Older American here. It's nice to here someone interject information regarding their country. It makes the videos more enjoyable & informative to watch. Well done, thank you.
Yeah, I'm very selective about the reactors I watch. I like seeing people who are harming this stuff from a unique perspective, or who can offer an alternative point of view. That's one of the reasons I like Chris, he always has something interesting to contribute, he doesn't just go "wow, I didn't know that" and leave it at that. I can really appreciate that. I learn stuff about Germany watching his videos
I live in Florida. What makes us laugh here is when we get guests from Europe who think they can rent a car and tour America in about a week. This is impossible. The distance between Key West and Pensacola Florida (on the way to New Orleans) alone is 1340 Kilometers, or 13 hours with no breaks. America is huge and very diverse. And we love having travelers from all over the world visit, just don't come to Florida to see Disneyworld in Orlando by itself please.
The same thing happened to us here in Texas….our friends from Europe wanted to drive to the beach, and when I told them how long it would take to get there…they replied…” HOW LONG??”
@@nathanlawson313 I actually used to do that in college. Ann Arbor to Key West once. in a renatl station wagon full of 8 people. I ended up doing most of the driving!
@@nathanlawson313 Definately! I live in Palm Beach County now. Almost got my face punched in last week by a guy wearing an Ohio State shirt -- I was wearing a MCarthy vs. the Buckeyes 3-0 shirt and it upset him. :).
For many years Europeans laughed at us Americans and what they felt was our unawareness of the world, its geography, and our frequent uncultured behavior. The reality is America is roughly the size of Europe. If you look at further video's, such as "Top 25 Places To Visit In the USA", "25 Best National Parks In The USA", or "Top 25 States For Scenic Beauty" you'll see why, because America is so large and has every climate zone the world has, Americans see no reason to travel overseas. Remember, Europe does not have a tropical wet climate zone, while America does. Plus the diversity of cultures in America is incredible, every state is essentially another country, and in America you have the ability to travel anywhere by car and still spend the same money without needing a passport.
Its more correct to compare the United States of America to the European Union. Germany, Italy and Belgium, for instance, are European states. Few people today consider the actual definitions of the word, "state".
@@chandie5298 Yes, but only to a certain extent is the EU a functional equivalent. As I understand there are quite a few countries in the European Union that do not use the euro. There is also the Schengen area in Europe whose residents still need a passport. This is not applicable in America. What is surprising to people from other countries however is the accommodations made for driving ease and comfort in the US. The highways are these huge 6 and 7 lane beasts in both directions, with an overabundance of motels, dineries, shopping malls, filling stations, ATM's and stores, many of which are drive through, and all easily accessible from the highway. You can easily drive from NYC to Los Angeles, 2800 miles (4506 km) in a virtual straight line, then take a 6 hour flight to Hawaii, all without needing a passport or needing a change in currencies. But the beauty of the European experience IMO is the diversity in cultures, far different from those in the US, language, and the sheer depth of western religions, art, architecture and histories. Although there are some similarities, these are quite different from those in America and in some cases, unmatched.
@@helgar791 I did not mean to suggest that they are "the same". So you can throw away that entire portion of your response... I was not saying that and I won't argue something that I never said or intended. You are providing exactly zero new information. I do realize that many people in Europe think that people in the US have exactly zero knowledge about European countries but that is not the case here. I was trying to point to the definition of the word "state" and the fact that many people incorrect think that "state" is a sub-section of a country. People think of the US as a country but it is a federation of 50 states. Prior to adopting the US Constitution, the states in North American known now as the U.S. were as independent from each other as the individual countries of Europe. Think of them as the "states" of North America as you would think of "states" of Europe such as Germany or France. I think perhaps you do not realize that each state in the US has its own culture, its own dialects, accents, its own traditional foods etc etc etc etc. Those things do follow sub-cultures and do not exactly obey state borders however the same is true in Europe. I have friends in France who live along the border with Germany and they are all but indistinguishable from the Germans living on the other side of the border. State borders do not describe culture or even genetics of the people.
@@chandie5298 I apologize if I offended you in any way. It was not my intention. It was not my intention to infer even in the slightest way that you believe that all Americans are ignorant of all things outside of our borders, that you are ignorant of American culture, or to sound condescending. Nothing could be further from the truth. I thought I was expanding on your statement that it was more correct to compare the US to the EU. I never intended to infer, nor did I state these are the same. If I failed in that regard please consider that a failure on my part. I also thought I was conveying some of the similarities and differences between the states of America. I am well aware that each can in many ways be conceived of as a different country as relates to dialect, culture, and perspectives, as so in Europe. I'm also fairly well informed on the workings of the democratic republic and the free market economy I live under. But the fact is here in America people are more aware of and make a larger distinction between regional differences rather than state differences. Make no mistake however. People will tell you that New York (city and state) culture is different from Jersey culture, and Arizona culture is different from Nevada culture. Although the differences in cultures in Europe I believe are far broader and richer than those here in America.
@@helgar791 You are an extremely polite and gracious person. That is rare and deserving of admiration. It is difficult sometimes in YT comments to understand the intention of text communication without the benefit of voice inflection or facial expression. I believe I misinterpreted your response. Please accept my apologies. Thank you for your kindness.
One time I drove from Michigan to Washington State (on the West Coast), I stayed there a week and then drove back and put over 6,000 miles on the rental car (I think it was something like 6,640 miles). I made sure to get a rental car that had unlimited mileage, lol. Someone once said “The difference between Americans and Europeans is this: Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance”. Texas is so big you can drive for 24 hours and still be in Texas.
Yeah, I can drive 5 hours in any direction and still be in my state. The American midwest is a whole other kind of huge and vast and open. People simply do not grasp the sheer scale of this country. And the insane diversity in climate.
@kylejones7252 that's a brain bending one to think about. Lol. Crazy. I can see it though, Tennessee is super wide. Would love to visit some day. Beautiful state.
@@Chrisb.reacts Well that number was actually $874 billion, but that it isn't the total national security budget... that's just the topline Department of Defense budget. The total national security budget was around $1.3 trillion in 2023. There was $919.765 billion officially listed under the function of "National Defense" in the budget. There was $303.869 billion listed under the function of "Veterans Benefits & Services." Then under the function "International Affairs" sub-functions "International Security Assistance," "Conduct of Foreign Affairs," & "Foreign Information & Exchange Activities" would be national security stuff & totals $46.039 billion. Then there is at least $100 to $200 billion tucked away in other areas of the budget, like the CIA, NSA, etc... the Coast Guard is tucked away under the Department of Homeland Security. There's tons of spending under the "General Science, Space, & Technology" function that would be at best considered dual-use research [i.e. military & non-military uses,] & then tons of little budgets here & there that are actually national security spending but in all sorts of weird places.
I live in Kentucky on the Indiana border, not far from an area we call "germantown" which is an area heavily populated by German immigrants. They have a festival called Freudenfest every year. The food and beer are amazing. And I must compliment you, your English is very good. You speak it quite well.
I lived in Florence, KY for many years. Did you go to the casino on the Ohio River in IN? It had just opened when I lived there and was the biggest weekend spot for quite a few years.
@@roblewis7186Casino Aztar is in my city, Evansville, Indiana. I figured you were close when you said you were on the border of Indiana and Kentucky. 😊 And, yeah, this area is known for its German heritage, too. Not far away is Jaspar, Indiana, which has a fairly sizable German-American population.
Let's look at one midsize state, where I live... Michigan itself is larger than the entire UK, and it's a 12 hour drive from top to bottom. The impressive Great Lakes surrounding us are really "Inland Oceans", are hundreds of miles across, and have direct access to the oceans. So shipping has turned cities like Cleveland, Detroit(my home), Chicago, Milwaukee and others, into ocean ports. -Lake Erie is bigger than Wales -Lake Superior is bigger than Scotland -Lake Huron+Michigan are bigger than Ireland+N.Ireland
True and America's system of interconnected rivers, coupled with the Intracoastal Waterways gives us more navigatable waterways than the rest of the planet combined.
I had a cousin who married an English guy. While living here before google Maps, he made plans to go to a concert two states over. He looked at a map and had the proportions of England in mind. He thought it was a two hour drive. The look on his face when i explained it was more like 8 or 9 hours was priceless.
PPP - Purchasing Power Parity - measure of how many units of currency are needed in one country to buy the amount of goods and services that one unit of currency will buy in another country.
It also really isn't a great metric for comparing countries via GDP. A much better metric is GDP per capita. This defines how well wealth is spread in an economy. Adjust that with PPP and you have a much better idea of the average citizen's ability to access resources.
Fun fact: Although the "City of Los Angeles" has around 4 million people, the greater Los Angeles basin (ie. giant megalopolis) has around 18 million people.
I recommend anything with state/national park or American Football. If you want to learn a bit of the history, The Fat Electrician sums things up pretty well.
I love The Fat Electrician too so I vote for you to react to his videos too. He likes it when people do reactions to his content and is even known to comment on the reaction videos sometimes. If they would have him do all the history ciriculum for the schools then a lot more people would be more educated in history.
I’m from Ohio and have been all over Europe. The U.S. population density is way less than Europe so there is more vast amounts of land with no population.
There are even vast amounts of land with "no owner"... technically, everyone owns it. Public lands, federally administrated.... 2.6 million square kilometers, or a little shy of 19 times Germany. The National Park System alone is two Germanies (340,000 sq km)
We have great health care but you can’t afford it if you don’t have health insurance. Most people do have have good health insurance but many people don’t
3 yrs ago I had kidney failure and had a spinal compression at the same time during Covid. I needed the surgery to remove two damaged vertebrae in my neck. When I was checked by an emergency room doctor, I was told my kidneys had failed and was going straight up to the Inrensive Care Unit, almost the highest level of care in America. 19 days for kidneys to start working and the surgery 2 days later with 2 days recovery 23 days total in hospital. The bill was $438,000. I had just gotten a decent insurance policy the month before and I made 118$ payment the insurance covered all of it. Never saw a bill
Yes, Europeans don't have a clue about the fantastic USA medical system. They think that their rotten socialized medicine systems are better. They also don't know about all the programs that the federal government supplies for low income and unemployed families. The difference is that we pay for health insurance here, whereas in Europea, you don't know how much you are paying because it comes out of your sky-high taxes.
I am both proud to be an American and very careful about how I put that out into the world. We get some things very right and others very very wrong. My ties are strong - as are yours to Germany. Let us all remain open and grateful and kind. I love your work! And your joy!
Hey Chris, cool video reaction. Actually, my name is Chris as well. Plus, my paternal grandfather fled Germany during the rise of Hitler. But, interestingly, I got deployed to Germany for all of 2006 in the Army. I was stationed at Ramstein Air Force base. I loved traveling and checking out your lovely Castles there. You owe it to yourself to come visit America. Especially Florida and my home state of Texas! Tschuss my friend!!!
We are a driving culture. Our mass transit systems are terrible. My wife and I did our first big driving vacation last year. 6000 miles (9500 kilometers) in 21 days. Hershey, Pennsylvania to Austin, Texas to visit our son. The mid west is FLAT! Texas to the Grand Canyon, dessert southwest is beautiful. Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. Vegas, not my cup of tea (promised my wife). Vegas to Zion National Park...One of the most beautiful places we've ever seen. Zion to Goose Necks State Park and the Valley of the Gods. Valley of the Gods is a 17 mile dirt road through some of the most majestic scenery ever! Valley of the Gods to Moab, Utah. Arches National Park. One of the most beautiful sunrises ever. 27 hours home to Hershey, Pennsylvania. This fall... Yellowstone...Grand Teton...Bryce Canyon...North Rim Grand Canyon...Moki Dugway and Muley Trail....Texas for family...Canon ball run back to Hershey. All of these parks have wonderful videos on RUclips. Have a look...They are incredible!
We don’t have a mass transit system because it failed. Originally we had multiple privately owned train systems, some for passengers, others for industrial transportation. Airplanes killed the passenger part of the train industry which allowed the tracks to be bought out by industrial train companies. There has been no effort to ever remake a mass passenger train system in the U.S. ever since.
@@darth3911 there is actually a plan in the Midwest currently to connect a bunch of Midwest states together with a high speed rail system centralized in Chicago
@Donosauros_Rex We have tried passenger rail for years, and it has never been profitable. We call it Amtrak. It used to have far more stops, but it is almost worse than taking the bus for getting where one wants to go, and it is brought to you via the taxpayers citizens of the United States. We really need to drop Amtrak and cut it from the Federal budget. The savings would not be much, but it would be a place to start.
Chris, Texas has a LOT of German history. Many places have German family names. I grew up in an area outside of Houston, TX that was settled by German immigrants who came through Galveston, Texas. The town i grew up in was Cypress, Texas. Many of the roads there are names of German immigrants who had farms and ranches there. Fenskie, Treichel, Klein, Huffmeister, Mueschke, Hilibrandt, Rudel and Telge ... just to name a few.
Foreigners sometimes talk about the vast geographical differences within the USA. We literally have every type of climate and living conditions that there are. What's even more impressive is that you can find ALL of that within California alone! That ONE state is home to the hottest place on earth (Death Valley) but also has areas that have been recorded at around -33 degrees F. (Bodie, CA) It has sunny warm beaches in the south and cold, rocky beaches in the north. It has desert but also beautiful mountains and every climate in between. Incredible, really.
Yes indeed, California is a map of the US of A. Some Californian's say why travel to see the other 49 states when we have it all here? I've traveled to all 50 states and California is my favorite and I've been there 23 times 1970 - 2014 from Illinois where I live.
@@keithforeman2180 lol, that's awesome! I have lived there briefly (San Francisco and Sonora) but mainly lived in the Pacific NW. Still, it amazes me that California has it all! Pretty cool! Enjoyed your reply. 🥰
Another fun fact: the world's tallest tree, oldest tree, and largest tree are all found in California, even though they are 3 different trees from 3 different species.
Chris, let me tell you about my experience with health care. First of all, I'm a 63 year old woman who is a double amputee, and therefore on Disability. I had my foot amputated 2 years ago, then spent about a month learning how to do basic tasks for everyday life like cooking, cleaning and so forth in a skilled nursing facility. When I got home, I had a visiting nurse who checked me out, changed bandages, and checked to make sure I was healing as expected. All this, plus supplies to clean/change bandages everyday. All this came to roughly $700,000. My other amputation was roughly $300,000. Now I have protheses for both feet, and the cost for the total foot prosthesis is about $25,000 for the cheaper one made from acrylic, but the permanent carbon fiber one cost about $30,000. Now this is an extreme example, but really everyday costs can be expensive. Most insurance plans cover visits to your regular doctor with no out of pocket cost, but some have to pay $25-50. Urgent care plans will make you pay $50-100 every time you go, specialist appointments will run you about $75-100, and emergency room visits will cost at least $100. Prescription drugs aren't too bad with most drugs free, but if the insurance company doesn't cover the drug because it's new or for really sick patients, the the patient has to pay the whole cost which could be hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Insurance usually covers 80% of costs, though purchasing this is about $800/mo. out-of-pocket for "decent" insurance as a base-cost. While employed, you can often pay for a lesser insurance rate at about $600/mo. as a deal through your employer. Once you're 65, Medicare kicks-in, which is a small-cost government-based system. Paying for medical insurance is mandatory for all citizens else you'll pay a fine during taxes (April) which is what Obamacare ultimately amounted to: fines.
@@mikecronis I mean it also reigned in the cost of healthcare, expanded Medicaid massively (though the Supreme Court made it optional for states to join) and it overhauled the regulatory system for insurance companies. it certainly wasn't great, but way better than the way things were going. I very much wish we would just do away with the private system for paying for healthcare entirely. Just expand Medicare to cover everyone, and the costs would come down exponentially. The private companies would not be able to overcharge the government if the government is the only "consumer" in the marketplace, it would have all the negotiating power.
Yes, driving around GB years ago, I went from London to Inverness, Scotland and refk3cted that the distance was pretty much the same as that from San Diego, California to San Francisco, CA.
Most Americans support our military and its veterans. When it comes to our government, we support money to our troops and veterans. What pisses us off is spending so much money internationally to be the body guard of the world.
Let’s be honest. A large share of our action in other countries is to protect U.S. economic interests and investments. Yes, we do support democracies around the world and are part of U.N. Peacekeeping, but we’ve also spent a lot of blood for oil (and other goods) in the past. Sadly.
Years ago, I read about a European couple who had made reservations for a hotel room in Denver, Colorado, before leaving Chicago, Illinois. They had looked at a paper road map and thought they could drive from Chicago to Denver in a day. At the end of the 1st day, they had to call the Denver hotel and cancel the reservation as they had only traveled about a third of the distance; it took them 3 days to complete the trip. They commented that the U.S. was a lot larger than they had imagined. [FYI, the distance from Chicago to Denver is about 1000 miles (1609 km.]
Just so you know, driving from San Antonio, Texas, which is about the center of Texas takes about 9 hours to get to the north, east, and west borders of Texas
610 billion USD is old news TBH. In 2024, the US Dept of Defense has been allocated an operating budget of 2.10 Trillion USD. Of this, the US Military has 825 billion USD for 2024.
To add on to your comment about how many Americans serve in the Military, remember that our armed services are normally an all-volunteer force. No one is forced into conscription unless there is a draft during a time of war and need. So that large number of people are all volunteers, which I've found present in the American spirit since the founding fathers. It's one of the things that unites all of us from all different backgrounds under the stars and stripes. If you know an American there's a good chance that if they didn't serve, then someone in their family or friends group has served or is serving in the Military. It's a cool little fact that often goes unnoticed. Great channel! I've been binging your vids :)
Hello, Iowa resident here. I grew up and still am middle class (sometimes a little less) and I almost never ever go to the hospital unless absolutely positively necessary purely because I can't afford to.
I love the size comparisons. I live in Tennessee and will drive about 600 miles north into Illinois to visit family or farther for a vacation in the US. I hardly ever thought about a trip outside the US when I was young because it was cheaper to drive a couple hours to a place that can feel completely different within our own country. Mountains, plains, desert, swamps, woodlands or big cities. Different regions feel very different and no need to fly most of time. Love a roadtrip!
Interesting, I will definitley go further into it once we are bigger, because that would probably be an awesome video for a bigger audience 😊 If you want to see more about Germany history (where the US was heavily involved as well, I also have a polish channel, where I cover a lot of history 😊)
We don't usually complain about military spending. We will if we are getting ripped off for our money but we like to know our culture and country are well protected. We tend to bicker among ourselves but we will all come together if someone threatens our country. We are patriotic and proud of our flag.
We are getting ripped off for our money in our military and we know this. We know that cruise missile doesn't cost 5 million to build. We are well aware. However we dont care because we are talking about the safety of our nation and we hope the fact that we overpay will keep the likes of Lockheed Martin from selling our shit to china. Yes i know spies exist unfortunately. The U.S. needs the largest military in the world to keep another hitler from rising to power and well..... trying to conquer the world. At this moment if we cant stop the American democrat XiXi ping will become the next Hitler
Some Europeans that come visit, (actually quite a few) can't comprehend the amount of American flags that they see here? They simply don't understand it. They have absolutely no comprehension of how patriotic and proud we are. To best sum our attitude up? We say what we mean, and mean what we say. We are friendly until you cross us. Then, all bet's are off.
@@broncobra It's a shame that your flag-worshiping attitude has started to infest Canada. There's a difference between being patriotic in a dignified way and bragging and boasting and shoving it in everyone's face every single day.
And Trump wanted to do his job as our President when he suggested the rest of NATO pay their fair share but his enemies somehow opposed that. Let that stupid fact sink in. They truly hate this country.
I recently drove with my sister from North Carolina to Kansas. This isn't even halfway across the continental United States. To put this into perspective, that distance is roughly equivalent to driving from London to Kyiv.
Okay, here is why you were surprised about our health care. Most jobs will pay for some kind of basic health insurance - sometimes you have to pay part of the premiums, too. If you can’t afford or are not offered health insurance by your employer ( and they always put you on the cheapest/worst plans ) you can get on MA - medical assistance, for unemployed ,which covers, basically, bare bones benefits - does not even cover regular dr visits OR you can apply for’Obama Care’ which is for working folks who can’t afford health insurance, but make too much money to get MA. In Europe ( I only know @ England ) your health insurance is part of your taxes and everybody can go to the doctor or hospital and not have to pay anything . . . Although I believe if you want to go to a specialist, not just the one in the health system, you can pay ‘out of pocket’. And we have deductible ( chunk of $ paid before the insurance will kick in ). And the insurance companies will try everything they can to not pay the bill - procedures not covered by your insurance plan, etc ( you have a cheap plan so less coverage ). It’s a nightmare. Hubby & I are retired - I never had health insurance at my job ( dentist office - small business - not enough employees to make it mandatory ) but was covered by hubby’s - now, in retirement, his is still covered by the county government but we pay @ $650 a month for my insurance - good thing, too - had breast cancer at 74, am fine! But the bills from the hospital/doctors - which are still sent to you for your records/tax returns, showed nearly 1/2 million in bills: 6 drs/surgery/hospital cost ( and it was in & out in 12 hours, not over night ) radiation treatments & and medical supplies. So, THAT’S why it’s cause for people. Going bankrupt & why there are places like St Jude’s Hospital for Children ( cancer ) who don’t charge anything to the families - all from donations. Same with Shriners hospitals.
Ya, my mom is in the same boat. Dad was 20 years, 10 army, 10 navy. Now 65 now and her medicade is fighting with Tri-Care over who paid what when. As for MA, I haven't had to much trouble with it, I can see a doctor as needed for regular visits. Real issue is seeing a dentist.
Hello from the state of Oregon! Our single average sized state is about 98K square miles, while Germany is 138K square miles. I enjoyed the time I spent in Solingen.
I volunteer on a frequent flyer and travel website....and I'm always dealing with the fact that European visitors simply have no idea of the size of the United States. I like to make the comparison for Europeans that most nations in Europe can be easily crossed in a day or two by car... While crossing the Continental United States from New York to San Francisco (4667 km) is just a bit more than driving from Lisbon, Portugal to Moscow, Russia (4577 km), a journey that crosses EIGHT countries.
Germany is about the size of Montana. I live in the South Bay of Los Angeles. It takes 5.5 hours to fly from here to New York. The Greater Los Angeles Area has 18.5 million people and you can drive 70 miles and still be in LA. Our state is the 5th largest economy in the world.
@@drowsyone4143all this is baseline funding and not additional funding (foreign military aid) (supplemental funding) for replacement of equipment and weapons being shipped to USA ally’s around the world like Ukraine and Israel.
Healthcare here in the US can be very very expensive, especially if you have a health emergency requiring hospitalization or a chronic illness requiring specialty medication. Insurance can help a bit, but it can still be very expensive. I’ve had three knee surgeries and each cost about $15-20k. Even with insurance a hospital stay of a few days can cost thousands. And the system can be complicated and pretty difficult to navigate for patients, even patients who have some experience.
(I didn't drive at all, I planned the move around some work trips, so my company flew me... my wife and daughter on the other hand took a few days to drive lol)
Manpower is nothing without technology, equipment, and the logistics to support it. America has that capability to supply and support a large number of forces
The U.S. contains the "Lower 48," Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands. But, it controls vast areas of the Pacific Ocean, which no other country does. The U.S. stretches almost half the planet. Also, the United States and Canada are a single entity for the purposes of the defense of North American, thereby doubling the size of both countries.
I’m from the USA. I recommend you watch content about our national parks, our different accents, food( not just fast food ) etc. For military history, I recommend The Fat Electrician channel. He is very informative and hilarious when discussing historical events. One of my favorites is about how the United States Navy was founded by George Washington in order to hunt down Pirates 🏴☠️
My husband was in the US Army and we we stationed in Berlin when the wall was still up. The german police were not to be messed with. We enjoyed the 5 years we lived there.
The unintentional best advice I gave a German engineer at an old job was, "America is one country yes, but think more like Europe and each state is a country." he finally understand he couldn't just drive from L.A. to Chicago for work. 😂😂😂
Part of why European countries can afford more redistrubitive social programs is their ability to spend less on their military because they can count on the US for defense. Our military doctrine requires us to be able to fight a two theater war anywhere in the world.
That's a pretty simplistic reductive analysis of why we can't afford social programs; conservatives have spent the last 44 years telling us to just cut taxes on billionaires and multi billion dollar corporations, and it would all "trickle down" to the test of us. At this point, I think we should roll back every tax cut for the wealthy from the last 40 years, and tell them they can have them back only when they show how they re gonna raise wages for rank and file employees 10 to 15 percent. If you want your "trickle down" tax cut, EARN IT.
I broke my wrist at work Jan 2023. The bill was paid by workman's comp. The bill was over $50,000. Two ambulance trips, two ER trips, surgery, therapy, meds, and doctor visits. Yeah, it's expensive to get hurt or sick in the US, even with good insurance. My normal meds alone without insurance would be over $1,200 a month (I haven't looked it up lately). I just pay copays on a Medicare advantage plan.
America cannot afford to reduce military spending. Because many European nations are not paying their fair share. European nations were outraged when President Trump discussed withdrawing from NATO.
Happy to see you starting a channel and am looking forward to more of your reactions about the US. I would recommend “Climate in the U.S. - Why's It Like That?” by Geography King,“25 Best National Parks in the USA“ by and “The Story of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” by LionHeart Film Works. All great videos to react to.
Wow thanks :) I love this supportive culture in the US comment section 😊, I also have a Polish channel and as a German (bc of WW2) you get much rougher comments 😅
The thing with medical debt is if something major happens to you, yeah it get's expensive, especially without any insurance, BUT! Hospitals frequently have social workers onsite to help you get signed up with a plan if you need it and/or qualify, and they cannot stop treatment even if you have no way to pay. The services are always billed later. Payment plans can be set up, and even if a lot of it goes to collections, there are statutes of limitations (it can only be collectible for a certain amount of time) and there are forgiveness programs. Plus, seven years afterwards, the debt doesn't show up on your credit report anymore. Obviously, having an insurance plan of any kind helps with the costs that you would be responsible for. Insurance plans are usually cheapest in premiums when enrolled through your employer. If your household income is below a certain threshold you can qualify for Medicaid. Honestly, if we ever adopted a system similar to Canada or other EU countries it would be a disaster. The US is too big and too heavily populated for that single system to be effective, and we already have federally funded insurance in place for qualifying individuals, federal employees, and military personnel.
@@Chrisb.reacts Any chance you'd be interested in American football vid reaction? I'm in Michigan and the NFL Draft is in Detroit. Starts Thursday. lol Go Lions 🦁
6:25 The reason the US spends so much on their military and has so many military bases around the world goes back to the end of WWII. In a nutshell, the US made a deal with the world to protect the world's waterways to ensure countries could trade with one another as an alternative to war. This peace plan of globalization basically worked for the past 80 years and is only breaking down now. 7:00 Regarding healthcare, yes, it really is that bad. Yes, can go bankrupt from medical expenses. It is a blight on us and a stain on our reputation. Slowly, we are trying to improve it.
america has two armies the actual enlisted personnel.. and the fact that many americans own guns thats guaranteed under the US constitutions right to bear arms. in essence: yeah that 1.2 enlisted.. IF America was ever invaded.. could go upto the 328 million plus!! neighrbors could essentially in a matter of hours and and days mobilize local communities to be armed and trained in firearms. That's why when a russian general asked japanese admiral yamamoto if they would be invading the US, he stated: "Yamamoto said, while declining the offer to invade America, that there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass. A Russian General Officer who was being asked about the possibility of invading the US, said no because there would be a scoped rifle behind every tree" It's also the USA is possibly impossible to invade given the logistics a nation has to overcome in building a blue water invasion force and that said force surviving US Military defenses.
You are forgetting the part time service members like National guard and reserves.. The US Federal government has 2 army's. A full time one and the Reserve/part time one.. Then each state has it's own Army that can be call into action in times of disasters or riots... ....... Then yes there is also the armed public..
I live in the southern part of Michigan and it would take me about 10 hours without stopping to drive to Copper Harbor, the northern most city in Michigan. In reality it would probably be closer to 11 or 12 hours when taking into account stops for food, fuel, bathroom breaks, and just to get out to stretch your legs. Michigan is known as the Great Lakes State because we are bordered by 4 out of 5 of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are not small lakes either. The most narrow point is the Straights of Mackinac and that is 4 miles across. The average person can only see about 3 miles at ground level due to the horizon. The Great Lakes are inland fresh water seas. Also with 130 active lighthouses Michigan has the most in the country and in the past we had 250 active lighthouses.
Because World War 2 ended with the US as a superpower, I think that's why most people in the US didn't mind spending that much on the military to oppose the Soviet Union. Then when the Soviet Union collapsed and left the US as the only superpower, people in the US didn't want to lose that advantage. Now with China becoming more powerful, it's even more difficult to find people in favor of cutting military spending. Then Russia invades Ukraine...there always seems to be something happening in the world that makes having a very powerful military seem more valuable.
The last time I was abroad I explained to my hosts how long it takes to drive the length of New York State from Buffalo to NYC; they had a similar reaction.
I live in Arizona, which is a little smaller than Germany. 7 million people live in Arizona compared to 80 million in Germany. The county I live in is bigger than Switzerland and there are less than 200,000 people living here.
Add Guam and American Samoa. And the US used to host a German Luftwaffe Kasern in New Mexico. The only foreign military base ever on US soil. There are several foreign armies that have barracks and motor pools, but Germany had a fighter group which trained with live bombs and missiles.
Older American here, again. Like your videos. Keep telling us about Germany & Europe, it adds perspective. You might be interested in our diverse population densities. We aren't just one large country with a semi-evenly dispersed population. I live in New Mexico, a state located in the southwest, next to Texas. New Mexico is the 5th largest state by land mass, 315,000 sq. km, [315,000 sq. miles], but it only has an average population of 6.72 people per sq. km, [17 people per sq. mile]. Even that number is misleading as New Mexico only has 3 major cities. In comparison Germany has a population density of roughly 239 people per sq. km & a land mass of 357,000 sq. km. The UK has a population density of 280 people per sq. km & a land mass of 244,00+ sq. km. Yes, the US is pretty big.
I just took a trip from Missouri to my home in South Carolina. I had to go through part of Illinois after driving 3 hours from where I was in Missouri and through a small part of Indiana and most of Kentucky and a small part of Tennessee then a small part of Virginia and some of western north Carolina then all the way to central South Carolina where I live. It took close to 18 hours of driving! And that's only a tiny portion of our country!❤❤
PPP Purchasing Power Parity - used to compare economic pruductivity and standards of living between countries. US military spending in 2023 $820 billion. Projected for 2024 $842 billion.
Regarding PPP, The Economist magazine uses what it calls "the Big Mac" index to compare prices in different countries. When adjusted for currencies, they can approximate the PPP for each country.
My favorite trivia. The State of Montana is larger than Germany but has a population of just over a million people compared to Germany's population of over 84 million.
What I find most bizarre about Europe is that every country speaks a different language. It would be like driving a few miles from Minnesota to Wisconsin and having everyone speak another language.
Regarding health care, if you have insurance, prices can be quite affordable, especially if you have out-of-pocket maximums for each year. For example, I had major surgery a couple years ago. Just one invoice was over $12k. But as soon as I pay $3k, I do not pay any more. The rest must be covered by insurance. Just today, I got a new medication. I paid $0.45 for a 30 day supply. So, healthcare in the US is a WIDE range of situations for a variety of people.
The speaker said what PPP means - purchasing power parity - the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries.
The vast size of the USA isn't easy to grasp even for people who live here (eg. Texas= only ~ 7% of total USA area). It gets a lot easier once you've driven from coast to coast (4 days) or north to south (2 days) a few times.
As an American citizen, I 100% question the military spending budget when we still have issues with our infrastructure in places. I’d rather the government spend more money getting our roads fixed and putting effort toward a higher standard of living.
GDP (PPP) stands for gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity. It's a metric that compares the value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year, adjusted for purchasing power parity exchange rates.
They are, I have to say I have a weird admiration for microstates like San Marino or Liechtenstein. How can you fit all that in such a small space, its just cute 😂. And thanks for the nice words :)
5:30 That's an old number. This year it was 900 billion Also, that statistic about us spending more than the next 9 or 10 combined comes up a lot, but the part that always gets left out is that we can afford it. We spend a smaller percentage of our GDP on our military than anyone else. So even though we spend many times everyone else's budgets, we take less money out of our economy, proportionally, to do it than anyone else.
We spend money on high tech equipment, fast planes, huge navy fleet. We dont have just boots on the ground with our money spent. We have the most up to date military equipment. I dont think most of us mind it to feel protected and to help our allies when we need to.
NJ is 19 times smaller than Germany, but has 1/9th as many people... ya'll can do the density math. We also still have beautiful farmland and suburban garden towns, ranches, mountains and all sorts of climates. Germany does too, I think that's why all the Dutch and Germans who settled here in the US got along with everyone as well as could be expected for the time.
As far as health care, it is expensive, BUT, if I needed a procedure or something like an MRI I could get one in about 72 hrs. In Canada they could wait as long as 6 months to get an MRI, and no amount of spending can get them in earlier.
Older American here. It's nice to here someone interject information regarding their country. It makes the videos more enjoyable & informative to watch. Well done, thank you.
Thanks for the great words. I am always really unsure about putting information about other coutries in, so this makes me very happy to hear 😊
@@Chrisb.reactsI completely agree, I love to hear about your country. ❤ from NH USA!
@@Chrisb.reacts I like learning new things and it's your show, do what you want.
Yeah, I'm very selective about the reactors I watch. I like seeing people who are harming this stuff from a unique perspective, or who can offer an alternative point of view. That's one of the reasons I like Chris, he always has something interesting to contribute, he doesn't just go "wow, I didn't know that" and leave it at that. I can really appreciate that. I learn stuff about Germany watching his videos
@@Chrisb.reacts Always interesting to hear about other places and outside perspectives.
I live in Florida. What makes us laugh here is when we get guests from Europe who think they can rent a car and tour America in about a week. This is impossible. The distance between Key West and Pensacola Florida (on the way to New Orleans) alone is 1340 Kilometers, or 13 hours with no breaks. America is huge and very diverse. And we love having travelers from all over the world visit, just don't come to Florida to see Disneyworld in Orlando by itself please.
The same thing happened to us here in Texas….our friends from Europe wanted to drive to the beach, and when I told them how long it would take to get there…they replied…” HOW LONG??”
Me and the boys have driven from Detroit to Miami several times. Straight thru is a 24 hour drive
@@nathanlawson313 I actually used to do that in college. Ann Arbor to Key West once. in a renatl station wagon full of 8 people. I ended up doing most of the driving!
@@eddihaskell 〽️goblue🏆✊
@@nathanlawson313 Definately! I live in Palm Beach County now. Almost got my face punched in last week by a guy wearing an Ohio State shirt -- I was wearing a MCarthy vs. the Buckeyes 3-0 shirt and it upset him. :).
For many years Europeans laughed at us Americans and what they felt was our unawareness of the world, its geography, and our frequent uncultured behavior. The reality is America is roughly the size of Europe. If you look at further video's, such as "Top 25 Places To Visit In the USA", "25 Best National Parks In The USA", or "Top 25 States For Scenic Beauty" you'll see why, because America is so large and has every climate zone the world has, Americans see no reason to travel overseas. Remember, Europe does not have a tropical wet climate zone, while America does. Plus the diversity of cultures in America is incredible, every state is essentially another country, and in America you have the ability to travel anywhere by car and still spend the same money without needing a passport.
Its more correct to compare the United States of America to the European Union.
Germany, Italy and Belgium, for instance, are European states.
Few people today consider the actual definitions of the word, "state".
@@chandie5298 Yes, but only to a certain extent is the EU a functional equivalent. As I understand there are quite a few countries in the European Union that do not use the euro. There is also the Schengen area in Europe whose residents still need a passport. This is not applicable in America. What is surprising to people from other countries however is the accommodations made for driving ease and comfort in the US. The highways are these huge 6 and 7 lane beasts in both directions, with an overabundance of motels, dineries, shopping malls, filling stations, ATM's and stores, many of which are drive through, and all easily accessible from the highway. You can easily drive from NYC to Los Angeles, 2800 miles (4506 km) in a virtual straight line, then take a 6 hour flight to Hawaii, all without needing a passport or needing a change in currencies. But the beauty of the European experience IMO is the diversity in cultures, far different from those in the US, language, and the sheer depth of western religions, art, architecture and histories. Although there are some similarities, these are quite different from those in America and in some cases, unmatched.
@@helgar791 I did not mean to suggest that they are "the same". So you can throw away that entire portion of your response... I was not saying that and I won't argue something that I never said or intended.
You are providing exactly zero new information. I do realize that many people in Europe think that people in the US have exactly zero knowledge about European countries but that is not the case here.
I was trying to point to the definition of the word "state" and the fact that many people incorrect think that "state" is a sub-section of a country.
People think of the US as a country but it is a federation of 50 states.
Prior to adopting the US Constitution, the states in North American known now as the U.S. were as independent from each other as the individual countries of Europe.
Think of them as the "states" of North America as you would think of "states" of Europe such as Germany or France.
I think perhaps you do not realize that each state in the US has its own culture, its own dialects, accents, its own traditional foods etc etc etc etc.
Those things do follow sub-cultures and do not exactly obey state borders however the same is true in Europe.
I have friends in France who live along the border with Germany and they are all but indistinguishable from the Germans living on the other side of the border. State borders do not describe culture or even genetics of the people.
@@chandie5298 I apologize if I offended you in any way. It was not my intention. It was not my intention to infer even in the slightest way that you believe that all Americans are ignorant of all things outside of our borders, that you are ignorant of American culture, or to sound condescending. Nothing could be further from the truth. I thought I was expanding on your statement that it was more correct to compare the US to the EU. I never intended to infer, nor did I state these are the same. If I failed in that regard please consider that a failure on my part. I also thought I was conveying some of the similarities and differences between the states of America. I am well aware that each can in many ways be conceived of as a different country as relates to dialect, culture, and perspectives, as so in Europe. I'm also fairly well informed on the workings of the democratic republic and the free market economy I live under. But the fact is here in America people are more aware of and make a larger distinction between regional differences rather than state differences. Make no mistake however. People will tell you that New York (city and state) culture is different from Jersey culture, and Arizona culture is different from Nevada culture. Although the differences in cultures in Europe I believe are far broader and richer than those here in America.
@@helgar791 You are an extremely polite and gracious person. That is rare and deserving of admiration.
It is difficult sometimes in YT comments to understand the intention of text communication without the benefit of voice inflection or facial expression.
I believe I misinterpreted your response. Please accept my apologies. Thank you for your kindness.
One time I drove from Michigan to Washington State (on the West Coast), I stayed there a week and then drove back and put over 6,000 miles on the rental car (I think it was something like 6,640 miles). I made sure to get a rental car that had unlimited mileage, lol. Someone once said “The difference between Americans and Europeans is this: Americans think 100 years is a long time and Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance”. Texas is so big you can drive for 24 hours and still be in Texas.
We had a saying inTexas growing up about trips out of state. The sun has riz the sun has set and here we is in Texas yet
Yeah, I can drive 5 hours in any direction and still be in my state. The American midwest is a whole other kind of huge and vast and open. People simply do not grasp the sheer scale of this country. And the insane diversity in climate.
Of course, you can drive all day across Delaware too - if you go slow enough.
@@mycroft16 I live in East Tennessee and it is faster to get to Canada than Memphis!
@kylejones7252 that's a brain bending one to think about. Lol. Crazy. I can see it though, Tennessee is super wide. Would love to visit some day. Beautiful state.
Those are old numbers. The U.S. defense budget for 2023 was $860 billion.
🤯
Inflation.😂😂😂
As the Fat Electrician says. “Unhealth Care”
@@Chrisb.reacts Well that number was actually $874 billion, but that it isn't the total national security budget... that's just the topline Department of Defense budget. The total national security budget was around $1.3 trillion in 2023.
There was $919.765 billion officially listed under the function of "National Defense" in the budget.
There was $303.869 billion listed under the function of "Veterans Benefits & Services."
Then under the function "International Affairs" sub-functions "International Security Assistance," "Conduct of Foreign Affairs," & "Foreign Information & Exchange Activities" would be national security stuff & totals $46.039 billion.
Then there is at least $100 to $200 billion tucked away in other areas of the budget, like the CIA, NSA, etc... the Coast Guard is tucked away under the Department of Homeland Security. There's tons of spending under the "General Science, Space, & Technology" function that would be at best considered dual-use research [i.e. military & non-military uses,] & then tons of little budgets here & there that are actually national security spending but in all sorts of weird places.
Isn't that the Ukrainian budget? LOL
I live in Kentucky on the Indiana border, not far from an area we call "germantown" which is an area heavily populated by German immigrants. They have a festival called Freudenfest every year. The food and beer are amazing. And I must compliment you, your English is very good. You speak it quite well.
I lived in Florence, KY for many years. Did you go to the casino on the Ohio River in IN? It had just opened when I lived there and was the biggest weekend spot for quite a few years.
@terriwetz6077 I'm too young to have gone but I do remember it being there. It was called Casion Aztar
Some places in Central Texas still have old-timers who speak Texas Deutsche.
@@roblewis7186Casino Aztar is in my city, Evansville, Indiana. I figured you were close when you said you were on the border of Indiana and Kentucky. 😊 And, yeah, this area is known for its German heritage, too. Not far away is Jaspar, Indiana, which has a fairly sizable German-American population.
Let's look at one midsize state, where I live...
Michigan itself is larger than the entire UK, and it's a 12 hour drive from top to bottom. The impressive Great Lakes surrounding us are really "Inland Oceans", are hundreds of miles across, and have direct access to the oceans. So shipping has turned cities like Cleveland, Detroit(my home), Chicago, Milwaukee and others, into ocean ports.
-Lake Erie is bigger than Wales
-Lake Superior is bigger than Scotland
-Lake Huron+Michigan are bigger than Ireland+N.Ireland
True and America's system of interconnected rivers, coupled with the Intracoastal Waterways gives us more navigatable waterways than the rest of the planet combined.
@@JohnJBrowne11209 Yet the Jones Act makes water transport uncompetitive with Trucking.
man, the erie canal was really a big part in economics.
I recently moved to the UP of Michigan....from Florida. The lakes are truly amazing to see. Michigan is a beautiful state.
I had a cousin who married an English guy. While living here before google Maps, he made plans to go to a concert two states over. He looked at a map and had the proportions of England in mind. He thought it was a two hour drive. The look on his face when i explained it was more like 8 or 9 hours was priceless.
PPP - Purchasing Power Parity - measure of how many units of currency are needed in one country to buy the amount of goods and services that one unit of currency will buy in another country.
It also really isn't a great metric for comparing countries via GDP. A much better metric is GDP per capita. This defines how well wealth is spread in an economy. Adjust that with PPP and you have a much better idea of the average citizen's ability to access resources.
Greetings from Texas! I just found your channel and wanted to let you know I like your work. Keep up the good job 👍🏼.
Fun fact: Although the "City of Los Angeles" has around 4 million people, the greater Los Angeles basin (ie. giant megalopolis) has around 18 million people.
similar to chicago as well, 2.66m vs almost 10m, the chicago metro area being 75% of illinois' population by the way
Aka "Chicagoland." I love that Chicago gets its own name like that instead of just "x metropolitan area" like most cities.
@@tildessmoo I'm going to start referring to Portlandland now 😆
London is like that where right in the middle is the City of London, moving out of the city of London is Greater London.
I recommend anything with state/national park or American Football. If you want to learn a bit of the history, The Fat Electrician sums things up pretty well.
I love The Fat Electrician too so I vote for you to react to his videos too. He likes it when people do reactions to his content and is even known to comment on the reaction videos sometimes. If they would have him do all the history ciriculum for the schools then a lot more people would be more educated in history.
I’m from Ohio and have been all over Europe. The U.S. population density is way less than Europe so there is more vast amounts of land with no population.
There are even vast amounts of land with "no owner"... technically, everyone owns it. Public lands, federally administrated.... 2.6 million square kilometers, or a little shy of 19 times Germany. The National Park System alone is two Germanies (340,000 sq km)
We have great health care but you can’t afford it if you don’t have health insurance. Most people do have have good health insurance but many people don’t
Again, from Texas, you did a great job on this. Keep going, you have the right charismal
3 yrs ago I had kidney failure and had a spinal compression at the same time during Covid. I needed the surgery to remove two damaged vertebrae in my neck. When I was checked by an emergency room doctor, I was told my kidneys had failed and was going straight up to the Inrensive Care Unit, almost the highest level of care in America. 19 days for kidneys to start working and the surgery 2 days later with 2 days recovery 23 days total in hospital. The bill was $438,000. I had just gotten a decent insurance policy the month before and I made 118$ payment the insurance covered all of it. Never saw a bill
Yes, Europeans don't have a clue about the fantastic USA medical system. They think that their rotten socialized medicine systems are better. They also don't know about all the programs that the federal government supplies for low income and unemployed families. The difference is that we pay for health insurance here, whereas in Europea, you don't know how much you are paying because it comes out of your sky-high taxes.
I had 3 surgeries and I have insurance blue cross blue shield and I paid way more than that , I paid about 10k each for those surgeries.
@AzSureno I got so freaking lucky. It would have ruined us. The pandemic was bad enough.
woooow! Dodged that extremely massive bullet! (more like cannonball at that point)
I am both proud to be an American and very careful about how I put that out into the world. We get some things very right and others very very wrong. My ties are strong - as are yours to Germany. Let us all remain open and grateful and kind. I love your work! And your joy!
Hey Chris, cool video reaction. Actually, my name is Chris as well. Plus, my paternal grandfather fled Germany during the rise of Hitler. But, interestingly, I got deployed to Germany for all of 2006 in the Army. I was stationed at Ramstein Air Force base. I loved traveling and checking out your lovely Castles there. You owe it to yourself to come visit America. Especially Florida and my home state of Texas! Tschuss my friend!!!
I’m subscribing, he’s so wholesome
I never heard, that I am wholesome, but please dont stop 😂 Thanks soo much, I cant stop smiling 😁
Yes, he’s truly genuine ❤ I subscribed as well😊
The US military is 100% volunteer. We have the best trained military and loyal.
We are a driving culture. Our mass transit systems are terrible. My wife and I did our first big driving vacation last year. 6000 miles (9500 kilometers) in 21 days.
Hershey, Pennsylvania to Austin, Texas to visit our son. The mid west is FLAT!
Texas to the Grand Canyon, dessert southwest is beautiful.
Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. Vegas, not my cup of tea (promised my wife).
Vegas to Zion National Park...One of the most beautiful places we've ever seen.
Zion to Goose Necks State Park and the Valley of the Gods. Valley of the Gods is a 17 mile dirt road through some of the most majestic scenery ever!
Valley of the Gods to Moab, Utah. Arches National Park. One of the most beautiful sunrises ever.
27 hours home to Hershey, Pennsylvania.
This fall...
Yellowstone...Grand Teton...Bryce Canyon...North Rim Grand Canyon...Moki Dugway and Muley Trail....Texas for family...Canon ball run back to Hershey.
All of these parks have wonderful videos on RUclips. Have a look...They are incredible!
We don’t have a mass transit system because it failed.
Originally we had multiple privately owned train systems, some for passengers, others for industrial transportation.
Airplanes killed the passenger part of the train industry which allowed the tracks to be bought out by industrial train companies.
There has been no effort to ever remake a mass passenger train system in the U.S. ever since.
@@darth3911 there is actually a plan in the Midwest currently to connect a bunch of Midwest states together with a high speed rail system centralized in Chicago
it would connect all the major cities in states surrounding Illinois
Cars are life in the US. What you drive defines who you are as a person.
@Donosauros_Rex
We have tried passenger rail for years, and it has never been profitable. We call it Amtrak. It used to have far more stops, but it is almost worse than taking the bus for getting where one wants to go, and it is brought to you via the taxpayers citizens of the United States. We really need to drop Amtrak and cut it from the Federal budget. The savings would not be much, but it would be a place to start.
Chris, Texas has a LOT of German history. Many places have German family names. I grew up in an area outside of Houston, TX that was settled by German immigrants who came through Galveston, Texas. The town i grew up in was Cypress, Texas. Many of the roads there are names of German immigrants who had farms and ranches there.
Fenskie, Treichel, Klein, Huffmeister, Mueschke, Hilibrandt, Rudel and Telge ... just to name a few.
Foreigners sometimes talk about the vast geographical differences within the USA. We literally have every type of climate and living conditions that there are. What's even more impressive is that you can find ALL of that within California alone! That ONE state is home to the hottest place on earth (Death Valley) but also has areas that have been recorded at around -33 degrees F. (Bodie, CA) It has sunny warm beaches in the south and cold, rocky beaches in the north. It has desert but also beautiful mountains and every climate in between. Incredible, really.
Yes indeed, California is a map of the US of A. Some Californian's say why travel to see the other 49 states when we have it all here? I've traveled to all 50 states and California is my favorite and I've been there 23 times 1970 - 2014 from Illinois where I live.
@@keithforeman2180 lol, that's awesome! I have lived there briefly (San Francisco and Sonora) but mainly lived in the Pacific NW. Still, it amazes me that California has it all! Pretty cool! Enjoyed your reply. 🥰
True. Coldest winter Mark Twain ever experienced was a summer in San Francisco.
@@Simon9Mr Wow, hadn’t heard that! 👍🏼
Another fun fact: the world's tallest tree, oldest tree, and largest tree are all found in California, even though they are 3 different trees from 3 different species.
Chris, let me tell you about my experience with health care. First of all, I'm a 63 year old woman who is a double amputee, and therefore on Disability. I had my foot amputated 2 years ago, then spent about a month learning how to do basic tasks for everyday life like cooking, cleaning and so forth in a skilled nursing facility. When I got home, I had a visiting nurse who checked me out, changed bandages, and checked to make sure I was healing as expected. All this, plus supplies to clean/change bandages everyday. All this came to roughly $700,000. My other amputation was roughly $300,000. Now I have protheses for both feet, and the cost for the total foot prosthesis is about $25,000 for the cheaper one made from acrylic, but the permanent carbon fiber one cost about $30,000. Now this is an extreme example, but really everyday costs can be expensive. Most insurance plans cover visits to your regular doctor with no out of pocket cost, but some have to pay $25-50. Urgent care plans will make you pay $50-100 every time you go, specialist appointments will run you about $75-100, and emergency room visits will cost at least $100. Prescription drugs aren't too bad with most drugs free, but if the insurance company doesn't cover the drug because it's new or for really sick patients, the the patient has to pay the whole cost which could be hundreds if not thousands of dollars.
Insurance usually covers 80% of costs, though purchasing this is about $800/mo. out-of-pocket for "decent" insurance as a base-cost. While employed, you can often pay for a lesser insurance rate at about $600/mo. as a deal through your employer. Once you're 65, Medicare kicks-in, which is a small-cost government-based system. Paying for medical insurance is mandatory for all citizens else you'll pay a fine during taxes (April) which is what Obamacare ultimately amounted to: fines.
@@mikecronis I mean it also reigned in the cost of healthcare, expanded Medicaid massively (though the Supreme Court made it optional for states to join) and it overhauled the regulatory system for insurance companies. it certainly wasn't great, but way better than the way things were going. I very much wish we would just do away with the private system for paying for healthcare entirely. Just expand Medicare to cover everyone, and the costs would come down exponentially. The private companies would not be able to overcharge the government if the government is the only "consumer" in the marketplace, it would have all the negotiating power.
Yes, driving around GB years ago, I went from London to Inverness, Scotland and refk3cted that the distance was pretty much the same as that from San Diego, California to San Francisco, CA.
Most Americans support our military and its veterans.
When it comes to our government, we support money to our troops and veterans.
What pisses us off is spending so much money internationally to be the body guard of the world.
Yep. Being Team America: World Police isn't cheap.
Most of the military spending goes to defense contractors, i.e., weapons that we give away to other counties. 🤦♂
Let’s be honest. A large share of our action in other countries is to protect U.S. economic interests and investments. Yes, we do support democracies around the world and are part of U.N. Peacekeeping, but we’ve also spent a lot of blood for oil (and other goods) in the past. Sadly.
This was my first time. I really enjoyed it! I am looking forward to seeing more.❤
Years ago, I read about a European couple who had made reservations for a hotel room in Denver, Colorado, before leaving Chicago, Illinois. They had looked at a paper road map and thought they could drive from Chicago to Denver in a day. At the end of the 1st day, they had to call the Denver hotel and cancel the reservation as they had only traveled about a third of the distance; it took them 3 days to complete the trip. They commented that the U.S. was a lot larger than they had imagined. [FYI, the distance from Chicago to Denver is about 1000 miles (1609 km.]
Just so you know, driving from San Antonio, Texas, which is about the center of Texas takes about 9 hours to get to the north, east, and west borders of Texas
610 billion USD is old news TBH. In 2024, the US Dept of Defense has been allocated an operating budget of 2.10 Trillion USD. Of this, the US Military has 825 billion USD for 2024.
To add on to your comment about how many Americans serve in the Military, remember that our armed services are normally an all-volunteer force. No one is forced into conscription unless there is a draft during a time of war and need. So that large number of people are all volunteers, which I've found present in the American spirit since the founding fathers. It's one of the things that unites all of us from all different backgrounds under the stars and stripes. If you know an American there's a good chance that if they didn't serve, then someone in their family or friends group has served or is serving in the Military. It's a cool little fact that often goes unnoticed. Great channel! I've been binging your vids :)
Europe gets to spend less on defense because of it's reliance on the US.
Not really , there gdp and other things prevent them from spending that high . As for the USA the govt taxes us and uses the money for bs .
Keep pedaling that lie if it lets you cope better
Hello, Iowa resident here. I grew up and still am middle class (sometimes a little less) and I almost never ever go to the hospital unless absolutely positively necessary purely because I can't afford to.
I love the size comparisons. I live in Tennessee and will drive about 600 miles north into Illinois to visit family or farther for a vacation in the US. I hardly ever thought about a trip outside the US when I was young because it was cheaper to drive a couple hours to a place that can feel completely different within our own country. Mountains, plains, desert, swamps, woodlands or big cities. Different regions feel very different and no need to fly most of time. Love a roadtrip!
If you are interested in a connection between the US and Germany, there are videos you can react to of Texas German that is spoken over here in Texas.
Interesting, I will definitley go further into it once we are bigger, because that would probably be an awesome video for a bigger audience 😊 If you want to see more about Germany history (where the US was heavily involved as well, I also have a polish channel, where I cover a lot of history 😊)
Great video reaction brother Chris.. Keep on rockin' steady!
We don't usually complain about military spending. We will if we are getting ripped off for our money but we like to know our culture and country are well protected. We tend to bicker among ourselves but we will all come together if someone threatens our country. We are patriotic and proud of our flag.
We are getting ripped off for our money in our military and we know this. We know that cruise missile doesn't cost 5 million to build. We are well aware. However we dont care because we are talking about the safety of our nation and we hope the fact that we overpay will keep the likes of Lockheed Martin from selling our shit to china.
Yes i know spies exist unfortunately. The U.S. needs the largest military in the world to keep another hitler from rising to power and well..... trying to conquer the world.
At this moment if we cant stop the American democrat XiXi ping will become the next Hitler
Some Europeans that come visit, (actually quite a few) can't comprehend the amount of American flags that they see here? They simply don't understand it. They have absolutely
no comprehension of how patriotic and proud we are. To best sum our attitude up? We say what we mean, and mean what we say.
We are friendly until you cross us. Then, all bet's are off.
@@broncobra It's a shame that your flag-worshiping attitude has started to infest Canada. There's a difference between being patriotic in a dignified way and bragging and boasting and shoving it in everyone's face every single day.
Let's say one political party a lot more than the other. Most of us know which.
And Trump wanted to do his job as our President when he suggested the rest of NATO pay their fair share but his enemies somehow opposed that. Let that stupid fact sink in. They truly hate this country.
I recently drove with my sister from North Carolina to Kansas. This isn't even halfway across the continental United States. To put this into perspective, that distance is roughly equivalent to driving from London to Kyiv.
Chris I recommend you reacting to "Why the US is too OP" You'll get some good information on our nation that you may not know.
Interesting, thanks for that, I will put it definitly on the list :)
Good call. Love that video.
what does 'OP' refer to?
Okay, here is why you were surprised about our health care. Most jobs will pay for some kind of basic health insurance - sometimes you have to pay part of the premiums, too. If you can’t afford or are not offered health insurance by your employer ( and they always put you on the cheapest/worst plans ) you can get on MA - medical assistance, for unemployed ,which covers, basically, bare bones benefits - does not even cover regular dr visits OR you can apply for’Obama Care’ which is for working folks who can’t afford health insurance, but make too much money to get MA.
In Europe ( I only know @ England ) your health insurance is part of your taxes and everybody can go to the doctor or hospital and not have to pay anything . . . Although I believe if you want to go to a specialist, not just the one in the health system, you can pay ‘out of pocket’. And we have deductible ( chunk of $ paid before the insurance will kick in ). And the insurance companies will try everything they can to not pay the bill - procedures not covered by your insurance plan, etc ( you have a cheap plan so less coverage ). It’s a nightmare. Hubby & I are retired - I never had health insurance at my job ( dentist office - small business - not enough employees to make it mandatory ) but was covered by hubby’s - now, in retirement, his is still covered by the county government but we pay @ $650 a month for my insurance - good thing, too - had breast cancer at 74, am fine! But the bills from the hospital/doctors - which are still sent to you for your records/tax returns, showed nearly 1/2 million in bills: 6 drs/surgery/hospital cost ( and it was in & out in 12 hours, not over night ) radiation treatments & and medical supplies. So, THAT’S why it’s cause for people. Going bankrupt & why there are places like St Jude’s Hospital for Children ( cancer ) who don’t charge anything to the families - all from donations. Same with Shriners hospitals.
I am a retired combat veteran. I am covered 100% by the VA.
Ya, my mom is in the same boat. Dad was 20 years, 10 army, 10 navy. Now 65 now and her medicade is fighting with Tri-Care over who paid what when.
As for MA, I haven't had to much trouble with it, I can see a doctor as needed for regular visits. Real issue is seeing a dentist.
Hello from the state of Oregon! Our single average sized state is about 98K square miles, while Germany is 138K square miles. I enjoyed the time I spent in Solingen.
Hi another Oregonian here.
I have to google where Solingen is, but it sounds like a town from my state Bayern (Bavaria) :)
Okay nope its from NRW. The "ing" is normally very typical for Bayern or Baden-Würtemberg 😉
And it's famous for it's knives.
@@tinatrachsel3088Oregon is almost EXACTLY the same size as the old West Germany.
U.S. spends a lot on Military but that’s simply because of how large our GDP is, it’s just 3.1% of our annual GDP.
...and we enjoy feeling protected.
Chris: "Are we there, yet?"
Doug: "We've barely started."
I love it when Americans "brag" about their homeland. It shows they love living here!
I volunteer on a frequent flyer and travel website....and I'm always dealing with the fact that European visitors simply have no idea of the size of the United States.
I like to make the comparison for Europeans that most nations in Europe can be easily crossed in a day or two by car...
While crossing the Continental United States from New York to San Francisco (4667 km) is just a bit more than driving from Lisbon, Portugal to Moscow, Russia (4577 km), a journey that crosses EIGHT countries.
Germany is about the size of Montana. I live in the South Bay of Los Angeles. It takes 5.5 hours to fly from here to New York. The Greater Los Angeles Area has 18.5 million people and you can drive 70 miles and still be in LA. Our state is the 5th largest economy in the world.
825 billion dollars is the military budget for the 2024 spending.
just about $850 Billion for 2025
@@drowsyone4143all this is baseline funding and not additional funding (foreign military aid) (supplemental funding) for replacement of equipment and weapons being shipped to USA ally’s around the world like Ukraine and Israel.
It was $857.9 billion last year in 2023 and was reduced to $825 billion for 2024.
I guess it depends on how you measure it...
Hey from San Jose. Liking your posts.
Healthcare here in the US can be very very expensive, especially if you have a health emergency requiring hospitalization or a chronic illness requiring specialty medication. Insurance can help a bit, but it can still be very expensive. I’ve had three knee surgeries and each cost about $15-20k. Even with insurance a hospital stay of a few days can cost thousands. And the system can be complicated and pretty difficult to navigate for patients, even patients who have some experience.
This year U.S. spent 841.4 billion on the military. It goes up every year
We recently moved from Dallas, Texas to the Seattle area. The drive took 32 hours, at an average speed of 70 MPH (112 KMH).
We recently moved from the Portland area to Dallas, Texas 🤣
(I didn't drive at all, I planned the move around some work trips, so my company flew me... my wife and daughter on the other hand took a few days to drive lol)
Manpower is nothing without technology, equipment, and the logistics to support it. America has that capability to supply and support a large number of forces
The U.S. contains the "Lower 48," Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands. But, it controls vast areas of the Pacific Ocean, which no other country does. The U.S. stretches almost half the planet. Also, the United States and Canada are a single entity for the purposes of the defense of North American, thereby doubling the size of both countries.
Great Reaction :)
Thank you :)
I’m from the USA. I recommend you watch content about our national parks, our different accents, food( not just fast food ) etc.
For military history, I recommend The Fat Electrician channel. He is very informative and hilarious when discussing historical events. One of my favorites is about how the United States Navy was founded by George Washington in order to hunt down Pirates 🏴☠️
Hey Jaime, wow thank you soo much for your recommendations. I will definitley (I never know how to spell this word lol) check it out 😊
@@Chrisb.reacts , you’re welcome. The Navy stories on TFE channel are my favorites because my daughter is in the Navy. She’s on a carrier
We do spend that much on military but it's 3% of the GDP we just happen to have a very large GDP
New to your channel. American here. Very much enjoy your reactions. Reacting to the story of the American National Anthem would be cool.
PPP stands for Purchasing Power Parity and generally is the purchasing price of specific goods in various countries.
My husband was in the US Army and we we stationed in Berlin when the wall was still up. The german police were not to be messed with. We enjoyed the 5 years we lived there.
The unintentional best advice I gave a German engineer at an old job was, "America is one country yes, but think more like Europe and each state is a country." he finally understand he couldn't just drive from L.A. to Chicago for work. 😂😂😂
Part of why European countries can afford more redistrubitive social programs is their ability to spend less on their military because they can count on the US for defense. Our military doctrine requires us to be able to fight a two theater war anywhere in the world.
And the silliness of it is that we would be impossible to invade.
That's a pretty simplistic reductive analysis of why we can't afford social programs; conservatives have spent the last 44 years telling us to just cut taxes on billionaires and multi billion dollar corporations, and it would all "trickle down" to the test of us. At this point, I think we should roll back every tax cut for the wealthy from the last 40 years, and tell them they can have them back only when they show how they re gonna raise wages for rank and file employees 10 to 15 percent. If you want your "trickle down" tax cut, EARN IT.
The world constantly tells us how horrible we are and yet 900,000 people a year migrate here. Interesting.
The number is actually closer to 2M migrants on average per yr
I think that was just the legal immigrants.
Yeah they migrate here because we fucked up their country
I broke my wrist at work Jan 2023. The bill was paid by workman's comp. The bill was over $50,000. Two ambulance trips, two ER trips, surgery, therapy, meds, and doctor visits. Yeah, it's expensive to get hurt or sick in the US, even with good insurance. My normal meds alone without insurance would be over $1,200 a month (I haven't looked it up lately). I just pay copays on a Medicare advantage plan.
I enjoy your videos....keep going strong.
Oh thank you, you really put a big smile on my face 😊 (btw what is the past tense of put -> putted? sounds weird 😂)
@@Chrisb.reactsno worries , you used the word "put" correctly, lol. Putted is not a word. 😊
America cannot afford to reduce military spending.
Because many European nations are not paying their fair share.
European nations were outraged when President Trump discussed withdrawing from NATO.
The U.S. agreed to contributions that it still hasn’t paid, at least 1 billion dollars.
Happy to see you starting a channel and am looking forward to more of your reactions about the US. I would recommend “Climate in the U.S. - Why's It Like That?” by Geography King,“25 Best National Parks in the USA“ by and “The Story of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” by LionHeart Film Works. All great videos to react to.
Wow thanks :) I love this supportive culture in the US comment section 😊, I also have a Polish channel and as a German (bc of WW2) you get much rougher comments 😅
I'm from the US and I feel we need to be investing much more into our military.
I love watching your reaction.
The thing with medical debt is if something major happens to you, yeah it get's expensive, especially without any insurance, BUT! Hospitals frequently have social workers onsite to help you get signed up with a plan if you need it and/or qualify, and they cannot stop treatment even if you have no way to pay. The services are always billed later. Payment plans can be set up, and even if a lot of it goes to collections, there are statutes of limitations (it can only be collectible for a certain amount of time) and there are forgiveness programs. Plus, seven years afterwards, the debt doesn't show up on your credit report anymore.
Obviously, having an insurance plan of any kind helps with the costs that you would be responsible for. Insurance plans are usually cheapest in premiums when enrolled through your employer. If your household income is below a certain threshold you can qualify for Medicaid. Honestly, if we ever adopted a system similar to Canada or other EU countries it would be a disaster. The US is too big and too heavily populated for that single system to be effective, and we already have federally funded insurance in place for qualifying individuals, federal employees, and military personnel.
Hiya b ruh. Just found your 3 videos. Enjoyed them. Germany? Sweden?.... nice! :)
Thanks for the nice words 😊 I am from Germany :)
@@Chrisb.reacts Any chance you'd be interested in American football vid reaction? I'm in Michigan and the NFL Draft is in Detroit. Starts Thursday. lol Go Lions 🦁
6:25 The reason the US spends so much on their military and has so many military bases around the world goes back to the end of WWII. In a nutshell, the US made a deal with the world to protect the world's waterways to ensure countries could trade with one another as an alternative to war. This peace plan of globalization basically worked for the past 80 years and is only breaking down now.
7:00 Regarding healthcare, yes, it really is that bad. Yes, can go bankrupt from medical expenses. It is a blight on us and a stain on our reputation. Slowly, we are trying to improve it.
america has two armies the actual enlisted personnel.. and the fact that many americans own guns thats guaranteed under the US constitutions right to bear arms.
in essence: yeah that 1.2 enlisted.. IF America was ever invaded.. could go upto the 328 million plus!! neighrbors could essentially in a matter of hours and and days mobilize local communities to be armed and trained in firearms. That's why when a russian general asked japanese admiral yamamoto if they would be invading the US, he stated: "Yamamoto said, while declining the offer to invade America, that there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass. A Russian General Officer who was being asked about the possibility of invading the US, said no because there would be a scoped rifle behind every tree"
It's also the USA is possibly impossible to invade given the logistics a nation has to overcome in building a blue water invasion force and that said force surviving US Military defenses.
You are forgetting the part time service members like National guard and reserves.. The US Federal government has 2 army's. A full time one and the Reserve/part time one.. Then each state has it's own Army that can be call into action in times of disasters or riots... ....... Then yes there is also the armed public..
The world's largest standing army is the United States Civilian.
I live in the southern part of Michigan and it would take me about 10 hours without stopping to drive to Copper Harbor, the northern most city in Michigan. In reality it would probably be closer to 11 or 12 hours when taking into account stops for food, fuel, bathroom breaks, and just to get out to stretch your legs. Michigan is known as the Great Lakes State because we are bordered by 4 out of 5 of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are not small lakes either. The most narrow point is the Straights of Mackinac and that is 4 miles across. The average person can only see about 3 miles at ground level due to the horizon. The Great Lakes are inland fresh water seas. Also with 130 active lighthouses Michigan has the most in the country and in the past we had 250 active lighthouses.
Because World War 2 ended with the US as a superpower, I think that's why most people in the US didn't mind spending that much on the military to oppose the Soviet Union. Then when the Soviet Union collapsed and left the US as the only superpower, people in the US didn't want to lose that advantage. Now with China becoming more powerful, it's even more difficult to find people in favor of cutting military spending. Then Russia invades Ukraine...there always seems to be something happening in the world that makes having a very powerful military seem more valuable.
The last time I was abroad I explained to my hosts how long it takes to drive the length of New York State from Buffalo to NYC; they had a similar reaction.
I live in Arizona, which is a little smaller than Germany. 7 million people live in Arizona compared to 80 million in Germany. The county I live in is bigger than Switzerland and there are less than 200,000 people living here.
Add Guam and American Samoa. And the US used to host a German Luftwaffe Kasern in New Mexico. The only foreign military base ever on US soil. There are several foreign armies that have barracks and motor pools, but Germany had a fighter group which trained with live bombs and missiles.
Older American here, again. Like your videos. Keep telling us about Germany & Europe, it adds perspective. You might be interested in our diverse population densities. We aren't just one large country with a semi-evenly dispersed population. I live in New Mexico, a state located in the southwest, next to Texas. New Mexico is the 5th largest state by land mass, 315,000 sq. km, [315,000 sq. miles], but it only has an average population of 6.72 people per sq. km, [17 people per sq. mile]. Even that number is misleading as New Mexico only has 3 major cities.
In comparison Germany has a population density of roughly 239 people per sq. km & a land mass of 357,000 sq. km. The UK has a population density of 280 people per sq. km & a land mass of 244,00+ sq. km. Yes, the US is pretty big.
I’ve never been to Texas but I have read that it is about 1300 km west to east. You can drive over 11 hours in one direction and still be in Texas.
I just took a trip from Missouri to my home in South Carolina. I had to go through part of Illinois after driving 3 hours from where I was in Missouri and through a small part of Indiana and most of Kentucky and a small part of Tennessee then a small part of Virginia and some of western north Carolina then all the way to central South Carolina where I live. It took close to 18 hours of driving! And that's only a tiny portion of our country!❤❤
PPP Purchasing Power Parity - used to compare economic pruductivity and standards of living between countries.
US military spending in 2023
$820 billion.
Projected for 2024
$842 billion.
Regarding PPP, The Economist magazine uses what it calls "the Big Mac" index to compare prices in different countries. When adjusted for currencies, they can approximate the PPP for each country.
My favorite trivia.
The State of Montana is larger than Germany but has a population of just over a million people compared to Germany's population of over 84 million.
What I find most bizarre about Europe is that every country speaks a different language. It would be like driving a few miles from Minnesota to Wisconsin and having everyone speak another language.
Regarding health care, if you have insurance, prices can be quite affordable, especially if you have out-of-pocket maximums for each year. For example, I had major surgery a couple years ago. Just one invoice was over $12k. But as soon as I pay $3k, I do not pay any more. The rest must be covered by insurance. Just today, I got a new medication. I paid $0.45 for a 30 day supply. So, healthcare in the US is a WIDE range of situations for a variety of people.
The speaker said what PPP means - purchasing power parity - the rates of currency conversion that equalize the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries.
The vast size of the USA isn't easy to grasp even for people who live here (eg. Texas= only ~ 7% of total USA area). It gets a lot easier once you've driven from coast to coast (4 days) or north to south (2 days) a few times.
Also, our military are all volunteers. All men 18 have to join the draft system. If we went into a major war, they can call them up into the service.
As an American citizen, I 100% question the military spending budget when we still have issues with our infrastructure in places.
I’d rather the government spend more money getting our roads fixed and putting effort toward a higher standard of living.
Going from state to state often feels like experiencing an entirely different culture, idiom, everything.
GDP (PPP) stands for gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity. It's a metric that compares the value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year, adjusted for purchasing power parity exchange rates.
Entertaining channel, I guess I am shocked about how little other countries are. I love your hair
They are, I have to say I have a weird admiration for microstates like San Marino or Liechtenstein. How can you fit all that in such a small space, its just cute 😂. And thanks for the nice words :)
5:30 That's an old number. This year it was 900 billion
Also, that statistic about us spending more than the next 9 or 10 combined comes up a lot, but the part that always gets left out is that we can afford it. We spend a smaller percentage of our GDP on our military than anyone else. So even though we spend many times everyone else's budgets, we take less money out of our economy, proportionally, to do it than anyone else.
Germany is half as big as Texas. The entire USA is 96% as large as East and West Europe together.
We spend money on high tech equipment, fast planes, huge navy fleet. We dont have just boots on the ground with our money spent. We have the most up to date military equipment. I dont think most of us mind it to feel protected and to help our allies when we need to.
Alaska is 2: 1'/2 times the size of Texas.
I don't know if you've ever heard this expression -- In America we think 100 years is a long time, in Europe you think 100 miles is a long distance.
I've driven across the country a number of times. You can do it in 4 long days if you drive 12-14 hours per day.
I googled it. GDP (PPP) means gross domestic product based on purchasing power parity.
NJ is 19 times smaller than Germany, but has 1/9th as many people... ya'll can do the density math. We also still have beautiful farmland and suburban garden towns, ranches, mountains and all sorts of climates. Germany does too, I think that's why all the Dutch and Germans who settled here in the US got along with everyone as well as could be expected for the time.
The video you reacted on is over 10 years old, Chris! It's a bit old in 2024! lol! I think I first saw it in 2010 or 2011.
As far as health care, it is expensive, BUT, if I needed a procedure or something like an MRI I could get one in about 72 hrs. In Canada they could wait as long as 6 months to get an MRI, and no amount of spending can get them in earlier.
Stone Mountain in Georgia is the largest single rock in the world. Its height is 1686 feet above sea level, and it continues underground for 9 miles.