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America is exceptional. There’s a good reason why Jobs was Syrian-American and not Syrian-Japanese or even Syrian-French. Japanese consumer growth stalled duri
by rejectedandsad 5y ago
America is exceptional. There’s a good reason why Jobs was Syrian-American and not Syrian-Japanese or even Syrian-French.
Japanese consumer growth stalled during their lost decade while Clintonomics gave us a boom. Americans are significantly wealthier than their Japanese or Western European counterparts, with the only exception maybe being Norway. A large, prosperous, and open society breeds innovation.
- croes 5y ago>Americans are significantly wealthier Mean or average?
- p1necone 5y agoI think you meant to ask mean or median? (To me 'average' means mean, median OR mode. Although in general usage often specifically refers to mean).
- rejectedandsad 5y agoMean and median are higher by most accounts, mean significantly moreso.
- IdiocyInAction 5y agoIf you mean median or average, both actually. You have to quite poor to be worse off (on average) in the US than in Europe (don't know about Japan); last time I checked it was something like the 10-20th percentile. FWIW, I am European, so no bias.
- ptr 5y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_... The median net worth seems to be higher in Western/Northern Europe than the US though. Eastern Europe pulls down the statistics quite a bit. Canada also has a higher median. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_median_wealth_per_adult_by_country._Credit_Suisse._2021_publication.png https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_median_wea...
- pedrosorio 5y agoThe GP specified Western Europe, so I doubt the 10th-20th percentile statistic is accurate since most Western European countries are not that far off from the US median[0]. If one takes into account the social services (education, healthcare, etc.) and general worker protections (mandatory PTO, parental leave, etc.) I think it’s clear the median earner in Western Europe is doing better than the median US worker in quality of life terms. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income
- jazzyjackson 5y agoIn aggregate. Our middle-class can't get enough of expensive consumer tech, to the point where you can be in debt and still sign up for a payment plan on the latest $1500 iphone. (on second thought, maybe our wealth comes from our credit-worthiness, aka our willingness to owe each other money)
- thaumasiotes 5y ago> with the only exception maybe being Norway As far as I'm aware, while the government of Norway has a lot of money, Norwegian people don't. But the Swiss do.
- suction 5y agoBut where do you actually see that prosperity? I don't think the average American has a better lifestyle than the average German or Swiss or French person.
- sumedh 5y ago> There’s a good reason why Jobs was Syrian-American Wasnt his birth father Syrian and then he got adopted by "American" parents so I dont know why the Syrian heritage is relevant here?
- staticman2 5y agoLife expectancy in Japan is 5 years higher than in the U.S, which does not suggest the U.S. population is benefitting from this alleged prosperity.