4 ms·

I'm still waiting for the trickle-down economics from tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-rich to trickle my way. Maybe if I wait harder.

jksflkjl3jk3 2y ago
What exactly are you looking for? The quality of life has increased by many metrics for the vast majority of people in the world over the last century.
- giraffe_lady 2y ago
  Probably some of the other metrics then I would guess.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
  The quality of my life has not improved over the course of my adulthood. It was for a while then stalled and now I'm seeing reductions. Like for instance, it used to be that I could go out with dinner at restaurant now and again without having to think about the cost and its impact on my monthly budget. Now I have to ration that kind of activity. I was considering moving to a larger house, but that's fiscally impossible now. I used to take actual vacations on a plane to places - also now off the table. This may seem like whining because I have a place to live and can buy groceries and pay bills. But that's it. I am seeing objective losses in my options because my income is well below inflation (both real and reported). My personal quality of life is decreasing. That is the metric I'm using.
simonsarris 2y ago
Median Household Income in the US is 75K. In Germany its 42K (lets round up to 50) Tax Rates on 75K income in the US: 19% (take home 60K). In Germany on 50K: 35% (take home 32K) What are you waiting for, exactly? America is profoundly, almost absurdly prosperous. Truck drivers here make more than software developers in many "modern" countries, even in spite of the fruits of remote work. edit: aredox in replies has even better proof of mass American prosperity vs the rest of the world over the last 20 years. It shows 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile incomes all shooting up for the US and the major European nations mostly stagnating, especially for the 10th and 50th pct populations.
- jltsiren 2y ago
  You should compare individual incomes, not household incomes. American households are large by the standards of the developed world, and single-member households are rare.
- bogle 2y ago
  Surely that's not the whole story, though. In your example just consider what a German gets from their contribution to the state compared to the USAian. I'm particularly thinking about universal health care and free higher education. According to numbeo.com, the cost of living in the US is 26% higher than Germany (the US is more expensive in almost every metric). It's not just Germany that's both easier and less expensive to live in, either.
- diffeomorphism 2y ago
  These numbers are very apples to oranges. You also need to account for additional healthcare spending, dental, vision, pension, benefits, cost of living, expenses, costs of education etc. I lived and worked both in LA and in Germany and while the salary sticker prices are quite different, the outcomes are quite similar. Furthermore, the "prosperity" in the US is much, much more unevenly distributed with luxury on one end (e.g. Westwood or Pasadena) and living and working conditions for others that felt more like a third world country (e.g. south of LAX felt very sketchy). And that is not even touching on the drugs and homeless problems. Germans definitely grumble too much, but Americans overshoot in the other direction and gloss over very real problems.
- aredox 2y ago
  Your statistics are crude. Here is a proper analysis: https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68945 https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68...
  - simonsarris 2y ago
    That shows 50th percentile disposable income shooting upwards over the last 20 years and the only competition being Norway and Switzerland, and breaking away upwards from the developed country average. Again, if OP is waiting for prosperity and doesn't see it yet, they'll be waiting forever. Add US, Germany, France, Spain, UK and you'll see the US graph incomes shoot upwards for 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile, and the other countries stagnate or even decline, even for the 50th and 10th!

jksflkjl3jk3 2y ago

What exactly are you looking for? The quality of life has increased by many metrics for the vast majority of people in the world over the last century.

giraffe_lady 2y ago
Probably some of the other metrics then I would guess.
Eddy_Viscosity2 2y ago
The quality of my life has not improved over the course of my adulthood. It was for a while then stalled and now I'm seeing reductions. Like for instance, it used to be that I could go out with dinner at restaurant now and again without having to think about the cost and its impact on my monthly budget. Now I have to ration that kind of activity. I was considering moving to a larger house, but that's fiscally impossible now. I used to take actual vacations on a plane to places - also now off the table. This may seem like whining because I have a place to live and can buy groceries and pay bills. But that's it. I am seeing objective losses in my options because my income is well below inflation (both real and reported). My personal quality of life is decreasing. That is the metric I'm using.

simonsarris 2y ago

Median Household Income in the US is 75K. In Germany its 42K (lets round up to 50) Tax Rates on 75K income in the US: 19% (take home 60K). In Germany on 50K: 35% (take home 32K) What are you waiting for, exactly? America is profoundly, almost absurdly prosperous. Truck drivers here make more than software developers in many "modern" countries, even in spite of the fruits of remote work. edit: aredox in replies has even better proof of mass American prosperity vs the rest of the world over the last 20 years. It shows 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile incomes all shooting up for the US and the major European nations mostly stagnating, especially for the 10th and 50th pct populations.

jltsiren 2y ago
You should compare individual incomes, not household incomes. American households are large by the standards of the developed world, and single-member households are rare.
bogle 2y ago
Surely that's not the whole story, though. In your example just consider what a German gets from their contribution to the state compared to the USAian. I'm particularly thinking about universal health care and free higher education. According to numbeo.com, the cost of living in the US is 26% higher than Germany (the US is more expensive in almost every metric). It's not just Germany that's both easier and less expensive to live in, either.
diffeomorphism 2y ago
These numbers are very apples to oranges. You also need to account for additional healthcare spending, dental, vision, pension, benefits, cost of living, expenses, costs of education etc. I lived and worked both in LA and in Germany and while the salary sticker prices are quite different, the outcomes are quite similar. Furthermore, the "prosperity" in the US is much, much more unevenly distributed with luxury on one end (e.g. Westwood or Pasadena) and living and working conditions for others that felt more like a third world country (e.g. south of LAX felt very sketchy). And that is not even touching on the drugs and homeless problems. Germans definitely grumble too much, but Americans overshoot in the other direction and gloss over very real problems.
aredox 2y ago
Your statistics are crude. Here is a proper analysis: https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68945 https://www.ft.com/content/ef265420-45e8-497b-b308-c951baa68...
- simonsarris 2y ago
  That shows 50th percentile disposable income shooting upwards over the last 20 years and the only competition being Norway and Switzerland, and breaking away upwards from the developed country average. Again, if OP is waiting for prosperity and doesn't see it yet, they'll be waiting forever. Add US, Germany, France, Spain, UK and you'll see the US graph incomes shoot upwards for 10th, 50th, and 90th percentile, and the other countries stagnate or even decline, even for the 50th and 10th!