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Er - then how do you explain Finland, which is less than 2% immigrants, but is one of the most socialist countries in the world? Even the Finnish government's own Ministry of Finance website says "The Government's main aim is to develop the welfare society". (And, before you ask, its GDP is growing quickly and its debt is much lower than ours.)

Face it, dude, "liberal ideology" ain't a foreign influence from "Muslims and Jews"---it's homegrown, through the whole western world. Sorry, but you'll have to find another rationalization for your prejudices.

U.S. GDP per capita: $40,000
Japan GDP per capita: $29.400

U.S. GDP per capita: $40,000
Japan GDP per capita: $29.400

If you want a good land/people ratio, try here:

Area:
9,984,670 sq km (land and water) OR
9,093,507 sq km (land only)

Population:
32,805,041 (no, that's not a typo)

Actually, we technically have more "area" than China if you count Alaska (it's very close, US: 9,631,418 sq km vs China: 9,596,960 sq km, source CIA World Fact Book, but that also includes water, which we have more of, check for yourself to see). China does have very little more actual land. However I'm just being a dick and not really participating. :)

All I know, is that it seems to take a MAJOR issue (like a giant war) to really cause a superpower to fall. So, barring the end of the United States by military coup or what not, there will come a point where China will no longer be able to make leaps and bounds vs the US because the time will have come that China becomes a first world nation with first world problems. It's much harder to totally surpass your opponent technologically than to just catch up by taking their ideas and performing a brain drain on their universities and pretending that by making your population smarter, they won't start to demand more and more resources.

What I'm saying, is that it doesn't matter that China is catching up. The problems that happens in all developed nations will happen there. For example: their smarter population will demand increases in pay, pensions, more vacation, etc... Becoming a first world nation is tough, every first world nation is having some sort of major problem. China will have theirs.

You missed my point. I'm talking about piracy in THIRD WORLD nations.

Would someone who makes a yearly salary of $3100 consider switching platforms over 2 weeks salary? how about 3 months of salary?

Also, most of these new users aren't switching platforms. For most, this is a first computer. So the headaches of learning a new system, transferring old files, etc are non-existant.

You missed my point. I'm talking about piracy in THIRD WORLD nations.

Would someone who makes a yearly salary of $3100 consider switching platforms over 2 weeks salary? how about 3 months of salary?

Also, most of these new users aren't switching platforms. For most, this is a first computer. So the headaches of learning a new system, transferring old files, etc are non-existant.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ch.html#People
but hey whats 5 billion between friends, they could still kick your ass even if it was a fist fight

Enough said

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ni.html
Labor force - by occupation:
Definition Field Listing:
agriculture 70%, industry 10%, services 20% (1999 est.)

Shut the fuck up. Just because a bunch of people in a country do something stupid, it doesn't mean that everyone there takes part in it. Take your xenophobic shit elsewhere.

(Mod me down all you want, too-- I'm willing to take a Karma hit to call out this asshole.)

The numbers I gave were for 2004 from the CIA World Factbook, wich I would trust over wikipedia. The numbers from Wikipedia are only an estimate of GDP for 2005. Even if you go by the Wikipedia estimates, there is not one other _single_ nation that even comes close.

I'm wondering what sources BBC used though, according to the CIA factbook the USA has a literacy of 97% and a gdp of 40k. This kind of measurements are debatable at best anyway. I mean look at the criteria they used:literacy... How the hell does that make you happy? A high life expectancy... Those japanese fellas sure don't drink enough to be happy. I'd be able to create any outcome I whish just by selecting the right parameters. Let's use the number of murders per capita, Japan would probably first and the USA not even in the top 10. If you let people judge for themselves you get very interesting outcomes (couldn't find any good sites to link). Americans would probably have a pretty high place, being as stubbornly optimistic as they are.

wondering at how quickly and why the Chinese are catching up with the US.

China's GDP as of 2004 is $7,262,000,000,000 (7.26 trillion) while the GDP of the USA as of 2004 is $11,750,000,000,000 (11.75 trillion). Growing a nations GDP by 1 trillion is a few years let alone more than 4 trillion is just impossible. China has _at least_ 1 billion people. Divide their GDP by their population and you get about $7,262 per person. The USA has about 300 million people. Divide our GDP per person and you get about $39,166.66 per person. A _huge_ difference, more than five time the amount _per person_! The whole time China is trying to grow to "catch up", the USA will be growing too. In fact, if you look at the CIA World Factbook, there is not one other single nation that even comes close to the GDP of the USA. The #2 rank is the European Union which is like 25 seperate nations. If you take the average GDP of the whole EU it is only like $466,000,000,000 (466 billion) per nation per year. The USA does more than twice that per month!

Maybe it is time to stop all this "China is catching up" paranoia.

I'm at least as good at finding CIA secrets as this guy. Look what I just found on the web - the CIA's super secret fact book! . It most be secret, since the graphics and style look so hokey.

I feel that if Karl Rove knew what he was doing, and I suspect he was, that he should be fired and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, including fines and prison. If somehow it comes around that the leak was traceable to President Bush, then I feel he should be impeached and removed from office. You don't mess with the lives of covert operatives, whether or not they're in the field at the time.

Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors.

The EU economy is stagnating, and the common monetary policy is dragging down the few EU states that are doing well. There have been rumblings about abandoning the Euro, because the booming economies and the recessing economies have different monetary needs (regarding inflation, interest rates, etc.)

Plus, European politics have been in shambles since the French rejection of the EU Constitution. Which is too bad, really.

And yes, while the EU (which is not really a single state) has a slightly higher total GDP, it has a much lower GDP per capita. ($30k vs. $40k)

Sources:
EU
US

And I'll post anonymously so I'm not tempted to waste anymore time on this.

Yes, but...

China:
GDP $7.2 trillion (second in world)
Population 1.3 billion (first in world)

Australia:
GDP $612 billion (sixteenth in world)
Population 20 million (fifty-fourth in world)

Yes, but...

China:
GDP $7.2 trillion (second in world)
Population 1.3 billion (first in world)

Australia:
GDP $612 billion (sixteenth in world)
Population 20 million (fifty-fourth in world)

Australia, Chile, and Argentina claim Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) rights or similar over 200 nm extensions seaward from their continental claims, but like the claims themselves, these zones are not accepted by other countries; 20 of 27 Antarctic consultative nations have made no claims to Antarctic territory (although Russia and the US have reserved the right to do so)

No, they're not. The top 10 in sequence are the US, China, Japan, India, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Brazil and Russia. This of course assumes that the EU is not a country.

why the heck is New Caledonia 6th in the world in per capita military spending?

Is this true? Or are we seeing more fog and confusion from the American intelligence agencies:

New Caledonia
Military branches: no regular indigenous military forces; French Armed Forces (including Army, Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie); Police Force
...
Military - note: defense is the responsibility of France

" the UK/US military split doesn't exist behind the scenes"

Tactically, and strategically, the US and UK militaries are very different. Strategically, the US holds back major powers with the 2-front war model and multi-tiered mutual assured destruction (MAD) from SLBMs, ICBMs, and stealth bombers. The US military is strategically designed to handle the doomsday scenario as well as a sudden WWII scenario. The UK military is not designed to handle either. The UK military is designed to supplement allies in any doomsday scenario and be able to assert 'influence' throughout the world. They are not able to fight a major 2-front war nor is their MAD capability failsafe.

Tactically, the UK feeds off the US, but this is not vice versa. This is due to military budgets. While the US can spend $250 million per year for each of 12 aircraft carriers (not including $8 billion construction cost), $1 billion for each stealth aircraft, etc. with a military budget of $370 billion, the UK cannot afford the superpower weapons with a military budget of $43 billion. While many people watching the Iraqi wars come to the conclusion that the US and UK have similar weapons, tactics, and strategies, they are missing some big points about the military layout of both countries. These weapons are being used because they are the tool needed in the current wars. They are not the only weapons at disposal. It is easy to forget the the US Army accounts for less than 30% of the annual operating budget of the US military (not including wartime deployment costs). While the weapons of the armies of the UK and US are similar, the areas of most importance: air, sea, and space warfare--the weapons vary drastically.

I love this post. I honestly do. This is the poster child of the new Slashdot, where assertions replace fact, and are moded up for it. Once upon a time, ideas were exchanged here, and the flames and crap were weeded. Now it seems that crap just fertilizes more of the same.

Case in point:

"For example at the moment there is a sizable faction of the Republican party that spends its time talking about the need to start a trade war with China."

Really? Truly? Wow, I guess must be reading all the wrong newspapers etc. I have yet to encounter this idea from the current elected Republicans in congress. And it is from a SIZABLE fraction no less. How could I have missed this? It may be because I don't get most of information from Blogs, but instead rely on accountable press. Who knows?.

All I can say is in an older, more civilized Slashdot, you had to back up such spurious claims with many links to be moded up. Now, if you call Bush or America or Republicans bad, you get a seemingly automatic +2. In any case, I would love to see your source for this information. Please.

"According to the CIA world fact book China's economy is worth 7.2 trillion and is growing at 9.1%, the Us economy is worth 11.8 trillion and is growing at 4.4%. At that rate China overtakes the US in 10 years time."

As some may have learned in the dot com boom, looking at past events and drawing exponential trends tends to leave some heartache. The sky does have limit kids. If you go on to read the CIA fact book, and not just post the tidbits that make you sound smart, it says:

" China in 2004 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, although in per capita terms the country is still poor. .....

The leadership, however, often has experienced - as a result of its hybrid system - the worst results of socialism (bureaucracy and lassitude) and of capitalism (growing income disparities and rising unemployment). ....>
From 100 to 150 million surplus rural workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many subsisting through part-time, low-paying jobs....

Another long-term threat to growth is the deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table especially in the north....

In short, the Chinese economy has improved over the low starting place that the great communist experiment had inflicted on its poor people. However, equalization will set in and it will face the limits/problems that the US and Europe face. Oh, and in the name of intellectual honesty, since I posted excerpts from the fact, here is the link so you can read the parts I left out, mostly to shorten the post some. They further highlight the limits.

Oh, and this is very good ad hoc attack:

"The US is currently facing the same problem that hit the British Empire. In the 1920s a bunch of politicians got into power who were really into the whole imperialism thing.."

Again, really? I watched, read, and discussed a great deal during the last election. I somehow missed the great debate on how the US should make and empire. In fact, no one even mentioned and may I suggest, even thought about becoming an Empire. Last I heard, the US still has a president who will leave office in 2008, and will not rule for life. The last I checked, the other territories that make up the fictional US empire seem to still have sovereignty, and are free to disagree with the so-called imperial US decrees. In fact, they often do, and make policies that run contrary to US wishes. For example, French seem to have this quaint notion they can do what they want, even against US interests. Not a very Roman like atmosphere, is it?

I do not wish to misinterpret the original posters intent. My understanding is that it was a justification of why China is investing so heavily into space and why it is ok if they include militarizatio

2B people? I've been told if you round up to the nearest billion, Liechtenstein has 1B people...
FYI, China's got a population of 1.3 billion (http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch. html#People).

With 2B people to feed, China has much more pressing issues that saving the Earth from comets.

Now that China is a manufacturing superpower, the next logical steps up the value chain would be research, development, and marketing. Then they can fire all the foreign executives who now keep so much of the value of what they make through outsourcing.

Chinese use central planning, we no worship market as god.

quote from the CIA factbook on China:
In late 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish, inefficient, Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state organizations and individual citizens has been steadily increasing. The authorities switched to a system of household and village responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprises in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978.

-metric

...and the overall state of former Russia...

Dude! When did the revolution happen? I'd better go and update my little database here.

Are you sure about your sig? ;-)

Here. Read this.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ ch.html

I foresee some corrupt corporation, government, or other power-mad organization creating the slave-race they've always dreamed of -- one that will be too ignorant to rise up and seek freedom and will instead fall down and worship them as gods. Of course they'd probably have to first kill off the existing homo-sapien "peons" that could object to this -- but we've already solved that problem. Only the "god-class" humans -- a rich and powerful elite that would monopolize technology -- could be allowed to exist in this scenario... hmmmm.

Indeed:

Wal-Mart sells low end crap to people who can't afford or don't want better.

...or people who don't think paying $.25 less for a tube of the same brand of toothpaste is Evil.

People that shop at Amazon are probably more affluent than your average Wal-Mart shopper - they have to have credit, a computer, and an internet connection.

The CIA's estimated that 159 million Americans had Internet access in 2002. That's probably well over 200 million today, and a huge portion of the population by any means. Since debit cards are overtaking checkbooks in popularity, Amazon accepts debit cards, and a huge percentage of Americans have the means to access Amazon, I don't think you can make much of an inference of the respective demographics based solely on your three facts.

Just FYI...

The "estimated 1 million pounds" you speak of is a calculated number based on the expected earnings of the person over their lifetime. It is not the amount spent on "clearing up the dead".

In other words, assuming that I died right after getting out of college, it would "cost" society ~2.2 million US dollars (1 million pounds) in my lost income. If I was older, it would "cost" society less. That's drastically different than society having to pay 1 million pounds to take care of my death.

Keep in mind, the traffic death/cost statistics are generally made by people who want stricter traffic laws. Liars figure and figures lie.





P.S: Think about the conclusion of statistics in that way. People who are retired (and don't/will never own a business or work occasionally at a paying job), are worth $0 to society.

Apply it to abortion. If aborted babies are costing the US $2.2 million each, then at 45 million abortions , that's $99 TRILLION dollars cost since 1973. At a GDP of 11.75 trillion dollars (2004) per year, that means abortion is costing the US fully 26% of the national income to pay for abortions and the resulting cleanup (assuming the GDP has stayed the same from 1973-2004).

The statistic makes no sense.

More likely some place like Nauru, or Sealand.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ nr.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru

Given that shady banking has recently gone away, and the phosphate mines are depleted, Nauru needs some new income, and I think "being in the middle of nowhere" is their only resource. Given that, semi-shady web hosting would be right up their alley if they can get any cheap bandwidth. How much bandwitdh does thepiratebay.org use?

You try running a land line through here

Pakistan isn't exactly known for having hospitable terrain. Or being well developed in outlying areas. Packets can route around "damage" only if there's actually a route there to use. The infrastructure just isn't there. Hell, according to the factbook, 40% of the "highways" aren't paved. I'd wager that high speed data lines aren't exactly a high priority.

As for links through China...the Chinese don't seem to like having their own citizens using their links to the net, let alone another country. And there's the little problem of trying to run a landline through the same mountain range that K2 calls home.

You do also produce 3.31 million bbl/day, which does indeed make you the 3rd largest exporter in the world.

You're not really a part of the EU, though you do contribute a sizable portion of their budget.

I'm not sure what the nobel peace "price" is, nor am I exactly sure what you mean. Your country HAS the prize? How did you get it? Are you planning on giving it back someday, or are you keeping it? Can I buy it on ebay? You do contribute a ton fo world aid, and should be applauded for that.

I'd also like to point out that, last I saw, LUXEMBOURG has the highest GDP/capita in the world right now. And not by a small margin, either. I wouldn't say that luxembourgers necessarily have it "better" than the americans, nor would your GDP/capita being higher. I'm afraid I have to ask you to back up your claim. In terms of the least labour-hours for a loaf of bread, that's the UK. I'd much rather live in america than the UK, because damn their housing sucks compared to america. I'd much rather have a huge place to live in with lots of room than be cramped into a smaller place. In terms of best places to live, I've gotta say mexicans have it about the best, they just have a terrible economy, socio-cultural problems up the ass, etc. But it's by far the most comfortable, beautiful, #1 place to live by me.

I will take this moment to admit that Norway is indeed one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and is doing MANY things right. I'm ashamed my country has been unable to at least catch up with you in many of these aspects. But I wouldn't say you have it the best out of everyone in the world :). If you were a real nerd, you'd remember the "cheap 1gbps fibre avaiable in hong kong for only $215 US per month and agree that they have it the best.

Given that Norway is extremely wealthy due to the vast reserves of North Sea oil that they own, has one of the highest standards of living in the world and have "one of the most advanced telecommunications networks in Europe" (http://cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/no. html) among other things,I think they might be a fairly important customer, yeah.

Confluence Has a Link to this location. It appears to be in the middle of north Chad. The Cia world factbook doesn't show a big lake there, though it does show other lakes in Chad. Multimap says there is water in that location though. Maybe this is some kind of gigantic bog?

And what do these have to do with Saddam's WMD moron? Maybe you meant these guys- http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/maps/ sa-map.gif. But guess where we sent our army?

Considering that the CIA's World Fact Book is regualrly cited on slashdot, and the majority of the data they analyse is from public sources I'm sure you'd be surprised at how much you could probably get from them(You can even take a virtual ture of their campus). Also remember that Larry Wall used to work over at the NSA when he started developing Perl for internal use and that the "No Such Agency" is the hub of SE Linux developement. Our secretive spooks are surprisingly will to share when they can.

Considering that the CIA's World Fact Book is regualrly cited on slashdot, and the majority of the data they analyse is from public sources I'm sure you'd be surprised at how much you could probably get from them(You can even take a virtual ture of their campus). Also remember that Larry Wall used to work over at the NSA when he started developing Perl for internal use and that the "No Such Agency" is the hub of SE Linux developement. Our secretive spooks are surprisingly will to share when they can.

They failed to build their own economy due to the oppressive nature of Communism.

Aside from the fact that freedom has nothing to do with economic development (Stalin, Hitler and Pinochet had all quite good economic results), you have maybe not noticed that the Vietnamese economy is growing faster than the US economy, and not by a small margin (7.7% against 4.4%).
The fact they are still underdeveloped might have some connection with the fact their country was pretty much razed to the ground some years ago.

They failed to build their own economy due to the oppressive nature of Communism.

Aside from the fact that freedom has nothing to do with economic development (Stalin, Hitler and Pinochet had all quite good economic results), you have maybe not noticed that the Vietnamese economy is growing faster than the US economy, and not by a small margin (7.7% against 4.4%).
The fact they are still underdeveloped might have some connection with the fact their country was pretty much razed to the ground some years ago.

...as well as provide software training for 50,000 of the country's teachers....
The US has more than 3 times the population of Viet Nam. Do we have 50000 teachers who have some IT training?
Just put this story together with yesterday's story about US students turning away from computer related careers. What does Viet Nam's government do to get something out of Microsoft that our own state and national govt won't do?

For the record, the US is NOT a democracy.

the US is a Constitution-based federal republic

Modded down into boliavian.

What does South America have to do with RMS?

Let me start by saying that effective immediately, foreign aid to those nations on List 2 ceases immediately and indefinitely. The money saved during the first year alone will pretty much pay for the costs ofthe Iraqi war.

Ah.... you've got to love the imagination of the right-wing nutcases. Sounds like this particular one has serious problems with math.
http://costofwar.com/ says we're up to $176 billion for the cost of this war. Most of which, by the way, went straight into the pockets of the fat cats in the military-industrial complex...

The CIA World fact book says the US spent not even $7 billion in foreign aid in 1997 (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos /us.html#Econ). Let's say it's a bit more now (probably not, but hey) - maybe $10 billion?

So, to offset the cost of the war would take not one but at least 18 years. And we're not done yet in Iraq...

Why don't you go and study up on math and common sense. And while you're at it, it sounds like you need a good dose of basic human values too. For starters, stop watching Fox News, and start listening to NPR. Maybe you'll get some notion of what things are really like in the world that way. Someday. Hopefully.

Whatever else Indonesia may be, it is not a small country. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state. ... Area - comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas

Settled by Norwegian and Celtic (Scottish and Irish) immigrants during the late 9th and 10th centuries A.D., Iceland boasts the world's oldest functioning legislative assembly, the Althing, established in 930.

but you already knew that..

Team,

The name of the country is Guatemala:

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ gt.html