The US is impressive in many ways and I don’t wish to be disrespectful, but the US is hardly the wealthiest country in the world per capita and it is far from being the most productive one.
I live in Sweden and I have been to the US (Fla more precisely and I went to a lot of the parts that were labeled as ‘rich’). I wasn’t overly impressed with what I saw, although some people undeniably seemed well off.
Admittedly, this was in the early 1990’s, but since then Sweden and the US have enjoyed more or less the same levels of GDP growth. I doubt most people in Florida presently drive around in Beamers, Mercedes’s, Audi’s, Volvos’s and Cadillac’s.
I plan on going to the US this year or in 2008, but until then I’ll trust statistics, my own judgement and what I hear from other Swedes to a larger degree than claims from Internet users.
No offense. I just happen to know some basic things like:
- How Swedish wages compare to American ones
- What the average American car is (a Toyota Camry, alternatively a cheaper SUV like some basic Ford F-series version/a comparable Chevrolet or some North Korean SUV). In Sweden, the average car is a Volvo V70 and the average SUV is more like a Volvo XC90 or BMW X5. In most other countries, these cars are viewed as (at least close to) luxury cars.
- Few American families have as much living space as average Swedish families (Average Swedish families own TWO houses, one house in the city/community where they work and one ‘summer house’ (which often is smaller and not as well furnished as their main dwelling, on the other hand these summer residences often come with a rather nice leisure boat tied to the landing stage as many are located adjacent to water. An example of an AVERAGE ‘summer house’, financially speaking well in reach for most Swedish families: http://www.svenskfast.se/Pages/ObjectViewPictures.aspx?objectid=3D8ROQ9M0N0CQS2F )
- Swedes work considerably less than US Americans, still our standard of living is a little higher (I’m not saying much higher). This means we are more productive.
Am I preaching Socialism?
No way. Sweden is the most CAPITALIST country on earth if one looks at development of large, successful Capitalist companies in relation to population. Ericsson, Volvo (Volvo Car division was bought by Ford, which naturally doesn’t alter the origin of this part of The Volvo Group), IKEA and Absolut Vodka are not exactly the creations of stupid Swedish PC politicians and Swedish MSM.
Neither am I saying the US should try and become like Sweden/Scandinavia. The North American culture is different from and less homogenous than the Scandinavian one and if you’d let the most Europhile Liberals take over your country I’m sure your economy would suffer instead of prosper.
I wrote “..alternatively a cheaper SUV like some basic Ford F-series version/a comparable Chevrolet or some NORTH Korean SUV”
Naturally, SOUTH Korea was the country I had in mind.
I believe my geographical orientation was a little bit below par when I wrote that sentence.
Let’s blame Bush.
I would bet if one were self employed or legally employed in America they would be better off than in Sweden.
I don't know about Florida, but in California there are huge areas where you will find almost nothing but those high-end cars...and other areas where you won't see one at all. The United States has become many separate nations in one large geographical area - we've lost much of our national unity over the last quarter century. These categorizations arent about race or nationality, but outlook: We have a "Sweden", consisting of much of California, Oregon, Washington, New England; we have a "Poland/Ukraine" consisting of much of the Midwest; we have an "African/Caribbean/Latin American" nation in the Southeast; we have a multi-racial criminal underclass in most major cities; and we have a Mexico everywhere...for reasons that are self-explanatory. To Europeans trying to look at the USA as one country, the symptoms they see are understandably very confusing. In most cases, these internal "nations" don't understand each other, either. ;)