If you read all my posts you will find that I am not such a big US hater, but yes they have got many things wrong.

First of all I find the way of calculating GDP is so bad (all over the world including India) that it sucks. For example if there is a big plane crash and a company (therefore a country) gets an insurance claim, that becomes cash inflow. Similarly all negative costs – hospitalisation, purchase of medicines, etc. all of this add up to your GDP.

In the US, it is worse. Gambling, prostitution, selling ammunition, – all this adds up to the GDP, adds to the profits, and increases the ‘per capita income’ of the country! Similarly the average American is supposed to be happier than the average German – because the ‘per capita’ income is higher. However when you talk quality – you talk of German quality or Swiss precision, not BIG quality or BIG precision. US is known for big – size of everything, not the best.

Here is an article on the quality of American life vs. German life…an article comparing the two…

http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2010/08/25/german_usa_working_life_ext2010/index.html