[emersonbiggins]

Thanks, Ben!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')K standard of living rises above that in America for the first time in a century
Last updated at 20:00pm on 6th January 2008

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For the first time in more than 100 years, British living standards have risen above those of Americans, a report has declared.

Increasing incomes, longer holidays and "free" healthcare have all contributed to making Britons better off than our friends across the Atlantic, according to the respected Oxford Economics consultancy.

The feel-rich factor is calculated using the gross domestic product (GDP) per citizen - an indicator of average incomes - which in Britain will be £23,500 this year, compared with £23,250 in America, it predicts.
...

[yull]

Good grief, it must be bad in the U.S. then if this dump is better.

[eastbay]

Funny comment yull.

UK must be getting richer because of all that North Sea oil they sell. UK is richer because they're smarter, you know, thinking long-term.

... or is it because of the 1/2 million poor immigrants arriving annually. Long-term thinking. Yup.

[Twilight]

Comparing US and UK standards of living through GDP per capita alone is like comparing the size of an apple to the size of an orange. We can buy less with what we earn, but on the other hand we are compensated by service provision which is more egalitarian than it is in the US. We do not have the same extremes of wealth and poverty, on the other hand lots of professionals hit a salary ceiling and do not feel as valued or adequately rewarded as their counterparts overseas. I would not say we are "richer" or "poorer" on any measure, rather we have organised our society differently and your experience will vary with status. One observation, I think it is better to be rich there than here, and better to be poor here than there, but it gets more complicated than that. It's a different fruit!