Pretty interesting that 4.2% of the world’s population generates 25% of the world’s GDP. Looking only at the numbers, it’s pretty cool, but when you look at the reality of it, it becomes a lot more messy.
Part of it is that America just has an insane amount of resource richness even compared to historical empires of it’s comparative influence.
Let me try to explain it in agricultural terms. America is a nation of immigrants, and yet a common phenomenon is an observed disconnect between what Americans consider local cuisine from a given country and what people from that country today consider average cuisine of their culture.
This is because those immigrants were the tired, the poor, the hungry masses yearning to be free. The cuisine they brought was the stuff people would make to subsist as peasants, notice how many different varieties of “take this basic grain as a filler then layer on bitsins and fixins to give it flavor and nutrition.” Meanwhile in the home country, cuisine culture continued to be defined by the elites who had already been defining it. What’s really interesting is that the cuisine brought by the poor, did not stay pauper meals.
This is because America as a country is so packed to the gills with farmable land that ingredients considered a rarity for sheer cost in “the old country” were abundant to the point of being cheap. American serving sizes are so big because they were pioneered by people who were thanking god that they could be that big. Chop Sui literally was just “whatever you can throw in the pot, serve it up!”, tacos and sandwiches were invented basically to maximize the flavor and nutrition of expensive fresh ingredients on limited supply, Pizza has roots as the equivalent of a street pretzel in NYC.
Imagine if someone took the NYC pretzel, moved to a land of unheard-of plenty unseen by human eyes thus far, and decided to spice that pittily ass bread and salt with choice of topping by loading that shit with the most unimaginably luxurious ingredients they could conceive of because that shit is all cheap there. That’s the story of Pizza. That’s what happened to basically every peasant food culture that made contact with the US and its because American resource richness is just that unprecedented for anyone who isn’t from America already to conceive of.
Stalin once stated that WWII was won with, “British Intelligence, American Steel, and Soviet Blood.”, but America wasn’t just a factory for the world, the American kitchen put into that war just as hard as the American foundry, arguably more, America’s first casualties of the war were the merchant marines who faced U-Boats head on to run food aid to the British public and anywhere else they could slip past the Nazis.
We got so much shit we will literally give it to you for free sometimes
That is how 4% of the world population ends up sitting on 25% of its GDP
That’s an interesting read, but I think it misses a point of where that 25% GDP is really coming from. The US makes 25% of the GDP because they outsource. To use other country’s labor, other countries people, other other people’s brains, and they take a huge chunk of profit from it. They then claim that’s their GDP.
America is a very efficient country, with a lot of skilled workers creating a lot of cool products and stuff, but it’s not 5x other countries. The only way to get those numbers is by leveraging the work of other people and claiming it for yourself.
That’s not how GDP works
Edit to elaborate, GDP is calculated based on final goods and services, outsourced work exclusively counts towards the GDP of the country that work is done in, and only affects the GDP of another country when they buy what the first country made, but the outsourced work still happens in country A, so country A gets all the GDP created by selling finished goods, and all the GDP of the work done on unfinished products within their borders.
Basically, the US isn’t sitting on everyone else’s money, it just genuinely makes and sells that much shit
But how much of the online world are we?
English speaking? Pretty big. There’s also vast portions of the internet that are not in English, but if you don’t speak anything besides English, chances are you’re not going to come across it too much.
English-speaking population is about 1.5 billion worldwide and 300 million of that is in the US (first language or additional language), so the US is about 20% of the world’s English speakers. The 2nd and 3rd countries with the most English-speakers are India and Nigeria, so factor in internet access, and the US is almost certainly >20% of the English-speaking internet.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population
People are speaking English because that is an internationally known language. Americans assume that when people speak English on the internet, it must mean that they are American. It is not even remotely true though, Americans are a minority on the internet, including the “English speaking” internet, they are just never aware of it.
About 4.2%.
And 15% of the world’s prisoners.
And they keep assuming others are American too.
Genuine Skill Issue, how long has the internet been around?
Americans don’t assume people online are americans because they’re arrogant assholes, they assume because it’s been X decades and somehow their 4.2% of the world still dominates the internet.
They *think they dominate the internet because they only speak one language
Yeah, maybe!
But we’re still doing this thread in English, and I’ll bet the reason why isn’t Britain’s impact on the internet.
Fantastic name by the way
如果我開始用中文/廣東話咁你點算？
But we’re still doing this thread in English, and I’ll bet the reason why isn’t Britain’s impact on the internet.
It is incredible how poor you guys are at understanding the concept of languages. Your comments are completely unrelated to the fact that Americans are not a majority on the internet, even though Americans always assume so.
You seem to confuse people writing in English with being American.
I didn’t know there were any others online outside our great nation ;)
Yup, I think all y’all in burgerland should recall that once in a while.
Isn’t the UK also notorious for assuming it is the center of the world?
We were. Because we were. But those days are very much over.
I wouldn’t be so sure it’s just a “were” thing. You and I may have a more humble view of our homelands but I think we’ve both got to accept that there are some awfully myopic idiots residing in both of our states.
Oh hell yes. But you get people like that everywhere.
Hahaha.
Nah pommy fucks still act like the Empire exists all the time.
That would be the ones that shot us all in the face with brexit
At least I can take solace in the fact that Donny never won the popular vote. Still entirely too many fools voting for the obvious wannabe autocrat though
Don’t really appreciate the pommy remark there skippy
But yea, that happens. I meant the Empires over, not that some people refuse to believe it.
Burgerland? C’mon man! If anything we’re bacon double cheeseburgers land!
Just a burger would be like an Englishman eating chips without the vinegar!
True. I also love me a bacon double cheeseburger. Shame we don’t have Wendy’s here.
I’m not opposed to being called burgerland, but I’m wondering why burgers and not hot dogs or apple pie. I think we should start referring to all countries by their national food.
True, as burgers didn’t actually originate in the USA anyway. Are there any foods that are 100% USA creations?
I’m not sure anyone has original food. Isn’t it all just the same stuff in regional flavors with available ingredients? We should just go by what’s popular, or perceived to be popular, which i guess does make us burgerland.
Fried butter? (The fact that this is a real thing is worrisome)
I want to try this so much
I can feel my arteries clogging just by reading the name.
Only Americans thinks that apple pie is a specifically American food.
Apple pie, hot dogs, and baseball… There is no American food. Maybe fry bread?
Make burgerland, it’s been how many decades and you still think they “should recall that once in a while”?
Earn it.
Make Burgerland? OK
“Oh Burgerland, slow-ly widen my arse.”
Cool AI image bud, you sure made Americans realize they aren’t the center of the internet!
But commits 90% of the world’s fuckery. I’m ‘Murican, I know wut ahm talkin’ bout.
Don’t worry, US Americans. You’re among friends.
How is that possible? Even in America, Americans aren’t among friends!
You confuse internet and media narratives with reality. We’re friendly as fuck as long as you aren’t a no tipping poutine eating maple leaf fuckers./s
I’m actually surprised it’s as high as that!
Obviously the most important part. USA! USA! USA!
Nice to know I guess
AAAAAAAaaaaand… 97 percent of the FREEDOM.
This comment is the equivalent of trying to have a real conversation with someone and they start singing a commercial jingle.
