>There is no such thing as Utopia - and if you have so many problems with the United States, what are you still doing here?
>

So you're part of the 'love it or leave' it crowd. Very typical American response to the problems in our country.

The US has a much larger GDP than any other country from the statistics I'm looking at.

In Millions --
Source: CIA World Factbook, July 1, 2002

United States $9,963
China $4,500
Japan $3,150
Germany $1,936
France $1,448
Russia $1,120
Canada $774.7


>>Well the US gets oil far cheaper than anyone in Euorpe so that can definitely explain the top list. I'd bet every dime I have that Iceland pays more for gasoline and oil per unit than we do in the US.
>
>You're probably right.
>
>>I'd also like to point out that when I mean America is the 'richest' country I was speaking of GDP and corporate influence around the world. I don't have hard statistics but I'd bet money that US corporations have more influencue globally than Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Canada, etc...Probably more than all of these countries combined if we knew the truth.
>
>mmmmm...I'm not sure I agree with that. Don't foget about Japan... I'd get some stats for this one.

See above...there are the stats!
>
>>To me these numbers underline the fact that the United States has a larger gap between the wealthy and the poor. When 1% of the people have 99% of the money it isn't suprising that our standard of living and other metrics will be lower on average than other countries that may have wealth distributed more evenly.
>>
>>I also believe that the US has a far higher polution output than iceland, norway, finland, etc. in terms of total numbers... not averages of course.
>
>hmmmmm...
>Cleanest Countries
>1 Finland
>2 Norway
>3 Canada
>4 Sweden
>5 Switzerland
>6 New Zealand
>7 Australia
>8 Austria
>9 Iceland
>10 Denmark
>11 United States
>12 Netherlands
>13 France
>14 Uruguay
>15 Germany
>16 United Kingdom
>17 Ireland
>18 Slovak Republic
>19 Argentina
>20 Chad
>
>
>>I also would assert that the US has the largest military and spends more on military than any other country in the world. Once again, I don't think I need statistics to back up this assertion.
>
>Incorrect - it's China.

I had correct that myself right after my post. But you are incorrect that China spends more. You'll notice I said spends more and is largest. China is largest but doesn't spend as much.

>
>>I would be interested in seeing % of prison population in the US compared to those other countries as well. I'm sure America is running high prison percentages compared to many other countries.
>
>Acutally it's the highest in the world. Statistics also show that at our current rate, by the year 2050, 50% of the population in the United States (and when I say population I mean the WHOLE population) will be incarcerated.
>
>>When someone says America is the 'richest' country they don't mean by the average citizen but in total GDP including all the corporations as well. The numbers you provided have nothing to do with Ford, GM, Microsoft, Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, IBM, Disney, etc... This is the power, influence and wealth that makes America the most powerful country; not the average joe who makes $11 an hour.
>>
>>So while I still say America is the most power and most 'rich' country overall; your statistics obviously prove not all of the citizens are seeing the benefits of America's global dominance.
>
>There is no such thing as Utopia - and if you have so many problems with the United States, what are you still doing here?
>
>>>I got it off of http://www.aneki.com (Last Updated December 29, 2003) - you should take a look at some of the lists - you'll be suprised where the USA is on some of them...for example...
>>>
>>>Countries with the Highest Electrical Consumption per capita:
>>>1 Iceland 25,126.71
>>>2 Norway 24,860.14
>>>3 Finland 15,811.77
>>>4 Sweden 15,678.72
>>>5 Canada 15,665.53
>>>6 United Arab Emirates 14,714.29
>>>7 Kuwait 13,741.49
>>>8 Luxembourg 13,728.10
>>>9 United States 12,877.70
>>>
>>>Countries with the Highest Quality of Life:
>>>1 Norway
>>>2 Sweden
>>>3 Canada
>>>4 Belgium
>>>5 Australia
>>>6 United States
>>>
>>>Its amazing how people always think the USA is "number one - the biggest the best..blah blah blah" and that it's the "resource hog of the world". People should examine the statistics.
>>>
>>>>Hi victor,
>>>>
>>>>>Not true - America is not the richest.
>>>>>1 Luxembourg $36,400
>>>>>2 United States $36,200
>>>>>3 Bermuda $33,000
>>>>>4 San Marino $32,000
>>>>>5 Switzerland $28,600
>>>>>6 Aruba $28,000
>>>>>7 Norway $27,700
>>>>>8 Monaco $27,000
>>>>>9 Singapore $26,500
>>>>>10 Denmark $25,500
>>>>>11 Hong Kong $25,400
>>>>>12 Belgium $25,300
>>>>>13 Austria $25,000
>>>>>14 Japan $24,900
>>>>>15 Jersey $24,800
>>>>>-- Iceland $24,800
>>>>>-- Canada $24,800
>>>>>16 Cayman Islands $24,500
>>>>>17 France $24,400
>>>>>-- Netherlands $24,400
>>>>>18 Germany $23,400
>>>>>19 Liechstenstein $23,000
>>>>
>>>>When and where was this list published? I suspect with the current position of the dollar the US would not even be on no 2. It surprises me that belgium is above the netherlands in this list. I can't remember this was the case before ?
>>>>
>>>>Anyways, I think this list is pretty irrelevant anyways, because the citizen don't case about the average income, but more about: What is the best country to live in from a social point of view ? I know such list does exists and if I remember correctly, the US was not in the top 10 (mostly european countries)
>>>>
>>>>Walter,