I've had this uneasy sense for a few years now, and my latest around the world trip reinforced my feeling that something is wrong about America. On that later, but first, what is right about my country.- When it comes to most of the important things in life, the USA is #1
- Our economy is probably the best today of all our competitors.
- In Gross National Product/year. #1 at $20.5 trillion. China #2 $13.6 trillion and Japan #3 $5.0 trillion.
- However, and this a warning, with respect to Gross National Income/year, the U.S. is only #8 at $77,530. #1 Norway at $118,440, Qatar #2 $110,640 and Singapore #3 $107,030.
- China has an inflation rate of 0.2%, France 2.2%, South Korea 2.4, Euro Area 2.5%, Japan 2.8%, Canada 2.9% and the USA at 3.0% are the lowest. India 5.08%, Russia 8.6% and Argentina 272%.
- We are far ahead in medals won at all the summer olympics, and have prevailed on how many times we were #1: 18, compared to the Soviet Union (Russia) 6. No other nation had more than one. We are not so good in the winter olympics, but, even there, we rank #2 to Norway in total medals.
- Satisfaction with life index.
- We are only #7, but 178 countries were involved.
- #1 Denmark, #2 Switzerland, #3 Austria, #4 Iceland, #5 The Bahamas and #6 Finland.
- #178 Burundi, #174 Ukraine, #170 Belarus, #133 Turkey, #125 India, #102 South Korea, #90 Japan, #82 China, #62 France, #53 Singapore, #41 UK, #35 Germany, #23 Norway (note that they had the highest GNI/yr).
- World happiness ranking.
- #1 Finland, #2 Denmark, #3 Iceland, #4 Sweden....all very cold countries.
- Interesting that Israel is #4.
- USA? #23. Not so good, but the list goes up to #143, Afghanistan, so not so bad.
So what's wrong with the USA? Did you know it was Ronald Reagan who first said this to the right? Some things are ranked, and after our recent trip, you discern that American airlines are not the best. #1 Singapore Airlines, #2 Qatar Airways #3 Turkish Airlines and #15 Korean Air. No American airlines in this list.
The best airport is Singapore Changi. But Doha Hamad is #2 and might be #1 this year. We finally make it at #18 with Seattle-Tacoma. Next? Houston Hobby at #32 Then? Houston George Bush at 35.
We are falling behind in mass transit.
- Japan is #1, Hong Kong #2 and Switzerland #3.
- USA is #11, but Amtrak is not a terrific national train line. Plus, it is so slow. I know. I once traveled from Los Angeles to Seattle to Chicago to New York to Miami to New Orleans to San Antonio to Los Angeles. It was agonizing. I've been on a dozen Japan Rail Passes, and their bullet trains are all sleek, clean and on time. Plus train stations are safe. No so for the USA.
China is only ranked on this list (why I don't know) at #22, but they are expanding very quickly. They have more than 25,000 miles of high speed rail, all relatively new, while #2 is Spain with 2,275 miles. Apparently, the U.S. has 457 miles.- Wikipedia has China with 28,000 miles, plus another 16,000 miles in construction. The USA? Only 85 miles, ranking #26, with almost 1000 miles in construction.
We are a nation that keeps the peace, right? Well, I don't know. There is a Global Peace Index ranking and the USA is #131. Number 131!!!
- There are worse: Afghanistan #163, Russia #158, North Korea #149, Iran #147, Israel #143,
- Even CHINA is #80.
- #1 Iceland, #2 Denmark and #3 Ireland.
- #201 Haiti 40.8
- #188 Mexico 26.0
- #148 United States 6.4
- #134 Thailand 4.8
- #98 Iran 2.4
- #74 Israel 1.6
- #22 South Korea 0.5
- #21 China 0.5
- #12 Japan 0.2
- six countries at #1 with zero
Weak or fragile nations, those with an ineffective central government:
- #1 Somalia
- #9 Haiti
- #22 Ukraine
- #43 Iran
- #48 Russia
- #101 China
- #141 USA (not bad, actually)
- #161 Japan
- #179 Norway
Suicide rate (intentional deaths/100,000 people).
- #1 Lesotho 131
- #2 Greenland 66
- #24 Russia 29
- #36 Ukraine 24
- #39 South Korea 22
- #45 USA 21
- #101 Japan 13
- #104 Norway 12
- #166 China 7
- #212 Taiwan 0.8
- #214 five countries at zero
We are a nation dependent on war. Defense spending in trillion dollars/year.
- #1 USA $2.443
- #2 China $0.296
- #3 Russia $0.1009
- Each year, we spend 22 times more than Russia. Watch, in presidential bragging, each party will extol the amount they set aside for war as teriffic. And voters buy this as good.
- I show this bar graph every year. Add up the annual defense expenditures, and the USA spends as much as the next nine countries, combined.
This is the bigee that sets the USA apart from the world. Civilian guns/capita.
- #1 USA 121
- #2 Falkland Islands 62
- #3 Yemen 53
- #17 Norway 29
- #50 Thailand 15
- #100 Ghana 8
- #219 Japan 0.3
- #230 Taiwan 0
The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence lists the following root causes of gun violence: income inequality, poverty, underfunded public housing, under-resourced public services, underperforming schools, lack of opportunity and perceptions of hopelessness.....then, finally, early access to firearms by high-risk people. This is the simple fact. Rate of firearm homicides/100,000 population:
Where does your state rank?
So with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump you would think guns would not be allowed anywhere in their National Convention? Nope. These are Republicans who have the right to own guns. As reported:
However, guns will be allowed immediately outside the convention center in the outer perimeter surrounding the Secret Service-controlled area due to Wisconsin state law.
Oh, by the way, tennis balls, water bottles and paintball guns are banned. In short, you can't carry a paintball gun, but an AR-15 is okay.
In general, Time magazine reports:
- Threats against federal judges have spiked 400% in the past six years.
- 57% of local health departments have been targeted with personal threats and other forms of harassment.
- 81% of local government officials have been personally threatened.
- Congressional threats to members increased more than ten-fold from 2016 to 2021. Must be higher now.
- Numerous education workers have similarly been threatened.
- Apparently, this is mostly legal because of free speech is constitutionally protected.
- Most of these threats come from ordinary Americans, not deranged individuals.
- Bullet-proof vests are now common wear in many governmental positions.
- Sure, social media have made these attempts easy.
Stanford magazine had an article on What is Wrong with America?
- Our system of campaign finance leaves much to be desired, and moves to reform it have not really solved problems that mainly involve the buying and selling of influence. Something needs to be done a) to achieve a level playing field and b) to diminish the role special interests play in funding campaigns.
- You need a very strong bipartisan coalition in which both parties leap over the cliff together, and strong societal and media pressure for reform, so that politicians who defy reform fear they will pay a price, in terms of their reputation, from pissed-off voters. It helps to have presidential leadership or visible national leadership pushing for it, but it’s got to be bipartisan.
- The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled in a certain way and I, as a Democrat with a big “D” as well as a small “d,” accept their decision. But the whole spectacle of what happened from the beginning—from election day, when it appears obstacles were put in the way of black voters—to that final, (in the view of some) almost party-line vote in the Supreme Court did damage to American democracy in the eyes of some Americans and quite a number of people around the world
- There is a lot more here and you can read these other details. You should know that this article was written in 2005!!!
Donald Trump is a certified and convicted terrible person. So why do white evangelical Protestants mostly support him, 67% to 33%? If this has something to do with divine providence, then he will be unbeatable on November 5, especially after surviving that assassination attempt. Luckily for Joe Biden, other religions are not so deluded. Yet, how can almost half of church-going voters support him? Morality should be overriding. I'm missing something that is illogical.
The Pew Research Center recently listed the top problems facing the U.S.
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