How come America is not the poorest country in the world?

Question

Im American and I always hear that America is one of the richest countries in the world, so if America is so rich why the keep borrowing money from China and the Middle East.

Answer 1

When you hear that America is the richest country in the world, you're hearing about a) the wealth per capita, b) the net worth of the government, and c) the value of our economy. America is incredibly rich because a massive amount of the world's industry is based here (although not made here), and the people reap the benefits.

The government continues to force itself into deficit because it needs an inordinate amount of money to continue to finance the military and the various wars that are going on, but that money, lent by other nations, goes directly back into our economy, because the American military contractors are manufacturing all of the weapons and providing services for the military.

Hope that answers your question.

Max

http://www.maxnorman.net

Answer 2

America is one of the richest countries in the world (though it's not the richest county, which I believe is Saudi Arabia, the richest city is Moscow.)   America is said to be one of the richest countries in the world because there are a lot of countries that are in debt to America and because of how the Americans live. To be poor in America means to have an apartment a five year old tv, second hand clothes and have an older car. Thats considered to be an EXTREMELY wealthy lifestyle in many countries. Americans typically don't worry about where their next meal is going to come from. If you look at a country that has a huge gap between the rich and the poor you will see why America, Canada, Britain and other countries of the like are seen as some of the richest. Look at Saudi Arabia. If you were to walk the streets you would think you're in one of the poorest places, but you actually in the wealthiest. The higher ups in that country take as much of the money from everyone beneath them as they can. The royal family is worth billions of dollars.  Then there's the countries ravaged by war and famine and their economies and governments tend to be corrupt because the government officials and/or royals have the power to ensure their own self security in these hard times..so they do.  It all comes down to greed and the fact that the american and canadian governments are not into taking all the money for themselves, they actually look out for their people and don't abuse their powers so the rich can get richer. (that's the banks job) The more giving a country and the less get-rich-quick mind set there is in a country the richer the country, over all and not just an elite group, becomes.  

Answer 3

One of the reasons are taxes collected from the people are just insufficient to fund several government project.Of course America lend more money to other countries than borrowing money from other country.SO the good'ol  U S of A is pretty wealthy.

Answer 4

America is a rich country based on it's GDP per capita, which means we produce a lot of stuff (economic goods) per person. At least this is your common measure of the wealth of a nation. There are other measures as well (see UN human development index).

So, why all the borrowing? When people talk about America being in debt, they generally are referring to the national debt. That is the government borrowing to fund it's projects, such as war. Much of that debt is held by american investors, but some of it is held by foreigners, including China. Why China? Because we buy a lot of thier products, and in exchange, give them US dollars. What do they do with US dollars? They buy US dollar denominated assets, such as government debt.