We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
nytimes.com
We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
1–10 of 119 posts
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#2It's fascinating to see how even a nation with a free media can still have total buy-in to an entirely delusional self-image.
Scary stuff.
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#3It's fascinating to see how even a nation with a free media can still have total buy-in to an entirely delusional self-image. Scary stuff.
Do you mean the US or Norway?
Also, I'll note this article is from 2005, so I'm not sure how much these figures have changes since then.
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#4The statistics are misleading and muddy:
- Comparing adjusted disposable income between Scandinavia and the US is highly misleading. The disposable income in Scandinavia doesn't need to cover any healthcare, education and other public services. I wonder how much, if any, the difference is once you adjust for that.
- The argument mistakes distribution of wealth with average output per capita. Portugal is in the bottom of the list in the GDP per capita comparison between US states and EU countries. In Portugal there is a somewhat high wage disparity which means that those with high wages can afford to pay those with low wages to get cheap pizza (the example given). The same disparity exists in the US and pizza is cheap too, even though the US GDP per capita is at the other extreme of the comparison. Scandinavian countries have low wage disparity so things are more expensive by comparison. It has nothing to do with the output of the economy.
Basically it is trying to draw conclusions about the strength of the economies based on statistics that don't properly control for very relevant factors. The only good argument is the 2.2% vs 3% GDP growth rates. Considering the article is from 2005, recent events may throw some doubt into that picture. The latest estimates on Wikipedia were 2.6% in Norway and 1.1% in the US.
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#5It's fascinating to see how even a nation with a free media can still have total buy-in to an entirely delusional self-image. Scary stuff.
It's a testament to the differences between perception and reality. The NHS in the UK regularly gets poor ratings, in fact they're regularly flat out abysmal on national satisfaction scales, yet all out-patient questionnaire's regularly return with satisfaction rates >90%.
People perceive the NHS as this behemoth incapable of performing, but the reality is that it performs amazingly well and provides one of the best health care in the world.
Perceptions of America suffer a similar thing, it's always direly low in many countries. A very recent poll in Canada showed that they like Obama, and that a vast majority like Americans as individuals. Yet respondents states that Canadians dislike America on a whole more since Obama took office than before, and that Canadians feel less safe visiting the US than before.
Even I have recognized the cognitive dissonance of liking many Americans, liking the Presidency, I even like a vast amount of Americas culture, yet there's something ingrained in me that dislikes 'America'. Perhaps it's just the politics.
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#6It's fascinating to see how even a nation with a free media can still have total buy-in to an entirely delusional self-image. Scary stuff.
Do you mean the US or Norway? Also, I'll note this article is from 2005, so I'm not sure how much these figures have changes since then.
Norway in this case. I'm not sure what America's delusion would be.
I've been living here too long to tell.
In any event, I think America's dirty laundry has been thoroughly scrutinized at this point.
Every time I return to Europe most people are all too happy to remind me what precisely is wrong with America (income disparity, minority incarceration rates, healthcare, etc etc).
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you mean the US or Norway? Also, I'll note this article is from 2005, so I'm not sure how much these figures have changes since then.
Norway in this case. I'm not sure what America's delusion would be. I've been living here too long to tell. In any event, I think America's dirty laundry has been thoroughly scrutinized at this point. Every time I return to Europe most people are all too happy to remind me what precisely is wrong with America (income disparity, minority incarceration rates, healthcare, etc etc).
I agree that continuously pointing out those gets tiring fast (even though they are true). But then the US response tends to be "but on average we make more money". It's great that the US produces more (and can borrow more) and can buy more stuff, but that in itself does not guarantee quality of living. Diminishing returns on happiness of having more money kick in too soon for that to be a full argument.
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#8The Timbro study that makes up the bulk of the author's argument can be found at http://www.timbro.se/bokhandel/pdf/9175665646.pdf. Most of the numbers are based on the US economy circa 1995-2000.
Bonus points for equating the economic prosperity of Spain with the alcoholic content of their drinks.
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#9The Economist's Big Mac compares purchasing power pretty well - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index
Re: We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
#10The statistics are misleading and muddy: - Comparing adjusted disposable income between Scandinavia and the US is highly misleading. The disposable income in Scandinavia doesn't need to cover any healthcare, education and other public services. I wonder how much, if any, the difference is once you adjust for that. - The argument mistakes distribution of wealth with average output per capita. Portugal is in the bottom…
Exactly. Watermelon cost like 50 cents in China, doesn't mean people are wealthier there.
Although for some reason the iPhone costs several hundred dollars more... But I'm sure they'll come to their senses soon and lower it.