4 ms·

How does this explain why, compared to middle-income Germans, middle-income Marylanders have low life satisfaction, feel economically insecure, and die younger?

by mjn 6y ago

bhupy 6y ago
Maryland has among the highest HDI’s in the Union: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_Human_Development_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ.... It’s not dissimilar from that of Germany (0.935 vs 0.939), and it’s higher than that of most other OECD nations. As for average life expectancy: the average is brought down by outliers. In general, the US has a higher homicide rate, a higher motor vehicle death rate, a higher obesity rate, and a higher opioid/drug death rate. These external factors all bring down the average life expectancy number more substantially than in other countries: https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2017/05/16/the-explanatory-power-of-drugs-car-accidents-and-homicides-on-us-life-expectancy-gaps/ https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2017/05/16/the-explanator...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
rayiner 6y ago
I’m referring to your specific point here: “I'm not sure I'd say the US has consciously made that tradeoff.” Even if you assume the lack of a safety net causes the symptoms above, my point is that the lack of a safety net is deliberate, because even our left wing party promises not to raise taxes enough to actually fund a more robust safety net. Apart from that, the life expectancy of white Marylanders is 80 years, just a bit shorter than for Germans (80.9 years). But 30% of our state’s population is from a minority group that was enslaved on Maryland plantations, and then denied civil rights until very recently. If bill gates had been born in the county where I live as a Black kid, he would have gone to a segregated school until middle school. Their life expectancy is several years lower, due to the legacy of those injustices. Many of the differences between the US and European countries are misdiagnosed as matters of general policy (safety net, healthcare). But when you break it down, much of the difference is actually the result of the country’s history and large Black-white gaps in many indicators. The median white household, for example, has 10 times the wealth of the median Black household—a fact that plays a huge role in people feeling economically insecure. But those gaps can not necessarily be fixed with the same policy choices that European countries apply to their general populations. That wealth gap, for example, has not changed since the 1960s, when Maryland schools were still segregated—despite a large growth in general social welfare spending since that time. It is a unique challenge that requires targeted solutions, and there is no political will to implement those policies. These policy challenges simply have no parallel in Germany.

How does this explain why, compared to middle-income Germans, middle-income Marylanders have low life satisfaction, feel economically insecure, and die younger?

by mjn 6y ago

How does this explain why, compared to middle-income Germans, middle-income Marylanders have low life satisfaction, feel economically insecure, and die younger?

bhupy 6y ago

Maryland has among the highest HDI’s in the Union: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_Human_Development_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ.... It’s not dissimilar from that of Germany (0.935 vs 0.939), and it’s higher than that of most other OECD nations. As for average life expectancy: the average is brought down by outliers. In general, the US has a higher homicide rate, a higher motor vehicle death rate, a higher obesity rate, and a higher opioid/drug death rate. These external factors all bring down the average life expectancy number more substantially than in other countries: https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2017/05/16/the-explanatory-power-of-drugs-car-accidents-and-homicides-on-us-life-expectancy-gaps/ https://randomcriticalanalysis.com/2017/05/16/the-explanator...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

rayiner 6y ago

I’m referring to your specific point here: “I'm not sure I'd say the US has consciously made that tradeoff.” Even if you assume the lack of a safety net causes the symptoms above, my point is that the lack of a safety net is deliberate, because even our left wing party promises not to raise taxes enough to actually fund a more robust safety net. Apart from that, the life expectancy of white Marylanders is 80 years, just a bit shorter than for Germans (80.9 years). But 30% of our state’s population is from a minority group that was enslaved on Maryland plantations, and then denied civil rights until very recently. If bill gates had been born in the county where I live as a Black kid, he would have gone to a segregated school until middle school. Their life expectancy is several years lower, due to the legacy of those injustices. Many of the differences between the US and European countries are misdiagnosed as matters of general policy (safety net, healthcare). But when you break it down, much of the difference is actually the result of the country’s history and large Black-white gaps in many indicators. The median white household, for example, has 10 times the wealth of the median Black household—a fact that plays a huge role in people feeling economically insecure. But those gaps can not necessarily be fixed with the same policy choices that European countries apply to their general populations. That wealth gap, for example, has not changed since the 1960s, when Maryland schools were still segregated—despite a large growth in general social welfare spending since that time. It is a unique challenge that requires targeted solutions, and there is no political will to implement those policies. These policy challenges simply have no parallel in Germany.