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Originally Posted by WarChild
From the same Swiss report:
But what about equality? Well, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line has dropped to 12% from 22% since 1959. In 1999, 25% of American households were considered "low income," meaning they had an annual income of less than $25,000. If Sweden--the very model of a modern welfare state--were judged by the same standard, about 40% of its households would be considered low-income.
In other words poverty is relative, and in the U.S. a large 45.9% of the "poor" own their homes, 72.8% have a car and almost 77% have air conditioning, which remains a luxury in most of Western Europe. The average living space for poor American households is 1,200 square feet. In Europe, the average space for all households, not just the poor, is 1,000 square feet.
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Well, I'm not sure if the income is before or after taxes. If it's after, you have to remember that most european countries have free healthcare, free schools inclusing universities etc etc.. which are established by BIG taxing on EVERYTHING, including gas, income, alcohol.. you name it.
I also bet that most americans have WAY more loans than europeans (car payments, mortgages...everything paid by creditcards etc). So it's 2 totally different worlds and imho US and europe shouldn't be directly compared.
The economy, stance on religion and almost EVERYTHING is totally different.
But if arguing makes your penis hard, by all means try to prove us that you're superior (although that doesn't make YOU superior, so I don't know why bother). Carry on.