I am by no means an expert, but I have lived and worked in the tourist industry in a border city (Niagara Falls) and also lived on 2 other continents, and I sometimes make the sweeping generalization that "Americans" tend to think highly of America, and know little else about that which is going on outside the country. When students in grade 3 can tell you every past president, the patriotism and often inward thinking is no surprise.
In one case, after the great tsunami, all CNN and Fox would comment on was how much aid the U.S. was sending and all that America was doing to help. That is not news...and I know most of you Americans probably loathe your major news providers too, so...moving on
When I was living in Australia, on random occasions people would say, "Oh you are American" when they heard my accent, and I would reply, "No, I am Canadian" and then they remarked almost always, "Oh thats good, we don't like yankees" or somethin similar. Most of these people probably never even met an American, and whether they are "afraid" of Americans, or just plain "hate" them, is up in the air, but that gives you an idea of what some cultures think generally
Now I teach foreigners for a living, so I am not racist, classist, etc etc. In fact, I almost moved to Florida to teach there, and I will be going there again this winter. There are plenty of good things going on with America and Americans in general IMO
. When every educated person in America seems to be highlighting all of the country's short comings, however, there are things that need addressing and hopefully the new administration can get the ball rolling.
*I have never heard of non-citizens in Canada needing to make a certain wage, in fact many attend school to increase their abilities to get a job, so I am thinkin that is not true, but i could be wrong
