Top 10 countries by National Wealth

[American_Millenium]

Japan's national wealth has collapsed. I wouldn't be surprised if China was double Japan in like 2 years.

Meanwhile America still holds a lot of the worlds wealth. At it's height in the 1960's, over 40% of global GDP and 60% of the wealth of the world was in the US.

In 2014 we hold 22% of world GDP and 32% of the world's wealth. Still a lot but decreasing as more countries grow faster than us.

@Chinese-Dragon there was another thread on the exact same thing, exact same link, a while ago. perhaps u missed it

but i'll repeat my comment..

the list/metric is complete garbage.

for 2000, it insinuates that taiwan, switzerland, belgium, hong kong, denmark, austria, singapore.. all have more "national wealth" than RUSSIA. with taiwan, particularly, almost 6 times more.

ok, it was the end of the yeltsin era, russia was ravaged.. fine. but taiwan, belgium, switzerland and 2 PIIGS nations remained well above it throughout and even into this decade, when its public debt is amongst the lowest in the world.

is someone with an iq greater than a chimp able to explain how a booger sized coutry ranks higher than a former superpower, military, technological and resource powerhouse, that is arguably more comprehensively industrialised than mainland china, in `gross national wealth`.

Lure, above, is correct. market capitalization, money printing (aka QE ) and other bogus measures of the fiat, paper wealth, old guard, are the basis of this article. which is why nobody, not even the sustainers and upholders of this old order, take such a fundamentals-lacking measure seriously.

Yes, even friggin Hong Kong had a net national wealth greater than Russia. Take the net worth of the average Hong Kong resident in 2000 and it wouldn't be surprising to find it at 100x that of Russia. This is not about productive capacity (GDP). It's simply about the net worth of the country.

If, in 2000, Russian corporations, citizens, and all government entities all paid their debts at the same time what would they be left with? A lot less than if Hong Kong did the same. Of course no one does this so it's just an interesting metric to see whether said nation has a financial health and power commensurate with it's GDP. Normally, developing countries lag in wealth, especially the financial kind, when compared to their GDP or other national metrics.

For instance, China is only now at the level of Japan, and 25% that of the US, despite having a GDP 60% the size of the US. The Indian net national wealth is only 17% that of China and only 4.3% that of the US, despite having an economy a bit larger comparatively speaking.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

The US has 4% of the world's population but 32% of the wealth...hmmm

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

The US has 4% of the worlds population but 32% of the wealth...hmmm

That's why America has been the sole superpower since 1991.

Money/wealth/assets, that is real power in the modern world.

Not to mention industrial capacity, and America is still one of the largest manufacturers on Earth. China got the number one spot only recently in terms of manufacturing, but America is still near the top.

@LeveragedBuyout

 

[opruh]

As usual, India and Vietnam at the bottom.

 

[American_Millenium]

That's why America has been the sole superpower since 1991.

Money/wealth/assets, that is real power in the modern world.

Not to mention industrial capacity, and America is still one of the largest manufacturers on Earth. China got the number one spot only recently in terms of manufacturing, but America is still near the top.

@LeveragedBuyout

If you have a large GDP and a large GDP per capita then you're set. A large GDP pretty much equals large everything. Large manufacturing/industrial capacity, large government, large projects (infrastructure, ports, shipbuilding, etc).

A large GDP per capita pretty much equals an advanced and knowledgeable population, with which comes technological supremacy and stability.

China has the former which is why it can produce 'big' things, but it doesn't have the latter which is why it's 'big' things are lacking in revolutionary advancement. China can produce 10 supercarriers and 5,000 stealth fighters starting right now, but it won't because it knows it's knowledge economy is not at the same level as that of the US. It's taking baby steps and attempting to move up the knowledge value chain.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

China has the former which is why it can produce 'big' things, but it doesn't have the latter which is why it's 'big' things are lacking in revolutionary advancement. China can produce 10 supercarriers and 5,000 stealth fighters starting right now, but it won't because it knows it's knowledge economy is not at the same level as that of the US. It's taking baby steps and attempting to move up the knowledge value chain.

Yes, we need to wait till 2025 before our technology and economy are at an acceptable level, that's when we can start mass producing ships/jets and become a real power player on the world stage.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

That's why America has been the sole superpower since 1991.

Money/wealth/assets, that is real power in the modern world.

Team USA | Page 75

For 2014, it is estimated that $58.51 billion will be spent on our pets in the U.S.

List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Only 5 countries on this planet have military budgets above $58B.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

That's why America has been the sole superpower since 1991.

Money/wealth/assets, that is real power in the modern world.

Not to mention industrial capacity, and America is still one of the largest manufacturers on Earth. China got the number one spot only recently in terms of manufacturing, but America is still near the top.

@LeveragedBuyout

I feared someone would drag me into this! Et tu, @Chinese-Dragon ?

Anyway, per @pehgaam e mohabbat , I suppose we low IQ people must be content with facts, while high IQ people bask in fantasy. This is actually a very simple matter to understand, which is why we low IQ people can explain it, I suppose. To the question of how wealth was accumulated, it's straightforward. Here it is:

1) First, from Piketty's famous study:

We have benefited from over a century of high returns on capital--capital that we have accumulated as a result of early industrialization. Wealth accumulated to holders of capital.

2) We ran a current account surplus for decades, and by definition that meant we had a negative capital account (i.e. we were accumulating assets abroad). Because the dollar has been gradually depreciating over time, these assets gained value in dollar terms. That's the magic of moderate inflation: assets re-price, debt does not. On the flip side, the capital inflows that resulted from our current account deficit have leveraged our economy and helped us achieve higher growth rates than were otherwise possible (with a predictable, but fortunately short-lived downside).

3) We have had a higher growth rate and productivity growth rate than other advanced economies, which also helped build national wealth (and in turn, attracted investment without causing interest rates to spike once our current account turned negative). Productivity is the source of all wealth creation (and Ireland's rapid transformation should be proof enough).

4) American multi-national corporations are skilled at harnessing the competitive advantage of other countries for their own gain. Here's an example I posted some time ago:

Apple products are manufactured in China and counted as a Chinese export, but a large percent of the profits belong to Apple. The same pattern repeats itself across the Chinese export spectrum, so we are sharing in China's growth, even as the US stagnates.

Conclusion
-Europe and the US have had a head-start in accumulating capital, and have benefited from the returns on that capital for much longer than post-Communist Russia has.

-European and American corporations have adapted faster to a globalized market, and have been able to increase their wealth by taking advantage of high-growth markets, while Russia has not (can you name 10 global Russian brands?).

-Japan, the Asian Tigers (including Taiwan), and China have all repeated this process, which is why Japan and the PIIGS can continue to sustain their tremendous debt loads--everyone pays attention to the debt, and forgets the assets that they have accumulated (let's not confuse the ability to service debt, which is a cash flow issue, with solvency, which is an assets and liabilities issue); and that's why little Taiwan and HK have managed to dwarf Russia in terms of net assets.

-China is rapidly accumulating assets with its high GDP growth rate and large current account surplus, which is why it's rising in the ranks so quickly.

 

[American_Millenium]

Team USA | Page 75

For 2014, it estimated that $58.51 billion will be spent on our pets in the U.S.

List of countries by military expenditures - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Only 5 countries on this planet have military budgets above $58B.

The question is how much per individual. The fact that America is the 3rd most populous country in the world also distorts things. $58.51 billion / 73.16 million households which have pets = $800

The average household spent $800 on their pets. Still a lot, but doesn't sound like nearly as much when compared to other countries. For example, I just randomly looked up Norway, and found that they spend $2,554 on their pets per household. This is despite them not even showing up in the top 20 military spenders, having only spent $7.2 billion in 2014.

Of course, even a "dollar" amount distorts things because of pricing differences in different countries. Norway is more "expensive" compared to the US so the figure might be a bit lower.

When comparing living standards or how much 'we' or 'they' are contributing to something it's always best to use GDP PPP per capita.

List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[TheTruth]

Japan's national wealth has collapsed. I wouldn't be surprised if China was double Japan in like 2 years.
.

A lot of Japanese wealth is held offshore. They are the world's largest creditor, I wouldn't write them off.

 

[VCheng]

The US has 4% of the worlds population but 32% of the wealth...hmmm

Wealth is only an end result of the power to create wealth. What price creativity?

 

[TheTruth]

Wealth is only an end result of the power to create wealth. What price creativity?

A lot of American money is simply cartel, dictator, gang lord money laundered and shuffled into American banks. Also legal immigrants bring hundreds of billions in capital in every single year. The typical American is a dirt poor maggot.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

I feared someone would drag me into this! Et tu, @Chinese-Dragon ?

Anyway, per @pehgaam e mohabbat , I suppose we low IQ people must be content with facts, while high IQ people bask in fantasy. This is actually a very simple matter to understand, which is why we low IQ people can explain it, I suppose. To the question of how wealth was accumulated, it's straightforward. Here it is:

1) First, from Piketty's famous study:

View attachment 175522

We have benefited from over a century of high returns on capital--capital that we have accumulated as a result of early industrialization. Wealth accumulated to holders of capital.

2) We ran a current account surplus for decades, and by definition that meant we had a negative capital account (i.e. we were accumulating assets abroad). Because the dollar has been gradually depreciating over time, these assets gained value in dollar terms. That's the magic of moderate inflation: assets re-price, debt does not. On the flip side, the capital inflows that resulted from our current account deficit have leveraged our economy and helped us achieve higher growth rates than were otherwise possible (with a predictable, but fortunately short-lived downside).

View attachment 175528

3) We have had a higher growth rate and productivity growth rate than other advanced economies, which also helped build national wealth (and in turn, attracted investment without causing interest rates to spike once our current account turned negative). Productivity is the source of all wealth creation (and Ireland's rapid transformation should be proof enough).

View attachment 175530


4) American multi-national corporations are skilled at harnessing the competitive advantage of other countries for their own gain. Here's an example I posted some time ago:

View attachment 175531

Apple products are manufactured in China and counted as a Chinese export, but a large percent of the profits belong to Apple. The same pattern repeats itself across the Chinese export spectrum, so we are sharing in China's growth, even as the US stagnates.

Conclusion
-Europe and the US have had a head-start in accumulating capital, and have benefited from the returns on that capital for much longer than post-Communist Russia has.

-European and American corporations have adapted faster to a globalized market, and have been able to increase their wealth by taking advantage of high-growth markets, while Russia has not (can you name 10 global Russian brands?).

-Japan, the Asian Tigers (including Taiwan), and China have all repeated this process, which is why Japan and the PIIGS can continue to sustain their tremendous debt loads--everyone pays attention to the debt, and forgets the assets that they have accumulated (let's not confuse the ability to service debt, which is a cash flow issue, with solvency, which is an assets and liabilities issue); and that's why little Taiwan and HK have managed to dwarf Russia in terms of net assets.

-China is rapidly accumulating assets with its high GDP growth rate and large current account surplus, which is why it's rising in the ranks so quickly.

You literally write the best posts, on this entire forum.

I really learned a lot from just reading it.

@Nihonjin1051 what do you think of the national wealth rankings? It's interesting that the USA, Japan and China dominate the rankings, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

This underscores the importance of peace and stability in the Pacific. Since these countries are the engines of the global economy.

China of course will take several more decades to accumulate enough wealth to be considered "developed" (albeit a low-tier developed economy). But I guess it's not too long to wait, and personally I feel many Mainland cities (like Suzhou) actually have a superior quality of life compared to my own city of HK. So my dreams of moving to the Mainland are not so impractical.

 

[TheTruth]

You literally write the best posts, on this entire forum.

I really learned a lot from just reading it.

@Nihonjin1051 what do you think of the national wealth rankings? It's interesting that the USA, Japan and China dominate the rankings, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

This underscores the importance of peace and stability in the Pacific. Since these countries are the engines of the global economy.

China of course will take several more decades to accumulate enough wealth to be considered "developed" (albeit a low-tier developed economy). But I guess it's not too long to wait, and personally I feel many Mainland cities (like Suzhou) actually have a superior quality of life compared to my own city of HK. So my dreams of moving to the Mainland are not so impractical.

Japan's wealth is actually underestimated on this table. It's more like $28-35 trillion including their overseas assets.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Japan's wealth is actually underestimated on this table. It's more like $28-35 trillion including their overseas assets.

It's interesting to note that China's national wealth more than doubled during the period 2005-2010, which was only 5 years.

I love the rate at which we are adding national wealth, though it needs to be sustained via economic reforms (which we are carrying out right now).