I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
It depends where in the US. The weather is vital in setting one's mood and it's so nice in much of the south west. In Denmark, Norway or much of Switzerland it's depressing or outright terrible for at least six months a year. I have a friend who moved from the Easy Bay to Zurich and he finds the winters pretty unendurable. A cousin lived in Bergen for a while, which is always grey and depressing, and I visited here there and could never live there full time. In steamy, bug-ridden Arkansas, where I was stuck for too long, it's just as annoying.
But when you've got used to the outdoor life in the nice part of LA where I lived for a while, where you wake up every morning and have breakfast on a nice patio with the blinding Californian sun streaming down and maybe go to the beach if you're not working or hiking in one of the canyons and feel good about life, it's difficult to want to be anywhere else, and it was a wrench to move back. It just depends where you are.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
It depends where in the US. The weather is vital in setting one's mood and it's so nice in much of the south west. In Denmark, Norway or much of Switzerland it's depressing or outright terrible for at least six months a year. I have a friend who moved from the Easy Bay to Zurich and he finds the winters pretty unendurable. A cousin lived in Bergen for a while, which is always grey and depressing, and I visited here there and could never live there full time. In steamy, bug-ridden Arkansas, where I was stuck for too long, it's just as annoying.
But when you've got used to the outdoor life in the nice part of LA where I lived for a while, where you wake up every morning and have breakfast on a nice patio with the blinding Californian sun streaming down and maybe go to the beach if you're not working or hiking in one of the canyons and feel good about life, it's difficult to want to be anywhere else, and it was a wrench to move back. It just depends where you are.
Very true. One of the great advantages of the USA is the extra sunshine hours they get due to latitude etc
The very sunniest parts of Europe - southern Spain, Malta, Montenegro, Greece - rate as pretty good by American standards but not amazing
The greyest parts of Europe - the Faroes, Glasgow Manchester, Bradford, Dewsbury, Luton, Leicester, Kirklees, Oldham, Bolton, Rotherham, Ireland - have no comparison for depressingness in America
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
USA continues its descent into the next level of Mafiadom.
Almost certainly, although it does seem as though everyone in America has confidential documents in their home.
It's a bit ironic if Bolton gets chucked in the slammer for doing much the same as Trump did when he held office.
The revolution eats itself.
Bolton was never part of the “revolution” though - he was just a neo-con who was part of the group that reined in Trump in his first term
(Additionally I’d heard - and if this is true then it’s the most worrying part - that the FBI did the raid and identified the papers that Bolton had. Trump then *reclassified* them and so Bolton has been indicted retrospectively)
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
I will be making a statement on here at 10 am UK time tomorrow Friday 17th October.
All I remember about him is he made a fuss about being allowed to smoke on telly or something?
He got himself sacked from GB News for being too rude about a woman along with Dan Wootton, and has not stopped faceplanting since. He has a problem about black people, a problem about women, a problem with Sikhs, and a problem about opening his mouth before checking what actually happened. He's also done a Pride Flag as swastika, and himself in blackface.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
It now feels like an awful lot more than that - the gap. You notice it in the small things. The size of seafood bars. The beautiful varied illumination of downtowns. The pricey street furniture. Clean streets everywhere. At the airports the toilet cubicles have fancy red and green lights to show occupation
America now seems like an enormous Switzerland to the average European
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
It depends where in the US. The weather is vital in setting one's mood and it's so nice in much of the south west. In Denmark, Norway or much of Switzerland it's depressing or outright terrible for at least six months a year. I have a friend who moved from the Easy Bay to Zurich and he finds the winters pretty unendurable. A cousin lived in Bergen for a while, which is always grey and depressing, and I visited here there and could never live there full time. In steamy, bug-ridden Arkansas, where I was stuck for too long, it's just as annoying.
But when you've got used to the outdoor life in the nice part of LA where I lived for a while, where you wake up every morning and have breakfast on a nice patio with the blinding Californian sun streaming down and maybe go to the beach if you're not working or hiking in one of the canyons and feel good about life, it's difficult to want to be anywhere else, and it was a wrench to move back. It just depends where you are.
"if you're not working" is key there. My understanding is that Americans get about 10 days of leave a year. And are a lot more on the hook for evenings, weekends etc. Sunshine doesn't do you much good if you're stuck in an office. And I'm not convinced about the long term impact of sunshine on mood. Surely you recalibrate? I don't think the Danes are notably unhappier than the Italians? And I have literally never been unhappy in the Lake District.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) reported $1.4 million in gambling winnings from a trip to Las Vegas last year, according to tax summaries released Thursday by his campaign.
Many of you may know that -- in the past -- some US politicians had quite good luck when playing cards with lobbyists. I have no reason to think that explains Pritzker's latest winnings. (A more prudent politician would have avoid card games for high stakes.)
Worth bearing in mind that Pritzker has the ability to play for very large stakes - he is worth about $4bn from his stake in Hyatt and other businesses.
So it’s quite possible that he bet $50m that evening and that $1.4m winnings is the equivalent of a pint of beer for someone who bets $100
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
What a disgrace that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans aren’t allowed to attend the game at Aston Villa. I hope Tommy Robinson and co march through Birmingham with Star of David flags that day
The insanity of the modern right, that they instinctively side with foreign football hooligans rather than the British police.
Are Maccabi fans particularly notorious for hooliganism?
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
If I was regularly going through US immigration I'd post the same propaganda too. We understand.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Good morning, everyone.
The USA has an ever so tiny amount of political factionalism too.
China has comprehensively outmanoeuvred the USA (and everyone else) when it comes to rare earths, which is no small thing. Likewise electric cars, renewable energy generation, and they're in the game for AI.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
If I was regularly going through US immigration I'd post the same propaganda too. We understand.
I wish I was lying. I don’t like Britain or Europe being so comprehensively left behind. But it is happening
What a disgrace that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans aren’t allowed to attend the game at Aston Villa. I hope Tommy Robinson and co march through Birmingham with Star of David flags that day
The insanity of the modern right, that they instinctively side with foreign football hooligans rather than the British police.
Are Maccabi fans particularly notorious for hooliganism?
No more or less than other European teams really. Especially some of the East European ones.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
If I was regularly going through US immigration I'd post the same propaganda too. We understand.
Fine old Soviet joke:
Two brothers, John, and Bob, who lived in America and were members of the communist party, decided to emigrate to the USSR. Even though they didn't believe the American media's negative reports on the conditions in the USSR, they decided to exercise caution. John would go to Russia to test the waters. If they were right and it was a communist paradise, than John would write a letter to Bob using black ink. If, though, the situation in the USSR was as bad as the American media liked to portray, and the KGB was a force to be feared, John would use red ink to indicate whatever he says in the letter must not be believed.
In three months John sent his first report. It was in black ink and read, "I'm so happy here! It's a beautiful country, I enjoy complete freedom, and a high standard of living. All the capitalist press wrote was lies. Everything is readily available! There is only one small thing of which there's a shortage. Red ink."
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
If I was regularly going through US immigration I'd post the same propaganda too. We understand.
Fine old Soviet joke:
Two brothers, John, and Bob, who lived in America and were members of the communist party, decided to emigrate to the USSR. Even though they didn't believe the American media's negative reports on the conditions in the USSR, they decided to exercise caution. John would go to Russia to test the waters. If they were right and it was a communist paradise, than John would write a letter to Bob using black ink. If, though, the situation in the USSR was as bad as the American media liked to portray, and the KGB was a force to be feared, John would use red ink to indicate whatever he says in the letter must not be believed.
In three months John sent his first report. It was in black ink and read, "I'm so happy here! It's a beautiful country, I enjoy complete freedom, and a high standard of living. All the capitalist press wrote was lies. Everything is readily available! There is only one small thing of which there's a shortage. Red ink."
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
Con gain from Lab — [Lab were defending a majority of 6 votes over Con]
Con 1614 Lab 978 LD 841 Ref 723 Grn 204 Ind 22[/quote]
Con 36.83% [-4.36] Lab 22.32% [-19.02] LD 19.19% [+14.88] Ref 16.50% [+11.22] Grn 4.66% [-1.87] Ind 0.50% [-0.85]
Turnout 49.6%
Nice result for the Tories. Nothing for Labour lol
Broadheath is the least affluent bit of Trafford's most affluent town (Altrincham). Retail parks and industrial estates; sone council housing, many small starter homes. It does have a Waitrose. John Squire was born in Broadheath.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Secure borders? There are 11 million illegals in the US and Trump's efforts have made barely any difference to that number, by using methods that make all but his most ardent supporters want to talk about something else.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
I’m quite surprised. I find it hard to believe one in a hundred persons in the UK earns three hundred thousand dollars a year. Don’t smell right
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
My concern is that the Trump administration is undermining those aspects of the USA that make it successful (and I agree, the strengths of the USA are real).
Tariffs, persecution of political opponents, arbitrary arrest won’t actually benefit the USA.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Secure borders? There are 11 million illegals in the US and Trump's efforts have made barely any difference to that number, by using methods that make all but his most ardent supporters want to talk about something else.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
Old Soviet joke:
Does the Soviet Union have free speech like the US?
Well, not quite comrade. The US also has freedom *after* the speech.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Secure borders? There are 11 million illegals in the US and Trump's efforts have made barely any difference to that number, by using methods that make all but his most ardent supporters want to talk about something else.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
A screed of effete bullshit
Just one example:
“Illegal Border Crossings Plunge to Lowest Level in Decades Border Patrol agents made just over 6,000 arrests in June, according to government figures, a sign that President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies are working to keep people out”
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Bravo.
Trolls get a bad name, but really they are just lonely ugly people living under bridges. We should celebrate them.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
I’m quite surprised. I find it hard to believe one in a hundred persons in the UK earns three hundred thousand dollars a year. Don’t smell right
But if those are the stats those are the stats
Reputable comparisons of income usually work from households, not individuals, and commonly from income net of tax and NI (including council tax). On this basis the break point for the top 10% in the Uk is currently around £70,000. Putting £200,000 into the IFS calculator for net income and it puts this in the top 2%.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
I’m quite surprised. I find it hard to believe one in a hundred persons in the UK earns three hundred thousand dollars a year. Don’t smell right
But if those are the stats those are the stats
Reputable comparisons of income usually work from households, not individuals, and commonly from income net of tax and NI (including council tax). On this basis the break point for the top 10% in the Uk is currently around £70,000. Putting £200,000 into the IFS calculator for net income and it puts this in the top 2%.
So, wait, this means married couples and families - not just individuals? That makes a lot more sense. I can easily believe one in 50 HOUSEHOLDS earn that kind of money
An American politician has waded into the China scandal, writing a (now leaked) letter to Britain's US ambassador:
The chairman points out that, ‘as a target of CCP-backed espionage activity myself, I am deeply troubled over the UK government’s seeming unwillingness to adequately support justice for the [MPs] involved. Allowing this PRC (People’s Republic of China) aggression to go unchecked would only incentivise the CCP to further
Just a small Westminster bubble story, nobody cares.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
I’m quite surprised. I find it hard to believe one in a hundred persons in the UK earns three hundred thousand dollars a year. Don’t smell right
But if those are the stats those are the stats
Reputable comparisons of income usually work from households, not individuals, and commonly from income net of tax and NI (including council tax). On this basis the break point for the top 10% in the Uk is currently around £70,000. Putting £200,000 into the IFS calculator for net income and it puts this in the top 2%.
The 2% live among us. Next door actually. It's not that uncommon in the South East.
Goodness me, they want to postpone these elections again, for another year?
"Politics UK @PolitlcsUK 🚨 NEW: The Government is considering delaying 7 council elections for another year amid fears Reform gains could threaten its plans to overhaul local government
"The councils are Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Surrey, East and West Sussex and Hampshire
Council leaders are "lobbying hard" for the elections to be pushed to 2027, ahead of new larger councils set for 2028 - a move that would extend current Tory councillors’ terms from 5 to 7 yrs"
Much as I would rather see a Tory Council to a Reform Council this is a bit Trumpian for my tastes.
It shouldn't be happening, but I think it's more a sign of how little local democracy matters, than of rampant authoritarianism. Councils are so constrained by central government that they have very little room for manoeuvre.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
I’m quite surprised. I find it hard to believe one in a hundred persons in the UK earns three hundred thousand dollars a year. Don’t smell right
But if those are the stats those are the stats
Reputable comparisons of income usually work from households, not individuals, and commonly from income net of tax and NI (including council tax). On this basis the break point for the top 10% in the Uk is currently around £70,000. Putting £200,000 into the IFS calculator for net income and it puts this in the top 2%.
So, wait, this means married couples and families - not just individuals? That makes a lot more sense. I can easily believe one in 50 HOUSEHOLDS earn that kind of money
It also includes the very many adult kids still living at home. PIP payments also count as income
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
My concern is that the Trump administration is undermining those aspects of the USA that make it successful (and I agree, the strengths of the USA are real).
Tariffs, persecution of political opponents, arbitrary arrest won’t actually benefit the USA.
You don’t understand. Right wing Americans look at the appalling decline of Britain and Europe and they realise they have to do this, or they will become like us
And they have a point. Wokeness must be crushed. Western self loathing leads to the end of the west. It leads to rampant anti Semitism, for a start, as we see in the UK right nox
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Secure borders? There are 11 million illegals in the US and Trump's efforts have made barely any difference to that number, by using methods that make all but his most ardent supporters want to talk about something else.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
Blistering response. Someone has had their weetabix this morning!
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
My concern is that the Trump administration is undermining those aspects of the USA that make it successful (and I agree, the strengths of the USA are real).
Tariffs, persecution of political opponents, arbitrary arrest won’t actually benefit the USA.
You don’t understand. Right wing Americans look at the appalling decline of Britain and Europe and they realise they have to do this, or they will become like us
And they have a point. Wokeness must be crushed. Western self loathing leads to the end of the west. It leads to rampant anti Semitism, for a start, as we see in the UK right nox
Crushing enemies is never going to be pretty
It is a good job the US governing party doesn't have any issues with horders of Hitler lovers rising through their ranks.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
To adapt that line scientists use about the queerness of the Universe, the mega rich are not only richer than we imagine, but richer than we can imagine.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Bravo.
Trolls get a bad name, but really they are just lonely ugly people living under bridges. We should celebrate them.
I prefer small drivel bot (h/t to whoever coined it earlier on this thread).
Note the discussion was about the supply (sale, not donation) of around 60 or 70 Tomahawks. The US has about 4000 in its inventory.
And the same cycle has just started with Putin offering a meeting with Trump so Trump places the handbrake on any big assistance to Ukraine, Russia buys more time hoping for something to change in their favour on the ground and the same stalemate continues.
Putin must love that he is dealing with someone so dense and vain in Trump that he can just play him like this without Trump remembering all the other times it happened.
Worth bearing in mind that Pritzker has the ability to play for very large stakes - he is worth about $4bn from his stake in Hyatt and other businesses.
So it’s quite possible that he bet $50m that evening and that $1.4m winnings is the equivalent of a pint of beer for someone who bets $100
How can any sane person look at Britain today - an anti semitic toilet with a moribund economy - and think Yeah America should copy that and allow the left and the blob and the woke to rule the country for twenty years so America ends up like the UK
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
To adapt that line scientists use about the queerness of the Universe, the mega rich are not only richer than we imagine, but richer than we can imagine.
Note the discussion was about the supply (sale, not donation) of around 60 or 70 Tomahawks. The US has about 4000 in its inventory.
Trump is probably the most untrustworthy and unreliable ally in recent history (as Starmer will no doubt ruefully testify). Still, the special relationship eh?
I was really worried that the Today programme weren’t going to give me my weekly hit of Taylor Swift but luckily they’ve managed to get in her music and a story about how a painting in Germany might be an inspiration for one of her songs/videos. Good work Today producers.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
To adapt that line scientists use about the queerness of the Universe, the mega rich are not only richer than we imagine, but richer than we can imagine.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
Yes, the 0.1% are the real elite, not the 1%.
The Senators and knights of the Roman Empire were the 0.1%. In their eyes, the other 0.9% were rich peasants and successful tradesmen.
Likewise Gregory King drew the distinction between the Great, and the merely Rich.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Secure borders? There are 11 million illegals in the US and Trump's efforts have made barely any difference to that number, by using methods that make all but his most ardent supporters want to talk about something else.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
A screed of effete bullshit
Just one example:
“Illegal Border Crossings Plunge to Lowest Level in Decades Border Patrol agents made just over 6,000 arrests in June, according to government figures, a sign that President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies are working to keep people out”
Now have a go at refuting the rest of it. Having not rebutted Fishing's point that the grossly unsavoury - and often illegal - efforts of ICE (which has more funding than any law enforcement agency in history) has barely moved the dial regarding this already in the US.
If you're going to call screed of bullshit, perhaps have a look at your own output.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
As I've pointed out here many times, parroting GDP/head numbers is highly misleading. Americans work 17-20% more per year than us so that accounts for about half the gap in GDP/head. Much of the rest is accounted for by the unusual strength of the dollar, the absurdly extravagant but underperforming healthcare system and as you note the much more unequal distribution of income.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
America seems quite exemplary at the moment. Secure borders, free speech, a thriving economy, endless innovation
Secure borders? There are 11 million illegals in the US and Trump's efforts have made barely any difference to that number, by using methods that make all but his most ardent supporters want to talk about something else.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
Free speech on campus is now suddenly a problem ? Seriously. Try holding a gender critical viewpoint a few years ago and work in higher education in the US, or other nations for that matter.
You can be pro Palestine without being pro Hamas. Something the Palestine Action supporters could learn.
The pendulum has now swung the other way and people are squealing about free speech. Mainly the people happy to stop others free speech. That’s not a good thing either way but there it is.
Many years ago, when working in the kitchens at Coombe Abbey hotel in Coventry, I took a problematic breakfast room service order for Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.
He got so frustrated with my lack of American language skills (I didn’t know what he meant by “oatmeal” and said “I don’t think we have that, but we do have porridge which is made of oats”) that he shouted “I hate this fucking country” started singing I feel so bad I wanna go home down the phone at me.
Note the discussion was about the supply (sale, not donation) of around 60 or 70 Tomahawks. The US has about 4000 in its inventory.
And the same cycle has just started with Putin offering a meeting with Trump so Trump places the handbrake on any big assistance to Ukraine, Russia buys more time hoping for something to change in their favour on the ground and the same stalemate continues.
Putin must love that he is dealing with someone so dense and vain in Trump that he can just play him like this without Trump remembering all the other times it happened.
And Trump is dealing with someone so dense and vain that his legacy Special Military Operation is destroying the Russian economy for decades to come.
They deserve each other.
Even a fortnight delay before the Hungary meeting of the two will allow Ukraine to build a flock of flamingos to destroy a further chunk of Putin's hydrocarbons sector. The people are already on the street demanding Sewan Lake on the telly. Russian revolutions take about three days to happen, historically...
What a disgrace that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans aren’t allowed to attend the game at Aston Villa. I hope Tommy Robinson and co march through Birmingham with Star of David flags that day
The insanity of the modern right, that they instinctively side with foreign football hooligans rather than the British police.
Enoch Powell said he would fight for England even if we had a communist government, and that we didn’t fight for values
Enoch Powell: "We do not fight for values. I would fight for this country even if it had a communist government."
Mrs. Thatcher: "Nonsense, Enoch. If I send British troops abroad, it will be to defend our values."
Enoch Powell: "No, Prime Minister, values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time. They can neither be fought for, nor destroyed."
Maybe I would have agreed then, but I think globalism has moved the goalposts now. There are things I would definitely back another country to defeat us in. Blind patriotism is ridiculous, especially in a fractured society
What a disgrace that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans aren’t allowed to attend the game at Aston Villa. I hope Tommy Robinson and co march through Birmingham with Star of David flags that day
The insanity of the modern right, that they instinctively side with foreign football hooligans rather than the British police.
Enoch Powell said he would fight for England even if we had a communist government, and that we didn’t fight for values
Enoch Powell: "We do not fight for values. I would fight for this country even if it had a communist government."
Mrs. Thatcher: "Nonsense, Enoch. If I send British troops abroad, it will be to defend our values."
Enoch Powell: "No, Prime Minister, values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time. They can neither be fought for, nor destroyed."
Maybe I would have agreed then, but I think globalism has moved the goalposts now. There are things I would definitely back another country to defeat us in. Blind patriotism is ridiculous, especially in a fractured society
Should we disbanded the armed forces and invite everyone to come? Seems we are heading that way anyway with commenting on issues far away involving people we don't know, and have no commonality with.
Many years ago, when working in the kitchens at Coombe Abbey hotel in Coventry, I took a problematic breakfast room service order for Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.
He got so frustrated with my lack of American language skills (I didn’t know what he meant by “oatmeal” and said “I don’t think we have that, but we do have porridge which is made of oats”) that he shouted “I hate this fucking country” started singing I feel so bad I wanna go home down the phone at me.
Many years ago, when working in the kitchens at Coombe Abbey hotel in Coventry, I took a problematic breakfast room service order for Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.
He got so frustrated with my lack of American language skills (I didn’t know what he meant by “oatmeal” and said “I don’t think we have that, but we do have porridge which is made of oats”) that he shouted “I hate this fucking country” started singing I feel so bad I wanna go home down the phone at me.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
To adapt that line scientists use about the queerness of the Universe, the mega rich are not only richer than we imagine, but richer than we can imagine.
WTF is the Queerness of the Universe.
A line attributed to basically every quotable scientist ever;
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, it's queerer than we can suppose.
I’m gonna say it again, America is now richer than Europe to a quite astonishing degree. Seattle airport is at Doha/Singapore levels of public opulence
And this is just Seattle airport. It’s not the great national flagship
And you see this wealth everywhere. It’s not pockets of affluence. The affluence is ubiquitous, it’s poverty you see in pockets
Depends which parts. Switzerland, Luxembourg, London and Surrey and Monaco and Norway are certainly far richer than Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico etc. Seattle by contrast is part of the IT and tech hub of the US with Silicon Valley.
The US also has more extreme poverty than most western nations with very limited welfare state, little social and public housing and no public healthcare for most, I have never seen more homeless people in a developed nation than I did when I went to Los Angeles for example
Your take is outdated
I’ve seen vast and obvious wealth on 90% of this drive. From LA up to Seattle
Sure there are rundown towns. I saw them. Grisly. But we have easily as bad in the UK, just different in looks. Hopeless towns
In the last year I’ve also been to four of the five poorest states in the union. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia. Even there the poverty is limited. There are also rich towns and lavish suburbs
It’s terrifying how Europe is being left for dust
I suppose the question is: where would the average person prefer to live? USA or north-west Europe.
Cost of living, especially for healthcare swings it for Europe I think..🧐🤨
It's Rawls' Veil of Ignorance: and yes, you'd probably prefer to be born in Denmark, Norway or Switzerland, than in the US.
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
US GDP per head is about 55% higher than it is in this country.
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
You need $291,000, to get into the top 1% in the UK. In the USA, it’s $700,000.
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
An annual salary of $300k is surely more like the top 0.1% in the UK, not 1%?
No, according to the ONS, it will put you in the top 1%.
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
A lot of that differential is in the top 0.1% though
To adapt that line scientists use about the queerness of the Universe, the mega rich are not only richer than we imagine, but richer than we can imagine.
WTF is the Queerness of the Universe.
A line attributed to basically every quotable scientist ever;
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, it's queerer than we can suppose.
What a disgrace that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans aren’t allowed to attend the game at Aston Villa. I hope Tommy Robinson and co march through Birmingham with Star of David flags that day
The insanity of the modern right, that they instinctively side with foreign football hooligans rather than the British police.
Enoch Powell said he would fight for England even if we had a communist government, and that we didn’t fight for values
Enoch Powell: "We do not fight for values. I would fight for this country even if it had a communist government."
Mrs. Thatcher: "Nonsense, Enoch. If I send British troops abroad, it will be to defend our values."
Enoch Powell: "No, Prime Minister, values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time. They can neither be fought for, nor destroyed."
Maybe I would have agreed then, but I think globalism has moved the goalposts now. There are things I would definitely back another country to defeat us in. Blind patriotism is ridiculous, especially in a fractured society
Hmm. I think that's a problem with globalism. Everybody lives online in their head and thinks the nation-state doesn't matter. But when push comes to shove, the virtual world is a fiction and the nation-state really does matter. I'll dig out my Britain article.
Kemi going in high off her feet with a two footed challenge..
Badenoch has spoken to broadcasters on the football fan ban:
“This is a national disgrace. This is something that the police should be able to deal with. We cannot be a country where we tell Jewish people that they can’t come to watch football because their security is not going to be looked after. What I want to see is the police finding ways to make sure they can be secure and sending the message to the Islamists and those who are pushing anti-Jewish hatred that this does not happen in the UK. Britain has always been a sanctuary for Jews and it always should be.”
Badenoch was asked if the police should reverse the decision:
“Yes, they should. And if not, the Home Secretary should get involved. Last week, she was telling us uh all the things that she wanted to do for Jewish people. I didn’t believe her then. I remember when she was lying down in front of a Sainsbury’s because it was selling Israeli goods. They need to give confidence to Jewish people in our country. And if the Home Secretary can’t do it, then the Prime Minister should. He needs to show that he’s got a backbone and isn’t so weak that he will just allow Jewish people to be terrorised here
Comments
If, that is, you knew nothing about your intelligence, status, etc.
But when you've got used to the outdoor life in the nice part of LA where I lived for a while, where you wake up every morning and have breakfast on a nice patio with the blinding Californian sun streaming down and maybe go to the beach if you're not working or hiking in one of the canyons and feel good about life, it's difficult to want to be anywhere else, and it was a wrench to move back. It just depends where you are.
Following his phone call with Putin, Trump now suggests he won’t give Ukraine Tomahawks:
Trump: We need them for the U.S. too. We can’t deplete our own supply. They’re very violent, very accurate, and very good. So I don’t know what we can do about that
https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/1978934815203192966
The very sunniest parts of Europe - southern Spain, Malta, Montenegro, Greece - rate as pretty good by American standards but not amazing
The greyest parts of Europe - the Faroes, Glasgow Manchester, Bradford, Dewsbury, Luton, Leicester, Kirklees, Oldham, Bolton, Rotherham, Ireland - have no comparison for depressingness in America
The gap in median incomes is much smaller (the median full time salary in the UK is $50,000 to $61,000 in the USA).
The really huge difference between the two countries comes with the standard of living among the top 10%. An income of $97,000 puts you into the top 10% in the UK. The equivalent in the USA is $170,000.
(Additionally I’d heard - and if this is true then it’s the most worrying part - that the FBI did the raid and identified the papers that Bolton had. Trump then *reclassified* them and so Bolton has been indicted retrospectively)
The UK is not an especially unequal country.
Slipped in his studio, twatted his head. Never fully recovered.
Life is short and precious and you don’t know what’s around the corner, it may be the grim reaper, so value every day.
https://x.com/oceanbreeze473/status/1978957548817424444?s=61
America now seems like an enormous Switzerland to the average European
And I'm not convinced about the long term impact of sunshine on mood. Surely you recalibrate? I don't think the Danes are notably unhappier than the Italians? And I have literally never been unhappy in the Lake District.
We could be doing far better in this country, but America is not the shining exemplar many in this country think it is.
Many of you may know that -- in the past -- some US politicians had quite good luck when playing cards with lobbyists. I have no reason to think that explains Pritzker's latest winnings. (A more prudent politician would have avoid card games for high stakes.)
Worth bearing in mind that Pritzker has the ability to play for very large stakes - he is worth about $4bn from his stake in Hyatt and other businesses.
So it’s quite possible that he bet $50m that evening and that $1.4m winnings is the equivalent of a pint of beer for someone who bets $100
The USA has an ever so tiny amount of political factionalism too.
China has comprehensively outmanoeuvred the USA (and everyone else) when it comes to rare earths, which is no small thing. Likewise electric cars, renewable energy generation, and they're in the game for AI.
Interesting set of results from yesterday. Has the Reform wave vanished or was it overdone in the first place.
Two brothers, John, and Bob, who lived in America and were members of the communist party, decided to emigrate to the USSR. Even though they didn't believe the American media's negative reports on the conditions in the USSR, they decided to exercise caution. John would go to Russia to test the waters. If they were right and it was a communist paradise, than John would write a letter to Bob using black ink. If, though, the situation in the USSR was as bad as the American media liked to portray, and the KGB was a force to be feared, John would use red ink to indicate whatever he says in the letter must not be believed.
In three months John sent his first report. It was in black ink and read, "I'm so happy here! It's a beautiful country, I enjoy complete freedom, and a high standard of living. All the capitalist press wrote was lies. Everything is readily available! There is only one small thing of which there's a shortage. Red ink."
The wealth gap is equally striking between US and UK. The top 1% own 10% of the wealth in the UK, whereas in the USA they own 30%.
It does have a Waitrose.
John Squire was born in Broadheath.
Free speech? You're using the classic dictator's definition of free speech for people that agree with me. Try speaking out in favour of the Palestinians on a university campus and then talk about free speech as you're whisked off to jail or deported. Or slagging off Trump on your network show and then getting cancelled when Trump files a fake lawsuit so that your company has to pay him off.
A thriving economy? The economy is projected this year about 2%, pretty mediocre and built on a budget deficit of 6%, actually a mediocre performance given such a high deficit.
Endless innovation? Enough to blow some market bubbles amongst gullible investors maybe, but apparently not enough to generate high sustained growth without exploding debt.
America has much to admire and imitate, particularly in its attitude to free enterprise but it's no exemplar overall and I think you're seeing what you want to see just because you like Trump's war on woke.
But if those are the stats those are the stats
Tariffs, persecution of political opponents, arbitrary arrest won’t actually benefit the USA.
Does the Soviet Union have free speech like the US?
Well, not quite comrade. The US also has freedom *after* the speech.
It worked in the 1980s...
Just one example:
“Illegal Border Crossings Plunge to Lowest Level in Decades
Border Patrol agents made just over 6,000 arrests in June, according to government figures, a sign that President Trump’s hard-line immigration policies are working to keep people out”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/us/politics/border-crossings-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Trolls get a bad name, but really they are just lonely ugly people living under bridges. We should celebrate them.
An American politician has waded into the China scandal, writing a (now leaked) letter to Britain's US ambassador:
Just a small Westminster bubble story, nobody cares.
And they have a point. Wokeness must be crushed. Western self loathing leads to the end of the west. It leads to rampant anti Semitism, for a start, as we see in the UK right nox
Crushing enemies is never going to be pretty
The US has about 4000 in its inventory.
Putin must love that he is dealing with someone so dense and vain in Trump that he can just play him like this without Trump remembering all the other times it happened.
It is ridiculous
The Senators and knights of the Roman Empire were the 0.1%. In their eyes, the other 0.9% were rich peasants and successful tradesmen.
Likewise Gregory King drew the distinction between the Great, and the merely Rich.
Having not rebutted Fishing's point that the grossly unsavoury - and often illegal - efforts of ICE (which has more funding than any law enforcement agency in history) has barely moved the dial regarding this already in the US.
If you're going to call screed of bullshit, perhaps have a look at your own output.
NEW THREAD
You can be pro Palestine without being pro Hamas. Something the Palestine Action supporters could learn.
The pendulum has now swung the other way and people are squealing about free speech. Mainly the people happy to stop others free speech. That’s not a good thing either way but there it is.
He got so frustrated with my lack of American language skills (I didn’t know what he meant by “oatmeal” and said “I don’t think we have that, but we do have porridge which is made of oats”) that he shouted “I hate this fucking country” started singing I feel so bad I wanna go home down the phone at me.
They deserve each other.
Even a fortnight delay before the Hungary meeting of the two will allow Ukraine to build a flock of flamingos to destroy a further chunk of Putin's hydrocarbons sector. The people are already on the street demanding Sewan Lake on the telly. Russian revolutions take about three days to happen, historically...
Enoch Powell: "We do not fight for values. I would fight for this country even if it had a communist government."
Mrs. Thatcher: "Nonsense, Enoch. If I send British troops abroad, it will be to defend our values."
Enoch Powell: "No, Prime Minister, values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time. They can neither be fought for, nor destroyed."
Maybe I would have agreed then, but I think globalism has moved the goalposts now. There are things I would definitely back another country to defeat us in. Blind patriotism is ridiculous, especially in a fractured society
Perhaps you are a world citizen.
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, it's queerer than we can suppose.
Old sense of queer, natch.
Edit. Here it is: https://www1.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2025/03/30/the-matter-of-britain/
Badenoch has spoken to broadcasters on the football fan ban:
“This is a national disgrace. This is something that the police should be able to deal with. We cannot be a country where we tell Jewish people that they can’t come to watch football because their security is not going to be looked after. What I want to see is the police finding ways to make sure they can be secure and sending the message to the Islamists and those who are pushing anti-Jewish hatred that this does not happen in the UK. Britain has always been a sanctuary for Jews and it always should be.”
Badenoch was asked if the police should reverse the decision:
“Yes, they should. And if not, the Home Secretary should get involved. Last week, she was telling us uh all the things that she wanted to do for Jewish people. I didn’t believe her then. I remember when she was lying down in front of a Sainsbury’s because it was selling Israeli goods. They need to give confidence to Jewish people in our country. And if the Home Secretary can’t do it, then the Prime Minister should. He needs to show that he’s got a backbone and isn’t so weak that he will just allow Jewish people to be terrorised here