China Has Just Overtaken the United States as the World’s Largest Economy

Vanity Fair

When the history of 2014 is written, it will take note of a large fact that has received little attention: 2014 was the last year in which the United States could claim to be the world’s largest economic power. China enters 2015 in the top position, where it will likely remain for a very long time, if not forever. In doing so, it returns to the position it held through most of human history.

Comparing the gross domestic product of different economies is very difficult. Technical committees come up with estimates, based on the best judgments possible, of what are called “purchasing-power parities,” which enable the comparison of incomes in various countries. These shouldn’t be taken as precise numbers, but they do provide a good basis for assessing the relative size of different economies. Early in 2014, the body that conducts these international assessments—the World Bank’s International Comparison Program—came out with new numbers. (The complexity of the task is such that there have been only three reports in 20 years.) The latest assessment, released last spring, was more contentious and, in some ways, more momentous than those in previous years. It was more contentious precisely because it was more momentous: the new numbers showed that China would become the world’s largest economy far sooner than anyone had expected—it was on track to do so before the end of 2014.

The Three Major Reasons I Don't Live in the US

1. Obesity.

My own observations recently were chronicled in this post. I believe the condition is actually contagious. When so many people are obese in your daily comings and goings, it's that much easier to accept a bit of overweight in yourself. Over time, this leads to ever more cases. It's a terrible spiral going down with no indication of letting up any time soon. 

The real problem, I suppose, is the fast food industry, and the hormones and additives they put in processed food. More recently there's the controversy of genetically modified foods.  The portions in restaurants and diners are incredible large.  The waste is awful.

Everything is geared towards more and more obesity. 


 2. Prescription drugs. 

The drug addiction among young adults and teenagers seems to be worse than ever. Several documentaries I watched explained how the new synthetic heroin-like painkillers are so prevalent that entire new demographic groups are being affected. When the prescriptions run out, buying the pills on the street is extremely expensive.  Many turn to heroin which a 10 times cheaper.

We already knew about the when assigning The Crown to Florida, partly because it is the hub of this deadly business, but on my recent visit I saw the devastation with my own eyes.

  
 3. Gun availability. 

The dreaded phone call from school that there's been a shooting is about 100 times more likely in the US than it is in Italy, for example. Easy access to guns makes life there a little bit more risky than it should be. 

In one thing I agree with the gun-rights folks.  It's the violence of the people that's the real problem. When walking down the street in the US towards a group of young men, the potential for violence is there. This has nothing to do with guns.  But, to use that as an excuse for making guns easily available is insanity.  Guns make whatever violence is already there that much worse. What could be more obvious than that.

One of the funny things about the gun control argument is that most of the vocal gun-rights guys are jingoistic rah-rah Americans, yet they embody these problems, in some cases all three.