The Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development released an up-dated version of its
Better Life Index in May 2012. The U.S. ranked first in income, with average
household wealth at $102,000, as well as in housing (Americans spending about
20% of their disposable income on it—the OECD average being 22%).[1] These figures
for the U.S. could have been pushed upward by the fact that at the time, the
very rich were richer than their counterparts in other countries, for the gap
between rich and poor was relatively high in the U.S. For example, 30 million
Americans were without health insurance and a record number of Americans were
receiving a governmental subsidy for food. Rather than assume that the middle
and lower economic segments in the U.S. were better off than their counterparts
in other regions of the world, I suspect that the statistics reflect the higher
relative pay of American executives and professionals (lawyers, physicians and
CPAs). The typical CEO in the E.U., for example, made less than his or her
counterpart in the U.S. This caused
trouble in the Chrysler-Daimler merger because the Chrysler executives enjoyed
higher compensation even though Daimler was in charge.
The full essay is at "Wealth and Happiness."
