This episode of the web series, Toward a More Perfect Union, is called “The World’s Poorest Rich Nation,” and tells how the US, while being the world’s richest nation, with the highest GDP of any nation, is also the world’s poorest rich nation.
Why is that?
Because the US is the only developed nation that doesn’t focus on the common good.
The US is the only developed nation that is not a social democracy, and has few public goods–meaning the US makes minimal social investment in its citizens. Public investment in people lies at the heart of a modern society, and is how prosperity happens for a great majority of a nation’s people.
As you watch this episode, you will understand why the US is the world’s poorest rich nation, and looks down on those less fortunate.
Included in this episode is the riveting speech in March 1968 by Robert F. Kennedy, about the worthlessness of GDP. Sadly, a little more than two months later, Kennedy was killed, and with his death the US lost the opportunity to rethink GDP as the measuring stick for a country’s vitality.
You can help support this web series on my Patreon page, and you can see all episodes at my YouTube channel or right here at More Perfect Union.
Thanks for watching! Feel free to let me know what you think.
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