Top 10 best places to live... What can US Cities do to compete

[henrique42]

''There is no such thing as extreme poverty in the United States''


''Last year, 17.2 million households in the United States were food insecure (48.8 million: People who lived in food insecure households), the highest level on record, as the Great Recession continued to wreak havoc on families across the country. Of those 17.2 million households, 3.9 million included children. On Thanksgiving Day, here’s a look at hunger in America, as millions of Americans struggle to get enough to eat in the wake of the economic crisis''

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/201...y-the-numbers/


'' And its pretty darn easy to climb above that floor if you are not a lazy ass''

That pretty much explains the American attitude

[Ephesus29]

Originally Posted by Fitzrovian

There is no such thing as extreme poverty in the United States. You must have confused us with Brazil. The US government defined poverty threshold for a family of four is over $22k. Translation for the idiots: our floor is extremely high by most countries standards. And its pretty darn easy to climb above that floor if you are not a lazy ass.

OMG...the attitude and the extreme arrogance. No wonder why, not a single US city made it to the 10 top places to live. Almost like a place for the "fittest" to survive. Land of opportunist and capitalist that no compassion for the under- privilege.

[mhays]

Fitzrovian has a cognitive problem. While it's true that you can live on $22k, and it's true that you can rise up here, a lot of things are much more expensive. Incomes don't translate.

[Gabriella_S]

I read in an article that Rhodes Island is one of the best places to live in US in terms of safety and goodwill. Personally I prefer quiet little towns in breathtaking natural settings than bustling urban centers.

[jbkayaker12]

I would rather be poor in the United States than be poor somewhere else. At least I know I will eat well. Food is so inexpensive and with great variety in the United States!!!!

[goschio]

Originally Posted by jbkayaker12

I would rather be poor in the United States than be poor somewhere else. At least I know I will eat well. Food is so inexpensive and with great variety in the United States!!!!

ehh no. United States is probably the worst place in the developed western world to be poor.

Just compare poor ghetto areas in the states with poor areas in western europe. American ghetto is pretty much third world within a first world country.

[jbkayaker12]

Originally Posted by goschio

ehh no. United States is probably the worst place in the developed western world to be poor.

Just compare poor ghetto areas in the states with poor areas in western europe. American ghetto is pretty much third world within a first world country.

Lazy people anywhere in the world, pretty much have the same fate in life.

[jbkayaker12]

The poor in the United States as defined by the US Census Bureau.


The Heritage Foundation

[JohnnyFive]

Originally Posted by Mr Bricks

Britain still has an elitist education system that basically keeps the "hierarchial" class society in place.

Incorrect, England still has an elitist education system that basically keeps the "hierarchial" class society in place.

Unless of course you confuse England = Britain = UK which is all to common throughout the world and with many in England itself.

[Jonesy55]

LOL, the heritage foundation...

They don't mention that being poor means you probably have to live in a crime-ridden neighbourhood with terrible schools. An x-box doesn't make up for that imo.

[jbkayaker12]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

LOL, the heritage foundation...

They don't mention that being poor means you probably have to live in a crime-ridden neighbourhood with terrible schools. An x-box doesn't make up for that imo.

....but crime ridden neighborhood with terrible schools is NOT a problem ONLY existing in the United States. It is the same all over the world, Europe included!!!

[the spliff fairy]

I would not like to be poor in America, no way.

[jbkayaker12]

^It's not surprising at all to hear it coming from a Brit! It's expected!!!

[Federicoft]

Originally Posted by Fitzrovian

Translation for the idiots: our floor is extremely high by most countries standards. And its pretty darn easy to climb above that floor if you are not a lazy ass.

Fitzrovian, I agree with some of your points and I can understand why that certain European self-righteousness towards the US annoys you. For instance, there's no doubt the average American has a higher disposable income than the average citizen of any European country, thanks both to higher wages and lower cost of living. You can't expect to have both a much better welfare system and a higher income, so to other Europeans writing here: let's be honest about this.

But this doesn't mean we should read about such myths without reacting. They may be part of your national rhetorics, but we all know they are far from the truth. Statistics show that social mobility in the US is pretty low, and that emerging from poverty is particularly hard. The vast majority of poor people in your country are not lazy asses, quite the opposite. They are weaker, less fortunate people who fell out of the extremely thin social security safety net because of personal, medical, family, environmental, sometimes racial conditions and now are almost cut off from society. This has nothing to do with merit, there's no merit in being born in a well-to-do family and no argument of merit can be based on the accidents of one's personal life.
In Europe, poor people can still live a dignified life, be an active part of society and hope for a better future. As I don't question the fact average standard of living is considerably higher in the US, you shouldn't question Europe is a less inequal and less unjust place, instead of induging in the self-delusion poor people are so because they deserve it. As we could learn something from the US about productivity and reward to hard work, you could learn something from us about substantive and not just formal equality of opportunity.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by jbkayaker12

....but crime ridden neighborhood with terrible schools is NOT a problem ONLY existing in the United States. It is the same all over the world, Europe included!!!

Not to anything like the same extent. The most crime-ridden boroughs in the UK have a homicide rate under 5/100k while the poorer a district is the more school funding it receives, not the opposite!

Not that they are particularly places I'd want to live in anyway though.

[Mr Bricks]

Originally Posted by Fitzrovian

And the US is over $47k. An astounding 37% difference. Our poorest states - where the only rich people are those that would only be considered "rich" by your laughable standards - are on par with your national average.

Congratulations, you finally stumbled on a statement that makes an ounce of sense. Miracle of miracles.

So in other words this is completely irrelevant.

Originally Posted by Fitzrovian

Funny stuff.

What's so funny about living in a violent, unjust, conservative country where there is poverty and slummish neighbourhoods you would barely find in East Europe?

Originally Posted by Fitzrovian

This gets better and better, I can hardly hold myself.

Read and weep:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newswee...the-world.html

http://yle.fi/uutiset/news/2010/08/n...y_1907500.html

http://www.vexen.co.uk/countries/best.html

and

http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/...sign_capi.html

Originally Posted by Fitzrovian

Oh yeah sure, professor. Except did you again forget the inconvenient fact that our median disposable income per person, on a fully adjusted basis taking all your welfare services into account, is roughly $12k higher. Do you understand what "median" means?? Look it up, genius.

We have a 200m strong middle class, most of whom enjoy a standard of living that can only be dreamed by your average Jaari (one of the reasons we are ranked 4th in HDI, while Finland can't even crack top 20).

The only thing that's tiny is your frozen, peanut-sized brain.

Yeah it looks good on paper but boy does your country have problems!
A median will not give a much more accurate picture than a mean anyway. We have no real poverty, slums, elitist education system, crappy welfare system, poorly built houses, crime need I go on?

Even Britain, which has overall better living standards than the US feels a bit "poor" compared to Finland. A friend of mine who lived in England for a while even described the country as "the richest developing country in Europe" which I admit is a bit harsh.

The things she told me were astonishing: they still use old school electricity meters, she had to use hot water bottles in her bed and wear gloves inside because of poorly constructed houses and poor or no heating. Wherever she went it was freezing. The ironic thing is that athough we have extremely cold climate up here in the Nordic countries we are always warm.

I have experienced the same in Britain and France, and my gf who lived in Belgium said she experienced it there. The fact is that even Western Europe feels and looks poorer than home whenever I visit. Poor heating, organisation problems, poor preasure in taps and showers etc. Small things you take for granted. Even in Germany they mostly don't like up to Nordic standards.

[Federicoft]

Originally Posted by Mr Bricks

The things she told me were astonishing: they still use old school electricity meters, she had to use hot water bottles in her bed and wear gloves inside because of poorly constructed houses and poor or no heating. Wherever she went it was freezing. The ironic thing is that athough we have extremely cold weather up here in the Nordic countries we are always warm.

I have experienced the same in Britain and France, and my gf who lived in Belgium said she experienced it there. The fact is that even Western Europe feels and looks poorer than home whenever I visit. Poor heating, organisation problems, poor preasure in taps and showers etc. Small things you take for granted. Even in Germany they mostly don't like up to Nordic standards.

The warmer the weather, the less people care about heating and insulation. It is just basic logic, it has nothing to do with wealth. In the Alpine region for instance you'd perhaps find the best standards in the continent, even in relatively poor rural provinces.
Here, I have no need of sophisticated heating equipments, temperatures go below zero no more than 20-25 nights per year, but when it happens, it could be a bit unconfortable for people accustomed to have +25C temperatures at home even when it's -25C outside.

[Mr Bricks]

Btw check this out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSX0CXjzDS8

shocking!

[Mr Bricks]

Originally Posted by Federicoft

The warmer the weather, the less people care about heating and insulation. It is just basic logic, it has nothing to do with wealth. In the Alpine region for instance you'd perhaps find the best standards in the continent, even in relatively poor rural provinces.
Here, I have no need of sophisticated heating equipments, temperatures go below zero no more than 20-25 nights per year, but when it happens, it could be a bit unconfortable for people accustomed to have +25C temperatures at home even when it's -25C outside.

Well you live in Rome. Britain is not a very warm place, that friend of mine found it intolerable.

[Ribarca]

Mr Bricks dispels the notion that Finnish people are reasonable an intelligent. I have one advice. Travel more. You sound like you live in an egg. Get out of your tiny country with a tiny population and see the real world. From how you describe it you are living your life in the Truman show.