this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2026
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Fuck Cars

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[–] victorz@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (4 children)

supposed to be the wealthiest nation in the world

Says who?

[–] anthropomorphized@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] victorz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Which is in whose possession? And the national debt is how big?

[–] azimir@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The US definitely has concentrated more wealth into the nation post-WWII than other nations. Of course, it's not evenly distributed, which is basically a massive problem and leading to the destruction of the Republic itself by the wealthy few.

[–] thestrike@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The US definitely has ~~concentrated more wealth into the nation~~ robbed more wealth from people in other nations post-WWII than other nations.

[–] azimir@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I'm not going to disagree with that one. Just as billionaires don't get rich by hard work, but through theft of people's lives, a country doesn't grow to outsized wealth like the US without stealing much of it.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And how big is the national debt compared to other countries?

[–] Imke@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

There are reasons the US can afford this much dept. National dept has many different implications compared to private dept. The median US citizen doesnt benefit too much from the enormous GDP per capita because of unequal wealth distribution tho. The absolute financial US wealth is the highest-ranked worldwide and the relative (per capita) one is still very high despite the high dept.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

IMO a nation is only so wealthy as its median citizen or something else mathematically correct. Mean wealth is just a weird thing to go by.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Which of these two buckets has more sand?"

"Well, the first bucket is half full, but it's all on one side. The second bucket is only a third full, but it's level. Obviously, the second bucket is more full."

You're choosing to use words differently than they commonly are. Without any qualifiers, we use "wealth" to refer to financial wealth. Greece isn't the wealthiest nation in the world, but their cultural wealth is significant. Likewise, mean wealth is useful for knowing how much...wealth a nation has. When compared to quality of life or median wealth, you can use it to identify issues the country needs to deal with. You just have to remember that just like wealth doesn't mean "distribution of wealth", it also doesn't mean "good".

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sure, much like anything in this world, it depends. In this case it depends on what you're trying to compare, I suppose. 👍

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well, given the original comment was about how much wealth is available in the nation and yet this shitty location was still used for a school, I think it's a good one. The point is to show the flaw in how that money is being distributed.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It doesn't really matter how much wealth is available in the nation if it's not available for the people who need it.

But I guess that was the point of what they were saying in the image, actually?

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 2 points 2 days ago

That's what I figure.

[–] Imke@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes true i also perfer to compare the median wealth (which is still surprisingly high in the US). And even a high median wealth doesnt help you when you become homeless because of the horrible social security

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

surprisingly high in the US

Yeah looking into numbers regarding this is quite disturbing. Lots of wealth but very high inequality. One of the most unequal countries in the world.

I'm proud to live in a country with low inequality, but it's still important to watch out for politics that can lead to higher inequality. 🔍

[–] Admetus@sopuli.xyz 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] azimir@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 days ago

Too bad that group doesn't include the Citizens.

[–] SurveyLance@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

According to UBS Global Wealth Report 2026, Switzerland ranks first in average wealth per adult, while Luxembourg ranks first when wealth is measured by the median. If you mean total net household wealth, the United States is ranked as the wealthiest country.

Sources:

Luxembourg has serious issues too that that metric hides, I've looked into it since I qualify for Luxembourgish citizenship and while that would let me live anywhere in the EU it's probably good to actually live in the country on my passport for a bit - I'd only do it if I won the lottery lol.

What that metric is hiding is the fact that a lot of the people who actually do the low wage work in Luxembourg live in France and Germany and commute in for work every day. So France and Germany take the hit for Luxembourg's economic policies around service industry work.

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

total net household wealth

Pardon my ignorance but what does that term mean exactly? What I'm talking about is how much money the average person has among the majority, basically. For which I imagined the median would be a better sample.

I have strong doubts about any metric that ranks the United States as the wealthiest country in today's climate. But I'm okay with being wrong.

[–] SurveyLance@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

I really don't know. It was just something I found with a quick search. Sorry.