I'm convinced that the ills of America are pronounced, moreso than any other developed Nation, to prevent further brain drain from other nations to the US (with, among other things, its privileged reserve currency).
But it's so satisfying to one's ego that a single cause is the issue. All complexity of societal changes in the last 50 years can be outmanuevered. Simplification is sexy.
We live the life of the Servant. We used to define ourselves by our profession, now we define ourselves as "special needs parent". This is a step closer to actually being more human. How trivial our lives were before, how we wasted so many hours on shit that didn't matter!