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Development: US fails to measure up on 'human index' (The Guardian's words, not mine.)
Click on over. Get a load of the Internet address of the article:
International Aid and Development! Wonder if we stand a chance of getting any aid? LOL
Seriously, maybe some countries who had the good sense to have universal healthcare years ago will take some of us in as political refugees, running from politically powerful people who, apparently, want us to die.
I wonder, will the Netherlands take me? New Zealand, maybe? Belgium?
In all seriousness, Peeps, this is damn sad. Why is universal healthcare not a national security issue? It sure as hell ought to be! I have long since given up on the D.C. politicians doing anything because it is the socially responsible, morally right thing to do. What I cannot understand is why people don't see this issue for what it really is as well, and includes the other two reasons: a matter of national security.
Never mind the threat of bio-terrorism, a real pandemic, not of man's making, could shake the economy as bad, if not worse than 9/11 did. Over 10 times the number of people killed on 9/11 die every year from the common flu in this country. I can think of quite a few potential disasters without the help of a terrorist and quite a few more that would qualify as terrorist attacks. My point is, is doesn't matter whether it's Al Qaeda or Hurricane Katrina, the H1N1 virus or a dozen or more people infected with Small Pox entering major airport hubs and taking public transportation in major cities, thus starting the dreaded Small Pox epidemic (if not worse) of the 21st century. The results on the economy, social fabric and, not only the most vulnerable in our society, but individuals from all walks of life and every socio-economic strata could be truly dreadful.
Our social institutions are in trouble for a number of reasons. Among those institutions are hospitals nationwide. As medical corporations that run hospitals attempt to keep profits up and costs down stuff is gonna happen. Under-staffing for one: Less nurses in the trauma centers and E.Rs could be a matter of life or death for "Joe, the Plumber," Lenny, the stock broker, and Glenn, the over-paid loud mouth. This is one part of the infrastructure that we all still share, in spite of what one might think after watching that show about a concierge physician. Talented, learned people are becoming fed up. I'm talking about R.N.s, young M.D.s, and the like, not MBAs.
Still, it is the CEOs and other corporate bosses who are raking in the dough to such obscene levels. I think that the people should refuse to pay for congressional insurance policies of any kind, nor should we pay for insurance for congressional staff. Either congress agrees to forgo their health insurance policies until Medicare is available to anyone who wants to buy into the plan or we will all refuse to pay taxes, period. When there is Medicare for all, we insist that all our public servants will have it as well.
As Buzzflash commented about this article: (this is not an exact quote), It seems that there are politicians, elected officials and, of course, the bottom-line sucking, corporate dingos who own many of our elected officials who want to "kill us with greed," among other things, I'm sure. Why, in the name of All, should we tolerate it?
Sad that we have to read this in a foreign news paper. Nevertheless, we thank, as always, our friends in many lands who help us see more clearly. The fog of war is thick over here.
·Nation slumps from 2nd to 12th in global table
·Richest fifth take home $168,000, poorest $11,000
·Richest fifth take home $168,000, poorest $11,000
Despite spending $230m (£115m) an hour on healthcare, Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed country. And while it has the second-highest income per head in the world, the United States ranks 42nd in terms of life expectancy.
These are some of the startling conclusions from a major new report which attempts to explain why the world's number-one economy has slipped to 12th place - from 2nd in 1990- in terms of human development.
The American Human Development Report, which applies rankings of health, education and income to the US, paints a surprising picture of a country that spends well over $5bn each day on healthcare - more per person than any other country.
The report, Measure of America, was funded by Oxfam America, the Conrad Hilton Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. It shows each of the 11 countries that rank higher than the US in human development has a lower per-capita income.
Those countries score better on the health and knowledge indices that make up the overall human development index (HDI), which is calculated each year by the United Nations Development Programme.
And each has achieved better outcomes in areas such as infant mortality and longevity, with less spending per head.
Japanese, for example, can expect to outlive Americans, on average, by more than four years. In fact, citizens of Israel, Greece, Singapore, Costa Rica, South Korea and every western European and Nordic country save one can expect to live longer than Americans.
There are also wider differences, the report shows. The average Asian woman, for example, lives for almost 89 years, while African-American women live until 76. For men of the same groups, the difference is 14 years.
One of the main problems faced by the US, says the report, is that one in six Americans, or about 47 million people, are not covered by health insurance and so have limited access to healthcare.
As a result, the US is ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in terms of infants surviving to age one. The US infant mortality rate is on a par with that of Croatia, Cuba, Estonia and Poland. If the US could match top-ranked Sweden, about 20,000 more American babies a year would live to their first birthday.
"Human development is concerned with what I take to be the basic development idea: namely, advancing the richness of human life, rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live, which is only a part of it," said the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, who developed the HDI in 1990.
"We get in this report ... an evaluation of what the limitations of human development are in the US but also ... how the relative place of America has been slipping in comparison with other countries over recent years."
The US has a higher percentage of children living in poverty than any of the world's richest countries.
In fact, the report shows that 15% of American children - 10.7 million - live in families with incomes of less than $1,500 per month.
It also reveals 14% of the population - some 40 million Americans - lack the literacy skills to perform simple, everyday tasks such as understanding newspaper articles and instruction manuals.
And while in much of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia, levels of enrolment of three and four-year-olds in pre-school are running at about 75%, in the US it is little more than 50%.
The report not only highlights the differences between the US and other countries, it also picks up on the huge discrepancies between states, the country's 436 congressional districts and between ethnic groups.
"The Measure of America reveals huge gaps among some groups in our country to access opportunity and reach their potential," said the report's co-author, Sarah Burd-Sharps. "Some Americans are living anywhere from 30 to 50 years behind others when it comes to issues we all care about: health, education and standard of living.
"For example, the state human development index shows that people in last-ranked Mississippi are living 30 years behind those in first-ranked Connecticut."
Inequality remains stark. The richest fifth of Americans earn on average $168,170 a year, almost 15 times the average of the lowest fifth, who make do with $11,352.
The US is far behind many other countries in the support given to working families, particularly in terms of family leave, sick leave and childcare. The country has no federally mandated maternity leave.
The US also ranks first among the 30 richest countries of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of the number of people in prison, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the total population.
It has 5% of the world's people but 24% of its prisoners.
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Let The Sun Shine In......
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