OP might have had a specific reason for calling out China, but it has been true that as the US has slipped in national rankings over the years, the countries that we compare ourselves to have changed. Reagan was the nationalist booster who proclaimed that the US remains the shining city on a hill, but ironically Reagan-era policies hastened the slide while ensuring that everyone started wearing flag pins. Now we’re worse off and people are wearing AR-15 pins to show their patriotism, and people will point out that we have a lower murder rate than ~~Rwanda~~ (note: the US has a murder rate of 6.8 while Rwanda has a rate of 2.6 and I humbly apologize for my mistake).

Despite spending more on law enforcement than any other country spends on their militaries (except China and of course the US), and despite having a massive economy, US crime rates are literally off the charts. Despite spending more per capita than any other country on health care, the US ranks lower than other developed countries on access. Despite having an entire political party campaigning about saving the children from everything from abortion to drag shows, the US ranks right in between Slovakia and Chile with the 33rd position among 37 OECD countries, and the state-by-state numbers vary exactly how you would expect, with the reddest states having the highest rates of infant mortality. Americans can’t compare themselves favorably to countries like Denmark, Sweden, or Finland, obviously. Germany and France are out. Much of Eastern Europe (except the Russosphere) and southern Europe are also better on most metrics.

The good news is that the UK is looking like they’re getting set to race is to the bottom, but they have a ways to go. Thatcher gave them godzilla-scale destruction that we only matched by playing Reagan, but even Brexit might be outdone by the Trumpocalypse in the end. It’s awesome that they’re doing it on the basis of a non-binding referendum that was filled with completely false information as everyone knew even at the time, but they’re just too embarrassed to admit they fucked up and so will yank their economy for generations, but that doesn’t rival that the person who tried to overthrow the US government is neck and neck in presidential polling.

Anyway, the US is still doing better than El Salvador in many areas. Of course, that’s partly due to US policies towards El Salvador.