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News & ArtsTuesday, May 19, 2009
Economy Some Perspective
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, May 19, 2009 at 2:42 PM
The last figure is the GDP for the Seattle area in 2006:
By Wolfram|Alpha's calculation, this is the GDP for Africa (notice the GDP for South Africa):
By Wolfram|Alpha's calculation, the GDP for the United States of America:
Population of Africa:
Population of the United States of America:
Not in all ways was Phil Gramm wrong.
1
Joe has a broken leg. He complains that it hurts.
Fred has two missing legs, he complains that it is also a horrible experience.
Neither are whiners.
Charles you can be a real idiot sometimes.
Fred has two missing legs, he complains that it is also a horrible experience.
Neither are whiners.
Charles you can be a real idiot sometimes.
3
Alternate hypothesis to Charles': We are a nation of humans. Humans have a tendency to adjust to their surroundings, their present circumstances, and their expectations of the future. When any of those are disappointed, we whine. We tend to want to have things that are about as nice (or nicer, if we can afford it) as our neighbor's stuff.
So yes, in absolute terms even relatively poor Americans are better off than most people in developing countries. Color me shocked. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't cause real stress, and justify some whining, when someone loses their job and faces the embarrassment of not being able to pay off the car to take the kids to soccer practice or forclosing on their large-by-world-standards-but-modest-by-peer-standards home.
I'm not saying that it wouldn't be better if more Americans were more aware of the kind of living that most people in the world do every day. Horrah for perspective. But doesn't wallowing in, and trying to drum up guilt all day every day start to wear on you? What's the malfunction, bro?
Stick to posting pictures of hot pregnant chicks. You're good at that.
So yes, in absolute terms even relatively poor Americans are better off than most people in developing countries. Color me shocked. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't cause real stress, and justify some whining, when someone loses their job and faces the embarrassment of not being able to pay off the car to take the kids to soccer practice or forclosing on their large-by-world-standards-but-modest-by-peer-standards home.
I'm not saying that it wouldn't be better if more Americans were more aware of the kind of living that most people in the world do every day. Horrah for perspective. But doesn't wallowing in, and trying to drum up guilt all day every day start to wear on you? What's the malfunction, bro?
Stick to posting pictures of hot pregnant chicks. You're good at that.
5
looks like you took out the guilt-dripping boilerplate and made the post better. Credit where it's due: props. I revoke most of 3, but 4 stands.
And danhowes, if you're going to post shit like that, it might be a good idea not to use your real name people can look up on facebook and look at your profile, which anyone in Seattle can see. The internet is for porn, and it's also for anonymity. Take advantage.
And danhowes, if you're going to post shit like that, it might be a good idea not to use your real name people can look up on facebook and look at your profile, which anyone in Seattle can see. The internet is for porn, and it's also for anonymity. Take advantage.
7
This whole thing is just ridiculous anyway. Nobody's saying we are worse off than Africa.
You could do a similar comparison to this and look at how much better our health care is than your average African nation. That doesn't mean ours doesn't need improvement.
Just because I don't beat my kids as often as the guy down the road doesn't mean I shouldn't stop beating my kids.
You could do a similar comparison to this and look at how much better our health care is than your average African nation. That doesn't mean ours doesn't need improvement.
Just because I don't beat my kids as often as the guy down the road doesn't mean I shouldn't stop beating my kids.
8
@4,5 I don't want to totally deconstruct it, but I'm pretty sure dan was having a funny at our racist forefathers' (and, let's face it, their slaves') expense rather than exposing his vicious inner racist. I'll leave the rest of slog to decide whether only a true racist could make a joke about slavery.
Speaking of internet humor, I'm not entirely sure (mostly because of your response to dan) whether or not your screenname is meant in irony or not. Please attach a signature to all future posts informing as to its snark/nonsnark/metasnark classification.
Speaking of internet humor, I'm not entirely sure (mostly because of your response to dan) whether or not your screenname is meant in irony or not. Please attach a signature to all future posts informing as to its snark/nonsnark/metasnark classification.
9
@8 Yes, I was probably a little too quick to judge dan. I'm sure he's a great fella, really. [nonsnark] and I enjoy off-color humor as much as the next dude. [nonsnark] But I think it's generally good practice to keep your bigotry off the internet. [nonsnark] While I'm sure it was a joke, his comment was the kind of insensitive joke that only a faggot would make outside the comfort of a close circle of friends. [snark]
10
I am amazed that Charles actually got Wolfram to do something. That shit hasn't understood any of my inputs since the day it launched.
11
Charles, you forgot a key phrase in your first sentence. "in millions of dollars."
I get the comparison you're making, but a little bit of work in converting your numbers to the same unit (say billions of dollars) makes the argument more cogent. Also, number of people in the Seattle area would help.
I get the comparison you're making, but a little bit of work in converting your numbers to the same unit (say billions of dollars) makes the argument more cogent. Also, number of people in the Seattle area would help.
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