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Standard of living in UK better than in USA
Telegraph ^ | 1/7/2008 | Lucy Cockcroft

Posted on 01/10/2008 7:01:22 AM PST by fweingart

For the first time in more than a century the standard of living in Britain is higher than in America, according to a new report.

Analysts at the respected Oxford Economics consultancy say that increasing incomes, free healthcare and longer holidays make the average Briton better-off than his or her US counterpart.

The GDP per head in the UK is expected to exceed that of the USA in 2008 They predict that gross domestic product (GDP) per head in the UK, an indicator of average incomes, will be £23,500 in 2008, compared with £23,250 in America, reflecting the strength of the pound against the dollar and the steady growth of the British economy.

Adrian Cooper, managing director of Oxford Economics, said: "The past 15 years have seen a dramatic change in the UK's economic performance and its position in the world economy.

"No longer are we the 'sick man of Europe'. Indeed, our calculations suggest that UK living standards are now a match for those of the US.

"The UK has been catching up steadily with living standards in the US since 2001, so it is a well-established trend rather than simply the result of currency fluctuations."

advertisementBack in the early 1990s Britain's GDP per capita was 34 per cent below that in America, 33 per cent less than in Germany and 26 per cent lower than in France.

Now, average incomes are not only above those in America but they are more than 8 per cent higher than in France where it is £21,700 and Germany, with a predicted £21,665.

The British financial services boom and soaring house prices have led to an uninterrupted expansion, credited with boosting the UK's strength. And in contrast America and many European countries slid into recession in the early part of this decade.

However the average British person may not feel richer than their US cousins as goods and services there are often vastly cheaper. So, despite earning less, the average American can buy more.

The report authors also warn that a significant fall in the pound against other currencies could push Britain back down the ladder.

Citigroup, the most accurate forecaster of Britain's economy last year, predicts the slowest rise in consumer spending this year since 1992.

Michael Saunders, Citigroup's UK economist, said: "After the credit-fuelled boom in domestic demand and asset prices, the UK economy now faces a hangover, with slowing credit growth, falling property prices and tightening lending standards."


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: decline
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To: Intimidator
"Wages here are stagnated or falling because of unreported 'real' inflation, ie, exhorbitant healthcare premiums, unaffordable housing, low paying jobs."

True. Cost-of-living increases usually run about 2-3%, at a time when the cost of housing - most people's major expense - has risen about 500% in 20 years (Seattle area).

Gas has risen 50% in three years, healthcare is going through the roof, and the cost of most commodities has risen equal to or faster than inflation. The "cost of living" indexes are an absolute sham.
41 posted on 01/10/2008 7:40:07 AM PST by Steve_Seattle (|)
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To: The Pack Knight
"If you want to cherry pick data to make "Third Way" socialism look like a good idea, that's how you go about it. Using nearly any measurable material standard, the average American living below the poverty line has a higher standard of living than the average European, above or below the poverty line."

Exactly. bttt

42 posted on 01/10/2008 7:40:36 AM PST by Matchett-PI (Algore - there's not a more priggish, sanctimonious moral scold of a church lady anywhere.)
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To: horse_doc

I was talking to a girl I knew when she was young. She ran off to France and married a Fwench guy, had two children. She back in the States getting a divorce. They lived in London, and were making $400K/yr. She said they never hardly went out and were just getting by.


43 posted on 01/10/2008 7:41:07 AM PST by Leisler
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To: agere_contra

Pay-as-you-go dental care is probbably more expensive in the U.S. because most employers provide dental as well as health insurance. (So the dentists increase their prices, LOL)

Anyone who’s on Medicaid (ACCHS in AZ) also gets dental coverage. Most dental plans cover a big chunk of orthodontic work, too.

If you look at kids in U.S. middle schools and high schools, most of them wear braces at one time or another.


44 posted on 01/10/2008 7:41:14 AM PST by RooRoobird20 (Thankfully Convered Catholic)
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To: Paleo Conservative

A guide to UK prices for common cosmetic dental treatments

Teeth Whitening £300.00 - £1000.00
Dental Veneers £300.00 - £2000.000 per tooth
Dental Crowns £300.00 - £2000.00 per tooth
Dental Implants £1200 - £2500.00 per tooth
Dental Bridges £250 - £800 per unit
Gum Contouring from £400.00
CEREC restorations from £400.00 per unit
Invisalign £3000.00 - £6000.00

So double the numbers as a rough and ready dollar conversion and - well, we probably don’t have enough data points to make a good comparison. But it seems similar. Anybody else with a price check?


45 posted on 01/10/2008 7:42:08 AM PST by agere_contra (Do not confuse the wealth of nations with the wealth of government - FDT)
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To: fweingart
free healthcare

*snort*

However the average British person may not feel richer than their US cousins as goods and services there are often vastly cheaper. So, despite earning less, the average American can buy more.

Uh...isn't that pretty much the definition of "standard of living?"

46 posted on 01/10/2008 7:44:41 AM PST by B Knotts (Anybody but Giuliani!)
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To: fweingart

Baloney. I’ll take life in this country any day over life in the UK.


47 posted on 01/10/2008 7:47:07 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: KarlInOhio
less than 700 sq feet of living space for over 1/2 milion dollars


Manchester UK area

538,330.09 dollars for this

48 posted on 01/10/2008 7:49:34 AM PST by eleni121 (+ En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great)
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To: YOUGOTIT

Eh, I’m taxed through the nose in the US and what do I have to show for it? Not much. Maybe we should consider the beam in our eye before we point out the mote in Britain’s.


49 posted on 01/10/2008 7:49:43 AM PST by SomeReasonableDude (Back it up.)
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Now let’s not turn this into a Britain-bashing thread.

The Brits have been our most loyal allies in the wars against fascists, communists, and jihadists.


50 posted on 01/10/2008 7:49:58 AM PST by RooRoobird20 (Thankfully Convered Catholic)
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To: Steve_Seattle
True. Cost-of-living increases usually run about 2-3%, at a time when the cost of housing - most people's major expense - has risen about 500% in 20 years (Seattle area). Gas has risen 50% in three years, healthcare is going through the roof, and the cost of most commodities has risen equal to or faster than inflation. The "cost of living" indexes are an absolute sham.

Exactly and the exact reason I think our economy is going to hell in a handbasket fast. Without equity in their house, people have absolutely no discretionary income to spend whatsoever. In a consumer driven economy, well that self explanatory. We are headed for some hard times and if wages don't go up considerably the average Joe is forked bad

51 posted on 01/10/2008 7:50:01 AM PST by Intimidator
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To: fweingart

I don’t agree with this.

If you removed the illegals slums and other historical laggards here from the stats

and did the same in the UK

Our median income would dwarf their’s.

So much of their standard of living is dole.


52 posted on 01/10/2008 7:51:15 AM PST by wardaddy (This is depressing....ok....Obama and Colin Powell are both really wonderful...happy now?)
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To: eleni121
Yeah, America's housing market doesn't include ridiculously overpriced, crummy real estate. Ha!

Freepers: More concerned with getting a dig in on the other guy than worrying about real problems America faces.

Sad.
53 posted on 01/10/2008 7:52:00 AM PST by SomeReasonableDude (Back it up.)
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To: eleni121

The price of that house in Manchester seems comparable to a similar house in the Seattle area. It looks like a very nice, upper-middle-class house with a big lot, and you could easily pay $538,000 or more for a similar house here. I’m not sure why the author points to the soaring cost of housing as a good thing; if it is, it’s only good for those who already have a house.


54 posted on 01/10/2008 7:55:01 AM PST by Steve_Seattle (|)
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To: angcat
The Muslims will live well and better!

And what about our muslims? They may get jealous and threaten to leave our cities for the UK.

Don't mistakenly believe we aren't inundated by muslim hordes.

55 posted on 01/10/2008 7:55:15 AM PST by fweingart (Give Hillary a chance. (She'll change your life.))
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To: agere_contra

I’m a dental hygienist in the US. From what I hear, the UK employs “dental hygiene technicians” who not only clean teeth, but are also permitted to drill and fill teeth. In the US, and expanded duties dental hygienists and assistants are permitted to fill teeth, but it must be the dentist who does the drilling. Some states in the US also permit the hygienist to administer local anesthesia, i.e. “novocaine.”


56 posted on 01/10/2008 7:56:04 AM PST by toothfairy86
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To: eleni121

WOW! 700 square feet is the size of a small apartment.

We own a 2,000k sf home with a good sized yard, upscale kitchen and two baths (granite counters, gourmet appliances, blah, blah). Current market value is between $400k ande $350k.

$538,000 will buy what’s considered a luxury home in most areas of Phoenix AZ.


57 posted on 01/10/2008 7:56:12 AM PST by RooRoobird20 (Thankfully Convered Catholic)
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To: fweingart

Dunno, but this article is BS.


58 posted on 01/10/2008 7:56:36 AM PST by RockinRight (Huck(abee, not the Freeper Huck) Sucks.)
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To: fweingart

According to any leftist that does a study like this,

more socialism = higher living standard


59 posted on 01/10/2008 7:57:13 AM PST by MrB (You can't reason people out of a position that they didn't use reason to get into in the first place)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
I’ll take America over Britain any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

Think how much better our country would be if we could dump the liberal, socialist Democrats and their Republican allies into the Potomac along with the legions of lifers that staff their offices and do the hard work of writing all the freaking bills that ruin our lives and help destroy our country and our economy.

60 posted on 01/10/2008 7:57:41 AM PST by fweingart (Give Hillary a chance. (She'll change your life.))
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