"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
1. Has the seventh largest debt (as a percentage of GDP).
2. USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD
3. USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003
4. USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003
5. USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
6. USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003
7.USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003
8. USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report
9. USA Position on Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: # 6 (1997)
(#1 Sweden 1987 and #2 Norway 1993)- Vexen
10. USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005
11. USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters Without Borders
2005
12. USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005
13. USA Ranking on Quality of Life Survey: #13
(#1 Ireland and #2 Switzerland)- The Economist Magazine ...Wikipedia "Celtic
Tiger" if you still have your doubts.
14. USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005
15. USA Ranking on Overall Currency Strength: #3 (US Dollar)
(#1 UK pound sterling and #2 European Union euro)- FTSE 2006....the dollar is now
a liability, so many banks worldwide have planned to switch to euro
16. USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006
17. USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005
(Source for numbers 2-17 here)
18. A national unemployment level of 9.6% (Google)
19. 10th largest per-capita GDP (CIA)
20. 110th in unemployment (CIA)
21. 34th overall in literacy (CIA, 2009)
22. 12% poverty rate (CIA)
23. #1 in oil consumption by almost 3-to-1 over #2 but only 3rd in oil production (CIA)
24. Largest external debt (CIA)
25. More military spending than the rest of the world combined (Source here)
26. Highest obesity rate in the world : 30.6% (source here)
Labels: The Decline and Fall of America