America Number One?

Oh, I'm sure I'm going to catch a lot of crap from the neo-cons on this board about this little post, but here goes....

America No. 1?

America by the numbers

02/03/05 "ICH" - - No concept lies more firmly embedded in our
national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the
greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous
advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are. An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:

• The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).
• The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
• Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).
• "The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).
• Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!
• "The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).
• "Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).
• Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science
Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).
• Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.
• The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.
• "The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a "developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.
• Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)
• "U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.
• Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).
• The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).
• Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).
• The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).
• "Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.
• "Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).
• "Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68).
• The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).
• U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).
• Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of
unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).
• Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.
• Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
• As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
• Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.
• One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).
• "Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28).
• "Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).
• Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).
• "Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).
• "The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

(Reprinted from the Austin Chronicle.)

 

Hi Carl,

Pick a better country. I've been around the world and visited some truly wonderful places and some not so nice, but there is nowhere else I'd rather live.

 

Yep. Americans are just a bunch of ignorant klutzes:

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-nobel-prize-winners-map.html

 

Well Carl, what do you expect when we have a President who thinks the world revolves around his every whim ?

In all fairness, I think we live in the greatest country in the world. Sure, we have our problems, but no one is perfect. We just have to be diligent to keep the current demagogues in office in check. But alas, in just over 3 years, the resident monkey will be history and the next President can reduce his legacy to nothing (providing he hasn't started another war based on a lie)

 

OK

OK, then leave. Figure out which country is truly no.1 and go. And stay.

If this country is so bad as your biased posting would lead one to believe then tell us which country is better, then you go live there and report back in a few years.

However, I bet you'll end up coming back here.

good luck!

 

I don't think you should talk about President Putin that way. It's not nice.

 

I don't think you should talk about President Putin that way. It's not nice.

 

I don't think you should talk about President Putin that way. It's not nice.

 

OK, this is just lie. The USA IS "No. 1" in lots of things.

One lie makes the whole article, that highlights important problems, unreliable and worthless. How sad.

 

Surprisingly I have to agree with Carl, to a point. The educational standards in this country have been on the decline for more than 40 years.

The more the government involves itself in education and disallows local control of the public schools, the worse academics get.

Take a look at who wins most of the spelling bees and other academic contests in this country. Take a look at who wins high school Jeopardy tournaments. Most of the winners are immigrants.

On the other hand, why can't liberals ever find anything good about America?

I am still waiting for Robert Redford (Mr. Environmentalist who owns several homes, several luxury gas-guzzling cars, and flies all around the world.) and Michael Moore to move to Canada. I wish I could afford to buy them each a one-way ticket.

 

Surprisingly I have to agree with Carl, to a point. The educational standards in this country have been on the decline for more than 40 years.

The more the government involves itself in education and disallows local control of the public schools, the worse academics get.

Take a look at who wins most of the spelling bees and other academic contests in this country. Take a look at who wins high school Jeopardy tournaments. Most of the winners are immigrants.

On the other hand, why can't the neo-libs ever find anything good about America?

I am still waiting for Robert Redford (Mr. Environmentalist who owns several homes, several luxury gas-guzzling cars, and flies all around the world.) and Michael Moore to move to Canada. I wish I could afford to buy them each a one-way ticket.

 

Hey Carl, you must get bored alot for writing all these long posts, and I get the impression you really don't like America very much?

Well, the only thing I can say is this, for all the imperfections and problems that America has, I don't see to many people leaving!!

 

Hey Carl, you must get bored alot for writing all these long posts, and I get the impression you really don't like America very much?

Well, the only thing I can say is this, for all the imperfections and problems that America has, I don't see to many people leaving!!

 

Collective repsonse....

I'm answering a whole bunch of ye in this one post back....

1. No, I'm not ready to leave the US for someplace else, even though I believe we have a LOT of work to do to regain our prominence as "number one". This is the greatest country in the world, not because of our failings or inept (current) leadership, but because of the people who inhabit it from all walks of life and from every corner of the globe.

2. Those of you whose only response to intelligent criticism of our shortcomings are "you must not like this country, why don't you move?" are part of the problem. You are to be pitied, since you cannot countenance a discussion that looks at a true analysis of some very negative trends in our society and culture without casting aspersion on the "messenger".

3. Together, as conservatives and liberals, we can address these issues and make the US what it has the potential to be. Yes, people still want to come here from all over the world. But I'd rather they come to a country that cares about health care for its citizens, cares about education, and cares about resolving disputes in some other fashion than resorting to violence as the first alternative.

If you still have problems with this, then God help you all....

Carl

 

Collective repsonse....

I'm answering a whole bunch of ye in this one post back....

1. No, I'm not ready to leave the US for someplace else, even though I believe we have a LOT of work to do to regain our prominence as "number one". This is the greatest country in the world, not because of our failings or inept (current) leadership, but because of the people who inhabit it from all walks of life and from every corner of the globe.

2. Those of you whose only response to intelligent criticism of our shortcomings are "you must not like this country, why don't you move?" are part of the problem. You are to be pitied, since you cannot countenance a discussion that looks at a true analysis of some very negative trends in our society and culture without casting aspersion on the "messenger".

3. Together, as conservatives and liberals, we can address these issues and make the US what it has the potential to be. Yes, people still want to come here from all over the world. But I'd rather they come to a country that cares about health care for its citizens, cares about education, and cares about resolving disputes in some other fashion than resorting to violence as the first alternative.

If you still have problems with this, then God help you all....

Carl

 

Re: Collective repsonse....

We do seem to be in a violent little part of history. To me, when torture seems OK to people, there is something seriously wrong. It's hard to be proud of "might makes right" and violent solutions.

 

I think that the message here has become lost.

When compiling lists of data such as this, we need to focus on ways to fix these problems, not exploit them.

They will never be fixed however, unless something is done to correct the bipartisan nature of our country, which obscures the message.

There are major problems in the US, and I have found that both liberals and conservatives do nothing to help. Liberals just want to focus on how bad the country is and flaunt it in everyone's face to make us all feel in some way shamefull. Yet no alternatives are given.

For instance, Michael Moore makes very good points in his documentaries as to showing the pervasive underbelly of US society, but what is his solution? He wants us to look at ourselves and say "we're a bad people." Liberals never give solutions to a problem.

On the other side, conservatives shout back at these claims that either the issues are being exagerated, or that the person talking about the problems should get out of the country, using the cliche: "America, love it or leave it!" They simply refuse to face the problems facing America, and look the other way.

Why can't this country just come together for once and say: "America, we love it, and we need to fix it!"

Perhaps that's just optimism on my part, but I can hope. Regardless, I've been all over the world, and there is no other place I'd like to be than in the US of A.

 

Some clarification needs to be added here Carl. You are providing information for only one side of the argument.

For example, the Infant Mortality Rate increase was first recorded in 2001 study. The primary reasons have nothing to do with access to health care, it is becuase babies are being delivered earlier and smaller. It is quite likely that an increase in IMR is a result of increased scientific and medical capability, not the other way around.

Here is a quote:

"it is plausible that efforts to save premature infants is causing a shift in how deaths are reported, the report said. If a baby dies before or during delivery, it is reported as a fetal death; if the baby is delivered alive and dies, it is deemed an infant death. As more doctors deliver more tiny babies alive only to lose them a few hours or days later, it conceivably could push the infant mortality rate higher, the report said."

"The 2002 data showed that 81 percent of the increased infant deaths that year were among babies weighing less than 750 grams"

Additionally, many of your statistics came from a 2001 report published by the Bureu of Labor Education at the University of Maine. While the numbers have not dramatically changed (though some like infant mortality rate are alarmingly high). Becuase you quote resources who most likely referenced other sources, your dates appear to be more current than the really are.

And for Mr. Engineer. You will notice that report was published in 2001, the studeis were ALL completed in 1998 - 2000. The first rise in IMR in 40 years was recorded in a 2001 study. All numbers from the Clinton years. Sorry but you can't blame this stuff on GW.

 

Yes, and for this you can blame the teachers unions. Break the unions and you will be able to implement the kind of quality control that our children deserve.

 

Oh yes, those evil teacher unions. Uh huh.

Well, let me tell you something. My wife is a public school teacher, but this is a recent change for her, and she won't be staying around long. Reasons why are because of long, unpaid overtime, expectations of providing "babysitting" for other teachers and parents, and expectations for Saturday and holiday work without pay. Did I mention she already HAS a union?

Forget about teaching - Bush's new laws on "No Child Left Behind" (translate to mean "EVERY Child Left Behind") have rendered the education process to a race to beat the odds every year for funding based on test scores in a population (in South Florida) that can barely read their own languages, much less English. Instead of teaching these kids something important about values, society, and the basic skills they need to LEARN to learn, they are being forced through an insane process of test taking and competency scores that have little or nothing to do with real education.

But, I'm sure this will all improve dramatically once we get those damned unions off our backs, and hopefully their misguided leaders in jail or re-education camps a la Abu Grahib....