Saturday, March 30, 2019

A Failing USA


The United States is indeed first in average household income per capita, but fall to sixth in median household income.

The U.S. falls to thirteenth on the United Nations’ Human Development Index, which looks at education and longevity as well as purchasing power. 

In a comparison with nineteen other OECD countries, thought to be our peers, recent studies indicate that the United States now has:

The highest rate of poverty overall and the second highest rate for children. The poverty rate among blacks is more than twice that of whites, and about a third of all Americans live in or near poverty

The greatest inequality of both incomes and wealth

The third lowest social mobility

The smallest government payments and taxes to reduce poverty and fourth from bottom in overall public spending on social conditions

The lowest rank in the United Nations’ Gender Inequality Index, with international ranking of 41st

Next-to-last in the percentage of women ministers/cabinet members

The second highest wage gap for employed women

The greatest rate of violence against women

The largest consumers of opioids per capita

 The highest drug-death rate

The highest consumption of anti-depressants per capita

The highest rate of death due to police shootings

The third highest suicide rate

The highest homicide rate

The highest incarceration rate

And third from bottom in trusting other people

The lowest rank on the World Economic Forum’s Environmental Performance Index and 114th in “climate and energy” performance globally

The  second highest Ecological Footprint per capita

The largest cumulative emitter of greenhouse gases and the second largest current emitter and the third largest emitter per capita

The greatest meat consumption and the second highest water consumption, both per capita

The lowest score on UNICEF’s Index of Well-Being of Children

The highest infant mortality rate

The lowest score in math performance and middling performance in reading and science

The shortest life expectancy

The highest share of population with mental health and substance abuse disorders and the highest share with depression

The highest rates of skipped medical visits and skipped medications due to cost

The highest spending on health care as % of GDP

Fifth from bottom in the 2017 Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index; in 2016 the U.S. fell from “full democracy” to “flawed democracy”

Fourth from bottom in protection of fundamental rights

Near the lowest in voter turnout in national elections

The fifth lowest in confidence in national government, and the third lowest in confidence in the courts and judicial system

The next-to-lowest contributor to international development and humanitarian assistance as a % of GDP

The highest rate of failure to ratify international agreements

The greatest military expenditure in total and as a % of GDP. In 2017 the US spent more than the next seven countries combined.

The largest international arms sales










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