Global Rankings Study Depicts an America in Warp Speed Decline

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/global-rankings-study-depicts-america-warp-speed-decline

If America needed a reminder that it is fast becoming a second-rate nation, and that every economic policy of the Republican Party is wrongheaded, it got one this week with the release of the Social Progress Index (SPI).

Harvard business professor Michael E. Porter, who earlier developed the Global Competitiveness Report, designed the SPI. A new way to look at the success of countries, the SPI studies 132 nations and evaluates 54 social and environmental indicators for each country that matter to real people. Rather than measuring a country’s success by its per capita GDP, the index is based on an array of data reflecting suicide, ecosystem sustainability, property rights, access to healthcare and education, gender equality, attitudes toward immigrants and minorities, religious freedom, nutrition, infrastructure and more.

The index measures the livability of each country. People everywhere depend on and care about similar things. “We all need clean water. We all want to feel safe and live without fear. People everywhere want to get an education and improve their lives,” says Porter. But economic growth alone doesn’t guarantee these things.

While the U.S. enjoys the second highest per capita GDP of $45,336, it ranks in an underperforming 16th place overall. It gets worse. The U.S. ranks 70th in health, 69th in ecosystem sustainability, 39th in basic education, 34th in access to water and sanitation and 31st in personal safety.

[djean111]

1. "the U.S. enjoys the second highest per capita GDP of $45,336" = this is where the extreme

concentration of wealth make a difference - only the 1% get to enjoy that standing.

[Fred Sanders]

2. But easily number one in warmongering and military might, there is that.

[marmar]

3. k/r

[newfie11]

4. I totally agree

So much has changed in the last 50-60 years.
It was possible to live on a one earner salary, own a home, have a pension, go to the doctor without needing a loan.

I don't know if the mess we are in can ever be turned around. In the 60's the young folks were more attuned to politics ( thanks to the Vietnam war).
In today's world the cops are militarized, the economy has been stripped of wealth for all except the mega wealthy. Politicians are bought and paid for, ethics is out the window. Fox tv spews lies 24/7.
Will the young people revolt, stand up to what's happening, I don't think so.
It's easier to tune out. If something doesn't change God help this country.

[anneboleyn]

5. Yes. There is a new documentary on HBO about the working poor in this country.

I just watched it, and it was just heart breaking. The story focuses on a young (she turns thirty in the course of the documentary) single mother of three young children. She works full-time as a nurse's aide (she is not a nurse) at a home for the elderly, and she makes 9.49 cents an hour. Her job does not provide health insurance. Her struggles just to feed her children were heartbreaking and made me so angry. The absolute heartlessness in this country when it comes to the WORKING poor is appalling.

[JusticeForAll]

22. The young people did revolt

And got beaten by the militarized cops and had their parks shut down.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

31. Yep. And early 1,000 young--and old--were arrested at peaceful NC Moral Monday protests.

https://www.google.com/search?q=moral+mondays+arrests+north+carolina&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=fv9DU5LcN4TgsATvp4KwCA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&biw=1366&bih=673

The legislature goes back into session in May.

[newfie11]

36. I think the difference is the media

Yes Occupy was a great movement and it was reported but nothing like the 60's. This should have been all over the nightly news but aside of quick videos, the MSM reported little.
Remember Kent and the cops shooting/killing protesters. Cops were not nice then either. As has been said above the kids protesting knew they were going to be involved with Vietnam one way or another.
Most People now seem to accept what comes their way, pay little attention what's happening in this country.
I hope this will change as more money goes to the uber rich. Then again climate change may force change.

[Bandit]

49. Then along came a fellow by the name of Ronald Reagan

America then began it's steep nose dive.

[Enthusiast]

6. The nation took a severe nosedive with the fake election results of 2000.

[cantbeserious]

8. The Nation Took A Severe Turn With The Election Of Reagan

eom

[Enthusiast]

10. It did. True. But we muddled through.

I lived it. I was laid off after Reagan's victory in 1980.

Then, with Dubya's appointment, things went double secret crazy. And it has been that way ever since.

Too many coincidences—the fake election results of 2000, 911, the Iraq War lies, the fake election results in 2004 and the economic collapse.

[cantbeserious]

12. Reagan Was The Beginning Of A Decade Of Planning

By large corporations to extract maximum profit from the American people.

For reference, please see the book, Who Stole The American Dream.

[freebrew]

23. The BFEE started gaining(more) power through Reagan.

When the Silverado scandal took place, the BFEE found a way to steal and make the people pay for it. It's been going on ever since. The rich screw something up, the people pay through taxes(not the rich people anymore).

It's a new business model, the Nuclear industry discovered it, the plant built here in MO, had so many cost over-runs from trying to use scab labor. The cost rose ten-fold or more due to having to start over 3 times. Guess who pays?
When the dam broke at another facility run by the same corp., totally devastating a natural wonder of a park, they were fined $25M. Guess whose rates went up?

You got it. Ours. We are paying for our own destruction. Business complains about taxes, but they don't pay them, we do through the prices they charge and the loss of jobs.

[Adrahil]

13. It started with Reagan..

... the false philosophy of supply-side economics

[HughBeaumont]

16. The Reagan Administration, with the help of Donald Regan . . .

. . . lit an equator-long fuse to a 2008 mountain of economic dynamite (with smaller stacks exploding on the way). The Trickle-Down Bailout Laissez Fail King was the Pre-quel to future Bewsh flop-o-ramas. The wealthy got greenstacks, no criminal prosecution and we all got handed the bill.

[hatrack]

18. More than that - an entire world view based on magical thinking and wishing upon a star . . .

30 years later and what is the not-very-surprising outcome? "American exceptionalism" as the new ideological litmus test. Republicans are more sticky about it than Democrats, but it applies to candidates of both parties.

America is magic and special and always right!

America is immune to the rules of science!

America is the nation where the lessons of history don't apply!

America is a place where there are no problems that can't be solved with more guns, more Jesus and more tax cuts!

America is favored (alone among nations) by a putative vaporous Angry Sky Daddy who ordains and enforces all of the above, SO THERE!!!!

[erronis]

50. It wasn't the election of this or that president --

It was the concentration of power in the hands of a few.

Especially the media.

As long as the message could be controlled and manipulated, it really didn't matter what the 99% or the President wanted.

We're at that point where very few large media outlets have any real investigative reporting. It's mainly what Murdoch and other empires want to display.

I also fear that this last avenue of free speech (the internet) and interaction is being stolen from us. Tell your grandchildren that, once-upon-a-time, everyone around the world could talk to each other - openly. This is absolutely amazing and I'm glad to be alive to witness it, no matter how briefly.

Comrades - grab your bunks!

[cantbeserious]

7. An Empire In Decline - The Crumbling Decay Is Obvious For Those With Eyes To See

eom

[Demeter]

9. We don't even need to compare across borders

We can just compare across time.

[lobodons]

11. Thank You TPGOP

America's under performing self courtesy of TPGOP

[WillyT]

14. K & R !!!

[bemildred]

15. This is what you get when your government is incapable of governing.

And ours has spent the last 30 or 40 years doing it's best to be incapable.

[xchrom]

19. +1

[Peacetrain]

17. Pulling on protective gear and cooking pot on head before I post

What I am about to say will probably get me flamed back to the stone age..

But honestly I would be more than happy to be a second tier or rate nation.. if we could cut financial disparity.. guaranteed rights for all.. no messing around with voting abilities.. good schools for our kids, and guaranteed healthcare.. I would be happy to be a second tier nation..

BECAUSE:

Maybe then we would not have to feel like we had to police every other country in the world.. and we could act more as a united world against aggression rather than having to be the big brother to everyone who sits on their fannies and waits for us to take action

just call me second rate... okay flame away at the old Democrat..

[Jerry442]

21. No flame here.

If I'd been a younger man with fewer roots in this country, I'd have left after the 2000 (s)election, and I said so to friends at the time. When the Powers That Be feel comfortable in stealing elections in broad daylight, the probability of good outcomes goes right to zero.

[freebrew]

24. Same here...

I looked into other places, but I was too old or too poor.

[mountain grammy]

29. I was ready to go when Reagan was elected,

but with two kids and a drunk husband, no way. Four years later I was a poor single mom, but did manage to leave Texas and make it to Colorado, no doubt a better place. That said, I'm still ready to go and take my grandchildren with me.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. So did I

but I was already too old to be considered a desirable immigrant, and I didn't have one of the "shortage" occupations that will let you get around most countries' age standards for immigration.

[newfie11]

37. +1. Nt

[BelgianMadCow]

46. 1st tier = needing 3 planets

I'll setlle for intelligent 2nd tier immediately. What is planned for the 99% is below that, I'm afraid.

[tclambert]

53. I hear New Zealand is nice. They speak English.

It is a group of islands, though, so the biggest cities will be underwater in 100 years.

[awoke_in_2003]

57. from what I hear

christian fundamentalism is taking over there, too.

[awoke_in_2003]

56. WHY, I OUGHTA

agree wholeheartedly agree with you

[treestar]

71. I've thought that too

And that maybe we don't have health care due to military management of the planet.

[dotymed]

20. Will this study be allowed on MSM? eom

[grahamhgreen]

27. If it does they'll blame us Dems.

[Sentath]

38. Not with that name it won't

Those first two words utterly doom it in the US.

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. Bloomberg covered it

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/america-is-not-number-1-why-Zv8aEFlFTPCLhp1HD9A3RQ.html

that's close to MSM. And Reuters: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/new-zealand-ranked-first-social-environmental-progress

HuffPost, but not so mainstream: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/04/us-social-progress_n_5090303.html

[mountain grammy]

25. but the free market raises all yachts and Jesus loves America

or maybe that's just the rising ocean and a fairy tale. Stay tuned.

[jwirr]

26. This was no accident. The new world order requires nations to be subservient to corporations and

that is accomplished through trade agreements that weaken the power of any nation to protect itself from exploitation. Somewhere in the 1% they are celebrating the fall of the USA.

[polichick]

30. There's still one more piece to put in place...

The TPP

[jwirr]

32. Yes, and so far it looks like people are finally recognizing what these trade agreements are really

doing to the workers.

[polichick]

33. Creepy that the prez is making speeches about...

minimum wage while secretly negotiating this "trade agreement."

[jwirr]

34. It makes on wonder if he is not bi-polar.

[awoke_in_2003]

58. has to make sure

that his retirement is rich, and that his daughters can marry a rich banker, like Chelsea did

[The2ndWheel]

64. Government doesn't work if it isn't a monopoly

The problem any nation has is that the other nations are looking out for their own interests. They're subservient to corporations because so many corporations are global, and there are too many regional governments acting in their own local interests. One entity is in the 21st century, while the other is still somewhere in the 20th where borders and distance matter.

[jwirr]

72. I pity you in the 21st Century then because you are going to have no protection from environmental

problems and many other problems that your corporations perpetrate on the world. There is not other organization with the strength to fight the corporations. We will also not be able to keep out own commodities from being on the global market as we are seeing with oil. Nothing will belong to the country (we the people) - it will all belong to the corporations and they do not give a damn because they are artificial creations without concerns of any kind except the almighty dollar.

[Oakenshield]

68. Can we please avoid the phrase "new world order"?

I believe John Kerry used it once, but that's the favorite catchphrase of Alex Jones.

[jwirr]

69. It was originally George Bush Sr. phrase and as such it applies here.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. Link to the website (Alternet misspelled it):

http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/

[BelgianMadCow]

47. thank you muriel

I wanted to see how Belgium ranks, but had given up at the broken link.

On edit: Belgium is 17th overall, just after the US.

[fredamae]

35. Warp Speed Decline

Brought to us by the Finest Lawmakers Corporations have Hired--and where Partisan Politics disappears--if you study the votes and stop believing their words.

[bvar22]

39. It is a mistake to blame JUST The Republicans for this decline.

Free Trade, deregulation, and "Free Market" Economic Policies have been implemented by BOTH Parties since the Reagan Administration.
Unless and until the Democratic Party undergoes some kind of revival and return to the Working Class Friendly Economic Policies of FDR and LBJ, there will be NO turn around.

[xchrom]

41. +1

[bemildred]

48. +2. nt

[pragmatic_dem]

60. Giving Bill Gates and Arne Duncan an unequivocal Fuck You would

be a good first start.

But instead the US population collectively drops their pants to their ankles, hoping that by dutifully complying with their demands, maybe the rich will stop hurting us.

The ancient Maya had their sacrifices to rich and powerful gods, we have ours. History has already proven that it won't work out any better for us than it did for them.

[truedelphi]

61. Under Reagan, 8 cents out of every dollar of profit went to the

Biggest Banks. Under Obama's approved criminals, Paulson, Bernanke, and Geithner, that trio saw to it that 49 cents out of every dollar of profit go to the biggest banks.

Furthermore, Bernanke's policies basically doubled and then tripled the price of barrels of oil. But that didn't prevent Obama from re-appointing the guy.

Also, under Reagan, when the Savings and Loan crisis occurred, it as handled correctly. State chartered banks, approved by the state governments, came into being and/or were chartered for the purpose of receiving Federal government disposals of monies, with the stipulation that there had to be most of those monies going to Main Street.

That way we ended up with a somewhat stagnant economy for a while, but the economy did recover.

But the Geithner controlled recovery would not allow for any discussion of what actually worked to keep this nation a middle class nation. geithenr wanted massive Bailouts for the banks, and financial people, and that has saddled us with so much debt we will never see our way out of it.

We are in for a long painful Geithner L-shaped economic basin of despair. And Obama should have known better than to appoint Geithner, as people in Japan and Australian governmental officials knew that Geithner was about trillion dollar Bailouts for the One Percent and hardship and doom for everyone else.

But the whole reason we got offered Obama in 2008 was so that we would end up with Geithner. If the PTb wanted us to have a progressive, Kucinich would not have been stalled att he debates with such inane activity as being asked about his experiences with UFO's.

It also should strike anyone who hears the tale with a lot of curiosity - when '09 or '10, Geithner was in Europe visiting with foreign finance ministers there, he openly stated that "Obama works for me." And not once has anyone in the WH contradicted this statement.

[treestar]

73. No it is not

At all stages the Republicans have had some power, and that has affected legislation.

[Comrade Grumpy]

43. At least we're still number one in some things:

Prisoners

Military spending

[pragmatic_dem]

59. and probably the wealthiest legislative body, outside kingdoms of oil -nt

[MisterP]

44. of course that'll just be used as an excuse why we can't do anything about it

lower heinous school fees? "we can't, America's BROKE!" food stamps and Medicare? "we can't, America's BROKE!" regulate Wall Street "we can't, America's BROKE!" patch our rotting infrastructure? "we can't, America's BROKE!" invest in anything beside the military? "we can't, America's BROKE!"

change doesn't mean trying to recreate the 50s and 60s--we really can't go back

but we can't just be like Baby Jane, alternating between cowering helplessness and caterwauling how great and young we are

[LongTomH]

45. K&R for truth

[geretogo]

51. Knew that in 1980 right after Jellie bean Reagan took office .

[tclambert]

52. Let it never be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment

that was known as Camelot.

[pragmatic_dem]

54. spying apologists should pay attention to this...

In The World As It Is, Chris Hedges writes, “Our anemic democracy will be replaced with a robust national police state. The elite will withdraw into heavily guarded gated communities where they will have access to security, goods, and services that cannot be afforded by the rest of us. Tens of millions of people, brutally controlled, will live in perpetual poverty.”

The rich have spent 40 years redistributing wealth from from the middle class into their own pockets.

Our citizen surveillance programs are designed to make sure it stays that way.

We are at once becoming India and China, a corrupt Government stealing away opportunity and justice, lowering our wages, exploiting our weakness.

Meanwhile, even Democratic Leadership believes the answer is more corporate control over public policy.

So the USA slits its own throat, blindly accepting Patriot Act, Spying, Bribery, Corporate capture of government, a White House filled with an Army of investment bankers and corporate shills writing public policy for both political parties - lining pockets with our tax dollars.

They talk about increasing the retirement age, cutting social security, preserving tax breaks for the rich, while wages stagnate.

Fuck Bill Gates and all the asshole corporate shills in the White House and lobbying Congress!

And pouring gas on the fire, here comes the 3rd way. Jesus - anyone stupid enough to buy into that corporate clusterfuck deserves what they get.

The corporate baggers are no better than global warming deniers - unwilling to accept their own responsibility for the problems they are creating.

Either we start fighting back, or just get it over with and sell the naming rights to the Democratic Party to GE or Monsanto. Stop calling this right wing bullshit the "center".

[rickyhall]

55. But, but, but

Rat Pobertson says it it's all President Muslem's fault. Everything was wonderful before that.

Now how does that sarcasm sign work?

[broadcaster75201]

62. Welcome to TeaBag World brought to you by non-voting and Chris Christie Dems nt

nt

[bvar22]

63. Wasserman-Schultz Dems?

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the co-chair of the Democratic Red to Blue committee at that time, refused to endorse of campaign for the following 3 Democratic challengers for Republican seats:

Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Joe Garcia

Former Hialeah Democratic Mayor Raul Martinez

Democratic businesswoman Annette Taddeo

All three had won their local Democratic Primaries, and were challenging Hard Core Republican incumbents with whom Wasserman-Schultz had become cozy.
Not only did the head of the DCCC Red to Blue Program REFUSE to endorse these Democratic challengers,
but she appeared in person at at least one (possibly more) Campaign/Fundraiser for their Republican opponents.

FL-18, FL-21, FL-25: Wasserman Schultz Wants Dem Challengers to Lose
by: James L.
Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 7:15 PM EDT
<snip>

Sensing a shift in the political climate of the traditionally solid-GOP turf of the Miami area, Democrats have lined up three strong challengers -- Miami-Dade Democratic Party chair Joe Garcia, former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, and businesswoman Annette Taddeo to take on Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, respectively.

While there is an enormous sense of excitement and optimism surrounding these candidacies, some Democratic lawmakers, including Florida Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Kendrick Meek, are all too eager to kneecap these Democratic challengers right out of the starting gate in the spirit of "comity" and "bipartisan cooperation" with their Republican colleagues:

But as three Miami Democrats look to unseat three of her South Florida Republican colleagues, Wasserman Schultz is staying on the sidelines. So is Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat and loyal ally to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. [...]

This time around, Wasserman Schultz and Meek say their relationships with the Republican incumbents, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, leave them little choice but to sit out the three races.

"At the end of the day, we need a member who isn't going to pull any punches, who isn't going to be hesitant," Wasserman Schultz said.

Now, you'd expect this kind of bullshit from a backbencher like Alcee Hastings, but you wouldn't expect this kind of behavior from the co-chair of the DCCC's Red to Blue program, which is the position that Wasserman Schultz currently holds. Apparently, Debbie did not get Rahm's memo about doing whatever it takes to win:

The national party, enthusiastic about the three Democratic challengers, has not yet selected Red to Blue participants. But Wasserman Schultz has already told the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that if any of the three make the cut, another Democrat should be assigned to the race.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1537

The bloggers also are furious with Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-Fla.), who similarly refuses to endorse the Democratic challengers to the three Cuban American Republicans.

They are calling for Wasserman Schultz to step down from her leadership role at the DCCC. And they're not letting up, even after one Florida liberal blogger reported that the congresswoman seemed "frustrated" by the blogs and had asked to "please help get them off my back."

This prompted even harsher reaction from perhaps the most influential of the progressive political bloggers, Markos Moulitsas, a.k.a. Kos, founder of Daily Kos, who wrote on his blog Wednesday: "On so many fronts, the Republicans are standing in the way of progress, on Iraq, SCHIP, health care, fiscal responsibility, corruption, civil liberties, and so on. Those three south Florida Republicans are part of that problem. And she's (Wasserman-Schultz) going to be 'frustrated' that people demand she do her job?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/19/AR2008031903410_3.html

Here are Kos comments on the Wasserman-Schultz betrayal of the Democratic Party:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/03/20/480511/-DCCC-Says-Uproar-Over-DWS-Recusal-Much-Ado-About-Nothing



A lot of time has passed since 2008, but I don't take these kinds of betrayals lightly,
and don't forget them easily.

---bvar22
cursed with a memory


http://sync.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4478022

[Corruption Inc]

65. Yesterday there was link to Alternet that said white baby boomers are a big problem

because of their white privilege access to business schools and yet today's Alternet link is written by this white guy, a Harvard business school faculty member who's a baby boomer and now, according to Alternet, is an expert in the field who should be listened to because of his white, Harvard business school expertise:

http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6532

Do you see the conflicting messages here? I doubt it.

[Corruption Inc]

66. Here's the link and excerpt

http://www.alternet.org/media/8-things-mainstream-media-doesnt-have-courage-tell-you

"5. News Execs among White Male Boomers Who Owe Trillions to Society

The hype about the "self-made man" is fantasy. In the early 1970s, we privileged white males were spirited out of college to waiting jobs in management and finance, technology was inventing new ways for us to make money, tax rates were about to tumble, and visions of bonuses and capital gains danced in our heads."

[pragmatic_dem]

67. It would be one thing if he was saying something the immediate evidence and 40 years of

economic data disputed. But he isn't.

There is no problem with this. Even if this assessment is less than perfect, it still wouldn't matter much because the damage is clear for everyone to see with their own eyes and own wallets.

So, if you subscribe that a lilly white MBA can't be trusted because the truth is worse than what he is reporting (in the interest of protecting his entitled class)

then,

we are really fucked.

[Puzzledtraveller]

70. It's the Billionaires club

for which people with that kind of cash have no allegiance. They play both sides and we are the pawns. Washington is a puppet state who pays lip service while their palms get greased.