Americans, I Have Some Bad News For You

reply to post by Kryties


LOL how does UN data putting the US at near the top of the standard of list detract from my argument. The OP said that Americans live in poverty compared to the rest of the world. Complete nonsense, the data I posted supports my position. BTW I never said anything about Australia and NZ, since I've only been to Sydney for a week and haven't spent any significant time over there like I have in Europe, Japan, and Hong Kong.

reply to post by Kryties


I never said the "US was #1". I simply said it's nonsense to think Americans live in poverty compared to Europeans and Asians, and by many measures we have a better standard of living. "Europe" isn't homogeneous either - living in Athens is much different than living in Munich. Yes, there are some aspects of European society that are better than the US - which I've said repeatedly. For instance, I really like the German and Swiss healthcare systems, I think they would be a good model for the US to emulate. And Germany, particularly Bavaria, is clean, with good public transport, and a nice healthy lifestyle. But you could also say that about Colorado.

reply to post by astrocramp


Mate you claimed America has a better standard of living because of materialistic things like more than one car and electronics etc. You fail to realise that other countries do not value these things as much as Americans do and therefore don't use these things as an indicator of standard of living. Yet you continue to use this as your main reasoning why America has the highest standard of living....why?

One thing: You claim that America has a higher standard of living because most European families own only 1 car. Yet shortly after that you admit that they also have a much better public transportation system. I don't know about you, but I see a direct correlation there - surely you can see that too.

Originally posted by astrocramp
reply to post by SkurkNilsen

 

Are you trying to prove my point?? First of all, gross national income per capita has nothing to do with standard of living. It's simply gross national income divided by the population. And I don't see a major European country above the US (Switzerland is not a member of the EU, and Isle of Man, Luxembourg, etc don't really count).

For your other list, it has the US at #4, straight from the UN source:

hdr.undp.org...

From your list there was also an additional inequality adjustment made, putting the US at #14, above France, Austria, Spain, and the UK.

Everything you posted supports my statement that Europe does not have a higher standard of living than the US.

Ok, If we go by your standards of what makes a country, Luxemburg (Luxembourg is the world's second largest investment fund center, after the United States) doesn't count, and non EU states are not Europe....
Any other of YOUR factors I need to take into account before I actually do some research unlike you?

If the facts don't convince you, or at least brings forth at least some kind of dialogue instead of denial I don't really see the point here.

reply to post by SkurkNilsen


The point is moot anyway, since GNI per capita is really defining the entire wealth of the nation, not how it's distributed.

What are you trying to prove to me anyway? We're talking about the same data, and my point is already made just by looking at the list.

not the highest standard of living?
not very much vacation days?
I WISH THIS WERE OUR BAD NEWS.

Originally posted by astrocramp
reply to post by SkurkNilsen

 

The point is moot anyway, since GNI per capita is really defining the entire wealth of the nation, not how it's distributed.

What are you trying to prove to me anyway? We're talking about the same data, and my point is already made just by looking at the list.

And you are proposing what? That the wealth is better distributed in the US?

I think you will find that wealth is better distributed in many other countries.

Is your point that the US isn't third world poor yet?
If so your right, there is around 195 countries in the world so 12th place is really good, lucky to be born there good....
But saying that the standard of living in most parts of Europe is lower than that of the US is wrong no matter how you twist and turn it.

Originally posted by astrocramp
reply to post by Truth_B_Told

 

Complete BS. I travel to Europe often, and the standard of living there is less than what it is here. Most middle class families have only one car, they live in much smaller apartments or houses, don't use AC, and have much less furnishing, electronics, computers, etc in their home. Wages are higher in the US, taxes are lower, and goods are generally less expensive.

A lot of things about Europe are superior to the US, like their diet and public transportation system and yes they get more vacation. But to say their standard of living is better is complete crap. And don't get me started that asians have higher standards, that's simply preposterous.

Actually our houses are smaller because we have less land space. What does electronic gadgets and furnishing have to do with standard of living? I've not been to a house where someone had less furnishings than they actually needed. And so what if a family has one car? That's because we have a better public transport system and a lot of people use it. Perhaps people here care less about material goods? Many, many times now I've travelled with Americans and instead of seeing things of cultural or historic interest they wanted to go shopping. I find that terribly sad.

To me a good quality of life is one where I don't need to worry about my health because I will be taken care of no matter what, one where I don't need to worry about how I will pay for University, one where I will be guaranteed somewhere to live and money to eat with if I need it and for as long as I need it. My quality of life is great, I eat as much as I want, and can afford to buy as much food as I want, ditto with anything else like clothing or travel, I have free time to see people I care about. I don't CARE about shopping, it's not an activity I enjoy. I don't need more than I already have of the material wealth that I own. In fact I don't want more stuff, I prefer having less things but I could certainly afford it if I wanted it.

Social mobility in the US is worse than in much of Europe accept for Britain (where it's pretty bad too). Still social mobility is worse in the US than in Europe:

www.wsws.org...

“Understanding Mobility in America” contains a number of other significant findings. It presents comparisons between US intergenerational mobility and existing trends in other advanced capitalist economies, especially in Europe. It finds that mobility is lower in the US than in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway and Denmark. Among the major wealthy countries, only Britain has a lower rate of mobility than the US. This is particularly noteworthy, given the incessant claims—repeated most recently in comments by various media pundits on the mass struggle of French students and youth against the government’s plans to attack the rights of young workers—that European workers and youth, by fighting to defend past social gains, are foolishly forfeiting the chance to strike it rich, a chance which is allegedly greater in the United States. Even as American society has become more unequal and social mobility has declined, the myth of mobility maintains its strength. A recent survey in the New York Times showed that 80 percent of Americans polled believe it is possible for anyone to move from poverty to great wealth. The same question posed in 1983 produced an affirmative answer from less than 60 percent.

Yah know what? I take it all back screw the world meet us on the battlefield

Originally posted by FrancoUn-American
Yah know what? I take it all back screw the world meet us on the battlefield

Yeah! the whole world of 6.8 billion people against the United States!

reply to post by jameshawkings


I bet once I paced papers on it. I could borrow against it .



If I could prove their was equity.

reply to post by openmind444


I dirve up the road and there are four or five for sale. No big deal.

Originally posted by Darkrunner
reply to post by Truth_B_Told

 

I'd rather work than sit on my ass.

But that's just me.

What bothers me the most is that I want to work, I have technical skills (10 years IT work), I am willing to do any job for cheap really, but I have too much experience for entry level so I don't get calls on those jobs,, and I need a 4 year degree to even get looked at for the higher skilled positions even though I have work experience in Business, Government, and Education.

The only thing that has been working well for me is working for myself providing cheap computer services to other people who are broke. I make just enough to pay the bills and eat. I got fired at my last job for not having my boss sign off on me re-arranging cables to look nice in a room. I engineered and maintained radiologist workstations and networked these systems on a daily basis without supervision, all of a sudden I had to get a signature to move some cables...In defiance, I cleaned all the cables without my bosses approval. I got fired within a week.

Sitting on my ass is the only thing that I am allowed to do, its like my house is my prison, luckily I have wonderful people in my life. I just want to use my brain.

The USA has a lot of hidden suffering.

section69 sorry to Hear that sir a job will come down the road again.i think that Capitalisem kills it,s helping more the rich and the rest of the people are kept out.some said that in europe we have small houses etc etc well i am happy with my life style my flat is like 132m have one car don,t need more because i don,t use it since 3 months plus crop my own food on my fathers land quiet happy.Money is evil

Jeezzz.... You see just how much hatred people have towards one another?! My Countries better than yours, My Dad can kick your Dads ass.. Come on. Really? I hate how my Country is being ran.. But `YOU` tell me a reasonable way to get a million people to over throw it and fix it. Its not going to happen `Ever`.
I tell you what I am going to do and you tell me if its wrong, Im going to go to work, provide for my family, Vote and hope my vote counts, and live each day the best I can...
Here is what Im not going to do and you tell me if this is wrong `Cry, Be scared, Stock my house full of guns and food, Research every little thing that might go wrong in the world and build up a mass hysteria in my family or Move to a different country where there's rainbows, streets made of gold and as many vacation days as there are stars in the sky `sigh`
Oh And for all you Americans out there Booo Hooing about how things aren't going quite your way. You got a problem with the White House you can always callem up and tell em, here's the number 202-456-1111

Ive never been state side. So I dont know if they have a higher, or better life style. One thing I do know, is that the poor die in skips, in the USA. Where as a poor man here in the UK, at least gets treatment. Maybe not the best in the world. But we are not going to leave them, to die on the streets, like in the USA. I think America would be a beautiful place to live. So big, with so many naturel beautiful parts. How ever I wouldnt want to live there. I wouldnt mind a visit, but thats all.
Land of the free?
Why call it that, when you have more people in jail than any other country in the world.

reply to post by Truth_B_Told


I want more days off. Weekends are too short. I don't get payed enough.

Sounds like a bunch of pussies. If you don't like your job, go get a new one! Whats that you say? That would be to difficult?

There is your problem people. Attitude.

reply to post by Chevalerous


I was joking my friend relax I was pretending to be a jerk ass american

reply to post by CrazyChinchilla


There you go. You are right. I would like to hear from someone who said they would like things to be different, does that mean they would like to do some meaningless job and get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, or better yet not do anyting and get paid????