U.S. Is No Longer Among the 10 Most Prosperous Countries

[dmcowen674]

11-7-2015
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-no-longer-among-10-203045054.html

U.S. Is No Longer Among the 10 Most Prosperous Countries



Ten countries have now become more prosperous than the United States.


The U.S. is ranked No. 11 in the latest annual Prosperity Index, which was released this week by the Legatum Institute, an international think tank based in London.

The countries that made the top 10 based on their overall scores this year are:

1. Norway
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. New Zealand
5. Sweden
6. Canada
7. Australia
8. Netherlands
9. Finland
10. Ireland

 

[dmcowen674]

Not a surprise. The Radical Righties of P&N I'm sure are thrilled as they hate the middle class.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

This is all Obama's fault and the obvious solution is to be as radically different from those other countries as possible.

 

[cubby1223]

1. Norway
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. New Zealand
5. Sweden
6. Canada
7. Australia
8. Netherlands
9. Finland
10. Ireland

I see a lot of countries in that list that have vast amounts of natural resources compared to small populations, some countries with shady banking systems propelling their economies, others with extreme corporate-friendly environments...

What point are you trying to make? Other than you are just an angry, old, miserable individual?

 

[Eli]

I see a lot of countries in that list that have vast amounts of natural resources compared to small populations, some countries with shady banking systems propelling their economies, others with extreme corporate-friendly environments...

What point are you trying to make? Other than you are just an angry, old, miserable individual?

Why does any of that matter?

It's a measure of prosperity. I think it's relevant. If the US has been on the list before and is not now, it's something to pay attention to.

 

[Subyman]

I see a lot of countries in that list that have vast amounts of natural resources compared to small populations, some countries with shady banking systems propelling their economies, others with extreme corporate-friendly environments...

What point are you trying to make? Other than you are just an angry, old, miserable individual?

They've always had small populations with large amounts of natural resources (as you say), yet some how America has only now fallen below 10. Time to acknowledge the crazy wealth inequality in the US. Electing CEOs isn't the way to do that.

Also wtf is with people wanting a businessman in government? People hate CEOs and the egregious amounts of money they make, but then happily vote them into office. People hate lobbyist, but then vote in the person hiring the lobbyists.

 

[cubby1223]

Why does any of that matter?

It's a measure of prosperity. I think it's relevant. If the US has been on the list before and is not now, it's something to pay attention to.

It's a dmcowen674 thread.

He's laying the blame for this on the people whom he hates in this country. I'm reminding him that most of those countries that are on the list above the U.S. are there because of factors that we either have no control over (like natural resources, especially oil), or things that he doesn't want be a part of the U.S. (ex. Swiss banking system, immigration policies, weaknesses in the structure of the Euro, Ireland's corporate haven).

Not a surprise. The Radical Righties of P&N I'm sure are thrilled as they hate the middle class.

 

[cubby1223]

They've always had small populations with large amounts of natural resources (as you say), yet some how America has only now fallen below 10. Time to acknowledge the crazy wealth inequality in the US. Electing CEOs isn't the way to do that.

Yes some of those countries have always had small populations with large amounts of natural resources.

But those resources have not always been either (1) technologically possible to extract, or (2) economically possible to extract.

Once oil starts becoming more expensive again, natural gas will suddenly become cheaper in comparison. And the U.S. has a vast abundance of natural gas under our surface. Those resources don't contribute to our prosperity today but they absolutely will have significant impact in future decades.

Look at Norway's numbers just on oil exports alone. Export ~1.5m barrels per day, currently ~$50/barrel, that's $75m entering Norway every single day. If divided up among the population of 5m citizens, it's $9k per person per year. When oil was up over $100/barrel, it was closer to $20k per person per year. Kind of nice having a jolt of $20k/person for something that just happened to be sitting underneath the land.

 

[master_shake_]

canada is number 6?

our dollar has nosedived the last 1.5 years?

 

[blankslate]

That list is a lie...

Thanks to Reaganism 'Murika is #1!!!

NUMBA ONE!!!!!!


....

 

[Subyman]

Since we are talking about Canada, lets talk about GDP per capita. The US is ranked 10 while Canada is ranked 20. The prosperity index is based on more than just the economy. Its how well that economy works for the people. Canada is much better at converting their economy into education, healthcare, safety, and opportunity than the US.

This just better illustrates my point. The US should be more prosperous if we are looking at the size of the economy relative to how many people live there, but its not. That has to do with policy and governance.

 

[blankslate]

canada is number 6?

our dollar has nosedived the last 1.5 years?

It's not about the value of the currency but of the measures of prosperity... one thing that comes to mind is that I doubt their students graduate college with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt...

America used to be like that... someone being able to get a college education without taking on incredible debt...

There are other factors I am sure but that really did stick out since it is a prominent issue in presidential campaign


.....

 

[MongGrel]

That list is a lie...

Thanks to Reaganism 'Murika is #1!!!

NUMBA ONE!!!!!!


....

:biggrin:

 

[master_shake_]

It's not about the value of the currency but of the measures of prosperity... one thing that comes to mind is that I doubt their students graduate college with tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt...

America used to be like that... someone being able to get a college education without taking on incredible debt...

There are other factors I am sure but that really did stick out since it is a prominent issue in presidential campaign


.....

average american college debt is 35000??

canadian is ~20,000.

were number 6, were number 6!

 

[woolfe9998]

Depends what system is used to measure prosperity. There are several such systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

The US ranks 5th in the HDI.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The main website doesn't work for me, but apparently the USA ranks #1 in health, which I thought was surprising. :hmm:

 

[Moonbeam]

We rank number one in the number of conservative brain defectives and will continue to fall economically as they continue to paralyze our political system.

 

[alcoholbob]

That list is a lie...

Thanks to Reaganism 'Murika is #1!!!

NUMBA ONE!!!!!!


....

To be fair, Reagan thought Alan Greenspan was libertarian and believed in free market enterprise. He didn't realize that libertarians tend to be hypocrites once in political power and Greenspan turned into the biggest central planner in American history.

 

[Mai72]

What? No Asian countries?

 

[alcoholbob]

Why does any of that matter?

It's a measure of prosperity. I think it's relevant. If the US has been on the list before and is not now, it's something to pay attention to.

You could argue most on that list are simple temporarily wealthy because that wealth isn't coming from value added sources like manufacturing. Just as we wouldn't say the Middle East will be wealthy from oil forever, you can't say these European countries, which have far less manufacturing activity than Germany or Japan, could sustain that wealth without diversifying over time.

Also it's pretty much impossible for a country that leads the world in immigrants annually to remain in the top 10 since especially if most of the immigrants are poorer than the natives.

 

[Svnla]

What? No Asian countries?

The article used several factors:


The economy
Entrepreneurship and opportunity
Governance
Education
Health
Safety and security
Personal freedom
Social capital


Not sure about Asian countries scored on government and personal freedom, probably not as high as the ones on the top 10 list.

Also, the countries on the top list all have fairly small population and mostly homogenous citizens.

 

[Spungo]

This is all Obama's fault and the obvious solution is to be as radically different from those other countries as possible.

I'm thinking government healthcare is 99% of the difference. If you ignore medical care, America is a really damn good country. Medical costs are the only thing I have ever worried about. Even when I was making minimum wage, there was no risk of going hungry or not paying my rent. Most of the bankruptcies in this country are related to medical costs. It just takes 1 illness to completely sink an entire family. Some trivial cancer that can be completely cured in a couple months can destroy a lifetime of savings. I'm actually surprised the murder rate is as low as it is. When you've already lost everything you've worked for, going on a killing spree doesn't seem like a bad idea.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The article used several factors:


The economy
Entrepreneurship and opportunity
Governance
Education
Health
Safety and security
Personal freedom
Social capital


Not sure about Asian countries scored on government and personal freedom.

Also, the countries on the top list all have fairly small population and mostly homogenous citizens.

Kinda hard to believe that South Korea's personal freedom is that much lower than that of the USA or Western Europe, or on par with the UAE.

 

[blankslate]

average american college debt is 35000??

canadian is ~20,000.

were number 6, were number 6!

I mentioned it as one factor that came to mind. There are likely others that I haven't memorized. However, many of those would probably be seen by some of the loudest talking heads as some sort of un-American plot against FREEEEEEEDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!



________

 

[Matthiasa]

Prosperous does not mean what the author of that article thinks it means...

Including things like happiness or even potential growth for income for countries well behind the us even with purchasing power parity in effect.