.

Depends who you are.

Private public partnerships and ESG will be a big part of the destruction of freedom. The national security apparatus will also grow and target people more.

Too early to tell. If the GOP wins all three in the next election cycle dont come here if youre not a straight white financial christian

America is already run by a collection of oligarchs, they buy up all the politicians or they themselves run for political seats. The ideas of aristocracy, feudalism, dictatorship, its all short sighted, these are hyper capitalist entities, that really don't give two flying flips about political alignment. All they care about is profit, and money. The sooner people realize that we aren't going to ever defeat them by having elections every 2 years the sooner we might make some progress.

At the rate it's going, we're looking to end up in the same situation as The Outer Worlds. It's not really going to be a dictatorship, it's going to be a corporate wonderland. The upper middle class and lower will essentially be born into debt and be required to work off that debt as it passes down generation to generation as the highest class continues to grow their generational wealth into infinitum until the day comes that some serious economic collapse causes the entire system to upend and either result in mass loss of life as the top class seek to maintain their way of life through desperate measures, or a war is fought between corporate entities just to lower the number of mouths to feed and then continue working the remaining population at a higher pace to ensure no loss in productivity.

lots and lots of dumb gunnuts ain't ever gonna go away

It depends on what you like. I've been living in USA (NYC - FLORIDA) for 8 years. And I'm ready to leave I'm already fed up with all the companies basically scamming me every day and there's nothing you can do about it. I'm talking about insurance companies, services companies, banks and everything in between. This system is basically designed on obtaining the most amount of money at any cost. The lack of actual culture is insane. Everybody be trashing everything. Nobody recycles, nobody cares about environment, cities are dirty. All this without even getting into guns and different stuffs that are broke.. Country is divided and everything is linked to politics. Idk kinda throwing a rant out here. Looking to move to Germany.

Debt is increasing at an insane pace, while birth rates are declining. We have an increasingly arrogant and violent police force. Housing is expensive. We have an increasing homeless population. Healthy food is expensive. The quality of our tap water is declining. I don’t know where you are moving from if the US will be any better. But the US is not the great country it used to be.

I am nearly 100% confident that USA will stay a democratic Republic.

Also for all the people in the comments yelling "Lobbyists" I have a question for you.

Can you name a single time the congress has passed a law that the voter base did not want but the corporations did?

Corporate Lobbying does not seem to outweigh voter interests in my perception but I would like to be shown otherwise if possible.

We have our problems with corporate greed and government corruption. It's trending towards a tipping point, but to actually win we need new politicians on both sides, RNC's trending towards Christian nationalism and the DNC's trending towards central distribution and surveillance if the citizenry.

My wife and I bought our first home at 29yo last year. We both have our masters and can afford to go on multiple vacations a year. We live in a central suburb to Philly, an affordable city. Between the 2 of us we earn 140k a year, our sallaries likely could double in the next 10 years if we get a good career path. Were investing a solid 12% of our income so we should be able to retire early. Even if you earn less than us or are single you could buy a condo or townhome in an affordable city with a decent trade job or something comparable. And have a pretty nice standard of living.

As long as you go to an afordable college or tradeschool, get a job that you don't hate, and develop your career, and live in a city with housing that you can afford. You should have a better standard of living than 95% of people alive.

I am pessimistic and optimistic at the same time. My pessimism is that it will always be a plutocracy. My optimism is that as our oligarchs and representatives die off and the next generation replaces them they are going to use that power for more progressive ideology.

Honestly, I’m not worried about it. In fact with all our land and natural resources (talking food and water) I think the U.S. is frankly one of the best places to live in terms of climate change, and IMO that’s a bigger deal.

Politically, you need to understand that very few Americans under the age of, say, 45 are the kinds of right-wing whack jobs who are causing problems for the rest of us. 10 years from now the electorate is going to be overwhelmingly dominated by Millennial and Gen Z voters, who are arguably more progressive/liberal-minded than any generation in history.

We will need to deal with a minority of angry, violent conservatives, and they could cause problems. Like, think of ‘The Troubles’ in Ireland: bombings, shootings. Things like that are already an issue and will likely worsen. But we can deal with that and the more that shit happens the more it will harden the rest of our resolve to build a better society.

I am worried about many things, but not our politics. Oh, and besides, these people who are trashing us - what do they suggest? Move to Europe? Aside from being massively overpopulated and lacking a good resource base on its own, it’s not like they don’t have the same problems with fascism that we do here. In fact in some regards the situation there is even worse politically. No. Stay here and help us make this country a good place to be.

When Obama got elected my dad said “that’s it we’re a communist country now. We’re all going to have to stand in line for bread.” When trump got elected my friend said “that’s it. We’re a dictatorship now. Pretty soon the government is gonna control every aspect of your life.” Both sides are paranoid and think the worst of the other party. Trump is an idiot. I don’t believe he was Hitler. Obama wanted to redistribute the wealth in this country but I don’t think he was trying to tear down the free market system. It’s all fear and half the people are only repeating things they have heard. I will say this. If we don’t change are attitude. Violence will come from are inability to work together and find common ground.

I am of the mindset that we are now and have been a fascist nation for at least the last 40 years. They are just coming out in the open about it now, but what we are seeing is the end stages of fascist creep, not the beginning. Ultimately, over the course of my lifetime, I believe the US will descend into a series of neo-feudal states headed by corporations, who will eventually supplant and dismantle the government entirely.

Capitalism destroys the world in this timeline. People learn the hard way that you can't eat a dollar. The pursuit of wealth and power completely destroys the world around us until you are simply a cog to keep the money flowing. It is already happening. Pay attention.

Well we have an authoritarian running again in the next presidential election and this time I believe he will go all in, he's old and has nothing to lose. They already have their uniforms and salutes for him. Even people making a decent living are living paycheck to paycheck, I don't know a single person who isn't now. 4 years ago it wasn't this bad, I didn't have to see so many crying faces it was mostly smiles and laughs back then. Things got dark and cold very fast, it's only a matter of time before things get deadly.

The Trump years (ugh) revealed just how deeply rotten the entire US system is. It's really easy to end up on the wrong side of the cops, really easy to get fucked for medical bills, and you are surrounded by the most ignorant religious assholes that you can imagine. If you wanna roll the dice on that, go for it, but I think it's clear that it's pretty fucked.

If the left continues down the path they are currently on it will be just like south America. Socialism with a some domestic terrorism.