At 09:26 PM Saturday 6/24/2006, Robert G. Seeberger wrote:
http://www.shoutwire.com/viewstory/16866/Top_5_Myths_About_America
[snip]
MYTH 4. The US doesnt need improvement compared to other countries;
it is the greatest country in the world.
TRUTH:
Wrong again. I'll only cite the statistics here.
USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD
USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003
USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003
USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report
USA Position on Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: # 6 (1997)
(#1 Sweden 1987 and #2 Norway 1993)- Vexen
USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005
USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters
Without Borders 2005
USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005
USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13
(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia
"Celtic Tiger" if you still have your doubts.
USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005
USA Ranking on Overall Currency Strength: #3 (US Dollar)
(#1 UK pound sterling and #2 European Union euro)- FTSE 2006....the
dollar is now a liability, so many banks worldwide have planned to
switch to euro
USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006
USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005
So much for those "socialist" Europeans and those "backward" Asians,
hm?
We can do better than this.
Yes, we no doubt can. And hopefully
will. However, one thing that strikes me about
most of the countries the author cites as #1's
and #2's is that they are and have been for a
long time pretty much monocultural and
monoethnic. If the health and life expectancy
and literacy and such rankings of middle-class
and above Americans of northern Eurpoean ancestry
are compared to those of frex Norway and Sweeden
and Iceland (who descended from pretty much the
same gene pool as the former), how does the
former group rank? IOW, lets compare apples to
apples, not apples to a fruit salad. Which is
not to say that the poor and the minorities
(often the same people) in the U.S. cannot do
better, particularly as they assimilate into the
mainstream culture, learn a common language, and
so qualify for employment which will give them a
better standard of living than they now enjoy so
they can afford good food, access to health care,
education for their children (and insist that
they do well rather than blaming the school and
suing the system if little Susie can't read or
little or perhaps not-so-little Johnny gets into trouble), etc.
xponent
Don't hold Back, Tell Us How You Really Feel Maru
:D
-- Ronn! :)
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