Exceptionally Mediocre on a Global Scale
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/07/17-2
***SNIP
Never mind that on many crucial measures of national achievements, our Good Ol’ U.S. of A has slipped in recent years. A simple-minded assertion that we’re No. 1 doesn’t make it so.
For example, the U.S. rate of educational improvement — a bedrock indicator of a nation’s future ability to thrive — has tumbled to 25th place among rich and newly developing nations. (Say it Loud and Say it Proud: We’re No. 25!).
Not only does that place us behind such education powerhouses as Germany. We’re lagging behind Colombia, Latvia, Portugal, and Slovenia too.
Yes, America remains the world’s richest nation. Yet our wealth is more concentrated in the hands of a rich elite than most other other nations. Even China has a more democratic distribution of riches than our society does.
= new reply since forum marked as read
YET TRUE.
not surprise me with the number of folks who believe in Limbaugh, Faux news, all of it, beck and all of them. 47% who voted for Romshit and queen anne. Dumbed down? Accomplished in amerikkka to alleviate any threat to the 1% and huge corporate power over our lives. Yeah, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!
Oh and allow me to go here. Don't you think that the corporate, racist and 1%ers aren't sitting in their board rooms, white supremacists weapon filled enclaves and in their island homes, so they can be close to their $$$$$$, laughing their heads off at us and the division they want to see and desire in this latest tragedy in florida? Hell yeah! Zimpig and individuals like him are a perfect tool for these assholes, Trayvon just happened to be the one to further that agenda along this time. There will be more division created between the races and classes by the PTB. Guaranteed. Call me a conspiracy nut if you want too.
I mean, this is where we now malign the character of the messenger, right?
or generation of right-wing governance wherein government acts almost solely in the interest and for the benefit of large corporations and the 1%. We would likely have a further concentration of wealth among the few, continued burgeoning income disparity, declining standards of living, a decrease in longevity, high rates of infant and maternal mortality, increased hunger, and lack of access to health care for additional tens of millions. Let's all pause to praise the gipper and his ideology which has been swallowed and eaten up by a generation of radical right-wingers, becoming a ravenously metastasized cancer upon our society. 
