Over 40 million americans living in extreme poverty.

[Toro]

The US and Uk have very similar social models... the very low safety net approach.

I am certainly a proponent of the European models ...with their massively higer standard of living for all.

ps.. I am not british.

take care now ...

US bottom of all developed nations poverty tables.

I think this is highly unfair..as we all know that the Southern and midwest US states are Albanianly third world.

Europeans are frustrated. They have been behind the United States economically for years and thought this was due to lack of economic integration. So they created the European Union, with a common currency and virtually free mobility of goods, capital, and labor throughout the continent. Yet Europe continues to lag.

A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. with real gross domestic product per person in 2003 of $34,960 (in 1999 dollars). This is well above every European country. The most productive European country, Norway, has a per capita GDP of just $30,882 (converted using purchasing power parity exchange rates). The major countries of Europe are even further behind: United Kingdom ($26,039), France ($25,578), Italy ($24,894), and Germany ($24,813).

In other words, Europeans produce no more per year than Americans did 20 years ago. And they are not catching up. According to the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland, the productivity gap between the U.S. and Europe is actually widening. In the Euro area as a whole, workers were 86 percent as productive as American workers in 1995. In 2003, this fell to 84 percent.

As a consequence, living standards are much lower in Europe than most Americans imagine. This fact is highlighted in a new study by the Swedish think tank Timbro. For example, it notes that the average poor family here has 25 percent more living space than the average European. Looking at all American households, we have about twice as much space: 1,875 square feet here versus 976.5 square feet in Europe. On average, Europeans only live about as well as those in the poorest American state, Mississippi.

Bruce Bartlett on European Workers, GDP & Tax Cuts on NRO Financial

 

[Turboswede]

Bruce Bartlett on European Workers, GDP & Tax Cuts on NRO Financial

Yup, we do have bigger houses, and thats what it's all about.

 

[Toro]

In so many ways the US reflects a third world nation;

1. Inequality of wealth.... it is as extreme as third world nations.

2. Religious fundamentalism... apart from the US...only exists in third world nations.

3. Lack of education for the masses.... great education for the elite.... the masses are kept purposely DUMB... and it sure shows on this forum

4. Healthcare JOKE.... UTTER JOKE ...the insurance companies ensuring that healthcare is an embarassment in the US.


Ok..things will change now after the OBVIOUS crash of the economy...that anyone with 2 working braincells predicted.... but its taken a long long time for americans to realise how retarded and selfish their economic policy was.

Enjoying the $9 trillion debt? LMAO

There are so many silly things in this post.

1. Why only look at the difference between the richest and the poorest? A better measurement is to compare the poor with the median income. And in that, many countries in continental Europe are worse than America.

Why does the European model do no better in supporting the poor relative to how most people live, and in some cases do worse?

2. Religious fundamentalism is only in America, eh?

Theo van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam on Tuesday, November 2. The 47-year-old film director and publicist was shot and stabbed several times by his assassin on the streets of the Dutch capital. Van Gogh had made no secret of his sympathy for the policies and restrictive immigration policies of the party led by the right-wing populist Pim Fortuyn, who was himself murdered in May 2002.

The presumed assassin, Mohammed B., a 26-year-old Dutchman of Moroccan descent, first shot van Gogh, then stabbed him and left behind a note. According to newspaper reports the note called for a “holy war,” although a government release states that the text consisted merely of quotes from the Koran. In addition, the government confirmed that the assassin was already known to the Dutch secret service (AVID). However, he had only loose contacts with individuals who in turn had connections with fundamentalist groups.

Theo van Gogh murdered on the streets of Amsterdam

The Audiencia Nacional of Spain (National Court of Spain) has found 21 of 28 defendants guilty in connection with the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

The defendants were facing charges including murder, forgery and conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack. 27 of them are men and one is a woman. 19 are mostly Moroccan Arabs and nine Spaniards.

Chief Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez read the verdicts which came after three months of deliberations.

Jamal Zougam, Otman el Ghanoui and Emilio Trashorras were found guilty of murder. The three were given sentences of 42,924 years in prison, although the most one can serve in Spain is 40 years. As far as the other guilty verdicts, no one was given more than 23 years for their part in the crime.

Judge delivers verdicts in 2004 Madrid train bombing trial - Wikinews, the free news source

3. Lack of education

The US spends 5.3% of GDP on education, same as Holland. Canada spends 5.2%. France spends 5.7%. Germany spends 4.6%.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2206rank.html

And though the drop out rate has been rising, so too has the percentage of those who receive degrees.

Educated in America: College graduates and high school dropouts | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists

Of course, if you think that this is by design ...

4. Healthcare

The US does a poor job of distributing healthcare to the poorest people. However, for those who have insurance, it is the best system in the world.

About 50 million people do not have health insurance, which means that 85% of the population has access to the best healthcare in the world. Of that 50 million, 10 million are chronically uninsured, or 3% of the population.

The US has the highest rate of cancer survival

Cancer Survival Rates Vary by Country

Europe lags

The age-adjusted 5-year survival rates for all cancers combined was 47.3% for men and 55.8% for women, which is significantly lower than the estimates of 66.3% for men and 62.9% for women from the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program (P < .001).

Log In Problems

$9 trillion in debt?

Gross debt of the US relative to GDP in fiscal 2008 was 65.8%. That was lower than for the euro-area, which was 70.5%.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/51/2483816.xls