Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Greatest Country on Earth? 

The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population.  But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners.  SOURCE

The United States has the highest gun ownership rate in the world and the highest per capita rate of firearm-related murders of all developed countries.  SOURCE

One-fifth of U.S. Children are officially "Poor" and 2.8 Million are in "Extreme Poverty".  SOURCE

Among advanced economies, the U.S. spends the most on health care on a relative cost basis with the worst outcome.  SOURCEIn other words, the world's richest country spends more of its money on health care while getting less than almost every other nation in return. 

In 2012, the most recent year for which complete data is available, the U.S. approved $645.7 billion in defense budget authority (fiscal year 2013 dollars).  This figure includes funding for the Pentagon base budget, Department of Energy-administered nuclear weapons activities, and the war in Afghanistan.  This number is six times more than China, 11 times more than Russia, 27 times more than Iran and 33 times more than Israel.  Though China is often cited as the country’s next great military adversary, U.S. military spending currently doubles that of all of the countries in Asia combined.  SOURCE

The government shutdown took $24 billion out of the U.S. economy, and reduced projected fourth-quarter GDP growth from 3 percent to 2.4 percent.  SOURCE

American teens scored below the international average in math and roughly average in science and reading, compared against dozens of other countries that participated in the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which was administered last fall.  The United States ranked 26th in math — trailing nations such as the Slovakia, Portugal and Russia.  What’s more, American high school students dropped to 21st in science (from 17th in 2009) and slipped to 17th in reading (from 14th in 2009), according to the results.  SOURCE

Overeating, lack of health insurance access and comparatively high poverty are among the many reasons why the U.S. has the highest obesity rate with 34 percent of the adult population classified as obese.  SOURCE

In terms of National IQ scores, The United States ranks behind China, Mongolia, Poland, the Czech Republic and a dozen other countries!  SOURCE

33% of Americans reject the idea of evolution, saying that “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.”  SOURCE