Oh I'm completely serious. Who else would you rely on in the world to "get it done"? Finland?

Do you not think there is a reason that a country with only 5% of the world's population dominates in almost everything worthwhile, or do you think this is some sort of aberration?

Btw, you don't even need to be from America to be a Real American. Suck it, Earth!

That Suck it, Earth! comment does not apply to non-American Real Americans obv.

- Francis Bacon

Wil, there is a zero percent chance I'm going to have a debate with a guy that thinks electing their first non white male in 2008 is an example of global leadership.

Ok.. bye?

Nope, I'll still drop by to make fun of your posts.

Well played, sir.

Whoa man, there's really no need to be angry and indignant that I hadn't seen your post. There are a lot of posters and a lot of posts on this forum, after all!

I went back and found it; here's what you say:

Climate - sure
Job opportunites for those with technical skills - ok, BUT current unemployment rate in Canada 7.3%; in the US it is 8.1%. (References: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quoti...20511a-eng.htm and http://www.bls.gov/)
Lower prices - ok
Lower taxes - ok
Govt heavy-handedness - in what way? Possibly economically but in Canada they arguably have a lot more civil liberties still intact

So yes, this post of yours definitely has some substance but you have still only compared the US to Canada (the comparison to Europe was very superficial). The thread is about whether it is the best in the world.

So let's combine your list with mine. We now have a working list (not ordered in terms of priority) from which to evaluate whether the U.S. is the bestest country in the world!

From your list, I have left out prices (because unless you can track down figures that take earnings into account this is not as useful as it sounds) and tax rates (isn't income per capita more important?). We already have govt heavy-handedness.


My question to you and to everyone is:
On which of these does the U.S. rank number one in the world?

• (Un)Employment rate
• Employment opportunities for those with technical skills
• Climate
• Scope/potential for upward social mobility
• Healthcare
• Income per capita
• Rank on the U.N. Human Development Index
• Freedom / civil liberties
• Functionality of democracy
• Literacy / education rates
• Quality of life
• General compassion of the society (regard for fellow humans, desire to help those less fortunate etc)
• Incarceration rates

Unfortunately, I can't think of a single one.

umm...no.

b

Do you think the less fortunate share your utopian vision? Serious question.

Would be interested to know which studies you are citing. It is definitely true that that people compare themselves to others but you are way overstepping the mark and making a colossal leap in logic in arguing for inequality.

It has been shown pretty convincingly that income inequality is linked to a wide range of variables among society including crime, illiteracy, violence, (lower) mental health, (lower) life expectancy etc

Wow.

Income for the middle class has been stagnant for decades.

The problem is that people don't understand that it doesn't matter.

America is a world-wide draw. People want to come here for higher education, business opportunities, etc. There are a lot of opportunities that just aren't available in other countries.

And, once again, something like quality of life would change dramatically depending on what demographic you fall into.

No...I got the "point"...it's just that it's as good at the other "points" you've made all throughout the thread.

Uhhh....that one.

B does not contradict A. People who grew up "middle class" have plenty ofopportunities to study math, computer science, medicine, law, engineering, etc. and make darn good money.

In other words, the transition rate from middle to upper class in the Markov chain is higher now than it used to be

Social mobility between the classes has not increased.

b

I am truly mystified how you can so easily dismiss these.

Unemployment rate doesn't matter? Maybe you should tell that to all the people struggling to find work to feed their family. Are they just desperate for atttention and nothing else?

Healthcare doesn't matter? I'd imagine that the people in the U.S. who had a serious accident and who have the added immense stress and pressure to come up with the money to pair their crippling bills thanks to a healthcare system that is on average twice as expensive (and has worse health outcomes) as that of other developed countries - they might disagree with you.

Freedom / civil liberties don't matter? Really? PATRIOT act, NDAA, torture... no? Blank stare? You would be happy living under a dictator?

No-one is saying that there aren't great opportunities available in America. But that is the case for many other countries too (e.g. lots of highly-paid positions in Hong Kong, Singapore etc). What about all the countries with lower unemployment rates and higher per capita GDP? And many other countries (e.g. in Europe) offer their residents quality university education that is far more affordable than in the U.S.

What are you saying here exactly, that quality of life measures have no validity across countries? There are many smart people especially university professors of psychology who are very interested in studying cultural differences and there has been a lot of interesting research. Hofstede's cultural dimensions is the obvious example here.


It's almost as if your thinking goes as follows:

"Yes, sure many of the above points in the list are important. In fact, I would use several when evaluating other countries. However, they don't confirm what I really want to believe. Accordingly, they can be dismissed."

More or less?

Thanks! Finally an answer! Yes, this one is arguably true. But what about Hong Kong, Singapore etc too?

Pity about the rest on the list though, right?

Also, all that nonsense about Obama's victory "showing the world how its done" according to some posters....

You might like to read about the 2005 elections in Bolivia. The indigenous people elected one of their own, a poor peasant (Evo Morales), somone who actually represented the majority will of the people.

Contrast this with Obama, who set a record for amount of money received from the finance sector (hedge fund, private equity donors etc). Hope and Change™ IMO.

Also read about what happened in Haiti in 1990.

Those bitches don't even have a Peace Prize USA #1.

Then explain why the most ambitious, successful people on the planet want to come here?

I have no desire to move to China, Britain, Norway or Canada. Pick any place on the planet, and I'd want to be in America over it. This isn't something that is up for debate, it's a slam dunk.

Edit : The US isn't simply an important country. It's isn't a superpower, or a hyperpower. It's easily, and I mean by far, the most powerful country in the history of human civilization. Think about that for a second - of all the empires in the history of the world, America surpasses all of them, and easily.

And America has the best healthcare, at least for those that can afford it. That's why the King of (middle East country) and the President of (American puppet state) are regular patients at my hospital, along with several other mega-wealthy and heads of state.

If we look at Olympic medals won per capita, USA isn't even in the top 40 countries in the world.

http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/reloly.html

And USA is nowhere near the top in sports like football, cricket, F1 .... which are all big sports in the world.


Also there was a studie made who are the happiest countries in the world (can't find it anywhere) and USA and Australia came on top. The main factor why they are the happiest was , that none of these countries had a war on their land for a very very long time.

When was the last time America has actually got it done? In the last 50 or so years every thing that America touched out of their land became a major failure sooner or later.