> And you wonder why Mississippi is richer than the UK

Because Mississippi didn't have Brexit /s

All jokes apart I don't see any real evidence that Mississippi is richer than the UK. Their median household disposable income is pretty damn close ($49k vs $54k). The UK has a better social and health safety net (where would you rather be unemployed or disabled?).

Mississippi has much lower life expectancy than the UK (69 vs 79 for men). Crudely speaking a Briton makes $5k less/year but lives 10 years longer - a trade almost anyone would make in a heartbeat.

I won't bother digging into other quality of life indicators vs economic indicators but I expect Mississippi will be mostly equal or worse.

On average Mississippi may have higher dollar numbers on a spreadsheet. That doesn't mean squat for the ordinary person on the street. If anything this is an argument against trickle-down economics/the Laffer curve.

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hunterpayne 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Mississippi has far better food and better weather so I don't think life is better in the UK. Also, I have no idea where you got the life expectancy number from, but its not current. I suspect its just a bit old. Its currently like 74 and mostly that's the effect of the Oxy epidemic which is going away with time.

I have been to the UK and I have been to Mississippi. Quality of life in Mississippi is far higher unless you really really like musicals (London is big for those). Mississippi has a better history of music and writing over the last 100-150 years. The food is cheaper and far more tasty. The weather is warm and winters are mild. They generally don't get natural disasters unless you live right by the coast and even then its once in 70 years. The health care is far higher quality. The people are warm and friendly. And the cost of living is lower.

The British are known for being miserable for a reason.

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greenie_beans 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

fwiw, we get bad hurricanes more than that and also the mid-south is the new tornado alley. there was a very bad ice storm this past winter. natural disasters happen everywhere. and it's hot AF in july and august, like so hot that you stay inside all day.

	▲	hunterpayne 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Tell that to someone from Oklahoma and be prepared to run. Also, AC is cheap and available everywhere. PS We had bad ice storms where I live (certainly far worse than MS) 2 winters ago. I wouldn't call it a natural disaster. PPS Remember we are comparing the weather to the UK, not Hawaii or San Diego.

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triceratops 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

None of these reasons have anything to do with economics. They are personal preferences.

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hunterpayne 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Oh, and post-war British music wouldn't exist without Mississippi. Pink Floyd is literally named after 2 musicians from Mississippi. The Beatles musical style started out by copying music from Mississippi. And the list goes on from there. Just saying, large chunks of British culture are copied from Mississippi and the surrounding areas.

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cindyllm 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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