it is well known the US is by GDP richest country in the world, but the riches are abnormally skewed to the 0,01% top earners who take 95% of the pie. Income gap between rich and poor is excessive, which looks alot like third world countries who usually have large income gaps between rich and poor
Please show me how other "advanced nations" rank in comparison between the rich and poor. Be sure to look at the number of middle class, too. If you can't, then your opinion is irrelevant. Interesting, but irrelevant.
Fair enough. You obviously have more Russian experience than I do. I think the confusion comes from my definition of third world country. As a previous poster has explained, third world countries are not the poorest of the poor, which I had assumed they were. But no matter what your definition of a thrid world country is, the USA will certainly not get there any time soon. It amazes me the amount of Americans who have no faith in their government/citizens to pull themselves out of this mess. I am not even from your country, yet I have great confidence in the USA to come out of this recession not as a third world country, but as a powerful nation.
Government will keep throwing stimulus package after package to keep the daily going ons afloat. This will certainly devalue the currency but the system will survive. The debt will slowly get reduced. If anything, the recession can be prolonged, but Depression.........according to Economist Krugman has been averted.
This is the worrying part, that you should feel the need to ask for proof. There was a time not so long ago when this subject was not in question and now it is. Surely that sets off alarmbells for people. jjf
Fantastic article. Thanks. To Kass - Things are going to get bad enough in the U.S. where ordinary people will be unable to comprehend the dramatic decline in living standards they've seen in their lifetimes. How that relates to some other third world nation is irrelevant. To everyone: The gold standard of America's prosperity - a massive and prosperous middle class - is being wiped away right under all of our eyes. So, the trend in America, regardless of how we currently compare to other nations, a rapidly shrinking middle class. The BBC had a story on last night about the number of tent cities hosting formerly middle class citizens in the U.S., people with university degrees who were making close to 6 figure incomes, but who lost their jobs, health insurance and homes. This is more than anectodal; it's becoming systemic. The U.S. is headed for another depression.
Seriously, you need to lay off the tinfoil hat. Have you ever been to the US? It's a pretty damn good place to live in -- minus the taxes and crime. The cost of living is low, the standard of living is very high. The availability of high quality products and services is phenomenal and unmatched. If the US had an expat tax regime like the UK or Switzerland I'd have moved to the US a long time ago.