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Add to that the intracoastal waterway which runs from the Mexican border to New Jersey, and the US has more internal navigable waterway than the rest of the world combined.
Just about 6% of the world internal navigable waterways are located in the U.S.
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With the exception of the western fringes of the Great Plains no US agricultural area is more than 150 miles from navigable water.
The density of internal waterways is much higher in most other advanced countries.
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Much of Northern & Western Europe manages only one lettuce crop a year. The Salinas Valley in California spits out four, to say nothing of the Central Valley.
Even in cloudy Germany a head of lettuce only needs 2 month until you can crop them. So at least 3 lettuce crops a year. And lettuce is definitely cheaper over here than in the U.S.
The assertion that the U.S. is able to produce basic food stuff cheaper than other advanced economies is a myth.
When I read some of the comments in this thread then it looks like many people repeat what they have learned in American history at highschool.
I was thinking about this early this morning....and maybe there's a very simple answer here so please forgive my ignorance.
When I think of a rich 'person', i think of someone with great assets.....or someone who can provide key services to get assets in return (ie. money, gold, etc.)
How is the US the richest nation on earth? is it because of our natural resources, or......
We're not the wealthiest nation on Earth. In fact, we're not wealthy at all. We're $18.628 trillion in debt; we have $18.628 trillion of negative wealth.
We're not the wealthiest nation on Earth. In fact, we're not wealthy at all. We're $18.628 trillion in debt; we have $18.628 trillion of negative wealth.
We love debt. Even most of us with a positive net worth have debt. You can talk about how low mortgage rates are and how the market has been doing until you are blue in the face and I won't be convinced it's logical. I am a hypocrite, BTW. My excuse is that the money in excess of what I owe on the house is mostly tax deferred. Again, likely to work in my favor in the long run but still not really logical. The trouble is we are conditioned to be too accepting of debt. Sometimes I think they ran up the national debt to a number no rational human can comprehend because if it was within reach we had to pay it off. Now the world's poorest kept secret is that we will never pay it off. We haven't even paid it down any since Clinton. Obama has greatly reduced the deficit - the rate at which we add to the debt - but the debt balance continues to climb.
One thing that I think is missing from this discussion is how would things change if the European Union were treated as a single nation - would the US still be Number 1 in power? Also, America can scarcely proclaim to be the richest when the Federal government is $18.3 Trillion dollars in the hole...
Cool interactive graphic on relative share of global GDP across history. In particular, check out the changes between 1913 and 2008. The US surged then gave up a bit. But UK France Germany, collectively have tanked. That's what a couple of world wars will do to you.
The U.S. is not "the richest nation"--it is the 7th richest, with a per capita income of $46,860. #7 United States - In Photos: The World's Richest Countries - Forbes But don't be fooled--per capita income is calculated by taking the total GDP and dividing it by the number of people in the population. This is NOT how we allocate income in America. And more important than total income, is the way it is spread out among the population--if the richest nation in the world has 99% of the wealth held in the hands of the top 1%, with the rest of the people starving, being a "wealthy nation" means nothing to anyone but that top 1%.
And per capita income doesn't tell the whole story of national wealth--when you have a national debt that exceeds 100% of GDP like we now do, you don't have a wealthy nation. You have the likes of Greece, and an handful of other abysmally-run nations (which now include us).
Currently interest on the federal debt consumes 7% of the federal budget of $3.5 trillion--a huge amount of money wasted, particularly when 1/2 a trillion of that total is BORROWED and therefore increases the national debt and future interest costs even more. Policy Basics: Where Do Federal Tax Revenues Come From? | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
And taxpayers also must pay interest on state and local government debt, too.
But the worst thing of all about massive government debt is that it has required perpetual zero-interest rates for over a decade now, as well as dollar devaluation to pay back the debt with dollars worth much less. Do you think ANYONE can retire by simply saving millions of dollars, without the power of compound interest--even if their savings weren't being purposely devalued to nothing? Not anyone in the working class, that's for sure.
And then we also have $127 trillion in unfunded liabilities, like Social Security obligations. Again, the dollar MUST be devalued to nothing, so that Washington doesn't have to openly admit to the drastic reduction in the value of Social Security benefits. You may get your first promised $800 check from Social Security when you're 67, but does that matter when a loaf of bread costs $900?
The next time someone arguments for U.S. aid based on us being so "rich" totally ludicrous.
Here's a piece that put's the debt in context. It was a lot worse after WWII. Current problems started with Reagan. Clinton got it back under control. Bush pushed it up again, and it jumped under Obama because of the Financial Crisis, but has retreated since then.
How is the US the richest nation on earth? is it because of our natural resources, or......
World war 2 left the U.s as the only major unwrecked country on Earth. From that point, we were able to dominate the globe with international bodies that the U.s set up at that time. Bretton Woods would eventually lead to the petrodollar in 1971.
Even prior to that the U.s basically rolled over an entire continent of untapped resources. The use of slavery also accelerated the countries rise to passing Briton in the late 1800's in terms of production.
I also don't want to downplay American innovation.
Last edited by Thatsright19; 07-25-2015 at 05:28 AM..
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