"[PPP] equalizes the purchasing power of different currencies in their home countries for a given basket of goods. Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing differences in living standards on the whole between nations because PPP takes into account the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of different countries, rather than just a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) comparison."
And you're cherry picking unemployment figures, from particularly small countries.
E.g. go to http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&... and you'll see the 2009 November (September for the UK) rates for:
EU: 9.5-10%
France: 10.0%
Italy: 8.3%
Ireland: 12.9%
Germany: 7.6%
Spain: 19.4%
UK: 7.8%
Now it is you who is cherry-picking.
About unemployment: Even if take EU average, we see that it is not higher than American average 10%. It is at _worst_ equal. Now USA often uses creative ways (unemployed but not seeking and all he other odd ways of meausuring) to meausure unemployment, If you read alternative sources, you can often see 17% of real unemployment in USA.
No it is not making meaningfully different picture.
Now if we abandon PPP adjusted GDP we'll see that US is not that super-rich country - average GDP per capita places USA on 17th place, far behind many european countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nom... Even Canada (that has been long time a laughstock of USA), in fact has a tiny little difference in nominal GDP with USA - 1-2k$. So why nominal GDP of Canada is 2000$ less than American, but adjusted 8000$ less?. Because Canada is a lot more equal society: GINI (inequality) in Canada = 34 (little higher than european) GINI in USA = 45 (average for African countries). To maintain equality you need more taxes. So less left in pockets of consumers.
Now, let's move to hallucinations: "European unemployment rate is higher than American": USA=10% Norway=3.6% Netherlands = 3.6% Denmark=4.40% Austria=4.8%
You want me continue?? What about obesity: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence/obesity And social mobility?: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence/social-mobility Infant death: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence/physical-health Child well-being: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence/child-well-bein...