truthdig | Although the United States, in the words of columnist Nicholas
Kristof, is “the most powerful colossus in the history of the world,” it
lags significantly in quality of life for its citizens. In the Social Progress Index 2015
the U.S. does not make the top 10, or even top 15. The global study
measured “basic human needs,” “foundations of wellbeing” and
opportunity.
Overall, the U.S comes in at 16th, and some indices are particularly startling.
As Kristof writes
in The New York Times: “The index ranks the United States 30th in life
expectancy, 38th in saving children’s lives, and a humiliating 55th in
women surviving childbirth. O.K., we know that we have a high homicide
rate, but we’re at risk in other ways as well. We have higher traffic
fatality rates than 37 other countries, and higher suicide rates than
80. We also rank 32nd in preventing early marriage, 38th in the equality
of our education system, 49th in high school enrollment rates and 87th
in cellphone use.”
The top countries in the study are Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand and Canada. Of the 133 countries rated, Central African Republic comes in last, right after Chad and Afghanistan.
The top countries in the study are Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand and Canada. Of the 133 countries rated, Central African Republic comes in last, right after Chad and Afghanistan.
“One way of looking at the index,” says Kristof, “is to learn from
countries that outperform by having social indicators better than their
income levels. By that standard, the biggest stars are Costa Rica and
Uruguay, with New Zealand and Rwanda also outperforming.”
In a time of ever-greater economic inequality, it’s worth remembering
that everything isn’t just dandy if some Americans are doing extremely
well. What counts is how we are doing as a people.
8 comments:
rotflmbao..., from your backchannel PRR outgassings, I KNEW it wouldn't be much longer now before a more public BD eruption, inviting one and all to take a page out of the Rev.Fr.Uncle Ruckus playbook and thrash some "powerful niggertry" out of your monkey tail too!
Like clockwork, (or really more like a dog eating grass) you know when you're crammed up to your gullet and your gills with moldy Ol'Roy - and helplessly fetching around for some help to knock all that rotten shit out of you.
As always, this is school for you! Accept no substitutes....,
@CNu..."I KNEW it wouldn't be much longer..."
BD had to wait for y'all to get that Fuzzlimistan nonsense out of yer system...
The only thought more appealing than phoine persian wimmin, is phoine Cuban wimmin. The long legged mack daddy has flung the doors open wide to a whole world of grrrls! Only m'fers I know of, mad about that fact, is a crew of crusty, pasty, geriatric, two-inch punishers who stay mad at the world and stay trying to extract the life out of it.
Remind you of anybody you know, listen to, or vote for? Got a mirror handy?
My Good Man CNu:
If I were to tell you that these very type of "Comparative Analyses" are what drove the enlightened "European Colonizers" to trek into Africa during the 1900's, ostensibly with the purposes of "Civilizing" them and bringing them up to code, would you imagine YOURSELF as capable of being such a colonizer?
I realize that you are sweet upon those who talk about "Biblicans" and those who "Left The Bible Behind And Took The Loot", YET THIS IS ONE OF THE FIRST TIMES in your life in which you are now forced to a point of decision.
*Affirming that what the WHITE EUROPEAN was following his Altruistic Leanings in engaging in "The Dark Continent", understanding that FORCE and the goal of eventual Manumission was the "Ends Justifying The Means" of your efforts
OR
* You retain your " Radical Son Of The Oppressed Black Man" meme, thankful that few of your ideological journeymen would call you out, lest they CALL THEMSELVES OUT as an "Equal Colonizer", sans the IMMEDIATE VIOLENCE that the WHITE MAN used to break your ancestors.
If I were to tell you that these very type of "Comparative Analyses" are
what drove the enlightened "European Colonizers" to trek into Africa
during the 1900's, ostensibly with the purposes of "Civilizing" them
and bringing them up to code
Then I would no once and for all, and beyond any further shadow of a doubt, exactly how uninformed and insane you really are.
My interests begin and end with full rights under law and no substantive or unequal (badge/law) pposition to the same - in America. With that in place, I have all the tools I need to work out and work on the behavior/misbehavior of my fellow Americans. Why I'm loving the socio-political exogamy program being promulgated by my commander in chief, the long-legged mack daddy Double-0!
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
But these three word slogans forming the political philosophy of Orwell's nightmarish vision for the future have nothing on the tyranny of our time: "Brown Lives Matter."
(BD adapted the above from a recent favorite website article...)
in America, period.
I have no choice but to accept that you have drawn your CIRCUMFERENCE in a manner that represents about 3% of the entire population of the globe.
It is not for me to judge the folly of your pencil and compass angle. TIME will expose your fallacy to you.
Ironic coming from the perspective of one who irrationally and superstitiously values the 8.059 million Israelis so much more than the 77.45 million Iranians. We didn't even have to wait for the long arc of time. I immediately peeped the fallacy and the folly of your outgassings. You're welcome.
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