I have long recognized that we are failing on the World stage in Arenas and Stadium, (baseball, basketball, soccer, Hockey, etc.)but was unaware of the serverity of the problem until reading the following. We have plenty of work to do in order for this to change, if that's possible. Time to get our hands dirty and do our part, by demanding a righting of the ship by our leaders. All they do now is playing a game of re-arranging the furniture on the Titanic.




No. 1?
BY MICHAEL VENTURA

No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the
notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest."

Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the
brand name "America Is No. 1."

Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political
suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American."
We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are.
An empire without a manufacturing base.
An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in
order to function.
Yet the delusion is ineradicable.

We're No. 1. Well ... this is the country you really live in:

• The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (The New York
Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

• The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical
literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

• One-third of our science teachers and one-half of our math teachers
did not major in those subjects. (Quoted on The West Wing, but you can
trust it – their researchers are legendary.)

• Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the Earth. Seventeen
percent believe the Earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week,
Jan. 7, 2005).

• "The International Adult Literacy Survey ... found that Americans with
less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the
other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European
Dream
: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American
Dream, p.78).

• Our workers are so ignorant, and lack so many basic skills, that
American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT,
Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!

• "The European Union leads the U.S. in ... the number of science and
engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D)
expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).

• "Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest
producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).

• Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation.
The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec.
21, 2004).

• Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28% last year.
Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in
three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year
Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56%, Indians 51%,
South Koreans 28% (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.

• The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in
terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was] ... 37th." In
the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United
States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in
the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.

• "The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the
world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The
European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a
"developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.

• Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American
deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.)
(NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

• "U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the
developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81).
Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the
only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.

• Twelve million American families – more than 10% of all U.S.
households – "continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed
themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some
point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).

• The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba
scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

• Women are 70% more likely to die in childbirth in America than in
Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

• The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder
(CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

• "Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead
last in the growth rate of total compensation to its work-force in the
1980s. ... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew
only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1%" (The European Dream,
p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other
industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

• "Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500
rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European
Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies,
conducted by Global Finance, all but one was European" (The European
Dream, p.69).

• "Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are
European. ... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the
world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In
engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are
European. ... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American
engineering and construction company is included among the world's top
nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever,
two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world.
In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies ... are
first and second, and European companies make up five of the top 10.
Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68).

• The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last
decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).

• U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14,
2005).

• Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment
insurance last year; 1.8 million – one in five – unemployed workers are
jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).

• Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40% of our government debt.
(That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from
rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in
sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that
twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep
buying all that stuff they manufacture.

• Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as
the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's
largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco.
Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer.
(Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record
trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12,
2004).

• As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT,
Dec. 12, 2004).

• Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible
voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more
than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for
their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.

• One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of
all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).

• "Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies,
videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28).

• "Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get
what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).

• Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified,
according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).

• "Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last
year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).

• "The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by
the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have
left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10
anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and
delusion.

Copyright © 2005 Austin Chronicle Corporation. All rights reserved

so why don't you move out?

I really am getting tired of this America Love it or leave it attutued.

Never was a valid arguement.

"so why don't you move out?"

That is a very asnine statement. Cut and run? Is that the answer in your opinion, papaslap?
Does any of the post even resonate with you?

It's part of the GOP's "Contract with America."

They arent gonna allow none of that science nonsense fill the children of America's heads with lies.

I really am getting tired of slam everything American attitude.

Didn't see anything in your poll about our OSHA or SHEA or pollution control? How about workers rights? How about wage earnings? How many of those garment workers in whatever country agree with that BS?

Maybe all those immigrants should read your poll and go to Brazil???

But I guess you're are right. The US could become isolationist, screw the rest of the world and take care of us first…Yank all the aide that goes just about everywhere and that'll just about do it..

You could move to France? How about England where the average house now costs $500,000!!!!

Not to sure what a person believes poll has to do about anything? Especially coming from the European dream…

I pitch in the first $100 to get you a one way ticket to Cambodia...

Where did I say anything about how terrible it was here? How is the European point of view got to do with making our system great? Might as well have the N.Korean point of view, China? Cuba?

I dealt with the democracy by serving, I did my time. I suppose I could sit on my a$$ behind a PC and b!tch about everything though... Make wise cracks and call name is doing a heck of a lot. Because I live in America and make a good wage I'll even give another $100 to get you a seat next to JLH..Bye now...

Pmartin, there's a difference between a reality check and slaming America.

Should we say the GOP's are #1 even though we know they are #2/

You are not the only person on this board that serverd thier country. Getting kind of tired of you acting like you are.

You know Pmartin the more I read your post the madder I get.

I served,my wife served,so did my dad AND ALL my uncles (WWII and Korea). My son is serving as I speak.

AM's husband served and she was right there supporting him all the way.

I think you can take the last post of yours and stick it in your diddy bag.

PMartin,
Judging by your post it's evident that the ability to understand and comprehend the written word is something you are lacking.
If somebody tells you something needs fixing on your car, is your response the same?
Since you obviously missed the point of the thread, here it is - some things could be better and some things badly need fixing.
Complaining about things is not the same as pointing out things that need fixing.
Like BW said, you're not the only that served in uniform around here.

Soooo... why not take papaslap's advice...

The irony is that claiming to be a veteran implies he served the US protecting the ideals of the Constitution, the main tenet of which being freedom of expression and the right to question the policies of elected officials, yet he shows great disdain for anyone exercising that right. I wonder how Boeing would feel if he chose to never look at the procedures around him and try to improve any that were faulty.

lol. Can't help it. I gotta do it. Pmartin have you ever seen the video news clips of the Shiite worshippers engaging in group flagellation. Their cause is religious. The self-flagellant folks on this forum have some other motivating force. Definitely not religion. Aannd they love to skin anyone that might have another viewpoint.
It's like a bunch of curs engaging in a, if you'll pardon the expression, Mongolian cold nose circle cluster. I admit it is fun to see them carry on, but it gets boring after a while. Same old party line, over and over. just watch.

Who's slamming? JLH posted facts about the USA's standing in the world, so you get your undies in a wad like he was insulting your mom.

Validation of the Berkley study right there, folks.

So Sard, do you have anything that would invalidate JLH's post? If not.

"I admit it is fun to see them carry on, but it gets boring after a while. Same old party line, over and over. just watch. "

Could just as easly apply to the two of you.

You are all PEE's in a pod. So much for

"Democracy and opposing views that make this system great"

LOL


Hypocrites

I guess I'm the lamb for the day. How dare me post an opposing view in the PP liberal chat room.

And Chuck, If I buy a car that's bad on gas I don't b!tch about the company that made it.

BTW, I agree somethings DO need some fixin'. But, we as Americans have done a lot and could do a lot more. I just get tired of seeing all the work our brothers, sisters, father’s etc have done and some are ungrateful for it. Rome wasn't built in a day and the sky is not falling....

I apologize to the room for now rowing up stream...

You didn't post an opposing view, your very first sentence attacked the messenger for posting facts. An opposing view, in this case, would be additional facts to refute those previous. But ya ain't got none, does ya?

Anyway, remember ol' Baghdad Bob, the Information Minister in Iraq during the invasion? Now we have Spokane Sard and Puget Pmartin.

I guess, Didn't see anything in your poll about our OSHA or SHEA or pollution control? How about workers rights? How about wage earnings? escaped ya.

Additional facts to refute some FACTs from some europeon paper .. I guess anything that supports your point of view is now a fact?

Like I slam away Good Head...

"Judging by your post it's evident that the ability to understand and comprehend the written word is something you are lacking."

PMartin - you just proved my point. Thanks.

PMartin
"I pitch in the first $100 to get you a one way ticket to Cambodia..."

Who are you kidding? From reading your posts and observing your behavior and reaction toward people that offer an opinon different than yours, it would appear that you suffer a serious mental disorder. Could be Post Tramatic Stress, from your experiences in the killing feilds, or your difficulties with sharing space and dialog with others. Only guessing, but man there is something wrong with how you interact on this BB at times.

I have had to ask that you stay out of my threads because of your personal attacks, and you still can't muster up enough control, to respect my wishes. Like I have said before, all you have to do is pass by JLH, and go on to the next thread. Then I don't have to take the time out of my day to point out your obvious character defects.

It is my opinion that you need the money a lot more than I do, as there seems to be a potential, for a health crisis in your near future, if you don't lighten up. In additon to the mental mentioned, I would also add coronary disease as a potential with your uptight and combative disposition. So again, I would suggest to you to hang onto your money for potential health reasons. You may need services that are outside of the VA. Your lack cognitive skills and the many irrational responses you offer, suggest to me that you are already sick, or for sure in the process of disease.

As to your serving your country?.. So what!.. as TK would say. It was your choice to serve, as many others have and still do, that share a difference of opinion as yours.

Again, you can use the money a lot more than me. If it's ($) burning your pockets send some to the Katrina relief fund or buy some more of those Chinese made yellow ribbons. :p

NAMASTE'!

You guys are kidding right?

Criticizm is great, but that 'article' is a joke.

Notice he did not offer an alternative country as the REAL number 1 or 'greatest' country?

Why? Because if you read the list, he is putting the US up against ALL other countries.

It's like saying the Ford F series (or whatever your flavor...) isn't number one becaue the chevy has a better tranny, dodge has more passenger room, nissan get's better milage, yada yada.

What's even funnier in the article is that the guy keeps refering to Europe - as if if is a single country (maybe in the future, but not now...).

Again, criticism if fine, but this has so much spin it could make a guy dizzy. Clearly it is meant to 'stir the pot' or he wouldn't have included such stupid comments as:

"The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and
delusion."


"We're No. 1. Well ... this is the country you really live in:"

"Quoted on The West Wing, but you can
trust it – their researchers are legendary"

"Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a
"developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping."

"Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) "


Just to pick a few fun examples of stupid 'studies' and 'facts'...

"• Twelve million American families – more than 10% of all U.S.
households – "continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed
themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some
point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004)."

OK, first off, compare our 'poor' to Mexico's poor or Africa's poor. Our 'poor' have cars, TVs, food, clothing, shelter, cigarettes, beer, ....
I skipped lunch yesterday - does that mean I'm counted as part of the 3.9 million? Other than a handful of people, American's don't know what 'hunger' really is... Struggling to feed yourself - isn't that called getting a job?? Or driving to the food bank? Or picking up your wellfare check?

Anyway, America has problems, and it is good to ask quetions, challenge our leadership, look for areas to improve in, etc - this specific article is just a political spin peice targeted at a specific audience (look for the koolaide stains on their mouths )