Britain poorer than Mississippi

Oh and the prison situation in America is a whole other world. Ironically, having a privatised expensive prison service with a large prisoner population also boosts GDP. But it isn't good.for ordinary people.

You might as well leave now Pearly, why not eh!

There are a lot of issues in the UK but...

• Education levels in terms of literacy are better in the UK than many of the US states. Ironically, Mississippi is doing very well in things like child literacy despite being the 2nd poorest state. Largely because they focus on proven stuff like phonics.
• Health outcomes and even dental health is better in the UK than Mississippi
• life expectancy is better
• The crime rate is lower in the UK including violent crime

The thing about privatised healthcare is it raises GDP because it adds additional economic activity. In fact the more expensive healthcare is the better the economy looks. But because people are paying for it out of their earnings, it costs each individual person more. So you also have to look at disposable income after paying for health insurance/healthcare compared to countries where this is free at point of access.or subsidised. There are all sorts of quirks to GDP that make it hard to compare. If I broke loads of windows and the building owner or state had to pay someone to fix them I would have stimulated the economy. But nothing of value would have been created.

That was a really good read, thanks for sharing OP!

The topic of UK being as poor as Mississippi isn't really the main gist of the article. It is the title and discussed in the first paragraph, but the article isn't really hung up on it.

I think the main topic is about country divided. London vs "not London", haves and have nots, those who were winners of various past policies and those who were left behind, and how that has shaped the country and its politics.

The decline in living standards is sobering read - the extent of child poverty is abysmal, and how is the average pay for junior doctors and civil servants just a little bit north of £35k, when minimum wage is £25k? At the same time 100s of Millions have been poured into cancelled infrastructure works and bat shelters and what not, and taxes are higher than ever. We've all been screwed right left and centre paying the money through taxation for all these failed projects whilst essential health care staff are paid a pittance.

It also highlights how lack of strong leadership (including moral) has left the country and its institutions vying only for their own (and their cronies) benefit, and in complete disarray. Nobody knows what the common goal is, there is no cohesion or teamwork, everyone is pulling to different directions. Reform may think (or do they?) that they're working for the benefit of Britain, but all they do is sow seeds of discontent and fuel hatred and violence. They also are just more of the same - playing party politics and keeping eyes on the price (power). They do not work for you, they work for themselves.

The article is a good read for anyone who isn't restricted by paywall (you can read it if you haven't read any other Atlantic articles this month). It does paint a bleak picture, but it just verbalises how I've felt about the UK economy for such a long time so, so well. Hits the nail in the head.

Thank goodness I have an Irish passport as well (sorry), may need it soon!

I’d rather be poor in the UK than America- at least we have the NHS, benefits system etc, as imperfect as they are.

Paddle steamers? You're going to need a time machine.

Blair and Merkel. Disasterous.

This isn’t something that has happened in the last 2 years.. this is far longer so this response is lame.

The Newsweek article that explains it is linked on page 1 of this thread I believe.

Yes and Tony Blair allowed unlimited immigration from Eastern Europe so living standards declined even more.

Indeed... I would not want to live in mississipi or anywhere else in the USA for that matter.. Canada is a much nicer place if you want to experience North America

GDP per capita is not a good way of comparing our own performance to another country but it is good at comparing our business activity now to x years ago. If it peaked in 2009 then by how much are we worse off?
That is to do with us, British Politicians, British managers, British Financial services, British Trade Unions and us the workers.
My opinion is that our Managers are very low grade, poorly educated and not trained to manage.
British Trade Unions are awful: Teachers Unions looking to get Head Teachers to resign because the unions refuse to cooperate. Railway Unions stopping the introduction of new trains insisting that the company employs another person just to open and close doors.

Finance Industry takes short term views only.

Because everyone was addicted to benefits by that stage so if they had tried to do anything they would have been called the Nasty Party because so many of the people in the cabinet were "posh".

I would love to live in Mississippi. Sitting under a parasol in my garden next to the river, sipping a mint julip while paddle steamers drift by.

What the hell? How is this possible? I wish you would have included a link, because this just seems so implausible. Also wish you would have posted it in Politics, which makes more sense.

It's got nothing to do with Brexit.

France and Italy have also dropped below Mississippi.

It's due to high taxation and high spending.

The serious decline started in the early noughties.

And it's really sped up in the last two years.

Agree we have all been sold out, but it is further on here, and more acute. Most of those other countries don't have the same problems with mass immigration or housing, or international investment driving property prices- but substantially the same yes.

This. If you look beyond GDP at things like life expectancy, educational outcomes, maternal mortality and child mortality, social and economic inequality and access to healthcare, the UK will come out considerably better than Mississippi - and than most of the US, in fact.

I've just looked up life expectancy for a giggle - in Mississippi it sits between 71 and 72.5. In the UK it sits between 79 and 83.

The premise of this thread is ridiculous - it's another transparent effort at UK and Labour bashing.

GDP per capita is only one metric... on virtually every other social metric that matters for quality of life not only is the uk a better place to live than mississippi but also on average better than USA... GDP growth is incompatible with living a a world that has limits both with respect to resources but also ability to pollute...we live on a space ship rather than inhabit the endless plain of the cowboy

Yes but not just the UK. Germany, France, Italy, Greece etc too.

Why are you surprised people? We had the whole of our industries shut down within about 15 years from 1980.
Only making things from raw materials generates real wealth- call centres don't generate wealth, they just provide low paid unstable work- now even that is going due to the ridiculous frisson about AI.
The only reason we didn't become 3rd world immediately is the loosening of the financial rules in the big bang at the same time- It made London the centre of international finance, Brexit loosened our hold on this and we began to circle the plughole again.
Mass immigration was used purely to bolster tax revenue and keep wages as low as possible- it has nothing to do with multiculturalism bringing in new skills or entrepreneurship. It was used by politicians as a cynical tool to keep wages low and income taxes high, giving them the opportunity to get rid of taxes on wealth- which enriched them personally, encouraging a new breed of wealth hungry politician who have no interest in helping their constituents.
They gave no thought to the wear and tear on the infrastructure- which is now critical, or housing which is a national scandal in so many ways.
Welcome to Britain in 2026.

Austerity. Framed as an unavoidable economic necessity, but in reality, it functions as a policy tool that safeguards elite interests. And here we are, rich are getting richer and everyone else is getting poorer. And Thatcher of course.

It's not a good vision but people just won't have money. ubi (no other benefits) maybe and just general poverty, except those with inherited wealth. Europe wide.

If society is upended because there are very few jobs there will be no option. If big companies want to survive, ie sell their products where else will the money to buy them come from? Profits would be astronomical with no wage bill to pay.

Yup, this.
Once you start on that road it’s difficult to dial back from, as has been shown.