World Economy: 11 Places Worse Off Than The U.S.

usnews.com:

When times are tough, one thing that tends to raise the spirits is knowing that somebody else has it worse. And as wretched as the U.S. economy seems, it's not as bad as in other regions.

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Read the whole story: usnews.com

Comments

[vippy]

And we Americans have been brainwashed to believe we were Number One in the world for everything. Come to find out we are in last place of all countries on this globe with the largest debt ever - do you hear that, LAST PLACE on this globe! And we have experts and the best and the brightest who got us into this mess. Time to rethink our ideas and become more humble, we can't flaunt anything. We were brainwashed and we are dumb.

[Palemoon]

Oh boy! So we're better off than 11 other nations in the world. That's little consolation when the kick in the teeth is that around 186 other nations are better off than we are. Being happy we're ranked down around 187th since we're not in last place at least!

That's like Georgia saying "Hey, at least we're not last in education anymore!" while being ranked 49th in the country. That's not exactly cause for any celebration, or feel good moments.

[andresfusion]

Someone did not read the article, "11 major parts of the world to have more severe economic contractions than the United State this year, including most of western Europe, Japan, Russia, and Mexico." Note the 11 MAJOR PARTS of the world as oppose to countries. Furthermore, Georgia is 35th! (I know is still pretty bad......but much better than 49th! )

[AuntiepoppyCock]

Nothing brightens your day more until you find out someone somewhere is suffering more than you are... just makes things seem calmer. Martin Luther King said it best, "an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Poverty is a great injustice...and it is a threat to justice everywhere... Even in the golden mountain.

[Retrofuturistic]

I guess that means we are # 11 from the bottom....

[MuchMadness]

The Chinese government really does not want its people to prosper. If that happened, the Chinese government could be overthrown. China is set up to oppress its workers and put the wealth that they generate into the hands of the government oligarchy.

[wilsonveteran]

This is the model Obama is striving for. Make us all equal and equally poor.

[maigesheng]

Duh.....That so, Boss????

[wadda]

...some are more equal than others.

Take a look

http://www.lcurve.org/

[PresidentRobertBooth]

***This is the model Obama is striving for. Make us all equal and equally poor***

No, that was the model capitalism is striving for.

Keep you poor enough to make sure you'll always be a wage slave.

[swift goat pet for truth]

US is going to lead the world out of recession?

How is that going to happen when the middle class does not have disposable income?
Another asset bubble and more schemes to get them in debt and transfer more money to the uber rich and banks?

[ebleyes]

Good to see Africa growing, China is entering the African and South American markets big time.

[jayes]

there's the 'whole economic bucket' for a country, and then there are regional effects and class distribution.

paying attention to the 'whole bucket', the thrust of this u.s. news article, as well as nearly all articles in the mass media, ignores fundamentals like the plundering of the middle class.

iow, even if you're in a country that's doing relatively well, who would care if your family/community is not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVkFb26u9g8

[BabblingBrooks]

Biden was correct. The severity of the economic problems was misunderestimated.

"In Worst Economic News of 2009, Massive Slim Jim Shortage Now Underway"-­-headline, BestWeekEver.tv, July 8

[maigesheng]

I hate that your avatar means "Mister"

Everytime I read your posts I think "who does this guy think he is???

[MurrayAbraham]

First, I don't really take solace in the fact some countries are doing "worse".
Second, macroeconomic trends don't describe how the "average Joe" is hurt. I am quite sure that low income people receive more help in EU countries than in the US although their macroeconomic data is worse than ours.

[zitlight73]

At least they don't have to worry about taking care of themselves or their families if they get hurt or sick they at least have health-care coverage. By the time our lobbyist controlled congress gets around passing national health-care it'll turn out to be a monster that only the insurance and pharmicutical companies could love.

[Mike Barden]

lobbyists AGAIN? how do they get away with it?

[Happylall]

HELLO FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION,ITALY TO BE EXACT. THE FIGURES IN THE PIECE DO NOT ACCOUNT FOR THE GREAT SAFETY NETS WE HAVE HERE IN EUROPE.
HEALTH CARE FOR ONE AND A BIG ONE!
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!
FREE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION!
THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. HERE IN ITALY THERE IS ALSO AN UNDERGROUND ECONOMY WHICH KEEPS A HUGE PERCENTAGE OF THE PEOPLE HAPPY.
NO CREDIT PROBLEMS HERE.THE CREDIT CARD IS A DEBIT CARD. YOU DON'T BUY A THING WITHOUT THE MONEY.
LIFE IS HAPPIER HERE TOO!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!GUN CONTROL, NO CAPITAL PUNISHMENT ETC. ETC. ETC. OH YES, PEOPLE ARE THINNER AND THE FOOD IS BETTER!!!!

[swift goat pet for truth]

The article is from Business Week.
They only care about how corporations and uber rich are doing.

Normal people? *meh*

[delta7777]

.
Sometimes I think that there may be some acceptable form
of recognized and inexpensive ''happy corruption" at lower levels of society
that keeps the wheels of daily activity lightly oiled and working smoothly;
as opposed to the etreme level of aggressive corruption
at the top echelons of a highly stratisfied, more purely capitalistic society
that wraps itself in the robes of Caesar's wife.
.

[maigesheng]

I am in debt, a massive amount of money, for a education that will probably turn out useless.
I know it was my mistake to go to college. However, when I am reminded about FREE EDUCATION in Europe........

Makes me want to puke.

I hate Americans...

[maigesheng]

I am in debt, a massive amount of money, for a education that will probably turn out useless.
I know it was my mistake to go to college. However, when I am reminded about FREE EDUCATION in Europe........

Makes me want to puke.

I h.ate Americans...

[maigesheng]

I am in debt, a massive amount of money, for a education that will probably turn out useless.
I know it was my mistake to go to college. However, when I am reminded about FREE EDUCATION in Europe........

Makes me want to puke.

[Tom95134]

The "Fat Lady" ain't singing yet.

[larry278]

The USA will lead the world out ot the current, deepening, recession; not. the U Snooze is again wrong & honoring its tradition of mediocrity & baseless reports.

[KCFreedom]

You must have a job.

[hearmeout]

So the USA is going to lead the world from "recession" Larry? How, exactly? Are you predicting that consumers who have spent decades accumulating unprecedented levels of debt, whose home values and stock market portfolios have plummeted, who have lost more jobs year-over-year than any year since world war two, who are now saving seven percent more than they were a few years ago - which translates into five percentage points of GDP! (.7 x .07 = .49) - and who are, despite a harsher bankruptcy law, declaring bankruptcy at a rate 33 percent higher than they were just one year ago - these the consumers who are going to save the world? I assume you must be referring to U.S. consumers since it's they who drive 70 percent of our GDP.

And hey, maybe you're right. Maybe the St. Louis Fed's PCE chart that shows consumer spending, after rising steadily through every recession in memory, stagnating for the first time since world war two - maybe that's just just a meaningless blip, who knows. Its possible.

I'm curious though, with unemployment expected to rise for another year and the prospect of a jobless recovery looming on the horizon, where are these consumers who are supposed to save the world going to get the money? Especially when their government spends all its dough bailing out their pals on Wall Street. Inquiring minds wanna know, Larry.

[KCFreedom]

From looking at the list, the largest growth economies of China & India is where we sent all of our jobs & technology over the last 2 decades. The only things we export to them are our jobs & raw materials to build the stuff we track our largest trade deficits to.

It's obvious that capitalism loves communism and other forms of slave labor.

Great plan, USA!

By the way, there's no way to predict how 2010 will pan out, since the financial sector is still in shambles. I don't think we've come close to hitting bottom yet, myself. But then again, I'm only an unemployed software engineer and not a Harvard-educated economist, like the ones that got us into all of this.

[texastrixie]

At the bottom of this article is the prediction that Americans will start to spend again by the end of 2010. Americans are only going to start spending again when their credit cards are pretty much paid off, and they have money in the bank to cover six months to a year of expenses. Even in TX people are cutting back on their spending. Different cuts for different people, but most people seem to be cutting back on the things that they don't care about. Some people eat out less, some people don't refuse to buy new clothes unless the older stuff wears out. But few are going on any big spending spree until our debt load is waaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy down.

[drkazmd65]

"Americans are only going to start spending again when their credit cards are pretty much paid off, and they have money in the bank to cover six months to a year of expenses."

That's pretty much my plan. And ed of 2010 is close to the projected timeline.

[ThePeacemakers]

The chart screams this to me:

Countries that provide cheap, near slave wage labor are being called "growth economies" - growth for only Wall St., not main street.

Meanwhile, US taxpayers will continue to subsidize the corporations and Wall Street.

[verticallychallenged]

Hear, hear!

This news is supposed to make me feel better, how???

[vagabondvet]

What it should say to you is that some places around the world are focusing on growing their capital stock and not spending it on trips to Cold Stone Creamery, despite all our best efforts to spend all our money.

[maigesheng]

Mmmm Ice cream

[WIpatriot]

I guess all that MNC money invested in other countries doesn't influence anything, does it?

[KCFreedom]

It's "win-win" for Wall St. and our corporations. Us taxpayers are the host.

Until we have a fair balanced set of tariffs on imported goods and build stuff in the U.S. again, there won't be any recovery for us. The globalized service sector model has already failed, but tell THAT to Larry Summers & Tim Geithner. They want to preserve what they've already done.