We’re Number 1!!
4 Comments Published by DanM August 3rd, 2008 in National and International Issues.(But only when we shouldn’t be.)
For quite some time, the U.S. has been second class, or even worse, by many, many important measures. For example, life expectancy at birth. We’re not even in the top ten and we’re lowest among industrialized nations. Places like Greece and Spain put us to shame and Japan blows us away. There is one measure where we are number 1 – health care costs more per capita here than ANYWHERE … and by a huge amount. Much more than the difference in life expectancy. The U.S. is slightly over two percent below the average in life expectancy among developed nations. But our health care per capita costs more than twice as much as the average for the other developed nations!
Highest GDP per capita? Sorry … not even in the top five. Ireland comes in ahead of us. The bankers in Luxembourg are number 1! Average literacy? Norway takes the prize. Let’s go the other way. There are FAR more people in jail in the U.S. per capita than anywhere. In 2005, there were 767 of us in the clink per 100,000. This is number 1 in the world by a long shot. Here’s a few comparisons with other industrialized nations: Australia – 126, Canada – 107, England/Wales – 148, France – 85. Why is it necessary to house more than nine times as many people behind bars than France?
I have my own theories to explain why. Take a deep look inside yourself and tell me why you think we rank the way we do today.
Great challenge. I am not especially knowledgeable about any of the subjects you mention, which by the rules of blogging makes me imminently qualified to opine about them.
I suspect that the USs relatively poor showing in some areas (e.g., GDP and literacy) is because of our large and non-homogenous population.
Regarding health care costs, other industrialized countries to do not have the tradition (problem) of litigating possible malpractice that the US does. Pricing of drugs in the US is a long running scandal. Supposedly we in the US pay for all the R&D costs for drugs while much of the rest of the world pay only the marginal costs of production. I’ll bet costs of drugs in the rest of the world don’t reflect lobbying expenses to the degree costs in the US do. Also, citizens and governments in the rest of the world might be less tolerant of high health care costs. The health industry as a whole spends a tremendous amount of money lobbying and making contributions and in Washington they get a high return on their investment.
The one that really stumps me is incarceration rates. They pretty much reflect high rates of crime, both property and violent, in the US. Do other countries view certain vice-type crimes (drugs) differently and more tolerantly than does the US?
Opine Away! I do.
Anyway, you took a “parse the question and answer it piece by piece” approach that, it seems to me, misses the point.
I selected these statistics because they covered a wide range of our culture and they were indisputable in placing us <i>below</i> our peers. There are lots of others I could also quote such as the way we place wa-a-a-a-y down the list when countries send their students to compete in subjects like math and chemistry; or infant mortality. How many surveys have you read with simply amazing results like your average U.S. citizen STILL can’t find Iraq on a map. (John McCain isn’t the only one who thinks Iraq and Pakistan share a border.)
I could comment on some of your points of view (“the rest of the world might be less tolerant of high health care costs” – Oh Ja! You got that right!) but that would take us off in a bunch of unrelated directions. I’m looking for more of a culture-wide explanation that helps explain why we, as a country, seem to be underperforming in just about everything.
(Here’s a clue. Although we rank down the list in virtually any measure you can name, Americans still think that we’re the priviledged “leader of the free world” somehow. Part of the goal of the blog was to make the point that we have another ‘think’ coming about that.)
Hi Dan- This is Danielh from your computer class. Very provocative points raised in your blog.
Of all the issues covered I’ve always found the US incarceration rate the most disturbing. When you combine a sub-standard basic educational system, insane drug laws and a commercialized prison system you end up with these incredible numbers.
Now if you give even the slightest credence to Alex Jones at http://www.infowars.com then there may be darker and more sinister reasons for the slow decline of this once great nation.
Hello Daniel!
First, thanks for posting over here instead of my computer class. I try to keep my political and social opinions completely out out my computer classes.
I agree that the factors you mention are immediately responsible for at least some of the high incarceration rate, but why do we in America allow those factors to continue? And can the same things explain some of the rest of it? There’s a deeper cause.
I don’t think that Alex Jones can explain it, however. He’s a classic example of the crazy old man screaming, “Conspiracy!” That kind of hysterical thinking has been going on forever and it’s actually really dangerous. (See St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre for an early example of where this kind of hysteria can lead.)
That is not to say that there are not bad people plotting bad things. The relatively hidden agenda of the Bush administration — hiding behind emotionally charged issues like religion but enacting much more real legislation that takes from the poor and gives to the rich — is a great example. But it’s not ’secret’ — it’s just camouflaged. All it takes is a little investigation to figure it out.
I will get behind one thing Alex says, however. There is, indeed, “a war going on for your mind.”