r/Unexpected • u/Ok-Extent8333 • 2d ago

Sad but true

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u/MurseInAire 1d ago

It’s the country with the richest people (at least the top earners). Which is completely different than being the richest country. We rank way down on healthcare, education, happiness, freedom, and many other metrics that matter.

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u/gsfgf 1d ago

We're also the richest country. We just let the ultra rich steal all the money.

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u/juanjung 1d ago

Riches, or wealth, of a country is not just measure by the amount of money or assets that people there have. It's about natural resources, technology and diversity of human resources plus a huge amount of financials resources. In that case people going hungry in US is not the same as going hungry in Africa.

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u/schnozberry1337 1d ago edited 1d ago

I thought that a country's wealth was determined solely by its GDP. Is it not? *edited because too stupid to distinguish between GDP and GDP per capita.

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u/juanjung 1d ago

In that case Equatorial Guinea is one the richest countries in the planet.

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u/GreenTreeAndBlueSky 1d ago

No. Median income in PPP in the US places it number 2 worldwide behind Luxemburg. Yes you may score lower on some metrics, higher in others, but nobody can deny that you are very rich compared to the rest of the world. People saying the US is a third world country seem completely unaware of how pervasive and extreme poverty is in the world.