Until EOS platform actually experiences growth it will be unknown if they can compete with ethereum. I don't know much about EOS but as these new platforms grow they see that scaling is an issue that they thought they had already addressed but still shows up.
I agree and it will only get worse with the more people that jump into the crypto/blockchain world. Only time will tell I suppose.
It is my understanding that US residents / citizens can't obtain EOS tokens. Is that true?
Its what I've heard. It may change hopefully someone else knows.
In regards to the token distribution going on now, this is "true". I say "true", because you can mask your IP address and purchase EOS tokens. That being said, I was tempted to do so but it is risky for many reasons. You may get caught by our government (unlikely but still unlawful), EOS developers may find out and you lose your ETH and get nothing in return (unlikely but still a deterrent), it may actually be more expensive to purchase right now since they will do 24-hour token distributions every day over (2,000,000 tokens a day) the next year. It all depends on how many backers they get.
Long story short, it is possible to buy even now if you live in the US, but it may be risky. I am just going to wait a month and see what happens.