I must admit I was very surprised when I lived in the US about the attitudes to women and race. I have always been under the impression that the USA was so modern and far ahead in these things, but that was not the case. People were still getting their heads around women doctors. And I was living in Philadelphia, not the Mid-West.

You are also right about the impact of corporations and the desire for commerical goods and satisfaction. Now, it could just be that I am a liberal European socialist, but there is no way I could live in that sort of society. I made that choice when I decided not to return to the US and practice medicine there.