Some Charts that Show Why it Makes Sense to Want US Economy to be More Like Europe

(Before It's News)

The idea that Democrats want to make America more like Europe is a favorite Republican attack line. The New York Times, David Brooks expresses amazement that so many millennials are supporting Bernie Sanders, an open admirer of the European model. Why would anyone in their right mind favor “sluggish” Europe over “vibrant” America?
Writing in

If we focus on data rather than snappy sound bites, the attraction of the European model is clear: European countries, especially the high-income democracies of Northern Europe, make better use of their wealth in supporting a good life for their citizens.

Here is a chart that gives the big picture. The horizontal axis shows GDP per capita. (GDP here is measured at purchasing power parity (PPP) to remove distortions caused by over- or undervalued exchange rates.) The vertical axis shows a measure of human wellbeing called the Social Progress Index (SPI). Unlike some other broad indexes of human welfare, the SPI does not explicitly include income, wealth, or GDP. Instead, it regards them as “inputs” that support the production of “outputs” like health, security, and personal freedoms. >>>Read more

• Turkey, Saudi Arabia prep Syria invasion with nuclear weapons
• .01% always devolve republics into oligarchies, co-opt all revolutions; so how can this coming revolution create lasting victory of virtue?
• 15Feb2016 Pre-Market Commentary: US Markets Closed For Presidents Day, DOW Futures Up 200 Points, European Markets Strongly In The Green And Gold Drops As Investors See Risk On
• January 2016 Sea Container Counts Begin the Year In Expansion
• Stocks Cut in Half & Gold Doubles in 2016-Bo Polny
• The Case for War Abolition That You Might Miss
• Saudi Arabia moves planes to Turkey, Joint attack on Russian, Syrian and Kurdish forces begins
• The Gunfighter, the Voice, etc.
• Waiting For The Other EMV Shoe To Drop
• Your do-it-yourself front page financial Armageddon story