We are Losing America Right Before our Blind Eyes (UPDATED) [View All]

(NOTE: this entry has been updated, and will continue to be updated with new and current source statistical information in the future. Please click the link for reference material.)

LINK: http://practical-vision.blogspot.com/2009/03/we-are-losing-america-right-before-our.html|We Are Losing America Right Before our Blind Eyes (UPDATED)>

By Political Heretic
Updated March 24, 2010

What is the most non-talked about reality in the United States of America today? The fact that we no longer lead the world in almost any indicator. The United States is no longer the best place for an average person to live. Our health care lags behind our peers, so does our educational system.

I'm going to tell you a fact, then back it up with statistical data, the accuracy of which you can directly verify for yourself, and readers will still have a hard time accepting it as the truth.

Here it is:

Most Americans are relatively worse off in many ways than people in 19 other industrialized powerhouse countries (Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland). These countries are the United States’ industrial peers, and part of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Let’s take a look at the details:

Per Capita Income: U.S. Second
Income Inequality: U.S. First (meaning worst)
Overall Poverty Rate: U.S. Highest
Child Poverty Rate: U.S. Highest
Elderly Poverty Rate: U.S. Highest
Infant Mortality Rate: U.S. First (meaning worst)
Leisure Time: U.S. Last (meaning worst)
Maternity Leave: U.S. Last (meaning worst)

Try to let this information sink in if you can. The United States of America, supposedly a shining beacon and the envy of all the world, has the highest infant mortality rate of its 19 other peer industrialized nations. We have the highest poverty rates. We have the highest income inequality of anyone.

Shouldn’t this news shock us? Shouldn’t be reported on every media outlet as the biggest news story around? BREAKING NEWS: Our country is in serious trouble, and falling behind the rest of the industrialized world! Something must be done.

But no, instead I could find only a single published article about the data, from a blog no less, The Village Voice. Here’s some of what they wrote about some of these numbers:

Income inequality: "Despite the relatively high median income in the United States, inequality in the United States is so severe that low-income households in the United States are actually worse off than low-income households in all but four peer countries."

Leisure time: "The average full-time U.S. worker, at 46.7 weeks per year, works more than the average worker in any peer countries, and about one month more than the overall average, which is 42.6 weeks."

Maternity leave: "The United States last among its peer countries in generosity of mandated maternity leave benefits."

Child care: "The United States spent $1,803 per child, which was less than a fourth of what was spent in Denmark, less than a third of what was spent in Norway and Sweden, less than half of what was spent in Finland and France, and well below spending in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.”

On (Not) Getting By in America

The previous statistical information, while deeply troubling, is actually just the tip of the iceberg of unreported and ignored American realities. Let’s look at some others (this section will be continuously updated as new information is located):

Median Income, Black Women: $05.00 (Five Dollars)
% US Wealth Controlled by the Top Fifth of Americans: 93 percent

To those who find great comfort in shouting “I’m proud to be an American” what exactly are you proud of? Shouldn’t we be embarrassed to death about losing out to the rest of the industrialized world in every single one of these categories?

What does “USA #1 Mean?” Number one in what?