You have to read this!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2005
You have to read this!
6
Sat, 03-19-2005 - 8:54am

This is pretty disgussting. We always say America is #1. When you read these stats you will be amazed and disgussted. I would like to hear everyones take on this.

America by the numbers
No. 1?

by Michael Ventura
February 23, 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. ...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 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 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.

Hugs, Laurie Check out my new blog. co-cl of Lesbian Life Message Board Email- didoangst@comcast.net http://didoangst.blogspot.com/ http://www.4-lesbianlife.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-29-2004
Sat, 03-19-2005 - 6:00pm

Hello Laurie,

Ok, so I will take a stab and comment as everyone seems to be gone today! Sad stats for sure, but we have always known that statistically speaking. You remember the steel mill days back in Youngstown, those days of power and wealth that ruled our humble mafia invested town. Our fathers breaking their backs for the steel kings. We lost the industry because the workers wanted better pay, better working conditions etc. Everything went out of the country because of capitalism at it's best here in America. The rich want to get richer on the backs of the poor!

Wealth in America lies only in the hands of the business owners. Statistically, out of 100 workers at age 65, 1 person will be wealthy, with 5 million plus dollars, 4 will be financially independent with 1 to 4.9 million dollars, 45 will be still working, 40 will be totally dependent on the government for support, and 5 will be dead from working too hard and stress.

Out of the wealthy, only one percent of the people are from wealthy families inherited money; I forget the break down stats, but 75 percent I believe are business owners. Owning a business used to be the number one dream in America. Foreigners who come to our country realize that this is the only way to build a life in America. Our relatives that came to America knew this as well. We lost that drive through each generation. Now people are too scared to give up the steady pay check to take risks and go into business for themselves. They dream and wish that they can, but never try to take advantage of the opportunities. Those who do try and succeed past the first 5 years, can realistically think about retiring wealthy if they choose to do so.

Our worker bees, will continually work in jobs that control where they live, how they live, and how and when they can move up, if they can ever move up! We settle for working in the conditions described in the excerpt you posted. Our government allows businesses to create new rules that get around the EEO laws and rules of business. Such as, Lowe's having workers sign a waiver stating that when they work over time that they are scheduled to work, that they will get paid only 1/2 their salary for that extra time. People sign these ridiculous papers because they need employment and have a family to support. When it's the only place that is hiring, you settle. Our labor laws no longer protect the American workers as intended. The wealthy people in America are the most stingy people in the world. They don't realize the benefits of taking care of our education systems and the impact that will have on our economy. They only care about protecting the family inheritance, and send their children to private schools etc.

Sadly the middle income families are the ones who get abused in our country. If you work all your life, and never draw welfare etc. and pay into the system, when you retire, any savings that you do have will be eventually lost to the rising cost of health care. There is no way to leave an inheritance for your children. Forget about meals on wheels and Medicaid, you are over qualified because you worked all your life. People will gamble their savings away in hopes of winning the big won, but look how many lottery winners quickly lose their new found wealth. They never learned the true value of building that inheritance, and how to continue the building and maintenance of their wealth.

What we need to do, is educate people in our country. Our government needs to encourage people and assist them more in building and owning their own business. We need to pass these values to our children and encourage them to break the vicious cycle that is tearing America apart. One step that we as people can start to take, is passing a law that our congress pay into the social security system. I have an neat message sent via e-mail that explains the real benefits of adopting that policy.

We really don't have the programs in America to take care of the statistics that you brought to the post. However, I feel that we the people in America, still have the freedom to change our own individual circumstances by educating and putting into practice better ways to preserve what little we do have. That very freedom is why people leave their countries to come to America. The opportunty for an individual here to own their own business is still greater than in most Countries.

Financially, families can learn to have the right mortgage, invest more wisely, and have the proper income protection by getting far away from the bad group policies that they seem to love and don't understand. Financially, this is why I'm trying hard to get both my business's going, so I can move from a worker Bee, to a business owner, and eventually get my self onto the path of financial independence.

Well girl friend, I certainly am rambling on tonight, as you know I can some times do when I'm talking about finances. Wish me luck tomorrow as I go to meet with Kacey!

hugs darlin
halo

Edited 3/19/2005 7:01 pm ET ET by halo_hvn

Edited 3/19/2005 7:03 pm ET ET by halo_hvn




Edited 3/19/2005 7:05 pm ET ET by halo_hvn

hugs

halo

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2005
Sat, 03-19-2005 - 11:45pm
Thanks for posting your thoughts on this topic.
I do hope you get those businesses up and running.
Don't worry about writing to much in your post. You touched on a lot of things that we need to really look at.
I wish more people would get out and vote and also learn who and why they are voting.
Have a safe trip to Kacey's. I can't wait to here how it goes.
Hugs, Laurie Check out my new blog. co-cl of Lesbian Life Message Board Email- didoangst@comcast.net http://didoangst.blogspot.com/ http://www.4-lesbianlife.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-10-2004
Sun, 03-20-2005 - 7:38pm

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


...and now let's add gay-bashing to that list, care of George W. Bush.

 

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-04-2005
Mon, 03-21-2005 - 12:15am
Yes, it is frieghtening. It seems they always need some part of society to pick on to take the hot off of the real problems that they cannot or will not change.
Thanks for your post.
Hugs, Laurie Check out my new blog. co-cl of Lesbian Life Message Board Email- didoangst@comcast.net http://didoangst.blogspot.com/ http://www.4-lesbianlife.com/
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2003
Mon, 03-21-2005 - 5:11pm

* 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.)


Yet congress will skip Easter recess and W will fly back to the Oval Office to save Terri Schiavo.

Kim
Check out my

Avatar for nursepam2000
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2003
Mon, 03-21-2005 - 10:42pm

And that just about sums it up Kimmie.