I'd still put these sentimental stories aside and continue focusing on what the United States needs to improve for its own citizens. There's no productive benefit to sitting around and "being thankful" for a country with a number of systems that need reform.

Sure, the good ol' USA is a wonderful place when put up against third world countries, full-on authoritarian dictatorships, and otherwise dysfunctional states, but I'd make the argument that the USA is the absolute worst wealthy nation to live in for the working class person, especially when you consider that it's the #1 in the world for wealth and GDP and could absolutely provide citizens with world-class services.

Labor rights. There are almost none, especially in the context of a wealthy nation. No guarantee to paid sick, vacation, or parental leave. The at-will employment standard is more favorable to employers than employees, and the unemployment insurance system is purposefully difficult and restricted. Employers can just say you were fired for cause and your claim can be denied, good luck lawyering up when you're a minimum wage employee.

Speaking of that, the tipping system abuses both customers and employees, taking most risks and costs off of the employer. If it's a slow day for a restaurant, the employees are the ones who lose their pay even though they still showed up to work. The restaurant only risks a tiny sliver of hourly pay because restaurant employees are mostly paid on tips.

Healthcare. There is no guarantee to basic healthcare services, it's all based on your employer's mercy. Healthcare is a handcuff to your job even if you have the means to take time off or invest in starting your own business. ACA health plans are a band-aid and still have much higher expenses than employers who pay the bulk of the premium. The individual is incentivized to stay with large employers who can maintain large group policies rather than do more innovative work at smaller firms.

More than half of Americans have experienced medical debt and 2/3 of all bankruptcies are due to medical debt. [1] America has the most expensive healthcare as a percentage of GDP in the entire world.

Is it good healthcare? Sure, if you can get it. Then again, people in America are scared of getting preventative healthcare due to the surprise costs. [2]

Guns. Guns are now the leading cause of death for children, surpassing car accidents. No other wealthy nation has this extensive of a gun violence problem. [3]

Car-based infrastructure. North America is addicted to the automobile, and it makes daily life absolutely miserable. [4] Spending a few years living in NYC or the walkable parts of Chicago will completely ruin the rest of the country for you. People in the USA literally go on vacation to European cities and places like Walt Disney World just to experience what it's like to live in a place that isn't actively hostile to human life outside of an automobile.

There's no such thing as community and socialization in most of America, it's just individuals being individualist in their individual motor vehicle, fighting traffic and parking to get to their next big box store, then driving drunk home from the bar because of course there's no way to get home from the bar without your motor vehicle.

Education. The experience varies wildly, with the public school funding model ensuring informal segregation, enshrined via white flight suburbs that are too expensive for median income families to live in. Nationwide, a battle has been raging with politicians who want to privatize, politicize, and neuter public schools. The charter school system controversially takes public money and uses it to fund private, for-profit schools who have gone as far as defrauding the state. [5]

Then, as we all know, there is no guarantee to any sort of higher education, not even an apprenticeship or community college. Americans are in over a trillion dollars of student debt. [6] Just another way that the USA restricts socioeconomic mobility. How many Danish people do you know with student debt?

With all of that said, it shouldn't surprise us that socioeconomic mobility is worse in the USA than it is in the EU. [7] I just discussed all the causes of that reality: getting sick can bankrupt you, education isn't free or equitable, there are few meaningful labor protections, and you need a working car just to participate in society. How can someone get ahead in that environment when they're starting from nothing?

[1] https://spendmenot.com/blog/medical-bankruptcy-statistics/

[2] https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/finance/survey-medical-bill...

[3] https://www.npr.org/2022/04/22/1094364930/firearms-leading-c...

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/fuckcars/comments/qovevk/adults_bit...

[5] https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/10/06/ecot-loses-latest-...

[6] https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-statistics

[7] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/13/americ...