4 ms·

The US still has an exceedingly poor lower and middle class, and even if tech has helped alleviate that (cheap phones/tablets let more people be connected), gen

by rtpg 12y ago

The US still has an exceedingly poor lower and middle class, and even if tech has helped alleviate that (cheap phones/tablets let more people be connected), general quality of life for the average American is worse than many places in Western Europe, in Japan, SK, etc. There are structural issues with how America works that has prevented trickle-down economics from being a reality.

refurb 12y ago
quality of life for the average American is worse than many places in Western Europe, in Japan, SK, etc. Yet the number of folks who want to come to the US is unending, including folks from Western Europe, SK and Japan.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Yeah, so what? That's only a contradiction to the preceding statement if all of the following are true: 1) All those people are average where they are coming from. 2) All those peopke are coming to America expecting to end up as average Americans. 3) All those people have an accurate understanding of the economic conditions they are coming from and those experienced by the average American. Otherwise, it's a complete non-sequitur.
learc83 12y ago
While wages for the middle class have been somewhat stagnant for a while, I think your use of "exceedingly poor" is completely without merit. There are only 3 countries in the world (Luxemburg, Switzerland, and Norway) with a higher median household disposable income than the U.S. (using PPP) [1]. Obviously this doesn't tell the whole situation since most of Europe provides more government services, but the U.S. also has a lower tax burden (which isn't fully taken into account in disposable income because of VAT). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income
vixen99 12y ago
'general quality of life for the average American is worse than many places in Western Europe'. Maybe but here's food for thought - Fraser Nelson of the UK Spectator found that if Britain were to somehow leave the EU and join the US it'd be the 2nd-poorest state in the union. Poorer than Missouri. "Poorer than the much-maligned Kansas and Alabama. Poorer than any state other than Mississippi, and if you take out the south east we’d be poorer than that too." http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/08/why-britain-is-poorer-than-any-us-state-other-than-mississippi/ http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/08/why-britain...
- Zigurd 12y ago
  But if you walk around the UK and see the apparent quality of life, even in third-tier cities and country backwaters, and then go to the corresponding places in the US, like rural Alabama, you would have to start questioning those numbers.

by rtpg 12y ago

refurb 12y ago

quality of life for the average American is worse than many places in Western Europe, in Japan, SK, etc. Yet the number of folks who want to come to the US is unending, including folks from Western Europe, SK and Japan.

dragonwriter 12y ago
Yeah, so what? That's only a contradiction to the preceding statement if all of the following are true: 1) All those people are average where they are coming from. 2) All those peopke are coming to America expecting to end up as average Americans. 3) All those people have an accurate understanding of the economic conditions they are coming from and those experienced by the average American. Otherwise, it's a complete non-sequitur.

learc83 12y ago

While wages for the middle class have been somewhat stagnant for a while, I think your use of "exceedingly poor" is completely without merit. There are only 3 countries in the world (Luxemburg, Switzerland, and Norway) with a higher median household disposable income than the U.S. (using PPP) [1]. Obviously this doesn't tell the whole situation since most of Europe provides more government services, but the U.S. also has a lower tax burden (which isn't fully taken into account in disposable income because of VAT). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income

vixen99 12y ago

'general quality of life for the average American is worse than many places in Western Europe'. Maybe but here's food for thought - Fraser Nelson of the UK Spectator found that if Britain were to somehow leave the EU and join the US it'd be the 2nd-poorest state in the union. Poorer than Missouri. "Poorer than the much-maligned Kansas and Alabama. Poorer than any state other than Mississippi, and if you take out the south east we’d be poorer than that too." http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/08/why-britain-is-poorer-than-any-us-state-other-than-mississippi/ http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/08/why-britain...

Zigurd 12y ago
But if you walk around the UK and see the apparent quality of life, even in third-tier cities and country backwaters, and then go to the corresponding places in the US, like rural Alabama, you would have to start questioning those numbers.