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| Topic: U.S. Is No Longer Among the 10 Most Prosperous Countries | |
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the latest annual Prosperity Index,
I always hated indexes and rankings comparing countries. I mean Norway came in No. 1 overall for the seventh consecutive year.
Norway has a population of 5 million people. And they're being compared to countries like the U.S. or China. 5,000,000 320,000,000 1,350,000,000 The population of Norway is almost equal to Phoenix, AZ. Colorado and Alabama have more similar population sizes than Norway to the U.S. Would you say those 2 states are extremely different in terms of industry, population makeup, ideologies? Have you ever read a residential real estate appraisal? Where they use the sales comparison approach? They list a few properties and then manipulate the value of the differences to come to a general equal value in order to make it all equal? To me these ranking indexes is comparing mansions to mobile homes to houses sold 3 years prior. You need to make so many adjustments and ignore so many relevant factors it just becomes silly and meaningless. The majority of the countries in the top ten have populations around 5 million people. None of them have more than 40 or 50 million people. Might as well compare education and find kindergartners in classes of 10 kids with teachers having direct hands on interaction have a happier and more functional education than the college basic 101 lecture class with 700 students and start saying Harvard education is slipping in the ranks. And that doesn't even take into account what the people publishing these metrics love to do; constantly change how they measure and come up with their findings. Just like how unemployment measuring is changed, or a change in seasonal adjustments, and we magically have 5% unemployment while 100 million people are out of the labor force. So What do you make of 10 countries now outranking the U.S. on the Prosperity Index?
What I make out of it is the only people that are going to find meaning in the prosperity index are people that don't want to put any thought into anything. ^^ 
I cant help but respect this perspective. The Legatum Institute states that its index is unique in that it’s based on both income and well-being: Prosperity is more than just the accumulation of material wealth, it is also the joy of everyday life and the prospect of an even better life in the future. I know I will be stoned again for this, but, I just cant grasp why? why cant we put into account the Historical & Political clout into the equation? What is it with numbers & technical modeling? So, USA is still at the top in terms of Health but failed in Safety & Security, that is why they are on the 11th & did not make it to Top 10? Okay, so more wealth does not equate prosperity because we have to take into account "well being"? My point? I find it absurd to compute & base countries ranking in numbers, instead of magnitude & influence? I find it absurd to dignify an index beyond economics. I suppose if this is really realistic, a lot of people will be more than enthusiastic to migrate to Denmark because of "the joy of everyday life and the prospect of an even better life in the future" than to USA? What does it say to that specific index? In fact what does it say to those "variables" that comprises the sub indexes? Well being? slower rise to living standards then? Reality check wise, I just wish the Legatum Institute, will incorporate more economic perspective to help people lead more prosperous lives, at least in terms of normative content and basic concepts. Just saying. |
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