Because they're best at lying? Just an idea.
Even if you had a point (I'm not claiming anything one way or the other) that point is poorly served by a flippant passing comment. Why would being a wealthy country make someone more adept at misleading their populace? If they were, what would be the benefit?
As a PhD student doing research in data analysis, I support governments being open with data whole heartedly. UK government schemes like this [1] are invaluable.
[1]: http://data.gov.uk/
Do you often find yourself taken by surprise?
1. Arousing passion or strong emotion, especially anger, belligerence, or desire.
My comment was definitely not inflammatory in nature. Being the author of my comment, I'm pretty sure I have higher authority than you to be the judge of this. It was meant to be thought-provoking, in a very casual way. But that doesn't seem to be appreciated on HN (my general impression) Hint: don't take everything so seriously.
"Why would being a wealthy country make someone more adept at misleading their populace? If they were, what would be the benefit? As a PhD student..."
A wise man once said (can't remember where the quote originates from), "The purpose of doing a PhD is learning how to learn" (paraphrased). I hope that the experience will help you answer your own questions, in a few years. For now, just use your imagination...
Arguing that, as the author of your comment, you are more capable of judging how inflammatory it is than the comment's readers is a logical fallacy. How inflammatory something is would be entirely dependent on how it is received by its audience.
Furthermore, responding to my questions by patronisingly telling me to "use my imagination" conveniently avoids those questions. Hint: DBAD ;)