There are so many excellent reasons to visit the US… just not necessarily right now.

Our cities are fun to explore and have great restaurants and museums. Most need a car to explore, unfortunately, but some don’t. Our nature is honestly amazing. From forests to deserts to mountains to beaches to lakes and rivers. Yes, other places have some of those, but not many countries have all of those.

Italy is even worse than France for this kind of thing. More than a few times I’ve found myself on streets that DEFINITELY were not car streets, but Google maps sent me there. Florence was the worst for this. I’ve also found myself on streets in Italy that only very very narrow cars could fit down because of Google maps. I had to reverse down a long alley because it kept narrowing and narrowing until even with the mirrors pulled back it was narrower than my rental car (with a small car in front of me pissed off because I was blocking her).

Germany also has a lot of pedestrian/restaurant squares that do allow cars but only early in the morning or late at night, but there are no signs saying WHEN those times are. And I needed to drive through those squares to get to my hotels, so that was interesting a couple times.

I work with the Space Force, and we were all having a good laugh at the AI generated image of the F35.

If you are unable to save up $2000 over the course of a year, then you are either not middle class or are very conservative with your money (not a bad thing). The definition of middle class is also location dependent. Making $50k/year in Alabama is VERY different from making $50k in NYC. Making $100k in Indianapolis is very different from making $100k in San Francisco. Hell, you can make $200k/year and not be able to afford even a small house in Los Angeles.

Travel was much different for your parents. European travel was actually much more expensive for them, adjusted for inflation. Back then, only rich people casually traveled to Europe (or young kids who stayed in hostels backpacking around). My first trip to Europe was when I was 30, and the cities I visited on that trip are FAR more crowded with tourists now than back then. When I was in college I took a trip to India with a friend who lived there, staying with his family for free and eating cheaply when not at their houses. That flight to India costs the same now as it did 20 years ago, not adjusted for inflation (meaning it is actually much cheaper now).

Going to Europe now is so commonplace for normal people that quaint little towns are overrun with tourists. I have seen flights from LA to Europe for cheaper than flights from LA to Indianapolis.

Conversely, for your parents travel within the US and to Mexico was cheaper then. You could get a flight from Indianapolis to Cancun for $150, with hotels being dirt cheap. Flights to Florida were $100, and nice hotels were $100/night. Nowadays, those flights are 3 times more expensive and the hotels are 5 times more expensive. When I was fresh out of college and middle class, I could travel around the US and to Mexico and Costa Rica pretty cheaply. Nowadays, I can go to Europe for about the same price as going to New York.

Finally, back then people had vacation savings accounts to pay for travel. They would save up all year to take vacations. They would save their Christmas bonuses (which aren’t a thing anymore). They didn’t have cell phones and rationed out long-distance phone calls. They might only have one car instead of three. They didn’t pay for internet. They paid for basic cable, not 5 streaming packages. Their house cost a tenth of what houses cost now. They didn’t buy as many new clothes as people do now.

No.

These are at normal ride-share hours throughout the city in all conditions. I’ve been in one during the day going through LA traffic and one at night with no traffic up to around 45 mph. They are allowed to drive on LA’s 405 freeway, which has a speed limit of 65mph, but I haven’t done that yet.

He’s lying through his teeth when he says it will ONLY cost $125 billion and take 3 years. It will likely take $500 billion and take 10 years if it even survives the budget of the next president. This is going to be such a massive, massive waste of time and money that the US will be actually vulnerable to the perceived enemies that we aren’t vulnerable to now. He’s going to kill useful programs in order to pay for this thing that will never work.

You have very bad reading comprehension. The person you are quoting never praised Saudi Arabia and never said they were the saviors of anything.

I’m impressed by the ability of the dogs to strip search people since they don’t have opposable thumbs.

Countdown to Trump taking credit for an American pope being selected. 5, 4, 3…

The US needs this kind of law. With multiple people switching from Dem to Rep after elections are done, it really undermines the will of the people. Most of them didn’t vote for that specific person because they love that specific person. They voted for someone who represents their ideal government. So when that person does a 180, it should open them up to being kicked out by the party or put up for a special election.