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Comment by Herring | Hacker News Reader

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> They have been poor for generations because they dislike diversity more than they want a strong economy and common prosperity.

What do you expect when people reject education and embrace religion?

> As far as I can tell the best fix is higher education.

How do you "fix" higher education that's been rejected?

Yeah I didn't say it was an easy fix, I just said I thought it was (probably) the best. America has been having diversity/foreign policy issues since day 1 with wiping out the Indians. It's not going to go away tomorrow.

> Look at the US South. They have been poor for generations because they dislike diversity more than they want a strong economy and common prosperity.

The US South is the only place in the country with "diversity" seriously go look a population maps the north has a fraction of the diversity of the south.

> because they dislike diversity more than

Your reason for coming to the conclusion that this is the cause?

Florida has a GDP in line with Australia, or South Korea, or Spain, and with a smaller population. Not exactly what I would call generationally poor. Texas has the same GDP as Italy, but with half the population.

Alabama, US and Bavaria, Germany also have a similar GDP per capita. You would simply be insane to think Alabama was in any way wealthier than Bavaria. This isn't me having a go at the US, this is me having a go at GDP.

Bavaria is one of the wealthiest regions in Germany and Alabama is one of the poorest US states. So it's not really a great comparison.

Also GDP per capita doesn't have that much to do with "wealth". It's a good proxy for income though. So I'm not sure what you are claiming here exactly.

> You would simply be insane to think Alabama was in any way wealthier than Bavaria.

Is it accurate? Europe has a fairly low standard of living compared to America, but their totalitarian governments are quite effective at silencing all dissent.

Yes, life in Bavaria, working in manufacturing, is nothing but miserable oppression. Horrible 35 hour work week. Wretched 6 weeks of vacation. Ruinously expensive 500 EUR/month daycare. The prospect of having to pay a couple hundred Euros per semester when my child reaches university.

The good wine is now 8 EUR/bottle.

Suffering and deprivation.

Do not come here, I beg of you. Save yourself.

I had to use extraordinary means to get this message out.

That’s exactly what an oppressive government would have their citizens say, fellow Bavarian!

GDP per capita is about the crudest possible metric for economic well-being. Nobody in Australia is going into bankruptcy over hospital bills or student loans.

Try comparing life expectancy instead, it's a better metric for how well the population is actually doing. Those two US states have comparatively high inequality and lower life expectancy, suggesting they're burning human capital to fuel GDP and generate billionaires.

I haven't read about it much since the height of the Purdue/Oxycontin scandal but the so-called 'deaths of despair' - suicide, overdose and alcoholic liver disease - are also relatively high in the USA.

A lot of rich old people move in and out of florida seasonally, or retire there living off pensions ($0 income).

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