Milt Palacio

This is a pretty scary article:

America by the numbers

Michael Ventura – The Austin Chronicle March 3, 2005

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.

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=2870

LittleMilkJug

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). This I can't believe.

mh67511

Well the Sun is the center of the solar system. And we rotate around the sun once every 365 days, correct? I'll be honest, I can't remember much of that stuff!

Overall very interesting, but depressing. Jeez it makes us sound like a bunch of losers . The only problem I have is comparing the United States, a single country, to Europe, a continent made up of many countries. I'm not trying to refute anything, but what is the population of Europe?

"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).

Could it possibly be that the EU has a greater population? I don't really know. The U.S. population is only around 295 billion or so. I also don't like this guys tone. He's rude and lost a lot of my respect with this comment (he must not be from NE):

Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?)

I know people who have cattle and they are not "poor deluded cowboys."

- annuscka -

Some 600-800 millions, maybe? Not really sure... but there are big differences; France and Georgia (country, not state) don't really have the same standards so to speak, so I think it pretty much adds up. After all, you could say that the US technically is 50+ different states/countries, and so is Europe. I guess that's the thought, anyway. But of course, European countries have more input in their own policies than US states, so maybe not entirely fair.

Ambular

As for the violence, I'm sure that ratio [maybe not the exact numbers] can be applied to any country. Human beings a whole have instictively violent natures, and I don't think America should be singled out.

I was kinda bothered by the "our workers are so ignorant" comment. If you want to go as far as attacking the school systems that's one thing, but to claim that all new workers in general are ignorant is a little uncalled for. I wonder if that includes the millions of immigrants that have come into our country for work that don't even speak the language here. Can Americans even GET jobs anymore? Not where I live.

And yeah, I don't get why the single country of America is considered to each individual country in Europe ... It's not even as though our population is the same America's is 295,667,687 and all of Europe is 730,991,138
.. The European Union alone has about 460 million....

And considering how different our economies/cultures/governments are throughout, are they really comparative? I'm just asking because I don't know...

mh67511

I just meant that when you say "The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates," well, yeah, if you have 200 million more people that of COURSE your going to have more graduates. Now if they had said it as a ratio, like Ambular mentioned, well that's ok. But looking at a ratio is a lot different than looking at an actualy number.

I do agree though that many people like to think of America as "#1" and the best country. National pride is great, but you need to remember that this country does have a lot of problems.

sum1

In my experience, people who try hard enough can always cook up whatever bullcrap statistics they want to support whatever nonsense they want to sell. And people motivated by anti-American prejudice are no exception. So I'd take the stuff in the first post with a BIG pinch of salt.

sum1

Oh, and as a citizen of the EU (European Union), let me say the following:

If it weren't for the US, the world would be fuhked.

And I'd much rather my country (Ireland) were the 51st state of the US than a member of the EU.

alli balli

I have a really hard time believing that 1/5 of the entire country thinks the sun revolves around the Earth. Come ON, people.

ceilirose

The literacy rates and the fact about the uninsured, the status of health care and the violent acts committed are what's troubling. It's no secret that we do have a violent society in part tied to the fact of our lax gun laws among other things.

We are being subsidized by foreign countries and they are keeping our budget going. That's pretty much been in the news for awhile.

The question is whether our lawmakers consider those problems worth their attention. So far they seem to have other priorities.

Elizajoey

I think the author meant it in a tongue-in-cheek fashion,
Yes, of course, because ANYTHING that doesn't say what a legend America is, automatically means they are Anti-American. Oh please.
Well I thank the Lord, my country is not a member of the US no matter how much our PM would hope. I also don't think the world would be 'fuhked' if it weren't for the US.
Hehe. Well some Americans think the world (thus Earth) revolves around them, so of course the sun would revolve around it
I think the article is interesting and ceilirose highlights the key points of it IMO. The thing about patriotism, is not only being able to see the things that make you proud to be from that country but also the things that make you hate your country. For example, there is nothing more comforting than being able to say "That is so Aussie" but I can also see the horrible things that make me embarassed to be Australian and the things I hate about it - our treatment of asylum seekers, our treatment of the less fortunate in society, our involvement in the genocide in East Timor, our blind following of other countries. I could go on but that's not what this thread is about. The thing is, you can still be 'patriotic' and recognise the negatives of your country - that was it is to me - you can see and recognise the good and bad and from my experiences in the US, that is what Americans lack to some extent - they have a blind belief that everything is perfect and they are best, number one etc.

Milt Palacio

There are some extremely important points brought up in this article.

1) America needs to improve their education standards. We don't neccessarily need to spend more money on education, but we need to demand more from students. Also, I think the curriculums need to be focused more on real world practicality. I also think topics like economics and government need to be emphasised more at a younger age. Also, we need to invest in emerging opportunities like stem cell research. Besides having the potential to help millions of people, it would also provides a lot of jobs and spur the economy.

2) Health insurance is the most important domestic issue facing America currently. Health insurance being so incredibly expensive as well as so many people without health insurance is simply unacceptable. We need to have a serious debate in this country regarding universal health care. This may actually be less costly than the current system with a few policy changes (negotiating with drug companies for prices and putting caps on different medical procedure costs), as well as eliminating the great cost of Medicare and Medicaid. Universal health care would also increase entrepreneurship in this country by elminating the health insurance cost hurdle that many businesses face. People would dismiss universal health care as "Socialist" are doing this country a great disservice by not considering a policy that could greatly help the people and economy of this country.

3) The number of people who live in poverty is much too high. Real wages (wages adjusted for inflation) have not increased, despite great increases in corporate profits. In addition, the minimum wage has not been increased in 8 years! Our government needs to make sure corporations are paying their employees a living wage. We also need to end corporate welfare in this country, where large corporations are given huge tax breaks and have employees supported by taxpayer dollars. Did you know Wal-Mart trains its employees on how to file for food stamps and other forms or welfare? Its our taxpayer dollars that have to support these people because Wal-Mart refuses to pay them a living wage!

4) I also feel that we have to really bear down on illegal immigrants in this country. The states are bearing the burden of supporting millions of illegal immigrants. We need to take care of true American citizens and immigrants with visas first. If people are here illegally, they should be deported.

Would like to hear some feedback on the points I have raised.

Milt Palacio

I agree. Like I said in the previous post, the millions of illegal immigrants in this country is a huge burden on the states and federal government.

It is a very sensitive issue but one that needs to be addressed. I think if people want to come live and work here, they should be doing it legally within the confines of the system.

mh67511

I agree to some extent, but I will be blunt: I love my Tropicana OJ. If someone wants to come into this country and pick oranges, let them. Many illegal immigrants do jobs that the majority of us would not choose to do. I'm not saying it is right for them to come here ilegally, but like I said, I love my Tropicana OJ.

Milt Palacio

That's what work visas and other temporary work permits are for. I have no problem with stuff like that, I just don't want them going outside the system illegally. It hurts our country.

They also help drive down wages for American citizens.