fayfreethinkers.com

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Source

One more on CEO pay ratio by country:

More analysis of CEO pay:







CEO pay charts

New York Times

Found this via a link provided by D. Franks on NWAonline.

Sad to see the graphs. However I think our government should "oil our won machine". I think this economic crisis is because of wars in middle east and Africa. USA is playing active roll there and spending money while its won people are selling their home and unemployment problem is growing and growing!

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The Limits of Power: Andrew Bacevich on the End of American Exceptionalism

Andrew Bacevich is a conservative historian who spent twenty-three years serving in the US Army. He also lost his son in Iraq last year. In a new book titled The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, Bacevich argues that although many in this country are paying a heavy price for US domestic and foreign policy decisions, millions of Americans simply continue to shop, spend and satisfy their appetite for cheap oil, credit and the promise of freedom at home. Bacevich writes, "As the American appetite for freedom has grown, so too has our penchant for empire." See Democracy Now for entire article

The U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq Marks the End America’s Great Expectations
by Andrew J. Bacevich

Washington Post Editorial here.

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More stats on the US (I haven't check these and can't attest to their accuracy yet, but am planning a presentation on American Exceptionalism at some point).

Update: I've check a bunch of these and they are pretty much crap.

***
The US ranks 1st (out of 50) on military power
http://www.globalfirepower.com/

The US ranks 2nd (out of 216) on Carbon Emissions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... _emissions

The US ranks 1st (out of 216) on Incarceration Rate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... ation_rate

The US ranks 1st (out of 29) on Obesity Rate
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_o ... th-obesity

The US ranks 1st (out of 40) on Teen Birth Rate
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_t ... birth-rate

The US ranks 1st (out of 34) on Divorce Rate
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_d ... vorce-rate

The US ranks 1st (out of 82) on Crime Rate
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_t ... tal-crimes

The US ranks 1st (out of 18) on Hours of TV Watched
http://www.longcountdown.com/2008/05/24 ... y-country/

***

More:

The US ranks 114th (out of 143) on the Happiness Index
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Planet_Index

The US ranks 20th (out of 179) on education
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Index

The US ranks 23rd (out of on 81) on I.Q.
http://www.longcountdown.com/2008/05/24 ... y-country/

The US ranks 7th (out of 183) List of countries by GDP per capita
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... per_capita

The US ranks 37th (out of 190) on healthcare
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

The US ranks 116 (out of 190) on Economic Growth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... st_year%29

The US ranks 97th (out of on 195) on Unemployment Rating (1st place = 0 unemployment)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... yment_rate

The US ranks 13th (out of 111) on Quality of Life
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_Index

The US ranks 36th (out of 192) on Life Expectancy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... expectancy

The Greatest Country In The World?

[...an excerpt from Sorkin's new HBO series The Newsroom]

"MCAVOY: [Greatest country in the world?] We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed... The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore." -- Aaron Sorkin

DailyKos:

"...the country where anything was possible.

It still is. Or, rather, it still would be were it not for those selfish few who believe that our generosity and our curiosity and our insistence on fairness and justice are weaknesses rather than strengths. It still would be were it not for the selfish and mean-spirited few who consider this richest of countries nothing more than a cash cow to be milked dry and left spent and despoiled when they're done with it. It would be a greater country if we honored and cherished our young people enough to not send them off to die or be wounded in the service of the interests of that selfish few.

Who could have imagined a day in America when teachers and police officers and firefighters would be characterized as the enemy because they expect us to hold up our end of the bargain we made with them for their service and sacrifice? Because they dare to organize?

Who could have imagined a day in America when the needless suffering of hundreds of millions of people would be justified and even lauded because it was fueled by the pathological drive for wealth of a selfish few?

Who could have imagined a day in America when its highest court would supplant government of, by, and for its people with the prerogatives of its corporations by declaring that corporations are the people?"

Daily Kos

America, not the greatest country anymore.

Four and a half minute excerpt of The Newsroom. Provides context and is a longer version of the quote in the post above.

Note, there is an error in the above clip. It claims the US comes in 178th in infant mortality. That's wrong, or at least it is going to give a very wrong impression.

In this listed ranking of infant mortality the US is indeed listed 178th.

This error is then misunderstood to mean the US ranks 178th for infant mortality, for instance here:

"In 2010, the United States was ranked 178th in the world for infant mortality rates, with 6.14 deaths per 1,000 births" Link

But on that list 1st place is worst (higher = greater mortality). Since there are 224 countries on that list, the US comes in 46th from the bottom (bottom being the best score, lowest mortality).

Fund for Peace has a "Failed State Index." USA Number1!

Oh wait, we're #19.

http://www.fundforpeace.org/global/?q=fsi-grid2012

Notice all of those high tax lefty countries in the green.

"The figures - shown below, show the Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) - the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births."



LINK

U.S. is second-worst of 35 developed nations when it comes to child poverty

"The United States ranks 34 out of 35 on a UNICEF measure of relative child poverty in developed nations. To be clear, that's 34 out of 35 in the bad way—second highest level, doing better than only Romania with more than 20 percent of children living in a household with an income below half the median.

But the picture looks even worse when you examine just how far below the relative poverty line these children tend to fall. The UNICEF report looks at something it calls the “child poverty gap,” which measures how far the average poor child falls below the relative poverty line. It does this by measuring the gap between the relative poverty line and the average income of poor families.
Alarmingly, the United States also scores second-to-last on this measurement, with the average poor child living in a home that makes 36 percent less than the relative poverty line.

This is the context before the start of sequestration, as Bryce Covert points out. With the full effects of sequestration yet to come, we've already seen kids cut from Head Start programs, less housing assistance available to families struggling to stay off the street, and homeless shelters losing funding among the sequester's effects that will hit poor kids directly."

Link

America in denial: We're number 29 (of 30)

US embraces policies and practices that place it at the bottom of advanced industrial nations for social outcomes.

"Responding to the jingoism around the First Gulf War, Andrew Shapiro's 1992 book, We're Number One!: Where America Stands - and Falls - in the New World Order was a sober-minded reality check on how the US really measured up. Just last month, a worthy successor appeared, a short ebook, Decline of the USA, by Edward Fullbrook, comparing the US to the other 29 countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in a series of tables, with only a brief dash of introductory text.

Fullbrook is the editor of the Real World Economic Review, the online journal of heterodox economics that emerged out of the empirically-driven "post-autistic economics" movement of the previous decade. The data presented here - challenging presumptions of superiority and leadership with stubborn facts - epitomises what the post-autistic movement was all about.

The book looks at eight indicators each in seven categories, ranking counties in order along with precise figures for how they score. It also divides them into first, second and third divisions (in sets of 10), which comes in handy for gauging overall performance. The seven categories are: health, family, education, income and leisure, freedom and democracy, public order and safety, and generosity. Indicators include things like life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, share of income received by richest 10 per cent, years of life lost in injury, etc. Those with some awareness of these sorts of measures will probably not be surprised to learn that the United States ranks next to last overall (go Mexico!), while those who get their information from FOX or other corporate media may be stunned to the point of disbelief."

LINK

Excerpt:

Why the U.S. Is Not the Best Country in the World



Steven D. Hales is Professor of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University.
He is the author of Relativism and the Foundations of Philosophy (MIT, 2006)

From: The Good Society
Volume 15, Number 2, 2006

"An article of faith in contemporary American politics is that America is the greatest nation in the world. No politician would dispute it, and pundits on the left and right subscribe. For instance, in a 2002 debate on terrorism, William Bennett claimed "We have done more good for more people than any country in the history of the world." His opponent in the debate, Noam Chomsky, agreed, stating that, "I… live in what I think is the greatest country in the world." When thinkers as far apart on the political spectrum as Bennett and Chomsky agree, one might suppose that only fools dare to question. Nevertheless, it might be useful to take seriously the cant that we're #1, and put it to the test. If the U.S. really is the best country in the world, then we ought to be able to prove it. Once we have established that the data shows the U.S. to be the world's best, our proven credentials can only help promote American objectives and foreign policy. If the data show otherwise, then that is a surprise worth pondering.

Subjective and Objective

To figure out which country is the best, we need to develop a list of criteria or standards to examine. Some potential yardsticks are purely subjective and are therefore of no help in coming up with an objective assessment; we must eliminate those right from the start. There are two sorts of subjective criteria that can bear on which country is most preferable for you.

One subjective matter is your personal tastes. If abbey-style beer plays a big role in your life, then that might tip the balance towards Belgium. If you are a phanatical Phillies phan, then Major League Baseball might be a sufficient draw for the United States. Sun worshippers will prefer countries famed for beaches and a warm climate; skiers might opt for Alpine nations, etc. The other subjective issue is one's personal situation. If you are a plutocrat, oligarch, or robber baron, you won't need a country with a strong social safety net and you won't want their high taxes. If you are impoverished or have serious health problems, then a nation with guaranteed health care and a pension plan will be the ticket. Likewise one's talents will be a factor; monolingual anglophones are liable to find the U.S., Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand particularly attractive.

Subjective preferences such as one's tastes and personal situation must be set aside; otherwise the variables will be far too idiosyncratic to reach any conclusions about the best country to live in. Instead, we must examine what the situation is for the statistically average citizen of a country. Furthermore, we need to look at objective criteria in evaluating nations—criteria that nearly all rational persons would agree are desiderata that a good nation should satisfy. Ultimately what we want is a fairly general list of basic goods that is neutral about any specific form of government, economic structure or specific law. Thomas Jefferson once proposed such a list, declaring it to be self-evident that these are inalienable rights: "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness [and] that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." In the Jeffersonian spirit, I propose the following as objective criteria for evaluating nations; these are things that nearly all rational persons would want to maximize.

Freedom
Literacy
Health
Happiness of citizens
Standard of living

We shouldn't expect any nation to be #1 in all of these categories, or, at least, it would be a great surprise. Instead we should look at various means of assessing these different criteria and see which nations consistently appear at the top of the lists. In this way we can triangulate the truth about which country is..."

The Good Society

PDF of full six page article here: http://departments.bloomu.edu/philosoph ... ountry.pdf

Conclusion:
"How shall we give a final ranking? No procedure is immune to
criticism; the method I selected treats each of our criteria as
equally weighted. I used a two-step Borda Count, which means
that each country received points on each statistical measure
within the three criteria of health, happiness, and standard of living.
The country in the best spot received 13 points and the one
in the worst spot got zero. This generated an overall ranking
within each criterion. Again each country received between 0–13
points for their standings overall in health, happiness, and standard of
living. These points were then combined to give a total. If
the same country were the world’s best on all three measures,
they would have 13+13+13 = 39 points. Here is the ranking of the
best countries in the world. In order to get a sense of ratios, their
Borda scores are also listed: Norway 37; Iceland 35; Sweden 30;
Netherlands 27; Australia, Luxembourg, Switzerland 24; Canada,
Ireland 23; Denmark 22; Austria, Finland 21; United States 19;
New Zealand 16.
Norway: fabled land of marauding Vikings, Asgardian deities,
and pickled herring. This is the best country in the world."

BBC poll: Germany most popular country in the world

"A majority of people polled on all continents said Germany had a positive influence on the world

Germany is the most positively viewed nation in the world in this year's annual Country Ratings Poll for the BBC World Service.

More than 26,000 people were surveyed internationally for the poll.

They were asked to rate 16 countries and the European Union on whether their influence in the world was "mainly positive" or "mainly negative".

Germany came out top, with 59% rating it positively. Iran was once again the most negatively viewed.

Global views of Europe's biggest country have improved significantly in 2013, according to the poll.

It was conducted for the BBC by GlobeScan and PIPA, who conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews with randomly selected people in 25 countries.

Of those countries, 22 have been surveyed two years in a row, so become the tracking countries on which the average ratings are based.

These averages exclude the target country's rating of itself. So for example, the opinions of Germans on Germany are excluded, meaning the country's average rating is based on 21 tracking countries."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22624104

Where to be born in 2013
Nov 21st 2012

To answer this, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist,... earnestly attempts to measure which country will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.

Its quality-of-life index links the results of subjective life-satisfaction surveys—how happy people say they are—to objective determinants of the quality of life across countries. Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too. In all, the index takes 11 statistically significant indicators into account. They are a mixed bunch: some are fixed factors, such as geography; others change only very slowly over time (demography, many social and cultural characteristics); and some factors depend on policies and the state of the world economy.

After crunching its numbers, the EIU has Switzerland comfortably in the top spot, with Australia second.

Small economies dominate the top ten. Half of these are European, but only one, the Netherlands, is from the euro zone. The Nordic countries shine, whereas the crisis-ridden south of Europe (Greece, Portugal and Spain) lags behind despite the advantage of a favourable climate. The largest European economies (Germany, France and Britain) do not do particularly well.

America, where babies will inherit the large debts of the boomer generation, languishes back in 16th place. Despite their economic dynamism, none of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) scores impressively. Among the 80 countries covered, Nigeria comes last: it is the worst place for a baby to enter the world in 2013."



The Economist

***

From another article (regarding same study):

The best countries to be born in are small, peaceful, homogenous, liberal democracies.

"Yes, it’s yet another international ranking on individual well-being where the Nordic countries come out on top, alongside Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The top 15 also include Austria and Switzerland, which seem to meet similar criteria. The three
best places to be born are, in order: Switzerland, Australia and Norway." Wa Post

15 Ways The United States Is The Best (At Being The Worst)

"We hear it all the time, from every corner of the political sphere: There's no other country on the planet quite like the United States of America. Such pronouncements are typically of the rah-rah variety, and it's indisputably true that this country is exceptional in a large number of ways.

But that is not always necessarily a good thing. Here's what we mean:"

Here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/2 ... 70683.html