Seeing Red on the chart below signifies the worst of the worst. Gold is good. There are five categories in which the U.S. rates among the worst of the worst: income inequality, food insecurity, life expectancy at birth, prison population and math scores. The life expectancy at birth score may be misleading because some countries may not keep as thorough records of live births as the U.S. does, and I believe the definition of "live birth" is not straight-forward — that would be something to look into if so inclined. – Ilene
Courtesy of Michael Panzner of Financial Armageddon
I don’t necessarily agree with New York Times’ columnist Charles M. Blow’s underlying premise in "Empire at the End of Decadence" that now is not the time to "scrimp on nonsecurity discretionary spending."
Among other things, a great many of the decisions — spending and otherwise — that our leaders made before and after the financial crisis struck contributed to (and exacerbated) the fiscal mess we are in today.
That said, it’s hard to argue against his assertion that the United States is not what it was.
It’s time for us to stop lying to ourselves about this country.
America is great in many ways, but on a whole host of measures — some of which are shown in the accompanying chart — we have become the laggards of the industrialized world. Not only are we not No. 1 — “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” — we are among the worst of the worst.
Yet this reality and the urgency that it ushers in is too hard for many Americans to digest. They would prefer to continue to bathe in platitudes about America’s greatness, to view our eroding empire through the gauzy vapors of past grandeur.
In fact, a graphic accompanying Mr. Blow’s commentary makes it clear — to all but the most color-blind of observers — just how far down the economic, political, social, and geopolitical ladder we’ve fallen [highlighting mine].
Click on chart to enlarge.
