re: Can someone explain to me why our youth system is bad?

We are far from the only country that plays baseball, basketball and hockey. All of which are just as expensive, or more so, at the youth level.

The difference is, inner city kids (which isn't the answer to American soccer dreams, regardless of how many talking heads say it) don't give a shite about soccer for the most part. Their parents don't care about it and they don't see a way to make lots of money playing soccer, so they don't.