the US auto industry has \'invented\' the SUV and the cupholder.
When the Mini (BMW) was introduced to the US it didnt have a cup holder big enough. This was the largest complaint from customers. America is definitely consumer driven, and American companies are consumer focused, and extremely sensitive to their customers.
btw, the biggest innovation for me lately (last few years) has been ipod+itunes, it has totally changed how I listen, use and interact with music.
that the US .... does not have government health care.
According to this
retarded applet
, the Department of Health and Human Services had an outlay of 643 billion USD. More than the military gets (~400 billion).
That also does not take into account the money that the US States, Counties and Towns spend on health as well. I think the US has social health, just that it is the most inefficient one on the planet.
The scandalously rapid rise of University education in Australia means that for about one third of Australians the government has ceased helping them for a major expense.
I think education is one area that is rife for deregulation. Between expense and relevance to private industry, the University is losing its status. There needs to be innovative and more efficient means for people to obtain a specialist education.
It is also curious to view Asian levels of government expenditure as definitely a good thing.
We have chosen to be a consumerist economy, that means it is most efficient when individuals are choosing where their money goes. Giving more money to the state inhibits the efficiency of a consumerist economy as the government is an imperfect consumer of goods and investor of capital.
Government also skews the flow of money. Negative Gearing in Australia is a good example. It locks money up in brick and mortar, rather than making it available for entrepreneurs. In the US a good example of inefficient use of capital (ie squandering) is the use of government money to create stadiums. The Washington DC Nationals are one big taxpayer rort. In Australia, investment in infrastructure has been deferred for political reasons. Or has been used in attempts at electoral bribes (WA pipeline).
The Federal government should look to bringing down its receipts and outlays to the 20% of GDP mark IMO.
cam
Comments