[Vision2020] This Isn't Hate Speech, Either

[Chasuk]

Below is a slightly expurgated, admittedly controversial (yet still
interesting) excerpt from Craigslist:

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MYTH. The US doesn't need improvement compared to other countries; it
is the greatest country in the world.

TRUTH:
Wrong again. I'll only cite the statistics here.

USA Ranking on Adult Literacy Scale: #9
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- OECD

USA Ranking on Healthcare Quality Index: #37
(#1 France and #2 Italy)- World Health Organization 2003

USA Ranking of Student Reading Ability: #12
(#1 Finland and #2 South Korea)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Problem Solving Ability: #26
(#1 South Korea and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Student Mathematics Ability: # 24
(#1 Hong Kong and #2 Finland)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking of Student Science Ability: #19
(#1 Finland and #2 Japan)- OECD PISA 2003

USA Ranking on Women's Rights Scale: #17
(#1 Sweden and #2 Norway)- World Economic Forum Report

USA Position on Timeline of Gay Rights Progress: # 6 (1997)
(#1 Sweden 1987 and #2 Norway 1993)- Vexen

USA Ranking on Life Expectancy: #29
(#1 Japan and #2 Hong Kong)- UN Human Development Report 2005

USA Ranking on Journalistic Press Freedom Index: #32
(#1 Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands tied)- Reporters
Without Borders 2005

USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index: #17
(#1 Iceland and #2 Finland)- Transparency International 2005

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.

USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index: #45
(#1 Finland and #2 Norway)- Yale University ESI 2005

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

USA Ranking on Infant Mortality Rate: #32
(#1 Sweden and #2 Finland)- Save the Children Report 2006

USA Ranking on Human Development Index (GDP, education, etc.): #10
(#1 Norway and #2 Iceland)- UN Human Development Report 2005


So much for those "socialist" Europeans and those "backward" Asians, hm?
We can do better than this.

Miscellany:
*Only 18% of Americans own passports and bother to travel outside of the US.
* 85% of US soldiers in Iraq believe that they are there to get
revenge for 9/11.
* New international student enrollment in US grad schools has
decreased by 6%, because of xenophobic post-9/11 US visa restrictions,
jacked-up tuition fees and better educational opportunities in the EU
and Asia. So no, not everyone wants to come here anymore, because it's
become a land of incredibly limited opportunity, and we've lowered our
educational standards.


MYTH: The US government loves to help other countries.

TRUTH:
This is a myth. The US government tends to be motivated by interests,
not humanitarian principles.

Denmark gives the most amount of its GDP (1.01%) to developing
countries; Norway gives 0.91%; the Netherlands give 0.79% and so on
until the end of list, where the USA sits. Yes, America ranks DEAD
LAST in foreign aid at a pathetic 0.1% of its GDP, compared to the
other 21 nations listed as developed nations. The idea that the US
government is a heroic bunch that runs around the world helping the
poor and the disempowered is not backed up by the evidence. We have
one of the stingiest governments on earth.

Most Americans believe the US spends 24% of its budget on aid to poor
countries; the actual amount is well under a quarter of 1%. Our
country also ranks #5 on asylum-seeker acceptance rates (#1 is Denmark
and #2 is Canada).

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-- 
http://emmagoldman.wordpress.com/

"Aren't people absurd! They never use the freedoms they do have, but
demand those they don't have; they have freedom of thought, they
demand freedom of speech." -- Søren Kierkegaard