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.
#21
Healthcare and pharma costs in US vs the rest of the world.
58points
#22
Lobbying being legal, student loans, healthcare insurance.
57points
#23
Thinking the republicans or the democrats want the best for the average American.
55points
#25
Whatever MLM scheme my SIL was peddling at thanksgiving.
49points
#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....
49points
#27
Online charlatans that will share their "secrets" if you buy their course.
48points
#28
* Gestures vaguely at everything.
47points
#30
Credit system. Pay everything off and your score goes down? Talk about indentured servitude.
44points
#31
Funerals, weddings, and pretty much every other thing we blindly accept have to be insanely expensive without even thinking about it.
44points
#34
Cable TV/Internet monopolies.
40points
#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.
American dream baby.
40points
#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.
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37points
#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.
36points
#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.
Even THEY admitted that they were at the right place, the right time.
36points
#39
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.
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.
34points
#40
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.
34points
