Paul Ryan Poll

[Jon Miller]

Oh, and needless to say, I call derp on "1/6."

I'll pull a Mitt Romney and personally send you a check for $10,000 (which, as an American with a job, I can afford) if you can show that to be anywhere close to true for any reasonable Western European country.

I probably should have went with 1/2, although I remember the 1/6 number from somewhere.

JM
(although 1/2 is associated with per capita, and unlike the other nations not all americans get health care)

[Jaguar]

Was it Poland or Serbia or something?

[Jon Miller]

I don't remember. It was a number I heard over a year ago. Maybe it wasn't corrected for PPP or something?

JM

[Ben Kenobi]

I would argue Luxembourg really shouldn't be on the list, since it's too small to be meaningful. Maybe even Norway. But that's a quibble.

No, it's not a quibble. You're looking at a sample of 1 percent. It could fluctuate by as much as 50 percent or so. Norway's 30 percent advantage isn't statistically significant.

Neither are the Dutch. The Dutch would have to be 20 percent more efficient (over 15 million people), to have a statistically significant advantage.

[Ben Kenobi]

Simply having more land per capita is a big advantage if we're adjusting income for cost of living.

Doesn't land valuation go up with the square of the population density? So no. Just the opposite.

[Jaguar]

No, it's not a quibble. You're looking at a sample of 1 percent. It could fluctuate by as much as 50 percent or so. Norway's 30 percent advantage isn't statistically significant.

Neither are the Dutch. The Dutch would have to be 20 percent more efficient (over 15 million people), to have a statistically significant advantage.

I am not sure what you are arguing here, my friend.

[Nikolai]

I know for a fact that Americans receive better care than they do.

I seriously doubt that Ben.

Yes, it's a problem in America, but it's a far worse problem in Europe. Most Europeans are much more overleveraged relative to what they actually make than in America. (the Swiss are an exception).

Wait. You think Europeans have generally more debt compared to income than Americans? I doubt that. Does not fit Scandinavia at least. Perhaps it fits PIIGS, but I doubt it fits Europe in general.

[Nikolai]

Considering how much of its economy is just resource extraction, this might be a fair disqualification.

23% of the Norwegian economy is oil and gas related. Shrinking each year. Still we haven't experienced anything of the recession the rest of the world endures.

[Hauldren Collider]

23% is enormous. And for scale, Norway's population is a little less than the state of Colorado's.

[Ben Kenobi]

I seriously doubt that Ben.

Look. Imagine you have everything you believe about the United States proven wrong in a 3 month trip. Think I liked that? No, not at all. I was 100 percent wrong about the US. And that includes an assessment of their healthcare. They have way better equipment, better doctors, better care in general than what is available in Canada.

Maybe the system in Europe is different than Canada, but I don't see much evidence for that.

Wait. You think Europeans have generally more debt compared to income than Americans? I doubt that. Does not fit Scandinavia at least. Perhaps it fits PIIGS, but I doubt it fits Europe in general.

Norway is also an exception.

http://www.scancomark.se/Political-economy/EU-again-worried-about-Sweden-household-debt.html

I'm seeing stuff like this.

In the US you can get houses rather cheaply if you don't live, say, on the eastern seaboard or in California.

[Herman Cain]

I'm still pissed that I wasn't picked. I'm so qualified for Vice President.

Where's my goddamn phone call, Mitt Romney?

[Ben Kenobi]

Yay! Herman ****ing Cain. You rock!

[Herman Cain]

Ben Kenobi


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[Ben Kenobi]

Best presidential candidate ever.

[Lorizael]

Yeah, we Americans work more than everyone else, and we also have some of the highest rates of depression, suicide, and heart disease in the Western World, but at least we have a lot of stuff?