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Thread: U.S. Is No Longer Among the 10 Most Prosperous Countries; Norway, Canada, Australia lead

  1. #11
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    In a billion years ? Are you sure ?

  2. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by CatchyUsername View Post
    We have 330,000,000 people and our demographics would never, ever, in a billion years, support the society you and George Soros dream of. Our inner cities and the social chaos that is very prevalent aren't in existence to near the degree in Europe that it is here, in hundreds of places here. It's a nice thought, but it's not reality. If half the populace isn't working and contributing to the tax base, the socialist utopian dream is just that.

    I do not understand why socialists don't understand this. They point to EuropeEuropeEurope, pretending that our demographics are anything like those countries.
    Truth is we lift the weights on their behalf . Their Healthcare systems exist only because they don't do any pharmaceutical or medical research hence they can buy generic drugs form us at bulk prices and then God help them if we dint spend on our military protecting them while they spend their money on their welfare states ..

    To be honest they are actually more capitalist than us in many ways . For one thing corporate tax rates are lower and their business regulatory environment is far less burdensome

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  4. #13
    Yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by Colonel View Post
    In a billion years ? Are you sure ?

  5. #14
    Agreed, but I still maintain that our demographics and wide-open border would still never support a marxist republic, ever. We simply have too many social ills that progressives in their wildest dreams, can never address except to throw money at the problems. That's a huge problem imo. That coupled with your points, make European-style socialism or marxism not even remotely "do-able" here.

    Quote Originally Posted by BAP View Post
    Truth is we lift the weights on their behalf . Their Healthcare systems exist only because they don't do any pharmaceutical or medical research hence they can buy generic drugs form us at bulk prices and then God help them if we dint spend on our military protecting them while they spend their money on their welfare states ..

    To be honest they are actually more capitalist than us in many ways . For one thing corporate tax rates are lower and their business regulatory environment is far less burdensome

  6. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by CatchyUsername View Post
    Yes.
    You have great faith.

  7. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by BAP View Post
    Truth is we lift the weights on their behalf . Their Healthcare systems exist only because they don't do any pharmaceutical or medical research hence they can buy generic drugs form us at bulk prices and then God help them if we dint spend on our military protecting them while they spend their money on their welfare states ..

    To be honest they are actually more capitalist than us in many ways . For one thing corporate tax rates are lower and their business regulatory environment is far less burdensome
    Quite inflammatory and won't bother.

  8. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by krystian View Post
    I dunno about that...what I have seen is that those countries are among the most expensive to live in in terms of taxes, housing, groceries, gasoline, etc.
    Another point I forgot to make: The posted report attempts to look beyond monetary considerations and examine other factors that relate to quality of life, such as tendency to help strangers, confidence in honesty of government, civil liberties, etc.

    I was a bit surprised that the U.S. scored as low as it did in two areas: "social capital" and "governance". The U.S. ranked 11th in both of these categories. Here are the factors that the report took into account in relation to these areas:

    Social capital: Reliability of Others, Volunteering, Helping Strangers, Donations, Trust Others, Marriage, Donations, Religious Attendance.

    Governance: Government Stability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulation, Separation of Powers, Political Rights, Government Type, Political Constraints, Efforts to Address Poverty, Confidence in the Judicial System, Business and Government Corruption, Environmental Preservation, Government Approval, Voiced Concern, Confidence in Military, Confidence in Honesty of Elections.

    http://media.prosperity.com/2013/pdf...3_finalweb.pdf

  9. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by CatchyUsername View Post
    .... If half the populace isn't working and contributing to the tax base, the socialist utopian dream is just that. ....
    Just wanted to address this point. Found the following statistics regarding labor force participation by nation. The data is for 2013:

    Australia: 65%
    Canada: 66%
    Denmark: 63%
    Finland: 60%
    Netherlands: 64%
    Norway: 65%
    Sweden: 64%
    Switzerland: 68%
    US: 63%

    http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.ZS

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  11. #19
    Senior Member Colonel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by njtom View Post
    Just wanted to address this point. Found the following statistics regarding labor force participation by nation. The data is for 2013:

    Australia: 65%
    Canada: 66%
    Denmark: 63%
    Finland: 60%
    Netherlands: 64%
    Norway: 65%
    Sweden: 64%
    Switzerland: 68%
    US: 63%

    http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.ZS
    The only Western country I could find with a labor participation rate of over 70 was Iceland at 71. Iceland is a tiny country with 200,000 inhabitants.

    At its highest in 2000, the US rate was just over 67 percent. The differences in the West aren't large.

  12. #20
    Senior Member scottae316's Avatar
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    These surveys need to be understood from those answering the questions. Most of those living in the top 10 countries have nothing to compare it with, and the same is true in the US. I do think one thing needs to be considered, Americans hear how wonderful these other countries are, and don't understand the big picture. Taxes are higher in most of these countries and that is what pays for all these programs. Some of the categories listed are extremely subjective. I think it is like comparing raspberries to strawberries, both are fruit, red, and berries but no one would compare them as the same. This holds true for these surveys, and remember it depends on how the questions were phrased, this has a huge impact on the answers.

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