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A comment on The Grapes of Wrath was banned in the USSR because showed poor people had cars. Parent comment

Re:The Grapes of Wrath was banned in the USSR because showed... by woodruffw on Thursday January 19, 2023 @10:31PM (#34448860)
You're right that the US is a fabulously wealthy country. Still, this might be a misguided comparison: the least developed region of NZ still has a higher HDI than two US states[1][2], without considering territories.

If you decided to wander around West Virginia (as I have), you'd see plenty of people burning coal and/or firewood for heat in winter (and WV winters are much harsher than NZ ones, from what I know about NZ). You'll also see extreme indigence of a sort that's otherwise almost completely invisible in the US.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_New_Zealand...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Grapes of Wrath was banned in the USSR because showed... by whendoyoushrink on Thursday January 19, 2023 @11:55PM (#34449424)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...

> Household Disposable Income per capita (including social transfers in kind)

1 United States 62,300 19 New Zealand 32,600 (2019)

Roughly 50%. I can't find similar data for the bad pockets of America.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Grapes of Wrath was banned in the USSR because showed... by woodruffw on Friday January 20, 2023 @12:05AM (#34449473)
The closest available metric is probably the BEA's PCPI[1], which is $42,315 for WV. So about 30% more, but I think a more fair metric would probably adjust for differences in social entitlements and welfare.

(Per capita for both also doesn't tell us much about distributions, or even sheer numbers: the two states that have lower HDIs than the least developed region of NZ have nearly as many people as all of NZ.)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_adjuste...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Grapes of Wrath was banned in the USSR because showed... by pessimizer on Friday January 20, 2023 @12:22AM (#34449559)
It's at least better to take the median: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_household_and_per_c...
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