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Comment by greggoB | Hacker News Reader

This comparison of the large Western European economies (most frequently Germany) to America's poorest state based on GDP-per-capita is all the rage on the US right at the moment.

It's an eye-catcher, but obviously fallacious - the usual counter has been to point out the life expectancy difference of 10+ years.

Not that most people are particularly interested in nuance, smh

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Some people are just all-in on the moronic MAGA nationalism and refuse to earnestly engage with critiques of the US. America is always better than Europe, even when it's not.

There are also those who believe the opposite. They constantly point out Scandinavian countries as somehow having solved every problem that exists in the US…despite being very different in almost every dimension one can think of.

Simplistic thinking doesn’t help.

The way I've seen Scandinavia referenced has been more of a counterpoint to dysfunctional aspects of the US having to be the way they are.

There is nothing definitively different about the US that prevents it from solving a lot of its social issues by doing the same as is done elsewhere. We know this because the social contract in the US post WW2 was quite similar to modern day Europe - e.g. 91% top marginal tax rate under Eisenhower [0].

[0] https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/nov/15/bernie-san...

A comparison between the quality of life of someone on median income in Mississippi vs the equivalent in the UK / Germany / France would be an extremely effective counter, too.

Life expectancy is complex and there's more to it than healthcare. Certainly habits, exercise, diet, etc. are a big part of it as well.

Like allowing to spray lead from airplane exhaust over the populated areas, right? Oh wait...

I think Europe still allows this too? https://www.aopa.lu/2025/07/18/the-production-and-supply-of-...

The gap is nowhere near that large when controlling for the difference in demographics. Despite that, America is undeniably obese which is easily the largest factor contributing to life expectancy.

In what way would you control for differences demographics?

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