You are right that the USA has the largest number of millionaires in the world, and the largest number of millionaires under 40. However, the co-existence of those facts with more than 1 in 5 children living in poverty in the very same country simply testifies to the serious inconsistency in the distribution of wealth in the USA.
Forget that Medic. The US has not signed the UN convention on the rights of the child. Something even Iraq under Saddam agreed to.
Pinhead nobody knew that the Asian Financial crisis would happen. In 10 years if there is one that affects the BRIC countries and the they say the economies are going to go from good to pathetic would you agree with it then?
So what does inconsistency in the distribution of wealth have to do with anything? Your idea of the American Dream is what I would view as an American nightmare. The American Dream does not include the government deciding upon the equitable distribution of wealth. The Dream flows from the fundamental concept that wealth distribution is a function of productivity, creativity and hard work.
If the government told a young Bill Gates that he could sit on his *ss and do nothing and receive a minimum of $50,000 per year OR he could be productive, creative and work his *ss off but he would never earn more than $75,000 per year, there would be no Microsoft today.
Given that our system allowed for the creation and accumulation of vast wealth, it’s easy for someone to whine about how “inequitably” that wealth is distributed. But the wealth would never have been created in the first place if you didn’t allow individuals to accumulate it. It’s really quite simple: ** the more you try to equalize the distribution of wealth, the less wealth there will be in the total pie to distribute. **
Equality in and of itself is not a laudible goal. You can make the blind equal to the sighted people by blinding all the sighted ones. You can make slow runners equal to fast runners by hobbling the fast ones or by forcing the faster ones to carry heavy sacks. Bottom line is that you can only equalize at the least common denominator. The objective is to reward achievement and to strive for an equality of opportunity that enables everyone to strive to obtain the reward.
CM - you make a passionate arguement ... abount something that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the state of the American Dream. If your intent is to establish you don't like America, you've done that but that's about it.
Even where you're talking about wages in Europe - explain to me why people in Europe write to me to have me buy cameras and gadgets for them here in the US? Apparently there's a 30% difference in prices - so may be in a different discussion you will elaborate in real wage and purchasing power terms which may bring some credibility (not validity) to what you're saying.
^ poverty rates of each country are based on a certain % of people below the average medium income thus the poverty in the U.S. compared to other countries poverty can be like comparing apples to oranges.
Lets discuss merchandise prices shall we? How much does it cost to buy say a Nokia Communicator in Europe and the US? Due to the CAP agriculture prices are sky high. But from living in Europe for 6 years i can easily say that there is stuff cheaper there than it is in the US. Cell phones is one. Internet is another.
Sure lets discuss PPP. What would you like to start with? Health services? Housing? Welfare? Or comercial merchandises?
This thread is about Europe providing a better chance for people to live a better life. Is that not the american dream to live a better life than they already have? To prosper? Odd isn’t it that Europe is better at it.
I love the way that people like to stick their head in the sand and supposedly had the best education in the world
Europeans don't get paid more... pick a sector. Compare salaries. I can tell you about financial services, every european's wetdream is to come work in the US. This is where if you are good at what you do, you make the real money. Europe outside of the UK and Ireland, breeds complacency. The system is rife with entitlement without hard work. The cracks are showing. Three articles in FT today talk about that. The on eon France's loss of global trade, Germany's unemployment problem and inability of the eurolaggards to figureout a way out of the inflation mess, which is rising much faster there than in America.
Tsk tsk after all that rant about silly kids you go to the Big Mac index? That is just stupid. But do tell me how Minimum wage is linked to the Big Mac Index? Plus tell me how the Big Mac index makes health insurance, housing and welfare more accessible.
What about social welfare...doesn't Europe offer a far better service... atleast you don't have to wait in line for a bypass. It was an article I read from the NY Times actually, how the poor don't have the proper medical facilities. I think social welfare contributes significantly to the difference between a poor and acceptable standard of living.
^^ Yes catty. Unfortunately life on the unemployment line is wonderful. Unemployment in France is over 10%, in Germany over 12%. Who knows whether it is cause or effect, but the social welfare net is so comfy that life on the dole is not so rough. Of course the cost of those social welfare programs is borne by tax payers and business, and who would establish a new business in the highest cost labor market in the world? What high income tax payer would chose residency in a state that will take half your income. Would you not want to migrate somewhere where they take a lot less of your money?
That is a downward spiral that makes the American dream one that can persist, and the European dream one that is bound to fail.
Because my little moron, it factors in COLA based on inflation and standardizes global pricing for goods and services i.e. the reason a big mac costs $3.42 cents in NY and $4.50 cents in switzerlands on a comprable basis.
there is a reason why NY is cheaper than Tokyo and london to live in. Because people make more and keep more and decide how they want to pay for their healthcare, housing and general welfare. This is on top of the basic safety net already provided ot Americans though medicare and elderly through medicaid. What france pays for in healtcare costs couldn;t save 10000 people from dying because of a heatwave, because they couldn;t afford air conditioners. Get it now!!!
You know nothing and you learn less…not good fundametals to base your illogical arguments on.
Yeah that is why you link the Big Mac index to living standards The Economist will be appalled at your butchering of their little experiment. I am appalled that you are comparing medicare and medicaid with the social welfare system in Europe. Compare it to Russia sure. Europe? You have to be kidding me.
Edit: I hope you aren’t stating that due to inflation and standardizes global pricing yadda yadda blah blah you can compare the standard of health servcies provided in Europe with that in the US (just on price at that).
You’re absolutely right. But the question here is about pursuing the American dream ie trying to make it big from scratch. You’re looking at it from a middle to upper income earner’s viewpoint - for sure he’d rather take his money to the Cayman islands. But the layman, the impoverished or the refugee would rather move to a country where he’s assured he’ll be taken care of.
If a person with $50 in his pocket was to move to either of these countries, where would he go?
I think you still idealise the ‘trickle-down effect’, which regrettably does not work in most cases. I dont think unemployment rates are an effect in those countries. Just admit it, the US is just not as desirable and attractive as it once was, and the same goes for the UK.
"there is a reason why NY is cheaper than Tokyo and london to live in. Because people make more and keep more and decide how they want to pay for their healthcare, housing and general welfare. This is on top of the basic safety net already provided ot Americans though medicare and elderly through medicaid. What france pays for in healtcare costs couldn;t save 10000 people from dying because of a heatwave, because they couldn;t afford air conditioners. Get it now!!!"
Which part of this do you not get through that head of yours? let me know, I can go sentence by sentence.
American dream is an individualistic phenomenon. Social safety nets has nothing to do with it. Halfwits who think that social entitlement programs are in anyway related to the american dream are devoid of necessary sugars to function as human beings.
Big Mac index is not about hambugers you silly boy, it is about purchasing power which reflects standards of living. The ability for people to buy goods and services and what that costs vis-a-vis other places. Each time I engage in economic discussion with you, I am reminded of why you should be the protagonist in the the "confederecy of dunces"
