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Let's look at France then. They have lower numbers on paper when you look at things like per capita GDP, but they live longer lives, work about half the hours

Let's look at France then. They have lower numbers on paper when you look at things like per capita GDP, but they live longer lives, work about half the hours we do, take a full month of vacation, have access to free higher education and healthcare, etc. The estimates for their overall wellbeing are very similar to ours [0]. At to income distribution - in France the lowest quintile controls 8% of incomes [1], while in the US that number is less than 3% [2]. In fact, the second quintile in the US controls only 8%, which means that for the bottom 40% of income earners, one is very likely to be better off living in France. Income inequality does indeed matter when you have many millions of people living in abject poverty, and it is a very relevant thing to consider when comparing economies. [0] http://klenow.com/Jones_Klenow.pdf http://klenow.com/Jones_Klenow.pdf [1] https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/france/income-distribution https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/france/income-distribution [2] https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/cps-hinc/hinc-05.html https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-p...

rank0 3y ago
There’s a lot of great things about the French economy. There’s also plenty of areas where they lag behind the US. The French labor force participation rate is ~74% compared to ~62% in America. The French homeless rate is 3x the US rate. France just defaulted on its national pension obligations a few months ago. What policy exactly should we copy from France? If we’re still arguing about wealth redistribution policies I want a clearly articulated example of a superior system. I don’t see where it is in France but please lmk if I’m missing something.
- alex_young 3y ago
  Sure, I’m not suggesting we copy any one policy, but the assumption that people in the US are better off than everyone else and that it is somehow because we don’t tax wealth is kind of silly. By some measures many European nations are better off economically than we are. And many of these countries have wealth taxes. We’d also be remiss to overlook that the US had a tremendous advantage in not having our infrastructure destroyed in the middle of the 20th century.
  - rank0 3y ago
    Glad we could find common ground! I’m not claiming that life in America is inherently better…just pointing out that things are pretty fucking good all considered. I’m not in favor of a wealth tax though I frankly still don’t see any evidence that it improves society. Our edge as a nation comes from our insane technological and economic output. Squeezing the private sector too hard can drive away that innovation. At some point in the future our economic machine eventually falters and we’ll loose reserve currency status. That’ll mean a massive drop in US living standards across the board…so I hope it happens way after we’re dead.
    - vacuity 3y ago
      > just pointing out that things are pretty fucking good all considered. That might be true, but we can do a lot better in terms of eliminating poverty. > I’m not in favor of a wealth tax though I frankly still don’t see any evidence that it improves society. Blindly throwing money at things probably doesn't help. I daresay there are plenty of great initiatives the government could support with better spending. If money becomes the bottleneck, that's where the wealth tax comes in. > Our edge as a nation comes from our insane technological and economic output. Squeezing the private sector too hard can drive away that innovation. I don't think we have been squeezing the private sector hard enough. I value the notion of innovation enough that I don't support widespread nationalization of companies, but there's plenty of waste going on. Government contractors are a great example. Our unbridled capitalism has resulted in massive corporations focusing on making obscene amounts of profit. Insurance companies, credit companies, data brokers, FAANG (although some of what Google does is quite innovative), etc.. I imagine there's a disproportionate amount of innovation considering all the profit.

rank0 3y ago

There’s a lot of great things about the French economy. There’s also plenty of areas where they lag behind the US. The French labor force participation rate is ~74% compared to ~62% in America. The French homeless rate is 3x the US rate. France just defaulted on its national pension obligations a few months ago. What policy exactly should we copy from France? If we’re still arguing about wealth redistribution policies I want a clearly articulated example of a superior system. I don’t see where it is in France but please lmk if I’m missing something.

alex_young 3y ago
Sure, I’m not suggesting we copy any one policy, but the assumption that people in the US are better off than everyone else and that it is somehow because we don’t tax wealth is kind of silly. By some measures many European nations are better off economically than we are. And many of these countries have wealth taxes. We’d also be remiss to overlook that the US had a tremendous advantage in not having our infrastructure destroyed in the middle of the 20th century.
- rank0 3y ago
  Glad we could find common ground! I’m not claiming that life in America is inherently better…just pointing out that things are pretty fucking good all considered. I’m not in favor of a wealth tax though I frankly still don’t see any evidence that it improves society. Our edge as a nation comes from our insane technological and economic output. Squeezing the private sector too hard can drive away that innovation. At some point in the future our economic machine eventually falters and we’ll loose reserve currency status. That’ll mean a massive drop in US living standards across the board…so I hope it happens way after we’re dead.
  - vacuity 3y ago
    > just pointing out that things are pretty fucking good all considered. That might be true, but we can do a lot better in terms of eliminating poverty. > I’m not in favor of a wealth tax though I frankly still don’t see any evidence that it improves society. Blindly throwing money at things probably doesn't help. I daresay there are plenty of great initiatives the government could support with better spending. If money becomes the bottleneck, that's where the wealth tax comes in. > Our edge as a nation comes from our insane technological and economic output. Squeezing the private sector too hard can drive away that innovation. I don't think we have been squeezing the private sector hard enough. I value the notion of innovation enough that I don't support widespread nationalization of companies, but there's plenty of waste going on. Government contractors are a great example. Our unbridled capitalism has resulted in massive corporations focusing on making obscene amounts of profit. Insurance companies, credit companies, data brokers, FAANG (although some of what Google does is quite innovative), etc.. I imagine there's a disproportionate amount of innovation considering all the profit.