The Best Country on Earth?
Here, a little research of mine. The sources check out.
Ok, so this is how the "Economic Equality" in the United States ranks with other industrial nations, from 4 different sources: U.S ranked sixth of six, seventh of seven, ninth of twelve, and fourteenth of fourteen. Here in the U.S, the richest fifth of the population earns eleven times more income than the poorest fifth of the population. 11 to 1! Needless to say, that is one of the highest ratios in the industrialized world. Just to give you an idea, Japans ratio is 4 to 1. And yea, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I knew there was a reason I wanted to go back to school.
55% of Republicans think it was the poors fault that they are poor, while only 13% blamed the system. On the other hand, 68% of Democrats thought it was the systems fault, and only 5% blamed the poor. However, to be 'fair' to the republicans, let me point something out: Back when the Whig Party collapsed and The Republican Party was created, the Democratic party coined itself as 'the white mans party' for almost 100 years....Yea, really.
(stat from 1979 survey in 'Equality in America' by Sidney Verba and Gary Orren. Just to be clear, I do not consider myself to be democrat, nor republican)
By the year of 1910 the top 1 percent of the U.S population received more than a THIRD of ALL personal income. This figure hasn't changed all that much since then. Hmmm, sounds to me like this 'democracy' isn't that far off from becoming a communist nation. In communist countrys, usually 1% of the people control about 99% of the wealth, etc. Here in the good ol' US of A, about 10% of the people control 90% of the wealth etc. At least thats the last accurate figure I heard. Please, enlighten me if you know any different.
(first stat source from 'Conflict and Consensus in American Public Education' by David Tyack and Elizabeth Hansot, 1981)
Among women on the great 'unsinkable' Titanic, only 4 of the 143 'first class' passengers were lost. 15 of 93 second-class passengers drowned. But 81 of 179 (nearly 50%) third-class women and girls were lost. The crew ordered those passengers to stay below the deck, holding some of them there at gunpoint. This shows how important it is to be wealthy and 'high society'. To me, it is the archtype that depicts Social Class degregation and separation here in the United States. Hmm, what would happen if a global catastrophe broke out nowadays? Who would be saved?? The Rich and Elite and their Alternative 3.
(Titanic stats from 'Social Class and Mental Illness' by August Hollingshead and Frederick Redlich, all other opinions contained herein, are expressed solely by yours truly. If you don't know what Alternative 3 is, look into it.)
Ok, so this is how the "Economic Equality" in the United States ranks with other industrial nations, from 4 different sources: U.S ranked sixth of six, seventh of seven, ninth of twelve, and fourteenth of fourteen. Here in the U.S, the richest fifth of the population earns eleven times more income than the poorest fifth of the population. 11 to 1! Needless to say, that is one of the highest ratios in the industrialized world. Just to give you an idea, Japans ratio is 4 to 1. And yea, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I knew there was a reason I wanted to go back to school.
55% of Republicans think it was the poors fault that they are poor, while only 13% blamed the system. On the other hand, 68% of Democrats thought it was the systems fault, and only 5% blamed the poor. However, to be 'fair' to the republicans, let me point something out: Back when the Whig Party collapsed and The Republican Party was created, the Democratic party coined itself as 'the white mans party' for almost 100 years....Yea, really.
(stat from 1979 survey in 'Equality in America' by Sidney Verba and Gary Orren. Just to be clear, I do not consider myself to be democrat, nor republican)
By the year of 1910 the top 1 percent of the U.S population received more than a THIRD of ALL personal income. This figure hasn't changed all that much since then. Hmmm, sounds to me like this 'democracy' isn't that far off from becoming a communist nation. In communist countrys, usually 1% of the people control about 99% of the wealth, etc. Here in the good ol' US of A, about 10% of the people control 90% of the wealth etc. At least thats the last accurate figure I heard. Please, enlighten me if you know any different.
(first stat source from 'Conflict and Consensus in American Public Education' by David Tyack and Elizabeth Hansot, 1981)
Among women on the great 'unsinkable' Titanic, only 4 of the 143 'first class' passengers were lost. 15 of 93 second-class passengers drowned. But 81 of 179 (nearly 50%) third-class women and girls were lost. The crew ordered those passengers to stay below the deck, holding some of them there at gunpoint. This shows how important it is to be wealthy and 'high society'. To me, it is the archtype that depicts Social Class degregation and separation here in the United States. Hmm, what would happen if a global catastrophe broke out nowadays? Who would be saved?? The Rich and Elite and their Alternative 3.
(Titanic stats from 'Social Class and Mental Illness' by August Hollingshead and Frederick Redlich, all other opinions contained herein, are expressed solely by yours truly. If you don't know what Alternative 3 is, look into it.)
posted by J at 1:47 PM
8 Comments:
Is the Alternative 3 Colonel Sanders, Danny Haliburton and Rockerfellar?
look into it
People create wealth, it isn't handed down from some supreme being for equal distribution. Hence the theory behind the free market, which tends to work very well. Wealth inequality is not a problem... a low median standard of living is a problem. The US doesn't have that, though many socialist countries in Africa do.
I actually give a shit whether or not this is the greatest country on earth. That is totally a question of the scale you use to measure "greatness". Is it economic power, military strength, quality of life???
It is just mind-boggling how fuckin' obnoxious many Americans can be without even realizing it. How can it be that so many people find Americans as a nation quite arrogant? Maybe because every time you switch the telly on some idiot has to say: "We are the greatest nation on this bloody planet. And before I forget - God bless America..." How can it be that nobody in the US seems to understand that this attitude is extremely offensive to non-US citizens?
How about everyone stops worrying whether or not this is the greatest country? I honestly think one of the most pathetic things is that there is no health-care for so many people in a developed country. How you treat the weakest members of a society says something about your nation. On that note the US may be the taillight of the highly developed world.
I would disagree at least to some extent with the statement that an entirely free and virtually uncontrolled market works very well. It may work very well in creating wealth for a number of people but it may be the underlying reason for an extreme inequality in the distribution of goods.
Of course there will never be a complete equality and I don't think that is desirable. Why buckle down if there is no chance of climbing up the ladder?
However, if there are next to no rules on how a workforce can be exploited it almost certainly leads to extremely low living standards for a number of people. If being rich allows you to squeeze more and more money out of the system why would you care about distributing some of your profits back to others, thus creating bearable living conditions for everyone? This probably is something that needs to be regulated by a government, which ultimately should represent all people with every interest group getting equal consideration irregardless of social status. Sad that lobbyists and corrupt politicians are working 24/7 against such basic democratic ideas.
USA doesnt have to be best country on earth only because it has big energy spending, largest army, huge import-export figures, warm climate etc etc.
obviously USA is GREATEST country on earth. ... doesnt mean its best country to live in.
hmmmm....what is the greatest country?
an intreseting question yes?
i believe it's the US of A, because of a superior military, the quality of life here is good for most of it's cictizens and it has a great economy compared with other nations.
many people in and outside of the US of A have NO IDEA what the US of A can do. so many projects about research, military and exploration are kept secret. so crossing the Us of A would be a mistake.
this may be a little biased because i do live in the US of A
The USA had the distinction of being the "greatest country on earth" right after WW2. We had a great economy, workers were treated well, people could live a good life on a working man's income. Now, it is not so. Huge corporations control the government, the poor and middle class pay all the taxes, the corporations make billions while many are tricked out of their houses and live on the street, and propaganda is blasted from every channel to make the bottom 95% believe that this is patriotic and the rich actually got that way by working hard. The only thing we have left is the vote, so the corporations buy air time to convince us how to vote. But since they buy both sides, if you vote democrat or republican you are voting for the corporations, and they've got us convinced that a 3rd party is "throwing away our vote".
The USA has been bought and sold. We are no longer the "greatest country on earth."
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