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ultimauw@hotmail.com
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On Oct 29, 4:25 pm, Cambrasa <cambr...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> America has a lot going for it. I'd choose to live in America over
> many countries.
>
> But I keep bumping into Americans who claim that "America is the
> best", "the greatest", "the freest", "the most democratic", "the most
> advanced", or that "America beats the world at everything". Why do so
> many Americans believe this? Can they back up such bold claims with
> hard evidence?
>
> To answer this, I've tried to compile a few world rankings from a wide
> range of sources. The truth is that America rarely makes it into the
> top five, let alone number one. Don't get me wrong. America does
> pretty well in all international comparisons, but that does NOT mean
> it's THE BEST. There are quite a few countries that are - at least -
> as great as America.
>
> But instead of trying to learn from those countries in an effort to
> beat them, millions of Americans choose to believe in a delusion of
> grandeur and invincibility. This kind of blind patriotism is not a
> sign of strength. It is a sign of weakness, complacency, and
> ingnorance (how many who make this claim have actually heard of the
> countries on the list below, let alone travelled there?).
>
> USA Rankings on
> ----------------------------
>
> Adult Literacy Scale: 9
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - OECD
>
> Democracy Index: 17
> (1:Sweden 2:Iceland) - The Economist Magazine
>
> Democracy Audit: 15
> (1:Finland 2
enmark) - World Audit
>
> Index of Economic Freedom: 9
> (1:Hong Kong 2:Singapore) - The Heritage Foundation/ Wall Street
> Journal
>
> Economic Freedom in the World: 5
> (1:Hong Kong 2:Singapore) - The Frasier Institute
>
> Competitiveness Index: 6
> (1:Switzerland 2:Finland) - World Economic Forum
>
> Journalistic Press Freedom Index: 32
> (1:Finland 2:Norway and Netherlands tied) - Reporters without Borders
>
> Global Press Freedom Rankings: 24
> (1:Finland/Sweden/Iceland tied) - Freedom House
>
> Human Development Index: 10
> (1:Norway 2:Iceland) - UN
>
> Quality of Life Survey: 13
> (1:Ireland 2:Switzerland) - The Economist Magazine
>
> Wealth Ranking (GDP(PPP) per capita): 3
> (1:Ireland 2:Norway) - International Monetary Fund
>
> Healthcare Quality Index: 37
> (1:France 2:Italy) - WHO
>
> Human Poverty Index: 16
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - UN
>
> Student Reading Ability: 12
> (1:Finland 2:South Korea) - OECD PISA
>
> Student Problem Solving Ability: 26
> (1:South Korea 2:Finland) - OECD PISA
>
> Student Mathematics Ability: 24
> (1:Hong Kong 2:Finland) - OECD PISA
>
> Student Science Ability: 19
> (1:Finland 2:Japan) - OECD PISA
>
> Broadband Internet Penetration Rate: 12
> (1:Korea 2:Netherlands) - OECD 2005
>
> Index of Technological Achievement: 2
> (1:Finland 3:Sweden) - Nation Master
>
> Political Corruption Index: 17
> (1:Iceland 2:Finland) - Transparency International
>
> Productivity (GDP(PPP) per hour worked): 4
> (1:Norway 2:France) - University of Groningen
>
> Environmental Sustainability Index: 45
> (1:Finland 2:Norway) - Yale University ESI 2005
>
> Life Expectancy: 29
> (1:Japan 2:Hong Kong) - UN Human Development Report
>
> Infant Mortality Rate: 32
> (1:Sweden 2:Finland) - Save the Children
>
> Mother's Index: 26
> (1:Sweden 2:Iceland) - Save the Children
>
> Children's Index: 30
> (1:Norway 2:Sweden) - Save the Children
>
> Women's Rights Scale: 17
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - World Economic Report
>
> Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: 6
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - Vexen
>
> Privacy Index: 30
> (1:Germany 2:Canada) - Privacy International
>
> Subjective Well-Being Index: 15
> (1uerto Rico 2:Mexico) - University of Michigan's World Values
> Surveys
Well said. The right wing loves bleating and flag waving, but the
truth of the matter is, we are sinking, and sinking fast. Currently,
we have the worst social welfare system of all of the western
"industrialized" countries. (they pay crumbs, and you can only receive
those crumbs for 5 years MAX in a LIFETIME! In many states it's much,
much less! It's nothing like Europe.), and we have the most people
incarcerated of the ENTIRE PLANET with 2 million behind bars and 5
million more on parole or probation. Not to mention we are now in a 2+
TRILLION dollar (so far) quagmire, and we have the Kook-in-chief who
would like nothing more than to attack Iran (there is rumors going
around about how that almost happened concerning the nukes that were
"accidentally" loaded on the plane bound for Louisiana. Six the people
directly involved with this died of mysterious accident and other
causes all within a week! That is one **** of a coincidence!). We are
on the fast track to fascism, and we have some very grim years ahead
of us, it seems in the good old USofA.
> America has a lot going for it. I'd choose to live in America over
> many countries.
>
> But I keep bumping into Americans who claim that "America is the
> best", "the greatest", "the freest", "the most democratic", "the most
> advanced", or that "America beats the world at everything". Why do so
> many Americans believe this? Can they back up such bold claims with
> hard evidence?
>
> To answer this, I've tried to compile a few world rankings from a wide
> range of sources. The truth is that America rarely makes it into the
> top five, let alone number one. Don't get me wrong. America does
> pretty well in all international comparisons, but that does NOT mean
> it's THE BEST. There are quite a few countries that are - at least -
> as great as America.
>
> But instead of trying to learn from those countries in an effort to
> beat them, millions of Americans choose to believe in a delusion of
> grandeur and invincibility. This kind of blind patriotism is not a
> sign of strength. It is a sign of weakness, complacency, and
> ingnorance (how many who make this claim have actually heard of the
> countries on the list below, let alone travelled there?).
>
> USA Rankings on
> ----------------------------
>
> Adult Literacy Scale: 9
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - OECD
>
> Democracy Index: 17
> (1:Sweden 2:Iceland) - The Economist Magazine
>
> Democracy Audit: 15
> (1:Finland 2
enmark) - World Audit>
> Index of Economic Freedom: 9
> (1:Hong Kong 2:Singapore) - The Heritage Foundation/ Wall Street
> Journal
>
> Economic Freedom in the World: 5
> (1:Hong Kong 2:Singapore) - The Frasier Institute
>
> Competitiveness Index: 6
> (1:Switzerland 2:Finland) - World Economic Forum
>
> Journalistic Press Freedom Index: 32
> (1:Finland 2:Norway and Netherlands tied) - Reporters without Borders
>
> Global Press Freedom Rankings: 24
> (1:Finland/Sweden/Iceland tied) - Freedom House
>
> Human Development Index: 10
> (1:Norway 2:Iceland) - UN
>
> Quality of Life Survey: 13
> (1:Ireland 2:Switzerland) - The Economist Magazine
>
> Wealth Ranking (GDP(PPP) per capita): 3
> (1:Ireland 2:Norway) - International Monetary Fund
>
> Healthcare Quality Index: 37
> (1:France 2:Italy) - WHO
>
> Human Poverty Index: 16
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - UN
>
> Student Reading Ability: 12
> (1:Finland 2:South Korea) - OECD PISA
>
> Student Problem Solving Ability: 26
> (1:South Korea 2:Finland) - OECD PISA
>
> Student Mathematics Ability: 24
> (1:Hong Kong 2:Finland) - OECD PISA
>
> Student Science Ability: 19
> (1:Finland 2:Japan) - OECD PISA
>
> Broadband Internet Penetration Rate: 12
> (1:Korea 2:Netherlands) - OECD 2005
>
> Index of Technological Achievement: 2
> (1:Finland 3:Sweden) - Nation Master
>
> Political Corruption Index: 17
> (1:Iceland 2:Finland) - Transparency International
>
> Productivity (GDP(PPP) per hour worked): 4
> (1:Norway 2:France) - University of Groningen
>
> Environmental Sustainability Index: 45
> (1:Finland 2:Norway) - Yale University ESI 2005
>
> Life Expectancy: 29
> (1:Japan 2:Hong Kong) - UN Human Development Report
>
> Infant Mortality Rate: 32
> (1:Sweden 2:Finland) - Save the Children
>
> Mother's Index: 26
> (1:Sweden 2:Iceland) - Save the Children
>
> Children's Index: 30
> (1:Norway 2:Sweden) - Save the Children
>
> Women's Rights Scale: 17
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - World Economic Report
>
> Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: 6
> (1:Sweden 2:Norway) - Vexen
>
> Privacy Index: 30
> (1:Germany 2:Canada) - Privacy International
>
> Subjective Well-Being Index: 15
> (1
uerto Rico 2:Mexico) - University of Michigan's World Values> Surveys
Well said. The right wing loves bleating and flag waving, but the
truth of the matter is, we are sinking, and sinking fast. Currently,
we have the worst social welfare system of all of the western
"industrialized" countries. (they pay crumbs, and you can only receive
those crumbs for 5 years MAX in a LIFETIME! In many states it's much,
much less! It's nothing like Europe.), and we have the most people
incarcerated of the ENTIRE PLANET with 2 million behind bars and 5
million more on parole or probation. Not to mention we are now in a 2+
TRILLION dollar (so far) quagmire, and we have the Kook-in-chief who
would like nothing more than to attack Iran (there is rumors going
around about how that almost happened concerning the nukes that were
"accidentally" loaded on the plane bound for Louisiana. Six the people
directly involved with this died of mysterious accident and other
causes all within a week! That is one **** of a coincidence!). We are
on the fast track to fascism, and we have some very grim years ahead
of us, it seems in the good old USofA.
