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Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

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Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#111

Post by purple-again »

dpark wrote: post #70
purple-again wrote: post #6

>> Nominal GDP per capita does not, however, reflect differences in the cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries; therefore using a basis of GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) is arguably more useful when comparing differences in living standards between different nations. If you live in a roach infested box in California you need to be putting dollars in the bank and have an exit plan to…

You do realize that most of California is not the Bay Area, right? Also you sound pretty bitter. I never saw a roach when I lived in Mountain View, though my apartment was pretty small.

Hmm not sure how you could take away such a poor interpratiaton of my comment. I’m actually having a great day and one of the best years of my life.

At the time of my comment, very early in the submission, all of the other comments were drawing false conclusions about what is being presented. GDP comparisons tell you nothing about the lives of the people living in those two areas being compared. My original comment was meant to point that out to an audience that may not have spent much time studying economics.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#112

Post by phkahler »

tedivm wrote: post #65
skratlo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazingly, it required a labor force 75% larger (and 14.5 million more people) in the UK to produce the same economic output Look at it the other way, the UK can house & feed more people with the same economic output, therefore being more efficient at those tasks.

The UK has 1.75x the number of people than California, but has 2.19x the number of homeless people (more than 250,000 as of 2016, compared to California having 114,000 as of 2017).

"Work expands to fill the amount of time available to complete it." Apparently this applies to man-hours as well as calendar time.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#113

Post by semperdark »

sizzzzlerz wrote: post #68
bane wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California...and the West Coast of the U.S. is an interesting place in that it's geographically divided from the rest of the country by a couple of major mountain ranges and large deserts. In addition, something like almost 50% of the state is unusable federal land (national parks, military bases, etc.) Despite this, it's one of the major agricultural producers in the world due to it's variety of climate zones and lo…

I looked up the stats on public vs. private land in each state and was totally surprised to see that your 50% figure is correct (actually 52% on that chart I was looking at). That said, much of that land falls into national and state parks, monuments, recreational areas, forests, lakes and reservoirs, all of which make the state a more pleasant place to live and recreate in so I'm perfectly fine with that.

You should see Nevada - the federal government owns 85% of the land there.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#114

Post by linkmotif »

curiousgal wrote: post #21
linkmotif wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mighty doesn’t mean everyone gets free stuff via government redistribution programs. And maybe one can see that this is the reason America is “mighty.” We attract and retain the best of the whole world, who come here because they are tired of senseless redistribution campaigns by the have-nots of the world. Not to mention freedom generally, which is why my family came to the US: we were not seeking economic opportuni…

Well, this isn't the 80s anymore, no one talks of Russia anymore. What I meant was based on looking at European countries like Sweden and Finland or even France. Also, I am not saying the U.S. is a horrible place to live in, I am just saying that it has the potential to be more liveable for all citizens, not just the very "best".

Well the same is true for the rest of the world. I live in Queens, NY surrounded by the world’s best who came here from all over the place. For every 100,000 people from Bangladesh here in Queens, I wonder whether these is even 1 American living permanently in Bangladesh. I wonder how many expats there are out there total, and which country has the closest immigration balance to the United States, which probably leads the world by a lot in any metric of incoming immigrants.

I focus on immigration because where you choose to live seems like the single greatest vote of confidence that you can make. So I wonder why people here in the states want to make the states more like other places when clearly people from other places want to come here.

> I am just saying that it has the potential to be more liveable for all citizens, not just the very "best".

Yeah it definitely could and should be. There is a lot of low hanging fruit.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#115

Post by reaperducer »

alehul wrote: post #41
curiousgal wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I've been to Scandinavia and despite the countries having less GDPs, the quality of life, for the average citizen, is way higher.

As a Swede living in the United States, I can agree that the average person has a higher quality of life in Scandinavia! I don't think it's possible to have that in the States, though; the country doesn't seem meant for it. The Scandinavian model relies on many incompatible tenets that could be mentioned, including but not limited to immigration. The Swedish system is already practically collapsing from its first maj…

One example is that all your income tax goes to the local government up until a certain point (~65,000 USD?), and it's redistributed at that level, rather than being siphoned through so many levels of bureaucracy like in the States.

A very intriguing idea. I like it on the surface, but it falls down a little bit because local taxation is varied. Some cities have their own income taxes, while others don't. Some states have income taxes, while others don't. Some states|counties|cities have sales tax, while others don't. It's a hodge-podge.

The local jurisdictions use this as an incentive to draw in new businesses. The idea is for local control of taxation. But your proposal seems to give the locals more control over taxes than the top-down structure we have now. It's worth thinking about.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#116

Post by [deleted] »

jaytaylor wrote: post #69
tedivm wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK has 1.75x the number of people than California, but has 2.19x the number of homeless people (more than 250,000 as of 2016, compared to California having 114,000 as of 2017).

Homeless people don't die off seasonally due to weather in California.

[deleted]

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#117

Post by adventured »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #100
alehul wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Swede living in the United States, I can agree that the average person has a higher quality of life in Scandinavia! I don't think it's possible to have that in the States, though; the country doesn't seem meant for it. The Scandinavian model relies on many incompatible tenets that could be mentioned, including but not limited to immigration. The Swedish system is already practically collapsing from its first maj…

Australia is a nation of immigrants. About 30% of the Australian population are immigrants, and rising. Less than 50% of Australians have both parents born in Australia. Australia still manages to have great quality of life (unless you are an Aboriginal). I'm not sure how they manage it, I haven't looked into it, but somehow they have.

They've managed it through the greatest major real estate bubble in modern history (by a large margin).

Their housing market value as a share of GDP, is about 2.6x that of the US rate.

https://i.imgur.com/h0BOtzE.png

The other thing has been the rise of China and selling them a vast supply of commodities.

In 2002, Australia's GDP per capita was $20,000, while the US was $38,000. A dramatic gap. China's GDP explosion began in 2003 (their economy went from $1.4t in 2002 to $4.6t in 2008, and on upward from there). Australia's GDP soared right along with China's economy.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#118

Post by jandrese »

I'm surprised just how far up the chart the tiny 61 square mile city of Washington DC is. A lot of the contractors are out in the 'burbs in different states and a big chunk of that is taken up by disadvantaged neighborhoods. So the concentration of wealth is even more extreme than it looks at first.

I'm guessing the majority of that is the millions of people on GSA payroll sitting in office buildings all day. That and of course lawyers and lobbyists.

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#119

Post by mkingston »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #92
tedivm wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK has 1.75x the number of people than California, but has 2.19x the number of homeless people (more than 250,000 as of 2016, compared to California having 114,000 as of 2017).

I am always skeptical of comparing numbers of homeless people, as different countries have vastly different methods of measurement. For instance, New Zealand has the highest number of homeless people per capita. But this is only because in New Zealand, you're basically counted as homeless if you don't have a rental contract or own a house. I was technically homeless for 18 months or so, despite having a roof over my…

Is this what they mean when they refer to child poverty in NZ? The near-100% child homeless rate?

Of course, child poverty itself is no joke..

Re: Map: US States Renamed as Countries with Similar GDPs

#120

Post by coldtea »

mikeash wrote: post #66
adjkant wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because the quality of life is not similar. I think the parent of your post implicitly used that quality of life and poverty rates between the two are (relatively) comparable.

How comparable, exactly? If QoL in California is better in proportion to the workforce disparity then the UK isn’t any more efficient. If it goes the other way then the UK is even more efficient. Assuming they’re the same doesn’t make any sense.

If they're more or less the same, then assuming they're the same makes perfect sense.
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