In a 20-country group of America’s peer countries in the OECD, the U.S. is now worst, or almost worst, on nearly 30 leading indicators of social, environmental, and economic well-being.
To our great shame, among the 20 major advanced countries America now has
- the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;
- the greatest inequality of incomes;
- the lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;
- the lowest number of paid holiday, annual, and maternity leaves;
- the lowest score on the United Nations’ index of “material well-being of children”;
- the worst score on the United Nations’ gender inequality index;
- the lowest social mobility;
- the highest public and private expenditure on health care as a portion of GDP,
yet accompanied by
- the highest infant mortality rate;
- prevalence of mental health problems;
- obesity rate;
- portion of people going without health care due to cost;
- low-birth-weight children per capita (except for Japan);
- consumption of antidepressants per capita;
We seriously need to get some perspective. We’re not even CLOSE to being the greatest country in the world by ANY other metrics than consumption of resources and military strength. Oh, and China has the largest standing army in the world, so… Hey, guess what: We need to stop being narcissistic bastards.
I love my country, but this mass delusion crap has to end. We can be great, but not as long as we’re burying our heads in the sand.
