and why should it be the richest? anything special about it being "American"?
i would wager the the stats aren't the full truth. it lists german middle class below, which is hilarious - income alone doesn't mean shit in countries with top notch public infrastructure and well organised health care. that US middle class family needs to pay health insurance on top, if their kids want to go to college an ever increasing tuition, pretty likely need multiple cars to get anywhere and have less vacation time.
if more US citizens would travel their view on how much they're getting ripped off would change drastically. US immigrants from india, china, africa still get an improvement, but for northern Europeans, incl the Swiss, Austrians, moving here is a step down in a lot of factors.
if more US citizens would travel their view on how much they're getting ripped off would change drastically.
For many Americans, especially the richer ones that can afford a trip to northern Europe, it would be a case of cognitive dissonance: "gosh everything is so nice here / here is not America / America is the best / I can drive my SUV in America / these Europeans are crammed into tiny cars / thank god I'm an American!" or whatever the chain of reasoning is that gets you back to "thank god I'm an American!" from the world-crushing "gosh everything is so nice here".
Germany had to re-assimilate East Germany during the time of the graphs, as well. I suspect that accounts for the downward spike and then recovery in their incomes.
I have occasionally thought, not kidding either, that the only hope for the future for most Americans is being invaded by Canada, perhaps after one of our periodic financial collapses.
Other than the Hockey and Poutine thing, I can't imagine the general public having anything to complain about in that scenario.
i would wager the the stats aren't the full truth. it lists german middle class below, which is hilarious - income alone doesn't mean shit in countries with top notch public infrastructure and well organised health care. that US middle class family needs to pay health insurance on top, if their kids want to go to college an ever increasing tuition, pretty likely need multiple cars to get anywhere and have less vacation time.
if more US citizens would travel their view on how much they're getting ripped off would change drastically. US immigrants from india, china, africa still get an improvement, but for northern Europeans, incl the Swiss, Austrians, moving here is a step down in a lot of factors.
"world's richest" - haha.