Paul Ryan Poll

[dannubis]

So Kentonio is a flat tax proponent? Interesting.

No dishonest ****face. That is NOT the case.

[kentonio]

Kicked out by his constituents, you mean.

He resigned from a GOP leadership post because he was aware that he would be unable to continue after making that vote. What do his constituents have to do with anything?

[Ben Kenobi]

No dishonest ****face. That is NOT the case.

Ah, so he only supports raising taxes for certain values of everyone. Gotcha.

[Jaguar]

at the idea of Mississippi being third world.

Recently, I've been to Bradley County, Tennessee, recently. I saw a lot of large houses with $30,000 pickup trucks parked in their driveways. I've also been to Rome, where people drive $2,000 scooters and live in apartments without air conditioning that would be small even by Manhattan standards.

The US is #1 in the world by household consumption expenditures - the things that people are actually allowed to have for themselves - and it's not particularly close. Most Western Europeans are accustomed to a consumption standard considerably lower than that of the average Alabaman.

[kentonio]

The US is #1 in the world by household consumption expenditures - the things that people are actually allowed to have for themselves - and it's not particularly close. Most Western Europeans are accustomed to a consumption standard considerably lower than that of the average Alabaman.

I'm not really sure 'household consumption expenditures' is a particularly awesome way of assessing how civilized/advanced people are. It's also not like the people of Rome don't have iPads.

[Hauldren Collider]

Jaguar

As much as Jon Miller insists that we go to Sweden and see for ourselves, the fact remains that Europe is simply poorer than the United States, top to bottom, and I'd gladly have our much greater "inequality" than their standard of living.

[Nikolai]

[Ben Kenobi]

I'm not really sure 'household consumption expenditures' is a particularly awesome way of assessing how civilized/advanced people are

Actually, there's a pretty drastic difference between the two. America.

The ability to buy more stuff is directly comparable to how advanced a civilization is. That's what archaeologists do all the time. A civilization that can afford to buy all sorts of luxuries is considered to be more advanced than one that lacks these luxuries.

[Hauldren Collider]

I'm not really sure 'household consumption expenditures' is a particularly awesome way of assessing how civilized/advanced people are. It's also not like the people of Rome don't have iPads.

Do you really not understand why "wealth that people actually have" makes perfect sense for comparison?

[kentonio]

Jaguar

As much as Jon Miller insists that we go to Sweden and see for ourselves, the fact remains that Europe is simply poorer than the United States, top to bottom, and I'd gladly have our much greater "inequality" than their standard of living.

Dude, Scandinavia is quite simply AWESOME. I don't know Sweden very well, but Norway is frikkin heavenly. Beautiful houses, proud happy tolerant people, and very few problems with poverty and crime.

[kentonio]

Do you really not understand why "wealth that people actually have" makes perfect sense for comparison?

Its an absolutely terrible measure to be frank.

[Jaguar]

Its an absolutely terrible measure to be frank.

I think it's a great measure of economic policy.

I'm not really sure 'household consumption expenditures' is a particularly awesome way of assessing how civilized/advanced people are.

It's a great way of measuring how rich they are, which is the goal of economic policy.

I am happy to learn from the Italians. I'm happy to admire Michelangelo and Rossini. I want their delicious foods, like Pancetta or Mozzarella cheese, to be available in all our supermarkets. I like Italian character traits, like their friendliness and their intelligence.

All I'm saying is that if I have the choice, I'd prefer the economic system that lets its people afford some air conditioning in August.

[kentonio]

So you're basing your choice on anecdotal evidence about air conditioning?

[Jon Miller]

As much as Jon Miller insists that we go to Sweden and see for ourselves, the fact remains that Europe is simply poorer than the United States, top to bottom, and I'd gladly have our much greater "inequality" than their standard of living.

They get more/better vacations (often to places like the US/Thailand/etc), a lot of things (including health care, which is what percentage of the US GDP?) are much more efficient there (And so they get more for their knr spent), and so on.

Also my experience is that they are more likely to save.

It is true that while people do have nice TVs/etc, people in general do seem to have less stuff than in the US. On the other hand, see more/better vacations/more savings/more efficient society/better societal support/etc.

JM

[giblets]

Recently, I've been to Bradley County, Tennessee, recently. I saw a lot of large houses with $30,000 pickup trucks parked in their driveways. I've also been to Rome, where people drive $2,000 scooters and live in apartments without air conditioning that would be small even by Manhattan standards.

The US is #1 in the world by household consumption expenditures - the things that people are actually allowed to have for themselves - and it's not particularly close. Most Western Europeans are accustomed to a consumption standard considerably lower than that of the average Alabaman.

Makes sense- people don't "consume" government services and the distribution of income doesn't matter. Wait a minute, those things aren't true. As far as I can tell "household final consumption expenditure" includes private spending on health care but not public spending. Why anyone would think such a measure is a good way to compare the standard of living between countries is beyond me.