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A very important part of traveling outside of where you live and, preferably, your country is the ability to learn just how people live elsewhere. Sometimes it’s just a mind expanding experience, but there are cases where you, unfortunately, discover that what you thought was normal is, at best, just a scam.
Someone asked “What's the biggest scam in America?” and people shared their thoughts and comparisons. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your thoughts in the comments below.
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#2
Health insurance.
Tyranamar Seuss 3 days ago
Look. If there's one thing you need when you visit America, it's health insurance. Please make sure you get it. Or a simple illness could leave you bankrupt.
#3
The illusion that it's the greatest country in the world. No national health service. Short maternity leaves. High gun crime. And people who worship politicians like God's. And rampant institutionalised racism. And those are just the things off the top of my head.
#4
Tipping instead of actually raising wages for waiters
Edit: I was referring to tipping as a necessary law. Yes people tip, but should they be the ones to ultimately blame if you haven’t been tipped and can’t survive the week? No. It’s the firms that you’re working in. They should pay you enough to not have to DEPEND on just tips to make a living.
Jenn Smith 2 days ago (edited)
Some Pandas may be blissfully unaware that in the U.S, $2..14 per hour is somehow ok for many restaurant workers...so heLL yeah..please tip At least in South Carolina USA
#5
2 Party Political System.
Graham_Illegal 3 days ago
This is a far bigger problem than most Americans are willing to acknowledge.
#6
COLLEGE TEXT BOOKS. You need edition 10 for this class. They change one chapter in the book make it a new edition over price it and f**k the college kids. Always drove me nuts when I was in college.
#7
The whole health system... like... putting a fee on holding your baby after giving birth? Seriously?
#8
Scientology.
#10
The idea that you need to be productive all the time. It's ok to just exist.
#11
Insulin prices.
Anne Roberts 3 days ago
Insulin is cheap to make. Pharma companies should be ashamed. I knew a girl who had to ration her insulin - when she could afford it.
#12
The entire credit score system.
#13
Paying your taxes and then never seeing a return on your investment. That's OUR money! Fix our roads, give us health care, educate our children PROPERLY, pay our teachers a living wage, RAISE UP people below the poverty line so they can live with dignity. Stop wasting 750 BILLION a year on our military.
keyboardtek 3 days ago
Noam Chomsky said Ronald Reagan's monster increase in defense spend was the largest transfer of wealth to the upper class in years. No matter which party is in power, every year defense spending gets an increase. But when someone talks about single payer healthcare, we are told we have no money for that.
#15
Bank fees. You are broke so we are going to charge you for being broke.
#16
The entire f*****g prison system.
Jenn Smith 3 days ago
Even county jail. Need feminine products? 14.00 a box. Shampoo? Soap?..hope you can pay. Bra and underwear? Lol, we'll be confiscating those..but happy to sell you a new set from our canteen
#18
Those payday loan businesses. It’s predatory as s**t and it’s just legal loansharking.
#19
The idea that anyone can become anything — it’s simply not accurate. That’s just something the privileged and the wealthy like to tell the rubes so they don’t protest much when, inevitably, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
#21
Healthcare and pharma costs in US vs the rest of the world.
#22
Lobbying being legal, student loans, healthcare insurance.
Geoffrey Scott 2 days ago
The revolving door lobbying is what cranks me up. Leave elected office, lobby to your former officemates.
#23
Thinking the republicans or the democrats want the best for the average American.
#24
Trickle Down Economics.
Mike Goslin 3 days ago
Trickle down Economics always made me feel like I was getting p---ed on... 'cause i was.
#25
Whatever MLM scheme my SIL was peddling at thanksgiving.
#26
How we have to file our taxes correctly even though the government knows exactly how much we made every year and if we file it wrong we get penalized....
#27
* Gestures vaguely at everything.
#28
Online charlatans that will share their "secrets" if you buy their course.
#30
Credit system. Pay everything off and your score goes down? Talk about indentured servitude.
Tyranamar Seuss 3 days ago
No, when you pay everything off your score goes up. It's based on things like available credit vs used credit. If you pay off your credit card every month it builds a nice score.
#31
Funerals, weddings, and pretty much every other thing we blindly accept have to be insanely expensive without even thinking about it.
Michael Largey 3 days ago
My uncle ordered a lovely low-cost coffin in advance - from CostCo. (You have to do it on-line. for some reason they don't stock them in the stores.)
#32
That the President runs the country.
Blah Blah Blah 2 days ago
THIS! It astonishes me how many people actually believe this in the US
#33
Health care and College loans.
Abdullah Abd Rahman 2 days ago
This applies to the USA ,not all other countries. Sorry for constantly repeating this.
#34
Cable TV/Internet monopolies.
Oskar vanZandt 2 days ago
The competition for these services is fierce in The UK and switching is easy so it's relatively cheap compared to other countries. My brother in Canada pays triple what I do... Mobile contracts are also very affordable here: eg I'm on a 5G SIM only monthly rolling contract for £12.- which gets me 125GB data and unlimited calls and texts.
#35
Personally, joining the military. Serving my country. Getting exposed to chemicals. Dying from the inside at forty with no help from the society I served.
American dream baby.
Gavin Johnson 3 days ago
This applies to a lot of countries. In the U.K. you have the fallback of the NHS but it’s potluck on the waiting time for certain services, if it’s mental health related then it can be over a year to get some support. We have a few charities like Help for Heroes who will do what they can to support veterans but it’s outrageous that anyone who has served their country can’t get access to the services they need. PS give all you can to Help for Heroes, three mates of mine are still alive thanks to HfH and the work they’ve done.
#36
Online convenience fee for paying bills. Not every bill has it but I found it’s usually utilities and it’s BS. Not the biggest scam but something that irritates me.
#37
I think Student Loan servicers. For example, Navient manages Federally guaranteed debt for the US Gov in Student loans, has the IRS as their personal collection agency. They constantly, I mean CONSTANTLY f**k up to the extent they get dragged in front of Congressional Hearings, and their CEO is paid $7.7M annually.
Geoffrey Scott 2 days ago
Charging 12.5% after assuming all the loans of Wells Fargo. For my part, I attended a meeting of folks to give feedback to my (R) Rep, both state and fed. My first issue was applying for health benefits through the ACA, which kicks you into a Medicaid application because your income fits, but through the process, your assets do NOT. Should have the OPTION of applying for Medicaid, not automatic. My 2nd issue was student loans being any higher percentage than a mortgage rate. NOT forgiveness, but realistic terms.
#38
If you work hard, you could be rich like Bill Gate, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos.
Even THEY admitted that they were at the right place, the right time.
#39
I have to pick only one? I think our health care system is the largest and most comically villainous of all of them but man, the list is looooong for b******t scams in this wasteland.
#40
I scrolled really far and was surprised I didn't see Rent to Own stores. They sell furniture and electronics type stuff to people with bad credit who can't really afford it, let them pay a small amount weekly. If people end up paying on time and pay stuff off, they will pay 2 or 3 times more than the item is worth. If they make a payment late the item is repossessed and re sold to someone else and the first person loses all the money they paid.
There are used car dealers that do this same business model with cars too. They put GPS trackers in the car that also disable the starter. They collect $1000 down and once a payment is late they disable the car and go tow it, then sell it again and keep the downpayment. I worked at a shop that installed the trackers and these places would sell the same car to different people 5 or 6 times in a year because they kept repoing it.
Lucas Jackson 3 days ago
Sadly is a cost to being poor and is a hard circle to break. I spent most of my 20s with awful finances and debts. I’ve been there and trust me it gets better.
#42
Work hard enough, and you’ll reach the American dream. To reach that, you’ll need alot of hard work, yes. But a ridiculous amount of luck as well.
#44
Home ownership.
You never actually truly own a home/land. Skip out on property taxes or even HOA fees and your home can be legally taken from you. Arguably better than renting still but it's never really 'yours'.
#45
H&R Block / Turbotax?
The Weather Channel?
Advertisements on Cable television?
Buying any kind of insurance and then they refuse to pay out a reasonable claim?
What do you think ?
C Hendrix 3 days ago
I'm surprised nobody mentioned that you can't own much of anything anymore. It's all "subscriptions" now.
Janissary35680 2 days ago
I encountered a new euphemism for that yesterday in an annual report I'm translating: "recurring-revenue model-based collaborative agreement". 🤑
Load More Replies...
Susical 3 days ago
Corporate "personhood," which lets giant corporations donate to political candidates unfettered. Also, the Electoral College.
Tams21 3 days ago
This list got pretty boring pretty fast. They're pretty much all either things that were on another BP post maybe 10 minutes ago or things that are in no way unique to the US. Bored Panda please, if you're going to continue with these kind of stories then at least pick another country for once.
Roland Nijveld 2 days ago
But no other country is that weird compared to others than the US. By some margin as well.
Load More Replies... Libstak 2 days ago
Yes, everybody looking for a piece of us, everywhere, all the time. It makes me ill to think about.
Load More Replies...
John Harrison 1 day ago
Yup. Recognized this for what it was immediately, and skipped on down to the comment section.
Load More Replies...
frank behnsen 2 days ago (edited)
*Sigh* – I have the feeling that quite a few issues mentioned in this thread are not exclusive to [in?] the USA (well alright; health care obviously is) – especially when it comes to politics and economy. I don’t consider myself “left-wing”, but I can’t help the feeling that it’s “turbo-capitalism” that causes most of these problems, in other words: human greed combined with aggression.
Sand Ers 2 days ago
How about, if you don't approve of people trying to fix things that are broken -you- get out.
Load More Replies... sweissh 8 hours ago
I swear to f*ck if they post one more anti-america list I'm uninstalling this app. How is this even still interesting for anyone anymore? How many times/ways do you need to say how much you hate America/ Americans before you can move on with your life? How about you use your free health care and get some therapy? It's time to let go.
John Harrison 1 day ago
Adding a second comment to implore everyone to read iLLbeback's comment which is ... of course .... downvoted to the bottom. It's PERFECT. It's SPOT ON. 😄
John Harrison 1 day ago
1. A new twist on "Let's laugh at the U.S.". A+ for creativity, Justin. 2. Jfc, will Europeans EVER stop obsessing over the United States? Just live your own lives, lol
Curry on... 2 days ago (edited)
For years, it was suggested that we buy cars that don't use so much gas - help the environment, blah, blah, blah. So I bought a Prius. A hybrid. For 11 years I was putzing along driving my vehicle, buying the amount of gas I needed, which apparently wasn't enough, because now I'm being punished for not buying enough gasoline. I have to pay almost 3 Xs as much for my plates as other drivers --- of gasoline cars. And to top that off, my city got rid of the emissions testing program, so those gasoline cars are allowed to smoke and choke all over the place.
Verena 2 days ago
If you don't like it, change it. Voting for rich oligarchs won't change a thing. Stop complaining on BP
Jessica SpeLangm 2 days ago (edited)
Spoken like someone (Verena), that doesn't live in the USA or fully understand the problem the voters that DON'T have millions of $$ to give to the lawmakers, would say. If you don't want to understand that the candidates will SAY whatever they have to to get elected, but don't follow through on those promises, then stop telling the USA citizens what they should be doing. We already know what to do, but until we have the unlimited wealth of the 1% of the uber wealthy in the country, we can't change s**t.
Load More Replies...
Roland Nijveld 2 days ago
Nah that's not true. Most mentioned here are or US only or the problem is way bigger in the US than anywhere else.
Load More Replies... C Hendrix 3 days ago
I'm surprised nobody mentioned that you can't own much of anything anymore. It's all "subscriptions" now.
Janissary35680 2 days ago
I encountered a new euphemism for that yesterday in an annual report I'm translating: "recurring-revenue model-based collaborative agreement". 🤑
Load More Replies... Susical 3 days ago
Corporate "personhood," which lets giant corporations donate to political candidates unfettered. Also, the Electoral College.
Tams21 3 days ago
This list got pretty boring pretty fast. They're pretty much all either things that were on another BP post maybe 10 minutes ago or things that are in no way unique to the US. Bored Panda please, if you're going to continue with these kind of stories then at least pick another country for once.
Roland Nijveld 2 days ago
But no other country is that weird compared to others than the US. By some margin as well.
Load More Replies... Libstak 2 days ago
Yes, everybody looking for a piece of us, everywhere, all the time. It makes me ill to think about.
Load More Replies... John Harrison 1 day ago
Yup. Recognized this for what it was immediately, and skipped on down to the comment section.
Load More Replies... frank behnsen 2 days ago (edited)
*Sigh* – I have the feeling that quite a few issues mentioned in this thread are not exclusive to [in?] the USA (well alright; health care obviously is) – especially when it comes to politics and economy. I don’t consider myself “left-wing”, but I can’t help the feeling that it’s “turbo-capitalism” that causes most of these problems, in other words: human greed combined with aggression.
Sand Ers 2 days ago
How about, if you don't approve of people trying to fix things that are broken -you- get out.
Load More Replies... sweissh 8 hours ago
I swear to f*ck if they post one more anti-america list I'm uninstalling this app. How is this even still interesting for anyone anymore? How many times/ways do you need to say how much you hate America/ Americans before you can move on with your life? How about you use your free health care and get some therapy? It's time to let go.
John Harrison 1 day ago
Adding a second comment to implore everyone to read iLLbeback's comment which is ... of course .... downvoted to the bottom. It's PERFECT. It's SPOT ON. 😄
John Harrison 1 day ago
1. A new twist on "Let's laugh at the U.S.". A+ for creativity, Justin. 2. Jfc, will Europeans EVER stop obsessing over the United States? Just live your own lives, lol
Curry on... 2 days ago (edited)
For years, it was suggested that we buy cars that don't use so much gas - help the environment, blah, blah, blah. So I bought a Prius. A hybrid. For 11 years I was putzing along driving my vehicle, buying the amount of gas I needed, which apparently wasn't enough, because now I'm being punished for not buying enough gasoline. I have to pay almost 3 Xs as much for my plates as other drivers --- of gasoline cars. And to top that off, my city got rid of the emissions testing program, so those gasoline cars are allowed to smoke and choke all over the place.
Verena 2 days ago
If you don't like it, change it. Voting for rich oligarchs won't change a thing. Stop complaining on BP
Jessica SpeLangm 2 days ago (edited)
Spoken like someone (Verena), that doesn't live in the USA or fully understand the problem the voters that DON'T have millions of $$ to give to the lawmakers, would say. If you don't want to understand that the candidates will SAY whatever they have to to get elected, but don't follow through on those promises, then stop telling the USA citizens what they should be doing. We already know what to do, but until we have the unlimited wealth of the 1% of the uber wealthy in the country, we can't change s**t.
Load More Replies... Roland Nijveld 2 days ago
Nah that's not true. Most mentioned here are or US only or the problem is way bigger in the US than anywhere else.
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