Tango01 | 15 Nov 2014 10:55 p.m. PST |
"Despite all the bravado from political leaders and the record high stock prices – which prove how clean America's dirty short is – The Legatum Institute finds the United States is just the 10th most prosperous nation in the world… after Holland, Canada, New Zealand, and Denmark to name a few…"
Full article here link Amicalement Armand |
Gonsalvo | 16 Nov 2014 6:39 a.m. PST |
Interesting, but of course the key is how they define and assess "prosperity". etc. No question that we in the US need to seriously address the very skewed income distribution in our country. I'll leave it at that. |
Battle Phlox | 16 Nov 2014 8:07 a.m. PST |
Couldn't read the article. I got a pop up that wouldn't go away. Okay got through on second try. |
Stryderg | 16 Nov 2014 9:18 a.m. PST |
Thank God for skewed income distributions. If everyone made the same amount of money, there would be no incentive to better oneself or try to earn more. |
Cardinal Ximenez | 16 Nov 2014 2:19 p.m. PST |
More America sucks sentiment. It's boring already. Wait my bad. I forgot about all the Central American parents flying their children into Holland and Denmark. DM |
Henry Martini | 16 Nov 2014 4:09 p.m. PST |
You need a better definition of 'bettering oneself' than limitless greed and consumerism. Are the pirates of Wall Street inherently morally and ethically superior to those without a stock portfolio? |
Henry Martini | 16 Nov 2014 4:20 p.m. PST |
Bhutan has an excellent, sane measure of prosperity in its GNH (Gross National Happiness)index, in which material wealth is no more important than non-pecuniary factors such as health, education, and community. |
Stryderg | 16 Nov 2014 4:51 p.m. PST |
Well, my definition of bettering oneself does not include greed or consumerism…not sure where you got that assumption. It does include getting an education and a growing spiritually. |
Gonsalvo | 16 Nov 2014 5:13 p.m. PST |
The degree of income inequality in the US is equal to that of the "Robber Baron" era, and exceeds all modern norms for the US. My income is in the top 3% or so (admittedly in a high COL state and area), but even THAT sure doesn't feel like it – it is the top 0.5% or less where the income is very highly concentrated. |
Henry Martini | 16 Nov 2014 6:48 p.m. PST |
|
14Bore | 18 Nov 2014 5:26 p.m. PST |
I'm not buying what they are selling. |
alien BLOODY HELL surfer | 22 Nov 2014 5:33 p.m. PST |
To be fair Don, rather than Central American's, they get North Africans, those from the Middle East, the Baltics and other sections of Africa. |
Great War Ace | 22 Nov 2014 7:33 p.m. PST |
Don's sarcasm was not lost on this boy. The USA has always produced the most material wealth, more than any industrialized nation. Per capita. Poor people here live in "respectable poverty". I know this empirically. Now, you can carp and moan about wage discrepancy, gouging the poor, etc. and etc. The facts are otherwise when you are comparing practical differences in living standards. One example: link Not quite as bad as it was asserted to be not that long ago, where India had five persons per room. Things are getting better? Hopefully. I'd rather use a comparison like that, than cooked numbers by those who don't live in the USA…. |
Tgunner | 23 Nov 2014 6:52 a.m. PST |
To be fair Don, rather than Central American's, they get North Africans, those from the Middle East, the Baltics and other sections of Africa.
True, but to be equally fair the U.S. gets that crowd too. I have students from Libya and Jordan, Nigeria, and Russia as well. People who can vote with their feet! |
alien BLOODY HELL surfer | 24 Nov 2014 6:18 a.m. PST |
True Tgunner, I was merely pointing out that immigrants happen everywhere, legal or not. America was founded on what the natives would consider illegal immigrants :-) |
Weasel | 26 Nov 2014 2:08 p.m. PST |
We're a few moments away from finding out what happens when a consumer economy has no consumers. Maybe people have forgotten 2008 and what happens when an economy that runs on buying on credit has no credit. "Someone else has it worse somewhere in the world" is a terrible argument for why people should shut up and accept their fate.
Also, arguing that income distribution is skewed now is not the same as arguing there should be no difference at all. We're all adults here, so let's use adult talk, eh? |
monash1916 | 02 Dec 2014 1:39 p.m. PST |
More America sucks sentiment. It's boring already. What part of America are you refering to exactly Don? Mexico? Canada?? 😏 😈 Oh and by the way, it is "The Netherlands"…, and not "Holland". 😃 😎 |