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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

#131

Post by georgeecollins »

danielvf wrote: post #14

From the original article and chart (not the current linked site): > "California has a labor force of 19.3 million compared to the labor force in the UK of 33.8 million (World Bank data here). Amazingly, it required a labor force 75% larger (and 14.5 million more people) in the UK to produce the same economic output last year as California! ... Further, California as a separate country would have been the 5th largest…

California is also the economic engine of a larger region, where UK is a whole country. If you compare per capita GDP of London it is probably higher than California. But the truth is my native state is an economic and cultural miracle. Yay.

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

#132

Post by kungtotte »

pluto9 wrote: post #72
maxerickson wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well no, pointing out that the US strata are unusually and unnecessarily capricious isn't specious. The US is a rich country and the lack of resources for people at the bottom is more likely to be arbitrary than it is to be contributing to that wealth.

It is when you conveniently fail to mention the vast list of countries, many of which are on this map, whose stratification is far worse than that of the U.S.

Comparing specifically to Sweden, there is no similarity at all between the US and Sweden when it comes to economic classes and their differences. We have our upper class and working class too, but even those who are working poor here manage with one job and they still enjoy benefits like day care and health care.

How many people are hustling two or more jobs to make ends meet in the US? How many of them afford day care? What happens if they break a leg and can't work for a month?

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

#133

Post by pluto9 »

kungtotte wrote: post #132
pluto9 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is when you conveniently fail to mention the vast list of countries, many of which are on this map, whose stratification is far worse than that of the U.S.

Comparing specifically to Sweden, there is no similarity at all between the US and Sweden when it comes to economic classes and their differences. We have our upper class and working class too, but even those who are working poor here manage with one job and they still enjoy benefits like day care and health care. How many people are hustling two or more jobs to make ends meet in the US? How many of them afford day c…

I never said the U.S. deals with economic strata better than every other nation on Earth. In fact, I explicitly said that there are countries who handle it better. So what's your point?

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

#134

Post by adventured »

ReturnUD wrote: post #128
joeschmoe3 wrote: post #101

WOW... If you add up the population of the "similar GDP" countries its well over a a BILLION people.

Well, of course. It is us, "developing" nations' populace that gets the shortest end of the stick with no hope and redemption in sight. Honestly, injustice is just too great to bear. All you ever discuss is things like 10% gender-gap in payouts for the people within your arbitrary borders, yet the horrible exploitation inflicted on us by yourself is never ever discussed.

[flagged]

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

#135

Post by Diederich »

jaytaylor wrote: post #96
Diederich wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe that exposure to weather is killing a statistically significant number of people in the UK?

Hard to say about the UK for sure without further research. During college in Utah I was sad each winter to regularly read stories in the newspaper about homeless people found frozen to death in parks. After President Jimmy Carter closed the mental institutions in the 70s, the mentally ill people were just let out of the asylums without any plan or further support from the state. Since then, homelessness has grown in…

I'm on board with everything you said except about Jimmy Carter closing mental institutions; that's quite the opposite of what happened. It was his successor, Ronald Reagan, who was instrumental in closing many mental health services.

As far as California, specifically the bay area: it's a hell of a mess. Beyond people living on the streets, there is a growing group of people living in RVs. I took these pics near my office in Palo Alto a couple of weeks ago:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tJKzrSZmaU8HW1NaA

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

#136

Post by jaytaylor »

jaytaylor wrote: post #96
Diederich wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe that exposure to weather is killing a statistically significant number of people in the UK?

Hard to say about the UK for sure without further research. During college in Utah I was sad each winter to regularly read stories in the newspaper about homeless people found frozen to death in parks. After President Jimmy Carter closed the mental institutions in the 70s, the mentally ill people were just let out of the asylums without any plan or further support from the state. Since then, homelessness has grown in…

Thanks for the correction @Diederich, it was before I was alive and you are absolutely right- blame Reagan.

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

#137

Post by ReturnUD »

adventured wrote: post #134
ReturnUD wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, of course. It is us, "developing" nations' populace that gets the shortest end of the stick with no hope and redemption in sight. Honestly, injustice is just too great to bear. All you ever discuss is things like 10% gender-gap in payouts for the people within your arbitrary borders, yet the horrible exploitation inflicted on us by yourself is never ever discussed.

[flagged]

Thank you for your unbiased analysis - I was absolutely wrong about being exploited and offered zero sensible opportunities, silenced, devalued.

Go USA!!! Thank you for being such an ubermensch and inventing all that stuff. We are obviously too stupid here to invent anything, I wonder why.

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

#138

Post by adventured »

ReturnUD wrote: post #137
adventured wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Thank you for your unbiased analysis - I was absolutely wrong about being exploited and offered zero sensible opportunities, silenced, devalued. Go USA!!! Thank you for being such an ubermensch and inventing all that stuff. We are obviously too stupid here to invent anything, I wonder why.

The hole in your sarcastic premise, is the fact that the US was once a developing nation, dealing with vastly more powerful colonial powers. It was the colonial powers and their capital that provided the seed capital for the US to become what it is. Just as China was / has been a developing nation and is graduating from that status, built up by foreign developed nation capital. Just as South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada were all developing nations at one time.

Japan and Germany had to rebuild themselves from complete obliteration. Eastern Europe had to rebuild itself from decades of Soviet occupation and forced impoverishment: Czech took their GDP per capita from $2,800 in 1991, to $22,000 by 2008. Lithuania took its GDP per capita from $2,100 in 1995 to $15,000 by 2008; Estonia went from $3,000 to $18,000 over the same time frame.

I guess you can either whine about the wealth and power of other nations, or you can turn yourself into a successful nation like all of those examples have done.

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

#139

Post by JBReefer »

kungtotte wrote: post #130
joejerryronnie wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The population of Sweden is 10 million vs 325 million for the US. The issues faced by each country are vastly different in scale and policies which work at one scale will not necessarily work at the other. In this context we should be comparing the policies of Sweden to the policies of New York (but even that doesn't really work because of the vastly more diverse population of NY).

I totally accept the argument that it's not the same thing to run a country of 10 milion versus 325 million, but why does demographics matter so much? A lot of the differences between Sweden and the US comes down to things like whether health care should be a human right etc. Do you think people are less inclined to want "free" health care if they live in a community that's ethnically mixed? I don't buy it.

There are major differences between American culture and Scandavian - the Law of Jante, for example [1].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante

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

#140

Post by ReturnUD »

adventured wrote: post #138
ReturnUD wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your unbiased analysis - I was absolutely wrong about being exploited and offered zero sensible opportunities, silenced, devalued. Go USA!!! Thank you for being such an ubermensch and inventing all that stuff. We are obviously too stupid here to invent anything, I wonder why.

The hole in your sarcastic premise, is the fact that the US was once a developing nation, dealing with vastly more powerful colonial powers. It was the colonial powers and their capital that provided the seed capital for the US to become what it is. Just as China was / has been a developing nation and is graduating from that status, built up by foreign developed nation capital. Just as South Korea, Australia, New Zea…

Wow, what a wonderful idea. Let me just roll my sleeves and create a successful nation.

Germans, Czech, etc. were obviously so much smarter and hard-working than us - that's exactly the reason why they created a successful nation.

I have no words.

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