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RE: [RC] State Parks (OT) - Mike SherrellIn terms of money, the IMF puts Luxemburg and Norway ahead of the US. The World Bank adds Singapore. The CIA World Factbook adds Lechtenstein. According to the World Bank again, Luxembourg had the highest per capita Gross National Income (GNI) in the world in 2006, followed closely by Norway, Switzerland, Denmark and Iceland, and Ireland is in 6th place, just ahead of the US. Of course all these figures are before the crash that the finance capitalists brought down on us. And about 8% of US income was being borrowed from other countries, number one being China, so if that is deducted our standing would be quite a bit lower. Cash income is a crude indicator of how well off you are. The 23 countries with lower child mortality rates than the US are, in order, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Finland, Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Korea, Luxemburg, Spain, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK. In 18 countries, people live longer than we do. In descending order: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. All of a sudden "socalialized medicine" doesn't sound so bad. The US before about 1980 had a considerably smaller gap between the richest and the middle and the bottom. The 1950s were when the income distribution curve was the flattest in the last century. What system is better? One in which the rich don't have a totally free hand, as Reagan and Bush tried to give them with deregulation of Wall Street, and big business got with "free trade". One in which everyone has an equal chance from birth, where you don't need to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to have good medicine and a good education. As the saying goes, some people are born on third base and think they hit a triple. Regards, Mike Sherrell Grizzly Analytical (USA) www.grizzlyanalytical.com 707 887 2919; fax = 707 887 9834 -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of fhall Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 11:31 AM To: 'Sisu West Ranch'; 'Ridecamp' Subject: RE: [RC] State Parks Oh here here!!! "..." The richest 5% own 59% of the wealth in the US."..." Would someone who decries the unequal distribution of wealth in the USA, please let us know what economic system works better, and give 3 examples of countries where it has worked to produce a higher standard of living than the USA. Ed Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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