Re: Give your partner more pleasure
On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:46:42 -0400, Shawn McMahon wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 22, 2004 at 01:43:45PM +0100, Michael Graham said:
>>
>> According to [1] in 1998 the average production worker in the US paid
>> 18% income tax and 8% to social security, in the UK paid 17% income tax
>> and 7% to social security. And I assume that in the US the average
>> production worker would still have to pay for medical care.
>
> Don't forget that rather a lot of that US expense goes to pay for the
> defense of the UK.
The UK spends about 2.5% of it's GDP on defence in the states it's around
3.5%. So as a percentage of your wage hardly any more of it goes towards
defence (never mind "defence of the UK").
>> Now I don't doubt that higher earners pay more in the UK but remember a
>> nation's greatness should be judged by how it treats the least of its
>> citizens.
>
> No; it should be judged by how many of its least are able to rise above
> that. A nation that has 99% poor can treat them well all day long, but
> a nation that has 10% poor is treating 89% of its people a lot better.
>
> But, the average "poor" person in the US has cable TV, a carpetted
> floor, full health care, the right to worship as he pleases, and enough
> money to eat at McDonalds. Compare this to the average middle-class
> person worldwide.
If you define poor worldwide then there would be no poor in the US
(or the UK for that matter) but poor is a relative term, the US has just
as many poor (i.e. below the average) as any other country. If you want a
fair comparison you should really compare developed countries.
--
OoberMick
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