http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/09/travel/prosperity-index-2015/index.html

Quote :

" The world's best and worst places to live are 10 most prosperous countries 1. Norway 2. Switzerland 3. Denmark 4. New Zealand 4. Sweden 6. Canada 7. Australia 8. Netherlands 9. Finland 10. Ireland "

WTF whoever wrote this is a freedom and capitalism hating community. Obviously Amurica should be #1!

Quote :

"Health Best: USA Worst: Central African Republic"

BTW unless "Health" is ranked on medical innovation or shear number of medical providers, I don't see how we are "Best" in the Health category for a number of reasons. Ways I can't see America as #1 in health include
- Access to health care
- American Obesity Rates
- Fitness
- Food, with all those chemicals
- Life Expectancy

11/9/2015 12:52:00 PM

I personally don't think that it makes any sense in today's world to compare the entire US to small, wealthy European countries like Sweden or Holland. The EU has become fairly united, and it actually seems more accurate to think of them as different states or territories as as opposed to countries.

11/9/2015 1:17:13 PM

When you look at Europe as one nation, the GDP is no longer comparable to the US. Of course, you cant do as much with half the money/resources.

Sweden, NL, Denmark provide good examples for comparison because despite our opportunity to have an advantage based on economies of scale, we do much less for our people with much more money/resources.

Capitalists will do anything to deny these facts because they show that socialism is much more effective in terms of overall human development.

11/9/2015 5:53:01 PM

Actually, you're wrong ^

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)

The EU is slightly larger than the US when it comes to GDP, but they are definitely comparable.



[Edited on November 9, 2015 at 6:46 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2015 6:45:32 PM

Total GDP is not an important statistic. Otherwise, Chinese people would be well off. You must focus on GDP per capita. Europe is ~37k per person while the us is ~54k per person.

[Edited on November 9, 2015 at 6:52 PM. Reason : not even close once you think about poor eastern european countries. ]

11/9/2015 6:50:31 PM

Right, which is why I specifically linked to PPP and specifically said the EU, not just all of Europe. Also, there are more Chinese millionaires than you'd initially think:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-has-the-most-millionaires-but-china-is-making-millionaires-faster-2015-6



[Edited on November 9, 2015 at 6:58 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2015 6:54:06 PM

Are people encouraged to create mildly controversial threads?

This and the racist ephemera thread and the "'ghetto' is racist" thread just seem totes silly to me.

11/9/2015 7:02:59 PM

Feigned/contrived controversy is all TWW really has these days. You need to lower your expectations, lady.

11/9/2015 7:07:57 PM

Did you seriously just call me "lady"?

WTF! I am appalled, sir!

11/9/2015 7:17:00 PM

you called me "bougie" just the other day. payback is a bitch, ain't it?

11/9/2015 7:20:57 PM

You is bougie as shit though.

If I had the time, I could prove it definitively.

11/9/2015 7:24:17 PM

Quote :

"Right, which is why I specifically linked to PPP and specifically said the EU, not just all of Europe. Also, there are more Chinese millionaires than you'd initially think:"

I'm not sure you understand what PPP and "per capita" mean or perhaps the significance.

If PPP was how much the country can collectively buy, then PPP per capita would be how much the country can buy each person in that country.

In the new link you posted (the link was changed in an edit after my last post btw), China is also above the US but that is a completely irrelevant fact as they have to support 1 billion extra people with the same amount of money. Of course there are hundreds of millions of people who are well off in china but It would be insane to expect a similar quality of life for the average person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

This is what you're looking for.

11/9/2015 7:26:52 PM

^^you're logged into TWW. let's not kid ourselves about 'not having the time' to do anything.

^ the link didn't post correctly when I first posted it- I didn't go back and change the link to be a different site, I just fixed it so that the PPP part was included in the link. It did the same thing to you LOL. But, yeah, I do know the difference between PPP and per capita. YOU were the one who just said GDP and EUROPE, not me.




[Edited on November 9, 2015 at 7:32 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2015 7:27:31 PM

Sorry I thought it was a no brainer that we would be discussing GDP per capita in a thread about the lives of PEOPLE

11/9/2015 7:33:10 PM

I still want to know how the USA got #1 on anything Health related unless it was the profit margin of big pharma or having the #1 tool bag hedge fun manager pharma bro

11/9/2015 7:34:47 PM

^^Lotsa different ways to measure GDP. PPP and Per Capita are definitely both better measures than just GDP alone. And when you look at the EU and the US as a whole, they are somewhat comparable.

[Edited on November 9, 2015 at 7:35 PM. Reason : .]

11/9/2015 7:35:37 PM

Yes on the first statement which is why I posted PPP PER CAPITA. Thats all I've been referencing the entire time. Check the numbers i posted if you want although the same point would hold if you used nominal per capita.

No on The 2nd statement. Meaningless. China is also comparable to the US and Europe (as a whole) if you look at it that way. There are some contexts in which those numbers would be meaningful but never when discussing anything related to everyday quality of life.

11/9/2015 7:49:38 PM

I visit Norway (Bergen and Oslo) every year for a conference and to see my wife's family and its not that great at all. They're perfectly fine little cities, but they're not particularly special in any way. Food is mediocre at best. It's gray, rainy, and cold. Strangers come off as cold. Taxes are insane, 150% tax on a gas car. Everything is expensive including their crappy Hansa beer. Oh and all their wealth comes from oil which is their own policies are destroying so they'll be bankrupt in 50 years.

Worst of all, they eat pizza and hamburgers with forks.

11/9/2015 10:18:54 PM

Its classy to eat with fjorks.

Quote :

"They're perfectly fine little cities, but they're not particularly special in any way."

Whats great about it isn't excitement, food, or ceiling on your lifestyle. The floor is whats great about norway. The amount of people who live in poverty, hunger, health poverty etc being extremely low is whats awesome about it. The access to good public education. None of these are things a visitor would be amused by. Social welfare isn't something to attract tourism. This is the opposite of Dubai in terms of how they spend oil money.

The natural beauty of the fjords is whats amazing. Take the "norway in a nutshell" tour next time you are there.

11/9/2015 10:28:55 PM