Posted on 08/24/2014 6:30:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Now and again, American inequality is on display to the world. We saw it after Hurricane Katrina and we have seen it again in the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. A white police offer shoots dead a black man, after having stopped him for jaywalking. Britain’s police don’t have guns, so these scenes are unthinkable. But American-style inequality? We have plenty of that too, we’re just better at hiding it – as I say in my Telegraph column today.
I came across a striking fact while researching this piece: if Britain were to somehow leave the EU and join the US how would we rank? The answer is that we’d be the 2nd-poorest state in the union, poorer than Missouri. Poorer than the much-maligned Kansas and Alabama. Poorer than any state other than Mississippi, and if you take out the south east we’d be poorer than that too.
I’ve been asked (on Twitter) to link to my source, but I’m afraid there’s no study to point to. It’s original research. But it’s also a fairly straightforward calculation. You take the US figures for GDP per state (here), divide it by population (here) to come up with a GDP per capita figure. Then get the equivalent figure for Britain: I used the latest Treasury figures (here) which also chime with the OECD’s (here). A version of this has been done on Wikipedia, but with one flaw: when comparing the wealth of nations, you need to look at how far money goes. This means using a measure called Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). When this is done, the league table looks like the below. I’ve put some other countries in for comparison.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.spectator.co.uk ...
Around 20 years ago I met a British lay preacher at a Summer retreat in North Carolina. His regular job was a policeman. We talked for a while and I was surprised to learn that he was authorized to carry a Walther PPK but only concealed.
Although most British Bobbies are not armed with guns, a few are.
That was an excellent article.
I lost count of the armed police I saw last time I visited London.
And he gave his name as “Bond. James Bond.”
;^)
I actually wondered if the Bond movies were partly responsible for the gun he carried. Even in 1994 there were better choices for concealed carry.
Then again there sure were a lot of worse ones too.
“You take the US figures for...” there’s his mistake.
GDP isn’t what it’s cracked up to be even when the figure is honest.
Interesting
(admitting to making a comment prior to reading the article) I wonder if the authors’ numbers reflect how BLOODY EXPENSIVE things are in the UK and how much they pay in taxes.
I shall read.
The comments after the article were very interesting.
Until fairly recently (early 2000’s) when British police did carry they tended to be Smith & Wesson model 10’s in .38 special. Since then they have modernized quite a bit.
CC
Yes, purchasing power is discussed.
I thought West Virginia is the poorest state. Reading, PA, poorest town. Ebb and flow? When are people going to remember we own nothing, it’s all a gift.
I saw armed police in a Paris train station...never saw an armed police at Heathrow or anywhere else in London.
We were in Paris one month after9-11. Two soldiers and 1 cop in each station.
This was a good one...
ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ’
Written by Spanish writer
Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez. Published in Spanish newspaper, Jan. 15, 2008.
I walked down the street in Barcelona , and suddenly
discovered a terrible truth – Europe died in Auschwitz ...
We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.
The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world.
These are the people we burned.
And under the pretense of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism
and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.
They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.
Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.
And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.
We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.
What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe.
Even way back then eh? d;^)
I have a good friend who was born, raised, educated and lived in Alabama most of his life who was forced to work in London for British Telecom for the first couple of years after he was hired.
He and his wife hated how backwards and archaic everything was in London. When his two years were up, BT reneged on their promise to send him back to the U.S. and he quit on the spot. BT in turn caved on the spot and he and his family are now living happily in Texas, still employed by BT.
London is a great city - it’s true that they do things differently there - such as not really believing in dryers - they like to hang their clothes to dry.
I know personally that things weren’t that great in the 70s but London today is an amazingly vibrant, exciting city. We’ve rented flats during vacations and aside from that damn dryer we love pretending we lived there, lol.
Mississippi can’t get a break. Its cheap to live here, cheaper than anywhere else. Except for Jackson, the people are friendly and helpful.
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