good man... then which other countries would you suggest we use as highest standards of living points of reference, if your not happy with Chicago?
Yes, that was the original subject of the thread, the polled opinion of Americans vs. reality put into context. What is your reality?
The problem is taking statistics at face value. 50 years ago the "average" American was a white guy working in a factory. Today the "average" American is a Mexican changing hotel linen. Meanwhile while yesterday's white folk were coal mining, building Caddy's and dropping dead at 60 today's white folk are ex-CPA's retiring in Sarasota. Their offspring are childless, "working" no talent BS white collar jobs, eating in ethnic restaurants 4 nights a week and leasing Audi's. When I hear stats on those without health insurance I oft wonder what % of those are Mexican? Being white has never been better. America is Brazil. That's NOT going to change trend. Live with it or die in the emerging favela's......
if you eliminate all that, sure, its hard to see how the other 70% can even survive... can't get much lower than that in terms of standard of living can we?
possible but if you look at it on a per capita basis instead of artificially eliminating at the extremes, how does the US compare to the highest ranked nations, say Japan, Europe for instance, not a midget country like Sweden, population-wise, or else just compare with Florida for instance? (btw, i hope you don't mind the notion of a highly ranked not-so-white nation...)
I think of you as a complex free thinker. I'd put Japan in that context of "great societies" also though, eh? And they're pretty darn conservative. How about Israel. Thriving. And Italy has a great standard of living while being kind of right wing. Australia seems to be center-right with nanny-state provisions. But no doubt Northern Europe is socialist minded. Here's my honest take. Homogenous societies of the "right people" can afford to extend benefits and rights. A Swede is less likely to abuse the health care system than a black guy. I know that's a racist thing to say but it's true. Chicago spends $14k a year on kids in the school system and we get very little utility out of it. Japan sticks kids in classes with 38 students and rocks. I think being 15% black is like giving up an edge on a random outcome and now being a fifth hispanic (Mexican) is another bad edge. We're Brazil. Sux. At least Canada get's to be Malaysia.
Only the Swiss have a higher Median household income. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_of_living_in_the_United_States