How much money Olympics 2012 costs?

The report you linked to is on a website for "credit professionals" and is about the problems faced by people in debt who had contacted a debt advice line, not people "living in poverty". 47 pounds is about 73 US dollars.



That's the average difference between what these people get and what they need to meet all their needs and service their borrowing, which leads to them (the people who contact the advice line) getting in debt. It doesn't say anything about the absolute levels of income. It doesn't mean they are eating scraps out of trash bins and their kids have rickets and are running around with their arses hanging out of their trousers. It probably means they let the credit card bill slide after paying for clothes, groceries, iPhone plans, rent or mortgage, cable TV and filling up the car.

The report also says that those contacting the helpline had an average unsecured debt of £17,031, that's $26,000 dollars. That's people contacting a helpline because they are unable to manage their debts, not London people in general. The figures were obtained from 11,000 people who contacted the helpline. The Greater London urban area has a population of around 8.25 million.

In a spirit of web enquiry I did a little search myself and found:

In the US, in 2012, average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,956. That's the overall average debt, not the average debt of people in trouble. These will likely have bigger debts.

33% of Americans do not own a credit card.
54% pay their balance in full each month
33% carry balances up to $10,000 (median balance: $2,254)
13% carry balances over $10,000 (median balance: $17,366)

U.S. consumers racked up an estimated $51 billion worth of fast food on their personal credit and debit cards in 2006.

What that report conveys, then, is that Britain is an average aflluent Western nation, and its citizens are about average. Also the cost of living is a bit higher in London than elsewhere in Britain, (where, Americans tend to forget, another 52 million people live).

As for the TV documentary, I didn't see that.

It's easy to "rationalize" any social topic by pointing the finger at others.

That's never been my intention, and even mentioned some facts about the US that is critical of our economy. The US "is" the richest country in the world with the biggest GDP, but we have an imbalance in how our riches are distributed.

If you wish to compare the differences between the US and England, you need to look at the "big" picture, and include the "averages" and "medians."

According to the following sources on GDP (ppp) per capita income, the International Monetary Fund lists the US as #6, and the UK as #22.
The World Bank lists the US as #7, and the UK as #22. The CIA World Book lists the US as #9, and the UK as #26.

No comparison.

I'm not sure what your point is... the US and Britain (that's the name of our country, by the way) are both in the category of very rich nations. Britain is one of the five over-one-trillion-dollar economies of Europe.

The point is, anecdotal information about the US spending habits and debt doesn't do justice to the "big picture."

Britain may be one of five "over one trillion dollar economies of Europe," but surely you jest. The Euro is now in deep doodle, and trying to save so many Euro countries from their debt levels is a joke. Look at Greece; an economy in ruins based mostly on tourism, and a government so corrupted, they can't even clean house. The German economy is not that strong - to save the rest of Europe. They will be playing "plug the hole in the boat" for many decades to come, and it will be a wonder if that boat doesn't sink - along with the rest of the world's economy.

You really are just posting any old stuff that comes into your head, aren't you?

"Old stuff?" I'm just repeating what one of you Brits posted.

Could be old; I wouldn't know.

I meant "any old" in the (possibly mainly British) idomatic sense of "random" or "chosen without discernment or thought or scruple" - e.g. "The Daily Mail is a trashy paper that will print any old rubbish".

Most of us Yanks wouldn't know that the "Daily Mail is a trashy paper."

Well, you do now.

No, I don't. I've never read the Daily Mail. When I do, I'll make up my own mind whether it's trashy or not.

It's like a British print equivalent of Fox News, like I said really trashy. Lots of negative stories about immigration and Muslims and pictures of celebrities on vacation showing muffin top or stretch marks

Any other Brit want to chime in about the Daily Mail?

We in the US have many tabloid newspapers that are sold at supermarket check outs. The top ten are,


Never read em, but might see the first page crap while waiting in line to pay for my groceries.

Yea, FOX fits.

In the 1930s The Daily Mail supported Oswald Mosely's blackshirts, and sympathised with Nazi Germany. Very little has changed since then.