This of course explains their view of Europe, which is barely a little above 3rd world, and will only pull itself out of its mud hut and starving goat heritage if it does things The American Way.

When I said "if it becomes common knowledge" I meant it. Your (and everyone else's) point about the state of the information this country is getting is valid, but propaganda of any sort has limits.

While a lot of people will disagree with this, the current difference in social and living conditions between the US and Europe is very narrow. It's certainly narrow enough for that sort of propaganda to work on a certain portion of the populace, even the portion that suffers from our poor distribution of wealth in the US vs. Europe.

If we come to a place where American cities are in full decline, unemployment is rampant, jobs are unavailable, and opportunity is gone (I'm thinking 1930's depression), but the same is not true of Europe - that sort of reality can't be completely hidden. Unless the media comes under full control of the government, such an event WILL be covered, as advertisers have no values, and anything that stokes negative emotions gets people to watch TV.

Not wanting to start a pie fight here, but I don't like the hyperbole contained in your comment. Deep seated fear comes with any superiority complex. When the US was in recession in the early 90's and the auto industry was on its death bed while Japan was conquering the capitalist world, there was deep regret and fear of Japanese prowess and American inferiority. Let's add a bit of nuance.

you are the media you consume.

frankly it all makes me want to pull the covers over my head.  anyone else have those moments?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

frankly it all makes me want to pull the covers over my head.  anyone else have those moments?

You have moments when you don't want to?

Yes.

But Reality has a habit of intruding.

Truman DID get out of the Show...

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

As long as the media controls the message and most American get their news from about 12 minutes TV watching every three days; the country will remain controlled by the elite Imperialists. The weaker the US dollar; the greater ris ein the stock market and house prices.

What I do see the US doing is undermining the strength of the British Pound and Euros in order for the US dollar to 'appear' stronger.

for an example of the hermetic seamlessless of the media system I think about recent flaps over shock jocks and hate-talk radio, wingnut TV etc... there's a fuss about some on-air wannabe Goebbels who goes a bit "too far" with his racist or misogynist drivel, and he gets allegedly fired, usually just shuffled off to some subsidiary network of the same corporation;  and then the "first amendment liberals" come out of the woodwork invoking every case of State censorship ever recorded and yapping about the necessity of protecting our precious freedoms of speech from the heavy hand of the State...

like they don't understand that the same 4 companies who own all their media -- including the shock jocks and the hate-talk radio stations -- are the same companies that own the bomb factories and whose revolving doors staff the national policy agencies and whose slush funds buy politicians right, right, and centre...  like they don't understand that the shock jocks are the State, the ideological shock troops of the State... that the State is the corporate elite... the racism and gaybashing and misogynist drek on the airwaves are the unofficial component of the recruitment campaign to send them or their kids overseas to Prove Their Manhood (who wants to be a faggy peacenik) and kill brown people whom they've been trained to despise and contemn by listening to hate-talk radio...  like the Boss doesn't love getting the underemployed, insecure, angry electorate/workers to hate their neighbour or the immigrant down the street or Uppity Wimmin or Unnatural Queers or Inferior Darkskinned Subhumans and blame them for all the unemployment and crumbling infrastructure and dearth of social services and police crackdowns... rather than pointing the finger upwards, at the Old (white) Boys Club that runs the show and shovels our tax dollars into their private pockets.

the Bosses have really got it figured out -- they can pump their propaganda out on the public air waves 24x7, for profit, and get the listeners to agitate angrily and vociferously for their right to be spoonfed state/corporate PR and brain detergent.  it's beyond anything Terry Pratchett could satirise.  it's just a win-win-win situation -- for the Bosses.

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

in general the refugee problem is in the other direction

It's why the government of Ontario has phased out the original health insurance cards that were red and white, and replaced them with health cards with photos. Too many Canadians were loaning their cards to US friends and family.

_{aspiring to genteel poverty}

US workers have no guarantee of paid leave

WHEN it comes to paid leave, US workers don't seem to get a break.

While the French get 30 days of paid leave and most other Europeans receive at least 20, the country with the world's biggest economy does not guarantee workers a single day, researchers said overnight.

Most US businesses do give employees vacations, but the lack of government guarantees means one in four private-sector workers do not get paid leave, said researchers for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington think tank.

"The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation days and paid holidays," said economist John Schmitt.

"Relying on businesses to voluntarily provide paid leave just hasn't worked," he said.

"It's a national embarrassment that 28 million Americans don't get any paid vacation or paid holidays."

most expensive, least effective health care system

The United States health care system is the most expensive in the world but ranks last compared with five other developed nations on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes, according to the third edition of a Commonwealth Fund report analyzing international health policy surveys.

While the US did well on some preventive care measures, the nation ranked at the bottom on measures of safe care and coordinated care.

Another new Commonwealth Fund report comparing health spending data in industrialized nations published today reveals that despite spending more than twice as much per capita on health care as other nations ($6,102 vs. $2,571 for the median of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] countries in 2004) the US spends far less on health information technology--just 43 cents per capita, compared with about $192 per capita in the UK.

"The United States stands out as the only nation in these studies that does not ensure access to health care through universal coverage and promotion of a 'medical home' for patients," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. "Our failure to ensure health insurance for all and encourage stable, long-term ties between physicians and patients shows in our poor performance on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and health outcomes. In light of the significant resources we devote to health care in this country, we should expect the best, highest performing health system."

Best and Worst Countries for Mothers and Children -- US/UK tie for 10th place.  Numero Uno?  Sweden :-)

I could go on but really... why bother.  literacy, infant mortality, academic skills by age of student, technical innovation... not a lot of golds for the US these days.  a bronze now and then.  but hey, we incarcerate a higher percentage of our population than any other country on earth, and we consume more energy per capita, so we really are Number One in some things...  by some odd statistical coincidence, the US constitutes 5 pct of the world population and 25 percent of the imprisoned world population;  and the US consumes about 25 percent of global fossil energy resources annually.  the 5/25 symmetry is eyecatching but probably meaningless.

before the accusations of America-bashing begin, lemme just say I'm not saying it's the worst hellhole on earth to live in (though I am, personally, trying to get the hell out).  what troubles me is the disconnect between actual metrics and the persistent USian illusion that the US is the gold medal winner in every conceivable category.  proof is often offered in the form of the flood of refugees and immigrants trying to get in -- even when what they are fleeing from is US bombs or US-installed warlords/dictators, but that's a whole other rant...

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...