The World's Most Propserous

[Locutus]

aka, how's that hope and change working out for ya?


Jeffrey Gedmin and Nathan Gamester: U.S. Prosperity Is in Decline - WSJ.com

large http://press.prosperity.com/Prosperity_Index_Infographic.png

What's happening to American prosperity? | Daniel W. Drezner

U.S. Prosperity Slides in Index That Ranks Norway No. 1 - Bloomberg

The 2012 Legatum Prosperity Index

 

[BaalsTears]

America imported a sigificant level of poverty from the third world. Now America is less prosperous than it once was. This isn't hard to figure out.

 

[Bar Sinister]

It is disturbing to note that many of the policies that have led to the decline of the US from number one are being copied by Canada; most notably the concentration of wealth in the hands of the top one percent and the decline of workers benefits.

 

[JLM]

Is that a combination of proper and prosperous?

 

[damngrumpy]

Wow and the first five countries are the ones that tend to lean toward democratic
socialism and societal cooperation. Canada has followed a different path at least
for awhile. America is in the tank because they are living in a time gone by and
the world is slowly passing them by. If the trend continues they will be a case of
America looking for relevance Most unfortunate.

 

[tay]

USA and GB are 12 and 13. They have something in common..............




'Only the little people pay taxes," the late American corporate tax evader Leona Helmsley famously declared. That's certainly the spirit of David Cameron and George Osborne's Britain. Five years into the crisis, the British economy has just edged out of its third downturn, but construction is still reeling from government cuts and most people's living standards are falling.

Those at the sharp end are being hit hardest: from cuts to disability and housing benefits, tax credits and the educational maintenance allowance and now increases in council tax while NHS waiting lists are lengthening, food banks are mushrooming across the country and charities report sharp increases in the number of children going hungry. All this to pay for the collapse in corporate investment and tax revenues triggered by the greatest crash since the 30s.

At the other end of the spectrum though, things are going swimmingly. The richest 1,000 people in Britain have seen their wealth increase by £155bn since the crisis began – more than enough to pay off the whole government deficit of £119bn at a stroke. Anyone earning over £1m a year can look forward to a £42,000 tax cut in the spring, while firms have been rewarded with a 2% cut in corporation tax to 24%.

more

A roll call of corporate rogues who are milking the country | Seumas Milne | Comment is free | The Guardian

 

[Nuggler]

When they start to send jobs out of country, prosperity will follow along behind.

Pesky unions and gentle and kind management both in the same tar box.

Threads like this do nothing but inflame. We all know what the solution is, but we keep on electing wolves to follow their own agenda and fleece the sheep. - who, are for the most part, us.

How many millions are out of work and hungry in the US? We keep reading about it, but nothing about how a few of them got together and plundered a food warehouse. We're not immune up here, and it's coming.

Thank who'sis we have a well trained armed force to kill the citizens when it does.

As long as what ever government in power remains able to shift hate to the "Islamics" , Jews, "Aboriginals", country mice against city mice; the govt. has a chance of gertting out of Dodge without personal injury, and with their gold pensions.

Takes a special kind of monster to be a Harper, Trudeau, Mulroney, et al.

just sayin.

 

[karrie]

Are you serious? The United States is ranked amongst the most prosperous countries in the world, and the fact that it's not the absolute leader of the pack is a problem? Look at that list, and really absorb how whiny, bitchy, and petty it is, to think that the US is suffering by being so far 'behind'. Sheez.

 

[JLM]

Are you serious? The United States is ranked amongst the most prosperous countries in the world, and the fact that it's not the absolute leader of the pack is a problem? Look at that list, and really absorb how whiny, bitchy, and petty it is, to think that the US is suffering by being so far 'behind'. Sheez.

That was my thought, Karrie. You might note that 9 out of the 11 nations ahead of the U.S. has less than 10 million people.

 

[L Gilbert]

aka, how's that hope and change working out for ya?


Jeffrey Gedmin and Nathan Gamester: U.S. Prosperity Is in Decline - WSJ.com

large http://press.prosperity.com/Prosperity_Index_Infographic.png

What's happening to American prosperity? | Daniel W. Drezner

U.S. Prosperity Slides in Index That Ranks Norway No. 1 - Bloomberg

The 2012 Legatum Prosperity Index

Interesting. From the Drezner link:

GRAIN OF TRUTH #1: The U.S. didn't really fall too far in the rankings -- it went from 10th place last year to 12th this year. That's partly because Luxembourg got added to the index in the interim and it did better than the United States in the rankings. It's not great, but it's not an exaggerated decline either.
GRAIN OF TRUTH #2: High levels of debt ain't what's holding the United States back in these rankings. Japan has a much higher debt-to-GDP ratio, but its economic performance ranked eight places higher than the U.S. There are other factors at work here.
GRAIN OF TRUTH #3: If you burrow into the report itself (.pdf), you find that the primary reason for the drop in the U.S. ranking was a fall in the "Entrepreneurship and Opportunity" score. The primary driver for this? "This fall is driven by a decline in the number of US citizens who believe that hard work will get them ahead and a decrease in ICT exports (p. 10)."
Now this leads to an interesting question: what drives the decline in the belief that hard work will get one ahead in life? Legatum explains that on p. 38:

Low business start-up costs and a positive perception of a country’s entrepreneurial environment contribute to improving citizens’ economic prospects and overall wellbeing. The sub-index also evaluates a country’s ability to commercialise innovation and measures the technological and communication infrastructure that is often essential to successful commercial endeavours. It further provides a snapshot of access to opportunity by tracking inequality and by asking citizens whether they believe their society to be meritocratic. (emphasis added)
​

And now we get to the nub of it. The decline in America's prosperity score is partly a function of the weak economy -- but it's primarily a function of citizen perceptions of their ability to get ahead. Government barriers to entrepreneurial activity would certainly depress those perceptions, but so would very high levels of inequality (moderate levels of inequality are a different animal altogether). The more unequal a society is, the less that ordinary citizens feel that their own efforts will yield commensurate rewards. And in the past few years, the data shows that the United States has become increasingly unequal.

Seems to me that the USA started on its road to inequality decades ago, so this is nothing new.