55th in women surviving childbirth, that is really bad. From 2010 to 2013, the mortality rate actually increased, as in a small number of countries. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.STA.MMRT
9
Costa Ricans take their children with them to vote. And over 90% of their citizens vote. Certainly an important marker in quality of life results.
31
The top countries have small and ethnically homogeneous populations, as well as an essential consensus among all political parties regarding the role of government and a large percentage of citizens in the middle class. It is amazing that the United States ranks as high as it does.
26
Excellent article Mr. Kristof but nothing new, sixty years ago we went from a nation conceived with a Protestant work ethic built by men such as Henry Ford and resting on a solid foundation with a gold backed dollar to the smoke and mirror economy of Milton Friedman and his trickle down economics led by a fed that perpetuates this race to the bottom for ninety plus percent of Americans to enrich their friends on wall street in a never ending cycle of government service at the fed to wall street riches and back again[Greenspan, Summers, Rubin] and guaranteed with a take over of our political system by the likes of McCain and McConnell [funded by Sheldon Adelson] ensuring a never ending war in the middle east to support Israel and most disturbingly the censorship of what is going on in the Ukraine and the connection with Israel in our backing and funding of a bunch of Russian oligarchs masquerading as scrappy little freedom fighters this last travesty was probably what landed us in 86th place for freedom of the press. I'm surprised we rank number sixteen or haven,t you seen the soup lines in all major American cities we need major changes, America has no friends left except the ones who use us.
14
None of the countries listed above the United States is a melting pot. None of these countries have open immigration policies - you could describe the current US policy a deaf to open borders.
14
And our brilliant Republican majority, who decries President Obama for not asserting our "exceptionalism," allows that alleged exceptionalism, a euphemism for arrogance and war powers, to be debased, our standards lowered to a Middle Ages ignorance. Pres. Obama is prudent not to brag about what we no longer enjoy thanks to compassionate conservatism, the Dubya and Cheneys that sublimate rational and progressive action. This defeat of excellence, not exceptionalism, will come back to haunt them at the polls in time. Some of them recognize it already. Their bitterness at Obama's electoral prowess is the pill that has poisoned and it could be fatal. Thank you, Mr. Kristof, for your usual measured insights.
24
In an earlier I comment I said this makes me want to move to Switzerland. I know Switzerland isn't in Scandinavia, but they still outrank us for quality of life.
4
Good luck getting in.
14
I wonder what price all the "Social Progress" winners would find their progress to be if they were threatened by another country and the US ignored their pleas for help. Finland at #7 is a perennial target of Russian expansion, Australia faces burgeoning Asian populations to its north that would love to have new space to move into, and Japan is uncomfortable next to China.
And many of these are low-population resource-rich countries, something that Social Progress doesn't measure.
And many of these are low-population resource-rich countries, something that Social Progress doesn't measure.
13
America succeeded brilliantly for a time because (1) we once had a frontier with boundless and varied resources to be exploited, especially farm land. This bounty supported our experiment in egalitarianism: (2) we had by and large a social philosophy built on individualism and the realistic Judeo-Christian understanding of the risks and responsibilities human beings with free will must face: (3) we were a nation that between 1812 and 1972 generally stood up for our democratic principles AND our national interests, and we won the wars in which we thereby became involved. In particular, we won WWII, which enabled us to sustain the American Dream as a prosperous industrial nation. Industry in Japan and Germany were bombed-out rubble while other nations unaccountably lapsed into smothering entrepreneurs in the crib with unionism and the worst socialistic tax policies imaginable.
All of which leaves us at (4), our stagnant America of today, with a rate of growth lagging behind several African nations. The left wing establishment elites (academia, mainstream journalists, federal technocrats, social liberals, and various entitlement and grievance-based constituencies) all have their patent explanations of this history and their pet policy solutions.
We on the right have our own opinions, which are radically different from the leftist versions in everything. If leftists truly listen to us and cease debating straw men or words they put in their mouths, it would be best for us all.
All of which leaves us at (4), our stagnant America of today, with a rate of growth lagging behind several African nations. The left wing establishment elites (academia, mainstream journalists, federal technocrats, social liberals, and various entitlement and grievance-based constituencies) all have their patent explanations of this history and their pet policy solutions.
We on the right have our own opinions, which are radically different from the leftist versions in everything. If leftists truly listen to us and cease debating straw men or words they put in their mouths, it would be best for us all.
8
I love this, it is so pro Euro it is not even funny. Forget about free-riding on military expenses and such. However, where the heck is Singapore? Guess what, from the creator's website, they "do not have data" for the Singapore, mind you the most technologically advanced country in the world obsessed with data crunching:
http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi/findings
Please do not let ideology cloud your brains, go and visit Norway for example. I have and I do not want to pay $10 for bottle of soda and when the oil prices will fall further what will happen to Norway's revenues? In fact, Norway's wealth fund is heavily invested into the US private equity so we are actually subsidizing them. I love Switzerland, however one may ask whether the economic model of hiding world's criminal wealth is sustainable in a long run. The point is - you want security and no uncertainty then prepare to pay very high prices for everything, do not expect the tab to be picked up by others.
http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/data/spi/findings
Please do not let ideology cloud your brains, go and visit Norway for example. I have and I do not want to pay $10 for bottle of soda and when the oil prices will fall further what will happen to Norway's revenues? In fact, Norway's wealth fund is heavily invested into the US private equity so we are actually subsidizing them. I love Switzerland, however one may ask whether the economic model of hiding world's criminal wealth is sustainable in a long run. The point is - you want security and no uncertainty then prepare to pay very high prices for everything, do not expect the tab to be picked up by others.
9
I'm a Canadian living in Uruguay, and it's true. This is a polite, generally happy, family-oriented society with many social privileges guarded by the government. It's safe here, education is universal, the countryside and weather bucolic, and taxes on anything to do with vehicles way too high, including the highest price-per-gallon of any country in the world: more than USD 7. But, it's worth it. It's a warm, safe society. The USA and Argentina on the other hand, are undeclared war zones, their governments run either by thieves and a middle class that is culturally self-centered, or by a populous with a indigenous mindset that makes change impossible. Uruguay tolerates its arrogant neighbor; Canada does likewise with the USA.
26
"Perhaps would should worry less about reigning in the top 1% and more about helping the bottom 20 percent?" Nick, since more of the growth and income in our economy has been siphoned off by the 1% in the last few decades, it's definitely time to start the flow back the other way. The economy can only grow so fast, this is more or less a zero sum game. The economy can't grow fast enough to keep the current system in which a small percentage of owners of capital production and corporate/pop culture/finance stars continue to get the same share of the spoils, and expect the rest of us to see improving wages and asset growth. There has to redistribution, and a new system to build capital ownership among average Americans.
14
Perhaps there should be a period rather than a question mark at the end of the headline "Enjoying the Low Life?" for Kristof's interesting column. Why?
Many middle and working-class Americans evidently are enjoying the low life here in the United States and are against fixing what is broken in our society, since they choose to believe Fox News and vote for the Republicans, who are against spending money to fix our crumbling infrastructure, think it is fine to take away the ACA from people who previously went without health insurance, and are trying to eliminate Social Security and Medicare for older adults.
Is this what American exceptionalism means? That people in the richest country in the world--which cannot compete when it comes to quality of life with many other developed nations--vote for those politicians who stand firmly (1) against addressing our nation's problems with taxpayer dollars, and (2) are bent elevating the already wealthy while wrecking and downgrading life for most people in our society?
Seriously, maybe these Americans voting against improving our quality of life don't even know what is possible, because they haven't traveled to other countries. Only 36% of Americans have valid passports; 64% do not.
Many middle and working-class Americans evidently are enjoying the low life here in the United States and are against fixing what is broken in our society, since they choose to believe Fox News and vote for the Republicans, who are against spending money to fix our crumbling infrastructure, think it is fine to take away the ACA from people who previously went without health insurance, and are trying to eliminate Social Security and Medicare for older adults.
Is this what American exceptionalism means? That people in the richest country in the world--which cannot compete when it comes to quality of life with many other developed nations--vote for those politicians who stand firmly (1) against addressing our nation's problems with taxpayer dollars, and (2) are bent elevating the already wealthy while wrecking and downgrading life for most people in our society?
Seriously, maybe these Americans voting against improving our quality of life don't even know what is possible, because they haven't traveled to other countries. Only 36% of Americans have valid passports; 64% do not.
27
Half of me thinks I should move to Norway or Switzerland. But with Seasonal Affective Disorder, Scandinavia's too far north and out of the question. How do we improve the US on some of these things?
8
Re: "Enjoying the Low Life?" Op-Ed column, by Nicholas Kristof, April 9, 2015.
Trevor Noah, the South African comic, who will replace Jon Stewart, shortly,
at Comedy Central, joked the other day that Americans have no interest in what's happening abroad, and the crowd didn't feel offended. I wanted them to. I wanted it to think it hurting to have a foreigner rubbing it into them. I wondered if the crowd would have been proud to hear that Americans lead in knowledge of the world. Probably, not. The reason is: Most Americans seem to be disengaged from local, state, and national affairs.
Sometimes, I doubt if young people today have any thoughts at all about the decades ahead of them. The root of this complacency seems to be a belief resulting from the brainwashing about the greatness of America
they have been subjected to from day one. Another reason, pointed out long ago by sociologist Christopher Lash, in "The Culture of Narcissism," a bugbear that seems so pervasive today. Revolutions in electronic and computer technology only perpetuate it.
Narcissism, a vice promoted by families and even teachers, from childhood on, leads to the notion that things of the mind are just for nerds, and that the ideal life is a succession of pleasures of the senses: watching, hearing, and physical experiences.
Not too long ago, a freshman told me that I must get my head examined for wanting to teach a crappy novella like Franz Kafka's immortal classic, "The Metamorphosis."
Trevor Noah, the South African comic, who will replace Jon Stewart, shortly,
at Comedy Central, joked the other day that Americans have no interest in what's happening abroad, and the crowd didn't feel offended. I wanted them to. I wanted it to think it hurting to have a foreigner rubbing it into them. I wondered if the crowd would have been proud to hear that Americans lead in knowledge of the world. Probably, not. The reason is: Most Americans seem to be disengaged from local, state, and national affairs.
Sometimes, I doubt if young people today have any thoughts at all about the decades ahead of them. The root of this complacency seems to be a belief resulting from the brainwashing about the greatness of America
they have been subjected to from day one. Another reason, pointed out long ago by sociologist Christopher Lash, in "The Culture of Narcissism," a bugbear that seems so pervasive today. Revolutions in electronic and computer technology only perpetuate it.
Narcissism, a vice promoted by families and even teachers, from childhood on, leads to the notion that things of the mind are just for nerds, and that the ideal life is a succession of pleasures of the senses: watching, hearing, and physical experiences.
Not too long ago, a freshman told me that I must get my head examined for wanting to teach a crappy novella like Franz Kafka's immortal classic, "The Metamorphosis."
20
Cheer up. America is still very exceptional.
America is #1 in mass incarceration with 25% of the world's prisoners.
And America is # 5 or # 6 in executions behind China, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
The challenging question that racial ethnic sectarian colored heterogenous diversity in the likes of America, India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brazil presents to thriving civil secular plural egalitarian democratic republics is the historical socioeconomic political educational mystery.
Autocrats, tyrants, dictators and homogenous population nation states do not have to address this problem.
America is #1 in mass incarceration with 25% of the world's prisoners.
And America is # 5 or # 6 in executions behind China, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
The challenging question that racial ethnic sectarian colored heterogenous diversity in the likes of America, India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brazil presents to thriving civil secular plural egalitarian democratic republics is the historical socioeconomic political educational mystery.
Autocrats, tyrants, dictators and homogenous population nation states do not have to address this problem.
9
Let's look at two items in Kristof's op-ed:
"Michael E. Porter, the Harvard Business School professor who helped devise the Social Progress Index, says that it’s important to have conventional economic measures such as G.D.P. growth. But social progress is also a critical measure, he notes, of how a country is serving its people."
...
"On the other hand, one way to finance empowerment programs is to raise taxes on tycoons. And when there is tremendous inequality, the wealthy create private alternatives to public goods — private schools, private security forces, gated communities — that lead to disinvestment in public goods vital to the needy."
If you want to find the reason why the U.S. ranks so low, simply understand that one of our major political parties believes that the government should NOT serve its people, and that everything should be privatized because the free market is all we need to make everyone happy and prosperous. And it will do and say anything to advance its ideology.
"Michael E. Porter, the Harvard Business School professor who helped devise the Social Progress Index, says that it’s important to have conventional economic measures such as G.D.P. growth. But social progress is also a critical measure, he notes, of how a country is serving its people."
...
"On the other hand, one way to finance empowerment programs is to raise taxes on tycoons. And when there is tremendous inequality, the wealthy create private alternatives to public goods — private schools, private security forces, gated communities — that lead to disinvestment in public goods vital to the needy."
If you want to find the reason why the U.S. ranks so low, simply understand that one of our major political parties believes that the government should NOT serve its people, and that everything should be privatized because the free market is all we need to make everyone happy and prosperous. And it will do and say anything to advance its ideology.
26
All of the countries ahead of us spend almost nothing on the military. Either the U.S. is spending too much or they're spending too little, or both. The fact is, if we were not the world's policeman, and also caught in the clutches of the military-industrial complex, we could spend a heckuva lot more money on other things. These other countries do just that.
21
With the exception of Japan, just ahead of US at # 15, all are European (I'm including Australia and New Zealand here), predominantly white and Protestant. Virtually all are now facing the kinds of immigration by "others" that we experienced decades, even centuries, ago. Do we really lag? Or are the others not yet catching up to a more pluralistic society?
14
The Social Progress Imperative, which publishes the Social Progress Index, engages in mathematical masturbation from a European socialist viewpoint. If the United States doesn't score well on the SPI scale, then that's a good thing, because despite the efforts of Dear Leader and his Democrat minions, the United States is STILL not a socialist republic. Nor will it be, as long as people can think and act for themselves. You are free to succeed or fail in the United States. It's not society's responsibility - it's yours. Kristof, as usual, doesn't understand that, which is why he mistakenly tries to hold the US accountable to the SPI.
4
"As an American, what saddens me is also that our political system seems unable to rise to the challenges."
Me too. I think it's because the governance of the Republic was designed to be the business of educated and enlightened people. Mobs rarely rise other than in rioting and mindless plunder,
Me too. I think it's because the governance of the Republic was designed to be the business of educated and enlightened people. Mobs rarely rise other than in rioting and mindless plunder,
11
Well we are the number one nation in the top 16 based on population. The only nation contending with the U.S. based on population is Japan at 128 million people. 11 of the top 15 nations have smaller populations than the New York metro region.
The 321 million people that call the U.S. home are a diverse and unruly lot. We are much more diverse and potentially divergent than the populations of the top 15 with, perhaps, the exception of Australia.
Perhaps that is a contributing factor to the Social Progress Index - herding cats is a tough business, especially when the herd is huge.
The 321 million people that call the U.S. home are a diverse and unruly lot. We are much more diverse and potentially divergent than the populations of the top 15 with, perhaps, the exception of Australia.
Perhaps that is a contributing factor to the Social Progress Index - herding cats is a tough business, especially when the herd is huge.
12
I end my comment silence because I have at least 3 years of experience as an American from New England (Sweden in America) living in the real Sweden. I have filed many comments in 3 y in 3 areas: Renewable Energy, the USCensus Bureau "race" classification system, and Universal Health Care. In these comments I simply point to something done well in Sweden (and often in northern Europe) that could be done in the USA.
A collection of the replies would document the fundamental problem that Kristof points to. Commenters demonstrate that they know nothing about Sweden and then tell me not to file any more comments because the US can learn nothing from learning about Sweden.
I could fill an OpEd with exact examples to illustrate each point Kristof makes.
I offer one: Sweden is always in the top 3 best in world as concerns pre, peri, post natal mortality. The US is far down that list. Almost certainly the essential reason for this fine record is that every pregnant woman enters the maternal care system at around gestational week 12. The Universal Health Care system then provides the same basic level of care for all. After delivery the parents have paid parental leave (divided between them).
The most laughable replies to that story are those telling me that the Swedish population is all white and that the bad record in the US is because people of the black "race" (American terminology) do badly. Wrong!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
A collection of the replies would document the fundamental problem that Kristof points to. Commenters demonstrate that they know nothing about Sweden and then tell me not to file any more comments because the US can learn nothing from learning about Sweden.
I could fill an OpEd with exact examples to illustrate each point Kristof makes.
I offer one: Sweden is always in the top 3 best in world as concerns pre, peri, post natal mortality. The US is far down that list. Almost certainly the essential reason for this fine record is that every pregnant woman enters the maternal care system at around gestational week 12. The Universal Health Care system then provides the same basic level of care for all. After delivery the parents have paid parental leave (divided between them).
The most laughable replies to that story are those telling me that the Swedish population is all white and that the bad record in the US is because people of the black "race" (American terminology) do badly. Wrong!
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
34
Very accurate depiction of current life in US. However, I would add that the political gridlock is largely produced by redistricting. Gerrymandering has greatly reduced our ability to have our voices matter with regard to issues that matter most. Undoing gerrymandering would enable us to move toward representatives who would hopefully better represent those that they serve.
Finally, many of us are not "frozen" or "passive" by choice. Many of us who are not in the 1% are working staggering numbers of hours to afford our homes, health insurance, retirement, college for our children. Life is indeed grim. I occasionally visit European nations for work and am always impressed by their higher quality of life.
Finally, many of us are not "frozen" or "passive" by choice. Many of us who are not in the 1% are working staggering numbers of hours to afford our homes, health insurance, retirement, college for our children. Life is indeed grim. I occasionally visit European nations for work and am always impressed by their higher quality of life.
25
Quality of life is intricately linked to the economy, of course, but the dishonesty and greed now evident in this country's economic and political machinery since Reagan has basically ruined the promise and hard work of the post WWII era. Three things come to mind:
1. Wages have stagnated in real buying power since 1980. The "World is Flat" phenomena has priced millions of American workers out of decent jobs.
2. The annual defense budget is now more than 10 times what it was during the early Clinton years (1993-94).
3. Modern financial instruments (derivatives, credit default swaps, packaging of mortgage securities with toxic assets) after 2000 were the primary cause of a wealth drop of $3 Trillion, felt most acutely by those with mortgages.
The powerful in this country have never addressed these three issues, nor do they have any desire to. That said, no amount of comparing to European countries will change the downward arc of this country, until there are enough politicians elected who care about their people.
1. Wages have stagnated in real buying power since 1980. The "World is Flat" phenomena has priced millions of American workers out of decent jobs.
2. The annual defense budget is now more than 10 times what it was during the early Clinton years (1993-94).
3. Modern financial instruments (derivatives, credit default swaps, packaging of mortgage securities with toxic assets) after 2000 were the primary cause of a wealth drop of $3 Trillion, felt most acutely by those with mortgages.
The powerful in this country have never addressed these three issues, nor do they have any desire to. That said, no amount of comparing to European countries will change the downward arc of this country, until there are enough politicians elected who care about their people.
14
The history is that the US has become poorer and the rich are unwilling to share their increased wealth with those worse off than themselves. In this context paying more taxes for the privilege of living in a safe country is "sharing"
8
16th isn't all that terrible considering the high quality of the nations in 1-15. How big of a gap is there between us and the top 15 and who falls behind us? And who cares about cell phone use as a measure of quality of life - maybe we have better land lines. The high crime, infant mortality, and women dying in pregnancy is indeed a scourge on society, and means that we must do incredibly well in other areas to even get the 16 ranking. Social progress inequality - part of an American tradition.
2
Is there a boring index? Most of the top ranking countries are quite homogenous and not very large countries. They are safe, well-run, up to date, well organized mostly racially white, without much diversity of race or opinion. I enjoy visiting those countries, the people are nice, the trains run on time, the restrooms are clean, everyone is taken care of from cradle to grave. There is a cultural and racial uniformity and a consensus of how a country is supposed to be run, that is impossible to ever achieve in the USA, with the melting pot diversity of languages, cultures and heritages that make up our country. With diversity comes problems and disagreements and lack of consensus on how to solve problems. But with diversity we gain dynamism, cross-cultural fertilization and both higher highs and lower lows. Switzerland is lovely, I know, I lived there for several years, it's practically perfect in every way, everything is groomed, scrubbed clean, well ordered and predictable. And boring, boring boring. Nice to visit, but save me from it's perfection.
5
The model of a melting pot of diversity is a Canadian city - Toronto. By some measures the most diverse city in the world. We are not culturally nor racially uniform. Oh, and Canada isn't a "not very large" country. Higher education is affordable and, of course, we have universal health care.
6
"As an American, what saddens me is also that our political system seems unable to rise to the challenges."
What should sadden you, Mr. Kristof, is that we are a provincial people protecting our ignorance by that outmoded concept, "American Exceptionalism."
Our political system is broken because "We the people..." have never really grown out of our perpetual adolescence; we can't really take care of ourselves and our fellow citizens because we have yet to become responsible adults and look at the long term picture.
What should sadden you, Mr. Kristof, is that we are a provincial people protecting our ignorance by that outmoded concept, "American Exceptionalism."
Our political system is broken because "We the people..." have never really grown out of our perpetual adolescence; we can't really take care of ourselves and our fellow citizens because we have yet to become responsible adults and look at the long term picture.
14
One way to fix the problem is to find out who the Koch brothers are giving money to and vote for the opposing candidate.
21
Norway is a great nation and they are also not in debt as much as the US. Then if you look at our political picture in America everyone is trying to one up each other instead of doing what is right for the country. That is why America is falling and will continue to fall further and further behind in the world. Then people need to quit blaming just the Republicans it is has been both Democrats and Republicans that have brought America to a standstill and making America look worse and worse by the day. Wake up Americans change the culture and you will see great things happen.
6
Our political system isn't unable to rise to the challenges; it's unwilling to do so, and the U.S. electorate seems willing not only to accept the status quo but also to pretend that it's superior.
16
The current barbarization began with the election of Ronald Reagan and proceeds apace. I see no evidence of it ending or even slowing down!
20
Congratulations republicans, you wanted to take our country back and you have, back to the 1800s. You support wars and are willing to fund them, but you never fought in one and you don't want YOUR children to either and god help those returning veterans who you so fervently support when they come home and actually need medical care or something. You did your part, you wear a flag pin in your lapel, you had more important things to do than fight a war as chicken hawk Dick Cheney told us.
You agonize over the national debt and deficit and how this will hurt your grandchildren but you don't seem to care about the ruined planet you're leaving them because you refuse to face the truth about climate change. Money is cheap right now, we virtually give it to the banks for free so they can turn around and lend it at a profit. This is the time we should be spending it to improve our infrastructure instead of spending it in the Middle East. Let those people sort out their own problems, they've had thousands of years to do it so I doubt we can add anything to the solution.
I know you hate to hear it, but there are some things that only the government is big enough and has money enough to do, like bail out an entire auto industry. You didn't want to do that either and just think about what that would have been like. Those other fifteen countries are ahead of us on this index because their governments are a positive force for actually helping their countries and their citizens.
You agonize over the national debt and deficit and how this will hurt your grandchildren but you don't seem to care about the ruined planet you're leaving them because you refuse to face the truth about climate change. Money is cheap right now, we virtually give it to the banks for free so they can turn around and lend it at a profit. This is the time we should be spending it to improve our infrastructure instead of spending it in the Middle East. Let those people sort out their own problems, they've had thousands of years to do it so I doubt we can add anything to the solution.
I know you hate to hear it, but there are some things that only the government is big enough and has money enough to do, like bail out an entire auto industry. You didn't want to do that either and just think about what that would have been like. Those other fifteen countries are ahead of us on this index because their governments are a positive force for actually helping their countries and their citizens.
22
My goodness when is enough enough? In today's world 783 million people do not have access to clean water, 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. Today, nearly 17% of the world’s adult population is still not literate; two thirds of them women, making gender equality even harder to achieve. The scale of illiteracy among youth also represents an enormous challenge; an estimated 122 million youth globally are illiterate, of which young women represent 60.7%. Put down your Starbucks latte and thank whom ever you want that you live in the greatest country in the world. When will people realize how great America really is?
4
Who is this "we" you are talking about? What happened to any sense of "we" as a people? "We" are the land of individualism where everyone goes his own way and encounters his own challenges alone.
Once upon a time, we had a sense of community and, as social and medical research shows, social support is a critical piece of happiness and well-being.
However, it has a fatal flaw. It does not have a dollar value. If you can't sell it, what good is it?
Sorry, our system is working just fine for those with the most money. The rest are just peons, of no importance. Who cares if "we" die early?
Once upon a time, we had a sense of community and, as social and medical research shows, social support is a critical piece of happiness and well-being.
However, it has a fatal flaw. It does not have a dollar value. If you can't sell it, what good is it?
Sorry, our system is working just fine for those with the most money. The rest are just peons, of no importance. Who cares if "we" die early?
15
The countries ahead of us on this list all have something in common. They accept that government must play an active role in improving education and health care and ameliorating poverty and other social problems. What do we have? A major political party, the one that happens to control the legislative and judicial branches at the federal level and all three in many states whose guiding principle is, in the immortal words of their patron saint Ronald Reagan, "Government is not the solution to our problems, government IS the problem." If you believe the "free market" or plain old wishful thinking will make problems like child mortality, teen pregnancy, insanely expensive health care, gun violence, and lousy schools go away, you probably vote for these people. If not, you're reduced to reading columns like this and thinking maybe it's time to move.
17
RE: "Perhaps we should worry less about reining in the top 1 percent and more about helping the bottom 20 percent?"
It would be almost impossible to help the bottom 20 percent without reining in the top 1 percent - for the obvious reason that top 1% have the resources that need to be shared.
And also, the top 1% control the political agenda with their PAC money - witness Republicans kissing Adelson's ring to get contributions. "Public" policy is what the private wealthy contributors want it to be. As the share of the economy going to the 1% increases, inequality will become increasingly locked-in, because there will be an increasingly powerful group of citizens who will be able to promote their agenda at the expense of everyone else.
And studies show that even poor people who win the lottery become conservative once they are rich, and idealistic silicon valley engineers are for 100% inheritance taxes - until they acquire great wealth.
Maybe Kristof should rethink his knee-jerk oppostion to unions...
It would be almost impossible to help the bottom 20 percent without reining in the top 1 percent - for the obvious reason that top 1% have the resources that need to be shared.
And also, the top 1% control the political agenda with their PAC money - witness Republicans kissing Adelson's ring to get contributions. "Public" policy is what the private wealthy contributors want it to be. As the share of the economy going to the 1% increases, inequality will become increasingly locked-in, because there will be an increasingly powerful group of citizens who will be able to promote their agenda at the expense of everyone else.
And studies show that even poor people who win the lottery become conservative once they are rich, and idealistic silicon valley engineers are for 100% inheritance taxes - until they acquire great wealth.
Maybe Kristof should rethink his knee-jerk oppostion to unions...
5
Psychometricians know that "rank order" measures are one of the weakest since they often do not include validated scales or indicate how close (or far apart) ranked groups are. While the rankings seem impressive, it may be that the difference between "1" and "10" is within the margin or error. There are many areas where the United States can improve and is improving as in access to affordable health care which may, after The Affordable Health Care Act becomes fully implemented, change maternal and infant mortality. There are others where the separate index may point to an area in need of attention like access to quality higher education (free, but highly restricted in Canada and Europe). So, let's stop feeling so "low" and not get "rank"eled by weak measures and start focusing on the important quality-of-life issues.
1
I do not understand the claim that higher education is highly restricted or free in Canada. It is neither free nor restricted as far as I know. Last I looked it much less expensive, about $5k per year. Last I looked Canadians had the highest percentage of post secondary grads in the world. The only restriction might be in prestige and possibly associated quality. The US has A through F quality universities while almost all Canadian ones would rank Bs and Cs with a few world highly ranked universities like U of T. The only restriction at U of T is how good your marks are, I know my son attends there..
Thank you Nicholas Kristof, on your gut-grinding portrait of Barack Obama’s America. America is a hungry infant, wailing in his mother’s arms! While that mother fiddles his precious time away taking ridiculous selfies of himself. I find that a perfect metaphor for our once great nation. Thanks again, Mr. Kristof. The only hope I have left for our country is that we still have a sage journalist like you not afraid to spill it all out.
1
There are serious problems with these large scale comparisons of vastly different nations. It's like comparing the Ferrari to a Mazda Miata. But if you look at the list of the top 16 nations you see several similarities among the top 9 nations. They are small in land mass and population. They have little diversity...they are homogenous peoples. There is a single culture with one predominant language (Canada is an exception vis a vis language and culture) and norms that are imbedded for all who live there. The US is a very diverse nation with many cultures, languages, and norms. And yet for all its "faults" assigned to it by the liberals who read the NYT, it seems people from all over the world are willing to risk everything to come here...most of them illegally. So if things are so terrible here, you can always emigrate to Iceland...goodbye and good luck and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
5
It may be you are correct the US is just fine, nobody out performs you, it just as the saying goes there are lies and statistics.
Which is the greater folly – Kristof’s conclusions or taking the report seriously in the first place? Kristof’s basic premise – we are not well rated therefore we have to increase taxes - uses the example of our education system. We already spend more per pupil than any other nation in the world. The problem is not taxation; it is layers of government regulation and union chokeholds against reform.
The other gross failing of studies like this (created to prop up European governments, not to measure anything meaningful) is a mixture of irrelevant pseudo-statistics and incomplete and incompatible data. Let’s look at “87th in cell phone use”. Does anyone – even the NYT – truly believe we have a shortage of cell phone usage in this country? We have mobile subscriptions for 96% of the population. Why do other countries have more? Perhaps it is because we have a high functioning land line system compared to say Kazakhstan and it 180% mobile subscription level. Yet, this irrelevant data lowers the US score on Access to Information.
As for incomplete data, let’s look at infant mortality rates. The US counts all infant mortality while supposedly superior countries like Canada, Germany, and Japan simply refuse to include births below a certain weight or call any infant death in the first 24 hours “still born”. It requires a certain mentality to buy into the nonsense reported by this report. Fortunately, most Americans are above that level.
The other gross failing of studies like this (created to prop up European governments, not to measure anything meaningful) is a mixture of irrelevant pseudo-statistics and incomplete and incompatible data. Let’s look at “87th in cell phone use”. Does anyone – even the NYT – truly believe we have a shortage of cell phone usage in this country? We have mobile subscriptions for 96% of the population. Why do other countries have more? Perhaps it is because we have a high functioning land line system compared to say Kazakhstan and it 180% mobile subscription level. Yet, this irrelevant data lowers the US score on Access to Information.
As for incomplete data, let’s look at infant mortality rates. The US counts all infant mortality while supposedly superior countries like Canada, Germany, and Japan simply refuse to include births below a certain weight or call any infant death in the first 24 hours “still born”. It requires a certain mentality to buy into the nonsense reported by this report. Fortunately, most Americans are above that level.
5
I wonder if there is some sort of version of this poll that the 'Take Country Back' crowd would be more interested in. You know, indexed on issues close o them such as business friendliness, premarital sex abstinence, global warming denial, Koch brother sponsored politicians, etc.
9
The US is in decline. Period.
9
Little progress can be made when, to many Americans afflicted by our disparities, merely uttering these raw truths is considered "unAmerican".
14
The Republicans appear to believe that being 16th overall is ridiculously wasteful of resources on hoi polloi; that we should be No. 1 in the wealth of the top 0.1% and working class poverty; and not in the top 100 in stupid, bleeding heart measurements such as "The Social Progress Index."
Of course, it doesn't help that so many of the working class and middle class vote against their own economic interests by large enough percentages to make a contest out of what should be a rout against Republicans. And of course, it doesn't help that the ignorance and irrationality of religious zealotry is one of the major causes of the working and middle classes voting for Republicans in the numbers they do. The general trend of the rich getting richer as a result of r>g (see Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century), and thereby wielding more power to hammer the working and middle classes with right wing propaganda doesn't help either.
More and more of the working and middle classes waking up to the above would be helpful, but the only thing that might wake them up is being between Chad and Afghanistan in the ranking. By then, it will be too late.
Of course, it doesn't help that so many of the working class and middle class vote against their own economic interests by large enough percentages to make a contest out of what should be a rout against Republicans. And of course, it doesn't help that the ignorance and irrationality of religious zealotry is one of the major causes of the working and middle classes voting for Republicans in the numbers they do. The general trend of the rich getting richer as a result of r>g (see Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century), and thereby wielding more power to hammer the working and middle classes with right wing propaganda doesn't help either.
More and more of the working and middle classes waking up to the above would be helpful, but the only thing that might wake them up is being between Chad and Afghanistan in the ranking. By then, it will be too late.
7
This country has inequality baked in from the very beginning. We enjoyed a brief run of exceptionalism due to accidents of geography and world history. Now it's over. Let's not worry about some arbitrary "ranking" system where apples are compared to oranges. Let's ask ourselves what kind of world we want to live in and leave to our descendants.
7
“Professor Porter and his number-crunchers found only a mild correlation between economic equality (measured by Gini coefficient) and social progress. What mattered much more was poverty.”
I find this section interesting, especially in light of the recent discussion in the Opinion section on the nature of poverty where the case was made that poverty was not absolute, but relational: poverty is living below the median income. This section seems to suggest that that definition is not adequate to a proper understanding of the relation of poverty to well-being.
I find this section interesting, especially in light of the recent discussion in the Opinion section on the nature of poverty where the case was made that poverty was not absolute, but relational: poverty is living below the median income. This section seems to suggest that that definition is not adequate to a proper understanding of the relation of poverty to well-being.
2
I don't think that America has ever been about assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens, just an extraordinary one for the lucky few. America has historically been exceptionally good at war and military incursions except even that now escapes us. We failed in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan are a mess and we can't figure out how to contain factions like the ISIS. We stink at "democracy building" while we watch our own crumble and vote those into office that will speed its demise. We are a failing empire.
4
This article makes me sad, but it doesn't surprise me in the least. If I posted this on my FB page very few of my friends would take the time to read it. On the other hand, if I post something about Beyonce or some trashy reality TV show, or some other trivial piece of fluff news it would probably be read. Very few American citizens are interested in relevant news. So, we get what we deserve I guess.
14
Has anyone else noted that the top nations are more or less homogeneous in their demographics? Not a small thing.
7
Well, at least we're not Greece.
"We can send people to space and turn watches into computers,".... well, actually not anymore.
Not since we decided that government is the problem, and helping our less fortunate citizens is socialism or worse, and prisons and wars and guns are growth industries, and taxes are stealing, and......
We, I am sure, do lead the world in the number of billionaires.
"We can send people to space and turn watches into computers,".... well, actually not anymore.
Not since we decided that government is the problem, and helping our less fortunate citizens is socialism or worse, and prisons and wars and guns are growth industries, and taxes are stealing, and......
We, I am sure, do lead the world in the number of billionaires.
9
The US is not set up to be the best, on average, at anything. It is set up for the individual to have a shot at success and for each individual to get only what they "deserve". If you look at almost any population statistic in the US, like health care quality, you see a wide dispersion of outcomes, from extremely good to quite poor. The average of these outcomes may or may not be better than Canada, where everyone gets the same medical care by law. The dispersion of health care quality in Canada is quite small, from fair to very good, and the average might be better than the US, but you can get the highest quality health care in the USA, you cannot get it in Canada.
3
Thank you for calling attention to the inequalities between have and have nots everywhere. It is sobering to see where the US ranks among other nations.
Our human rights situation also mirrors what is going on in African and
other nations with non-democratic rulers in collusion with corporate money.
People die and suffer here, too for no reason. We imprison innocent people.
At least freedom of speech allows people like yourself to speak out, and activists to protest without being thrown in prison, as is the case of Dawit Isaak,
a journalist in Eritera, who has been jailed incommunicado since 2001.
Not unlike Mr. de Morais, you mentioned in Angola, who awaits a similar fate for likewise exposing government corruption. While we still have some of the basic freedoms mentioned by FDR, here in our country, we must use them
to fight evil here and abroad. I salute you for leading the way.
PS Am reading "The Looting Machine," by Tom Burgis. Enlightening.
Our human rights situation also mirrors what is going on in African and
other nations with non-democratic rulers in collusion with corporate money.
People die and suffer here, too for no reason. We imprison innocent people.
At least freedom of speech allows people like yourself to speak out, and activists to protest without being thrown in prison, as is the case of Dawit Isaak,
a journalist in Eritera, who has been jailed incommunicado since 2001.
Not unlike Mr. de Morais, you mentioned in Angola, who awaits a similar fate for likewise exposing government corruption. While we still have some of the basic freedoms mentioned by FDR, here in our country, we must use them
to fight evil here and abroad. I salute you for leading the way.
PS Am reading "The Looting Machine," by Tom Burgis. Enlightening.
1
Odd though how France is still ranked lower
2
It's downright heartbreaking. The US has so much potential and so much of that potential we squander. I think the reasons and answers are complicated, but one major reason is that Americans are so grossly ill-informed. What makes that so challenging is that a good portion of Americans don't want to be informed. They often prefer to deny established truth.
Take my uncle and aunt, for example. They're good, hard working, well-educated, intelligent people. Yet they started sending me emails attacking Obama on claims so outrageous that I was stunned that my uncle and aunt would believe them, much less be willing to propagate such garbage. The one that made us bump heads and has hurt our relationship ever since, was the charge that Obama had "In God We Trust" removed from a series of Presidential coins being minted by the Treasury. I was collecting those coins at the time. Obama has nothing to do with what the Treasury does, and the coins in question had "In God We Trust" stamped on the edge of the coin so that it could be seen regardless of which side of the coin was up. I pointed this out to them and they got mad at me. My aunt even made the comment that the truth is in the eye of the beholder. What has happened to us? How do you get past that?
Take my uncle and aunt, for example. They're good, hard working, well-educated, intelligent people. Yet they started sending me emails attacking Obama on claims so outrageous that I was stunned that my uncle and aunt would believe them, much less be willing to propagate such garbage. The one that made us bump heads and has hurt our relationship ever since, was the charge that Obama had "In God We Trust" removed from a series of Presidential coins being minted by the Treasury. I was collecting those coins at the time. Obama has nothing to do with what the Treasury does, and the coins in question had "In God We Trust" stamped on the edge of the coin so that it could be seen regardless of which side of the coin was up. I pointed this out to them and they got mad at me. My aunt even made the comment that the truth is in the eye of the beholder. What has happened to us? How do you get past that?
11
How many of those countries to which we are compared have imported millions and millions of poor people over the last 20 years? Not only do they constitute a massive percentage of the poor people in this country, but they drag down the wages of citizens, or displace them from work entirely, and demand a huge percentage of our social welfare and education budgets. And then we're shocked that we have a lot of poor people?
2
i would love to hear what Dr. Potter, who created the index, thinks can be and should be done to raise us up, as it were. How bad does he think 18th place is? Is he concerned? How does he feel about campaign finance reform as a place to start?
I would also love to see and hear what Matt Wage, the trader who donates half his paycheck (yay for him!) thinks of this index as well as wherer to put our, and his resources. Wiping out malaria is good, and a great bang for your buck, but...I'd sort of like to see him keeping those US earned dollars in the US economy?
I would also love to see and hear what Matt Wage, the trader who donates half his paycheck (yay for him!) thinks of this index as well as wherer to put our, and his resources. Wiping out malaria is good, and a great bang for your buck, but...I'd sort of like to see him keeping those US earned dollars in the US economy?
1
So a well-known academic entrepreneur has devised an index that purports to measure something called 'social progress." Perhaps Mr. Kristoff would condescend to tell his readers why the components of the index were chosen, which possible components were not and why, and whether the components were equally weighted or not - and why. Any high school student can summarize a press release; one can and should expect greater depth from a NYT op-ed.
The US, throughout its history, has been an "unequal" society, one that fit with the desire of Americans to be able to reach for the stars, to excel and to become rich - at least materially. Other societies have chosen other routes for their development. So what?
In Canada, as well as in most other higher ranking countries, the better health outcomes arise from various forms of risk-sharing health care systems, i.e., publicly financed to a great extent. Adjust for this set of components and re-evaluate the results. The results in the SPI seems to be induced by a bias toward public goods provision which, by their very nature, are socialized to a greater extent than private goods.
The political and policy choices a country makes is a subjective one, not one that can legitimately be based on the results of an inherently biased SPI. Why not an EPI - an Economic Progress Index? Should we weight them equally?
Go to it Professor Porter.
The US, throughout its history, has been an "unequal" society, one that fit with the desire of Americans to be able to reach for the stars, to excel and to become rich - at least materially. Other societies have chosen other routes for their development. So what?
In Canada, as well as in most other higher ranking countries, the better health outcomes arise from various forms of risk-sharing health care systems, i.e., publicly financed to a great extent. Adjust for this set of components and re-evaluate the results. The results in the SPI seems to be induced by a bias toward public goods provision which, by their very nature, are socialized to a greater extent than private goods.
The political and policy choices a country makes is a subjective one, not one that can legitimately be based on the results of an inherently biased SPI. Why not an EPI - an Economic Progress Index? Should we weight them equally?
Go to it Professor Porter.
1
The problem SPI solves is that there was lack of social progress measurement independent of economic measures. We have an "economic progress index." It's called Gross Domestic Product. There are others. SPI complements GDP and other economic indicators and highlights where countries succeed with social progress with fewer economic resources.
If you're thinking strictly in terms of your national pride, you'll want economic indicators included, so the US looks better. But if you want to see social progress independent of economic progress, look at SPI.
If you're thinking strictly in terms of your national pride, you'll want economic indicators included, so the US looks better. But if you want to see social progress independent of economic progress, look at SPI.
This is an Alice in Wonderland view of the world. How socially enjoyable would Europe feel if it were living under Hitler's rule?
Europe enjoys the freedoms it has today only because the US military was strong enough to rescue it from the vise of Hitler's grip.
It's great to want to live in a peaceful world where countries act in the best interest of their citizens. In such a world only a modicum of defense spending. We don't live in such a world. Crazed leaders such as Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito need to be stopped when they arise. Very hard to do that without a ready and able defense. And that defense is expensive and must be maintained and current technologically.
Europe enjoys the freedoms it has today only because the US military was strong enough to rescue it from the vise of Hitler's grip.
It's great to want to live in a peaceful world where countries act in the best interest of their citizens. In such a world only a modicum of defense spending. We don't live in such a world. Crazed leaders such as Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito need to be stopped when they arise. Very hard to do that without a ready and able defense. And that defense is expensive and must be maintained and current technologically.
1
So your argument is that we can defend allies around the world but not stop e.g. mothers from dying of childbirth in the US?
The social programs required for social progress cost pennies for each dollar of our defense spending.
The social programs required for social progress cost pennies for each dollar of our defense spending.
2
Maybe Hitler would not have been possible had World War I been taken as a wake-up call that the industrial capacity to destroy had come to surpass the industrial capacity to produce.
Nonsense. It was the Soviet Union who broke Hitler. Moreover, the only reason the USA even entered the war was because of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Stop big talking the USA.
1
Perhaps the biggest reason that we are frozen is that the people most affected are the least likely to vote. The pols only react to the threat of not being re-elected.
1
It is, of course, totally politically incorrect to point out that almost all of these countries are predominantly white Protestant countries. But politically incorrect or not, it is obvious.
7
At any rate, we're above France.
4
it is amazing to me that few people see the real problem: income inequality, jobless economic recoveries, stalled wages, poor or very unequal quality of life - they all stem from, or at least are profoundly impacted by the death of competition in our system. since the 1960's companies have been relentless in following a natural pattern - crush or buy out your competitors, then use the new clout and riches to buy the erasure or elimination of anti trust. lest you think me a bleeding heart socialist, I am a boomer Reagan loving conservative Republican.
one of the prime tenets of what I thought was my party was the maintenance of free and fair markets. not true, we jump through hoops whenever we hear the word business. in health care, big banking, large media, companies have created safe harbors through the relaxation or destruction of anti trust laws, usually citing the rules being "outdated". the result are companies that don't feel the need to bid up talent and raid their rivals, they don't really have any. they don't need to ramp up when the economy rises, since the have become lean and efficient in their cartel. one company, Luxottica, OWNS Sunglass hut, Pearle Vision, Lenscrafters, and the optical departments in Walmart and Target. They make the lenses, and have the market cornered.
one of the prime tenets of what I thought was my party was the maintenance of free and fair markets. not true, we jump through hoops whenever we hear the word business. in health care, big banking, large media, companies have created safe harbors through the relaxation or destruction of anti trust laws, usually citing the rules being "outdated". the result are companies that don't feel the need to bid up talent and raid their rivals, they don't really have any. they don't need to ramp up when the economy rises, since the have become lean and efficient in their cartel. one company, Luxottica, OWNS Sunglass hut, Pearle Vision, Lenscrafters, and the optical departments in Walmart and Target. They make the lenses, and have the market cornered.
2
Right. Brilliant. Apple really stomped out its competitors in inventing the desktop computer, then laptop, then ipod, tablet, watch. Oh wait, they actually INVENTED those things.
Google stomped out the competition making the search for any bit of information stored in the world somewhere available at the tip of your finger in seconds. Oh wait, I forgot, they INVENTED it.
Costco, Target and Walmart stomped out competition by creating a one stop shop for most household good and groceries at very low prices. No more separate trips to the fruit market, grocery, hardware store, furniture store, etc. Oh wait, they INVENTED that business concept.
The reality of America is that new ideas move our economy forward. There is mostly gain and some loss when new inventions come to the fro. Horse and buggy drivers needed to learn a new skill when the car was invented, but fifty years later a car was affordable to most families in the US.
Antitrust is a serious concern from a theoretical standpoint. If anything, the incredible amount of rules created via Dodd Frank and Obamacare have forced the need to consolidate because compliance costs are relatively smaller for larger institutions. There has literally been one bank created since 2007 in America.
Google stomped out the competition making the search for any bit of information stored in the world somewhere available at the tip of your finger in seconds. Oh wait, I forgot, they INVENTED it.
Costco, Target and Walmart stomped out competition by creating a one stop shop for most household good and groceries at very low prices. No more separate trips to the fruit market, grocery, hardware store, furniture store, etc. Oh wait, they INVENTED that business concept.
The reality of America is that new ideas move our economy forward. There is mostly gain and some loss when new inventions come to the fro. Horse and buggy drivers needed to learn a new skill when the car was invented, but fifty years later a car was affordable to most families in the US.
Antitrust is a serious concern from a theoretical standpoint. If anything, the incredible amount of rules created via Dodd Frank and Obamacare have forced the need to consolidate because compliance costs are relatively smaller for larger institutions. There has literally been one bank created since 2007 in America.
Public goods like roads and functional water systems aren't just vital to the needy.
1
Judging by some of the comments here, I'd say a big part of our problem is that we hang onto fantasies probably better than anybody else on earth.
No, we don't have more social mobility than these countries.
No, they're not more religious.
No, the're not free of problems with minorities.
No, they're not without unions.
No, they don't freeload on our military.
No, they're not less socialistic.
Good grief.
No, we don't have more social mobility than these countries.
No, they're not more religious.
No, the're not free of problems with minorities.
No, they're not without unions.
No, they don't freeload on our military.
No, they're not less socialistic.
Good grief.
4
Last week I was stuck for hours in a horrific traffic jam between LA ans Las Vegas. As I sat there, I thought this would never happen in Europe or Asia as I would have traveled by high speed rail to and from my destination. And when I arrived at my destination, I would have taken a cheap, clean, fast and efficient subway system that would have wisked me away to anywhere I wanted in the city. The US as I was last week, is stuck in a traffic jam and the rest of the world is on that high speed rail passing us by and getting further and further ahead. Thank you sir for your insightful artical as the first step in getting better is realizing the problem(s).
7
It is a steep challenge to assure collectively (and that's what a "nation" does, right?) "a high quality of life for ordinary citizens" when it has only two viable political parties and both of them care only for the welfare of top-tier citizens who don't need it.
1
Analysis of the data leads to one troubling observation. Every one of the fifteen countries in front of tie U.Sl shares one common characteristic- a population that has a much higher degree of racial homogeneity than does the U.S. What does this mean? Does diversity act as a drag instead of the lift we are always told? Does the U.S. do a better, albeit imperfect, job of offering opportunities to a diverse population coming from a lower economic baseline than our "competitors"? (My guess) I don't know, but to me it is the most obvious factor in these numbers and I would benefit from Mr. Kristof's views on the subject.
8
Uh, We can't send people into space anymore. Those were the days...
2
Nicholas, once again, you talk euphemistically, optimistically and, dare I suggest, naively, about 'ordinary Americans' en bloc. Exactly who are the so-called ordinary citizens to whom you refer - do they include, for example, African Americans; Native Americans; Mexican Americans?
The whole point about the Land of the Free is this. If you are a one-percenter then you can expect to have a very good life. If you are white and middle class, fully employed with reasonable physical and mental health, then you can have a pretty good life. The rest of Americans? Not so good.
The whole point about the Land of the Free is this. If you are a one-percenter then you can expect to have a very good life. If you are white and middle class, fully employed with reasonable physical and mental health, then you can have a pretty good life. The rest of Americans? Not so good.
11
America should be talked about optimistically. Is it less likely you will be in the upper 20% of income as an adult if you start life in the lowest 20th percentile of income. Yes. Is it impossible.? No. It takes incredibly hard work, passion and drive. It takes two parents in a family, and discipline at home. It can be done.
The facts are that is is much more likely to happen here than any other country on Earth, and this is evidenced by the immense waves of people trying to get in.
America is a land of opportunity. We should be working harder to provide everyone that opportunity via a good education. The other aspects (hard work, passion, drive, two parents at home) are the responsibility of the individual and their parents.
Stop whining.
The facts are that is is much more likely to happen here than any other country on Earth, and this is evidenced by the immense waves of people trying to get in.
America is a land of opportunity. We should be working harder to provide everyone that opportunity via a good education. The other aspects (hard work, passion, drive, two parents at home) are the responsibility of the individual and their parents.
Stop whining.
We really do make freedom another word for nothing left to lose here in the US.
The 1% enjoy the liberty of negotiating their contracts equitably, knowing that they do have to give to get.
The 1% enjoy the liberty of negotiating their contracts equitably, knowing that they do have to give to get.
The fact is, this isn't true. All the countries ranked higher than us have higher rates of social mobility.
this is oartly because, not so long ago, Americans did not shy away from reality.
this is oartly because, not so long ago, Americans did not shy away from reality.
How many of those other countries allow unrestricted immigration from Third World regions like Central America? Answer: None. We're flying in the poor and uneducated/unskilled from the world. Money that could go for infrastructure instead goes for welfare payments to citizens of other countries illegally present in the US.
4
The GOP, FoxNews, and those to whom they propagandize must be pretty upset that we're still as high as number 16. Since "Social Progress" is another name for "Communist", our relatively high standing, within sight of all those horrible, tax-crazy socialist nations, is proof that Obama's policies must be overturned so that we can sink far lower on this scale. That's called "taking our country back" from the moochers, the taxers, and the lowlifes who are constantly ripping us off. When a Republican wins the White House and medicare and social security dissolve, THEN you'll see some low ranking on this scale that we can be truly proud of.
5
Our biggest problem is the education, where our politicians do not want spend any money or resources. Our teachers are big punching bags for our politicians. Then our democracy is in decline . Our country is of the super rich, by the rich and for the super rich. Look at the income inequality in country is really shame. We are in perpetual war spending trillions of dollar. Our congress can not pass a bill. Only slogan we believe in is no new taxes, dismantle IRS and we want more wars. We do not believe in clean air or global warming. Corruption by our politicians are rising. Police brutality, racism, discrimination and income stagnation, drought in California etc are taking us down. But our politicians do not care. They care only to be reelected and getting rich. What do you expect?
3
A faction of our government worships at the alter of the "free market." This approach deregulates key areas of finance and banking thereby funneling needed funds away from more communal solutions, and into the pockets of a select few. If we want to move up the ladder, we need to regulate capitalism, become more socialists, and legislate for the people, not big business.
1
It's all a matter of priorities, and you would think that the top priority should be to maximize the well-being of the greatest number of a nation's citizens. Perhaps that was the case in the U.S. in the post WWII period (with some notable exceptions, mainly that many blacks were treated as second-class citizens), but it's clearly not the case today. Our nation has become a reflection of its electoral system, where money is the be-all end-all and where the corporate rich get to call the shots. Formerly, labor unions provided countervailing power and forced Congress and Presidents to pay attention to the needs of the working person, but the weakening of unions and offshoring of our better jobs has left our government in the hands of the well healed, and our ratings on the Social Progress Index reflect that reality.
And much of our news media seems to be complicit in maintaining the status quo rather than pointing out our weaknesses and how they could be improved. We don't hear much about Canada's relative success except such falsehoods as "one has to wait six months to get medical care in their health system," and we know next to nothing about the superior health and education systems and better infrastructure of other advanced nations. We are a very insular people when it comes to knowledge about the rest of the world, so our basis for comparison is very limited. But we know we're No. 1, don't we, so rah, rah, rah!
And much of our news media seems to be complicit in maintaining the status quo rather than pointing out our weaknesses and how they could be improved. We don't hear much about Canada's relative success except such falsehoods as "one has to wait six months to get medical care in their health system," and we know next to nothing about the superior health and education systems and better infrastructure of other advanced nations. We are a very insular people when it comes to knowledge about the rest of the world, so our basis for comparison is very limited. But we know we're No. 1, don't we, so rah, rah, rah!
1
It is about freedom. Individual progress, not social progress. I am willing to help others, but I do not measure my success or failure by others. That is why the US is the best place to live, or used to be. It has been contaminated by equality over liberty. Liberty includes the liberty to fail. Equality doesn't. I believe in liberty.
The whole economy works by differences of perceived values.
Liberty requires staying power, because it is the only way you get to equitable negotiation.
Liberty requires staying power, because it is the only way you get to equitable negotiation.
Your liberty, at whose expense?
This is no surprise. For example, defenders of the US healthcare as being "the best in the world" are not wrong, at the high end the US is still developing new methods and techniques to extend and enhance life. What it leaves out, of course, is the caveat "if you have the money", we have made it to a well off person can pay for a hundred grand diagnostic test that will allow custom treatment, but someone can die of heart disease or in childbirth because of lack of basic health care. We point out that national health care has rationing of elective surgery and waits, but we don't look that when you have a life threatening disease or are pregnant, the care there is much better.
The tea party will tell you that people not achieving is because "we don't guarantee a high level of quality in our lives", the problem with that is we have taken away the tools that once allowed anyone to achieve a high quality of life, and have increasingly created a society by and for the well off. Our public education system struggles in rural and city areas of modest means, while well off districts like Scarsdale put out achievers (or the well off send their kids to private schools). Flagship state schools have raised tuition and other costs, and actively seek out full pay students while cutting aid they give kids of more modest means (many flagships give less aid than an Ivy league school would). The tea party says "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", but as a society, we took those away.
The tea party will tell you that people not achieving is because "we don't guarantee a high level of quality in our lives", the problem with that is we have taken away the tools that once allowed anyone to achieve a high quality of life, and have increasingly created a society by and for the well off. Our public education system struggles in rural and city areas of modest means, while well off districts like Scarsdale put out achievers (or the well off send their kids to private schools). Flagship state schools have raised tuition and other costs, and actively seek out full pay students while cutting aid they give kids of more modest means (many flagships give less aid than an Ivy league school would). The tea party says "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", but as a society, we took those away.
5
Excellent review, NK. But many of us either know this stuff or intuit it. While our Congressional leaders avoid all leadership that doesn't head downwards further into the sewer, what are ordinary folk to think and do? We have the Iran nuke deal, for example. It involves major internatioonal players, yet the GOP pretends that if the US backs out, China, Russia, UK et al will fall back and say oops, pardon us for doing our duty to world peace? What are the ordinary, deluded people to think? (PS, I note that Fox, true to form, has begun the process of canonizing Judith Miller).
1
You can not compare the entire USA with these tiny little countries. You need to compare them with individual states. Say, Norway with Maine, and Germany with Texas etc.
1
I recall during one of President Obama's campaigns listening to NPR when an Arizona voter was railing against Obama and everything he stood for. At one point he said. "If he wins, I'm going to leave this country." I thought the NPR reporter missed a great opportunity to follow-up by asking, "Where would you go." I'm an American and I love living here, but I know that if I got fed up with the leadership of this country, there would be many opportunities elsewhere.
Thank you for this excellent editorial. There is a fundamental misunderstanding however: “Of course, wealthy countries with high poverty tend to be unequal as well. But inequality at the top seems to matter less for well-being than inequality at the bottom. Perhaps we should worry less about reining in the top 1 percent and more about helping the bottom 20 percent?” This empirically true statement misses the key point that Joseph Stiglitz , Nobel laureate in economics , made in his book the “Cost of inequality. “ The reason the poor and the middle class are struggling is because the wealthy have manipulated income streams from them, the poor and the lower middle class, to themselves. Ferguson was one of thousands of examples of how this is done with the cops acting his loan collectors. But the corrupt financial schemes of the rich impact everything from cornering the price of aluminum, to straight tax evasion, to trillions of dollars offshore money untaxed. The politicians look the other way. We can help the poor, the bottom 20%, and most of the middle class if we insist the wealthy do not corruptly buy their wealth by buying politicians.
4
As long as they have bread and circuses to distract them, the masses will never even know their lives could be much better.
1
I hate to say 'darn liberals" but is marriage so horrible to you that preventing early marriage is a quality of life index? I wish I could have got married at 18.
1
Fair enough, Nicholas. But where do you want to live? With all it's faults, I like living here.
1
It's really interesting seeing how people get defensive like this when faced with the cognitive dissonance that America isn't the best in every dimension.
1
Pronoun trouble. The problem isn’t one “we” need to address; it's one “you”, as an individual, might face.
Americans of Norwegian, Swedish, Swiss, Icelandic, Canadian, or Oceanic origin probably do just as well as do their non-emigrant cousins. They brought with them the same ethos that makes those societies excel on these measures. They pull their own weight and believe passionately in not being a burden. (If “socialism” means a huge sovereign wealth fund, a deceasing share of GDP for government, drilling in the Arctic, and a belief that it’s wrong to indebt your kids, ala Norway, it has much to recommend it.)
“Our” problem is that lots of folks misbehave, and government conditions massive subsidies misbehavior. “We” could cure poverty tomorrow if “we” ended out-of-wedlock births, stopped committing crimes, didn’t drop out of hideously expensive schools, and refrained from abusing substances. (And how many of the exemplary countries host 10 million+ hugely expensive, unskilled illegals?)
“We” don’t do those things; the poor do those things. That’s why they’re poor. If folks behave like Norwegians, with an ethos of giving back at least to the extent of taking, a kibbutz works. When substantial numbers view freeloading as acceptable, that becomes impossible.
“We” can’t resolve this; it’s not a collective problem. Although "we" can, and should, end subsidies for bad conduct, it’s up to individuals to change the bad behavior which produces poverty.
Americans of Norwegian, Swedish, Swiss, Icelandic, Canadian, or Oceanic origin probably do just as well as do their non-emigrant cousins. They brought with them the same ethos that makes those societies excel on these measures. They pull their own weight and believe passionately in not being a burden. (If “socialism” means a huge sovereign wealth fund, a deceasing share of GDP for government, drilling in the Arctic, and a belief that it’s wrong to indebt your kids, ala Norway, it has much to recommend it.)
“Our” problem is that lots of folks misbehave, and government conditions massive subsidies misbehavior. “We” could cure poverty tomorrow if “we” ended out-of-wedlock births, stopped committing crimes, didn’t drop out of hideously expensive schools, and refrained from abusing substances. (And how many of the exemplary countries host 10 million+ hugely expensive, unskilled illegals?)
“We” don’t do those things; the poor do those things. That’s why they’re poor. If folks behave like Norwegians, with an ethos of giving back at least to the extent of taking, a kibbutz works. When substantial numbers view freeloading as acceptable, that becomes impossible.
“We” can’t resolve this; it’s not a collective problem. Although "we" can, and should, end subsidies for bad conduct, it’s up to individuals to change the bad behavior which produces poverty.
1
'You' have to change the corrupt political structure - and provide opportunity (and dignity) to the poor. The 'bad behaviour' of the poor is not what produces inequality - it's the greed of the 1% and the corrupt political calls they control.
Start providing universal health care - not insurance, real social support structures that build society - not political talking points (such as restricting their ATM cards on cruise ships) -start caring the poor in your community - and tax the rich sensibly
Start providing universal health care - not insurance, real social support structures that build society - not political talking points (such as restricting their ATM cards on cruise ships) -start caring the poor in your community - and tax the rich sensibly
I'm sure your theory of poverty provides a warm feeling of smugness for you, but perhaps a bit of education? Read Jeffrey Sachs or anyone who has studied the subject, you will be a better informed citizen.
How can this possibly he happening in the era of Barack Obam. He promised to transform America. I guess he did.
1
Actually President Obama promised to only mediate a mature public discussion that would lead to an understanding of shared interests. He was shocked to find himself immediately confronted with implacable ill will.
1
Sure some of our quality of life are not very good, but just look at how very well we do at giving tax breaks for the poor well-off, our incarceration of citizens we are NUMERAL UNO in the free(?) world. the same for our cost to students for higher education, and we devoted more money to weapons of war, than the next ten nations. We are very high ranked in invading nations that have resources that appeal to the interest of Wall St. One does not have to look very far to appreciate American Exceptionalism, as long you exclude moral consideration.
1
Well to be fair, those other countries don't have anything resembling our Republican Party, nor do they have a region that is as much of a drag on our society in so many ways as the South. We Americans love to beat our chest as being #1 but we ensure through our lack of compassion, empathy and common sense that we are a long way from being that and will remain so. And apparently we're okay with that.
2
Well, when you are constantly bombarded by the mantra of a party that states small government and low taxes is the answer to everything, of course, this result is inevitable and given the current circumstances, that number in the index will be steadily moving downward.
Frankly, I'm surprised we're as high as 87th. I wouldn't have given us that much credit. If not for the weather, I'd much rather live in Scandinavia. Our country falls way short of the greatness it Should have. And, religious, racial, and gender zealotry will only make us worse than we already are.
3
Is our problem social inequality or voter apathy? One drives the other. In America we can do and have it all. We are social progress laggers because we choose to be. We tend vote based on emotion rather than logic. Why? Because thats what our to two political parties give us. There is an door number three, but its little. Its more like a hole in the wall that an actual door.
I tend to agree with most of the article. However, I must comment negatively on Costa Rica, from personal experience. Going thru customs in San Jose the inspector suggested that my elderly wife tuck her rather small simple crucifix into her blouse since "People will snatch it", something that has never happened in many many years in NYC. Also whether in town or out in the country all of the larger houses are surrounded by high, very secure appearing fences. Gives one pause in this tropical sociological paradise.
2
You almost noted the primary issue, but passed it by too quickly. It is not so much 'gated communities' but 'virtually gated communities' that are the proximate cause of the death of the American Dream.
In my youth I thought that this would go the other way. That America would continue to move toward a true 'melting pot' society. But several factors combined to actually make the self sorting that had long occurred become much worse.
There was a time when our cities at least had strong ethnic neighborhoods as well as areas defined as 'the wrong side of the tracks'. But there was always significant movement across any barrier and a great deal of mixing at the borders.
With the advent of the ubiquitous automobile and social sorting pressures such as school busing and urban area taxing policies the American people self sorted into 'virtually gated communities' with significant cultural differences in services, structures and cultural groupings.
The results can be seen by the passenger in any car, on any drive, through any American urban or suburban area. With the occasional exception of the random popular or peculiar restaurant these soft boundaries are seldom crossed.
In my youth I thought that this would go the other way. That America would continue to move toward a true 'melting pot' society. But several factors combined to actually make the self sorting that had long occurred become much worse.
There was a time when our cities at least had strong ethnic neighborhoods as well as areas defined as 'the wrong side of the tracks'. But there was always significant movement across any barrier and a great deal of mixing at the borders.
With the advent of the ubiquitous automobile and social sorting pressures such as school busing and urban area taxing policies the American people self sorted into 'virtually gated communities' with significant cultural differences in services, structures and cultural groupings.
The results can be seen by the passenger in any car, on any drive, through any American urban or suburban area. With the occasional exception of the random popular or peculiar restaurant these soft boundaries are seldom crossed.
1
"Perhaps we should worry less about reining in the top 1 percent and more about helping the bottom 20 percent?" There is research evidence accumulating that the 1 percent accumulation of winnings has been at the expense of the rest--that is the two are correlated. Sounds intuitive of course. And then with more power the 1 percent naturally advocate in their limited interest and begin to capture government in various ways. No surprise there either (and in fact some Tea Party adherents approach to this problem is to seek to limit government as much as possible).
Unfortunately, it's not clear that people having less money means they will vote for policies to reverse "declining infrastructure" or to enhance education--in part because it's not clear at this point those things will lead to rising or better income for greater productivity and because well, you know, Tea Party. It's just a fancy way of saying the US will look more like a banana republic in couple of generations if we don't figure something out.
Unfortunately, it's not clear that people having less money means they will vote for policies to reverse "declining infrastructure" or to enhance education--in part because it's not clear at this point those things will lead to rising or better income for greater productivity and because well, you know, Tea Party. It's just a fancy way of saying the US will look more like a banana republic in couple of generations if we don't figure something out.
3
It may be important to measure GDP but it's a lot more important to measure incomes e.g median household incomes and let that measure drive policy. The two often run opposite to each other. One thing we might discover is the effect that unskilled migrants have on our median household income numbers. As a nation we are poorer because of it (more poor people means more poverty) and have all the social/welfare/law enforcement costs to boot.
When will the US of A start looking to successful countries as role models? Implementing universal healthcare, cutting the military budget by hundreds of billions of dollars, and federally funded and operated education would be a good start, but alas, we have an ignorant populace that thinks we should go back to the 20th (maybe even 19th) century, instead of going forward into the 21st.
1
OK, America is no longer the land of bounty and opportunity for all. America 2015 is not America 1950 full of optimism and energy. A country in a mission from God to dominate the world and conquer space. Both objectives were achieved during the 20th century
However, everything is relative in this world of 7 billion plus people. Given the opportunity, millions of citizens --from advanced and developing countries -- would be happy to move to America today.
Besides, except 15 smaller countries with social indices superior to the US, the rest of the world is not a Garden of Eden either. Give another 50 years and America's aggressive military culture will be tamed, eventually.
The future US may resemble another Great Britain or Germany. Wealth creation will be spent in education, social programs, culture and not wars. Besides, America TV will be dominated by humor, cooking, gardening, cars and antique shows.
However, everything is relative in this world of 7 billion plus people. Given the opportunity, millions of citizens --from advanced and developing countries -- would be happy to move to America today.
Besides, except 15 smaller countries with social indices superior to the US, the rest of the world is not a Garden of Eden either. Give another 50 years and America's aggressive military culture will be tamed, eventually.
The future US may resemble another Great Britain or Germany. Wealth creation will be spent in education, social programs, culture and not wars. Besides, America TV will be dominated by humor, cooking, gardening, cars and antique shows.
2
"As an American, what saddens me is also that our political system seems unable to rise to the challenges."
We are now essentially a plutocracy, and "our" biggest political initiatives seem to be those that serve the interests of the wealthy Americans who own our political system. So from the standpoint of our plutocrats, if our political system is unable (more like unwilling) to address quality-of-life issues of regular Americans, it's not a bug, but a feature.
We are now essentially a plutocracy, and "our" biggest political initiatives seem to be those that serve the interests of the wealthy Americans who own our political system. So from the standpoint of our plutocrats, if our political system is unable (more like unwilling) to address quality-of-life issues of regular Americans, it's not a bug, but a feature.
4
One of the social-economic issues that likely affects (afflicts?) our society is the idea that middle managers must sweep aside individuated assessment of personnel in favor of blanket assessments that serve the bottom line, thus protecting their own jobs, an incentive that correlates well with the fact that employees often attain these mid-management positions with very little skill and even less training in managing human beings. This appears to be the case particularly in low-wage, public-service organizations. While other readers' comments about our system protecting citizens' ability to pursue their happiness may have some merit in principle, in practice this is frequently thwarted by these two factors, i.e., the inability of middle managers to be sufficiently percipient to make individual distinctions and the pressure from higher-ups to lump workers together. This renders useless such claims about the ability to pursue happiness (aka pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps).
1
There are so many people jumping on the "diss America" bandwagon over this article that I have to point out a few things.
First of all, there are 136 countries ranked in the survey. We are 16th. That puts us in the top 10% or really close. And certainly no where near "the low life." There are some truly horrible places in the world to live and suggesting that we live in one of them is simply wrong.
Secondly, cherry picking the stats can lead readers to believe that we are failing, but a stat like 55th in childbirth deaths is due to the fact that so many countries have made great progress in the last 50 years in that area that the differences between the top of the list and 55 is miniscule.
I agree that our outrageous expenditures on military at the expense of humans is egregious. But Nick's article does nothing to create change. All it does is lead people to believe that things are worse than they are, which really seems to be a no brainer right now. This article is trending downward towards the level of Fox News.
First of all, there are 136 countries ranked in the survey. We are 16th. That puts us in the top 10% or really close. And certainly no where near "the low life." There are some truly horrible places in the world to live and suggesting that we live in one of them is simply wrong.
Secondly, cherry picking the stats can lead readers to believe that we are failing, but a stat like 55th in childbirth deaths is due to the fact that so many countries have made great progress in the last 50 years in that area that the differences between the top of the list and 55 is miniscule.
I agree that our outrageous expenditures on military at the expense of humans is egregious. But Nick's article does nothing to create change. All it does is lead people to believe that things are worse than they are, which really seems to be a no brainer right now. This article is trending downward towards the level of Fox News.
3
But USA is the richest nation the world has ever known. And Americans actually believe that we are #One. And little effort is directed toward actually becoming #One -- except in weapons of mass destruction or income inequality.
Reading some of the comments to the excellent summary, a big part of the problem is denial and blame instead of thoughtful problem-solving. As a CEO turned advocate for low-income schools, the quick easy "answers" abound: "Finland has a great educational system but we can't do that here, we're too big. Immigrants are the problem. We've tried everything. If they would just stop buying flat screen tvs." ( note: the 5 year old in the trailer did not buy the tv). Accepting poverty is another way of giving up on our kids and the future. Poverty is a complex web of poor policy, culture and choices - choices by poor as well as choices by affluent. Poor children do not choose a life of poverty but they pay the price and so does the rest of society. Massive US poverty is a way of giving up on the future.
11
This piece echoes the sentiments of Robert Kennedy's 1968 speech where he emphasized the importance of recognizing some of the less tangible factors that contribute to a society's worth:
"Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product - if we judge the United States of America by that - that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."
"Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product - if we judge the United States of America by that - that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."
12
Ah, the days when a politician could write complete sentences and then, gasp, speak what he wrote. We no longer have that. We've degenerated to the point where our politicians don't know what branch they belong to and what its limitations are. Thank you for posting this reminder of what we did back then and what we hoped to change. It's too bad that the only thing that's changed are the names but not the weapons or the problems.
4
We have a house in Capital Guanajuato, Mexico where it seems that by whatever measure one uses, Mexico fails hugely. Thus to us the United States appears to be paradise to Mexicans and even us. We know this is false when we read of continuing African American men killed by rogue cops and the new wave of home foreclosures by rogue banks and investment firms both of which escaped punishment for personal executive wrongdoing, as with Jamie Dimon. It's a conundrum worldwide but at its core, it is class warfare and the under-regulated capitalists are winning by huge margins everywhere.
3
"on what matters most: assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens"
What matter most to who?
To me, I agree.
But to the people in charge of the US, clearly not.
Since when? Well, FDR and Truman and Eisenhower were pretty clearly of this opinion. Kennedy took it for granted a bit, calling more for service to the country. LBJ' life dream and Great Society seem to have been this. Nixon's twisted soul set up the EPA and did a few other things for all. Skip Gerry Ford, a nice guy though. Carter knew who he was trying to help. So for exactly half a century, 1932-1981, assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens was the whole point.
The Morning in America gloried in that, but instantly began to undo it. Crush unions. Cut wages. Spent hundreds of billions on Star Wars. Down we go. Clinton triangulated on that, rather than challenging it or changing it. It was at least 1982-2008, a quarter century of priorities shown by actions that are NOT assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens.
What about Obama? Well, he meant well. His health care effort was in the right direction. For this column, what is important is that he was virtually alone among our leaders. Nobody else acted as if assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens was the priority. Anything but. We heard a lot about Iran, but nothing at all from any one of them about assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens.
Know them by their actions. They don't care about us.
What matter most to who?
To me, I agree.
But to the people in charge of the US, clearly not.
Since when? Well, FDR and Truman and Eisenhower were pretty clearly of this opinion. Kennedy took it for granted a bit, calling more for service to the country. LBJ' life dream and Great Society seem to have been this. Nixon's twisted soul set up the EPA and did a few other things for all. Skip Gerry Ford, a nice guy though. Carter knew who he was trying to help. So for exactly half a century, 1932-1981, assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens was the whole point.
The Morning in America gloried in that, but instantly began to undo it. Crush unions. Cut wages. Spent hundreds of billions on Star Wars. Down we go. Clinton triangulated on that, rather than challenging it or changing it. It was at least 1982-2008, a quarter century of priorities shown by actions that are NOT assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens.
What about Obama? Well, he meant well. His health care effort was in the right direction. For this column, what is important is that he was virtually alone among our leaders. Nobody else acted as if assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens was the priority. Anything but. We heard a lot about Iran, but nothing at all from any one of them about assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens.
Know them by their actions. They don't care about us.
21
I see the problem here. Those who do the rankings think the United States is a country of 330 million people. It's not. We're a country of about 30 million wealthy and comfortably prosperous people and 300 million support staff, many of whom are barely surviving and if the 30 million could dump them somewhere out of sight they would. I'm sure the quality of life for those 30 million would rank them at the top.
7
The current belief system in America, "anyone can climb to the top" is the equivalent to wearing rose colored glasses in Oz.
Our politicians are owned by petroleum, petroleum and its effects on our environment are not sustainable. We have left 99% of our nation behind without living wages, a proper education or a ladder to climb. This is unsustainable and it is short sighted. That is part of the American culture. Live for today for tomorrow may never come. Fixing our problems would require future vision but our politicians only care about the next election. Our industrial farms are not sustainable but they only look to the next year of water and profits. Our military budget is not sustainable but the drums of war never stop beating. Corporate profits are not sustainable without people who can afford their products but the corporations keep taking money and jobs offshore. Banks and wall street gambling and being bailed out by taxpayers is not sustainable but they keep on keeping on.
You can't be number one when you don't work toward a better future for all of your citizens.
Our politicians are owned by petroleum, petroleum and its effects on our environment are not sustainable. We have left 99% of our nation behind without living wages, a proper education or a ladder to climb. This is unsustainable and it is short sighted. That is part of the American culture. Live for today for tomorrow may never come. Fixing our problems would require future vision but our politicians only care about the next election. Our industrial farms are not sustainable but they only look to the next year of water and profits. Our military budget is not sustainable but the drums of war never stop beating. Corporate profits are not sustainable without people who can afford their products but the corporations keep taking money and jobs offshore. Banks and wall street gambling and being bailed out by taxpayers is not sustainable but they keep on keeping on.
You can't be number one when you don't work toward a better future for all of your citizens.
8
Most of these comparative statistics are irrelevant because such a high percentage of our population are recent immigrants, and most of them are coming to us from areas that are underperforming in most of the dimensions measured.
If such polls were limited to citizens that have been here at least one, or better, two generations, I think a different picture would emerge.
If such polls were limited to citizens that have been here at least one, or better, two generations, I think a different picture would emerge.
2
How many of these countries have more than 10% of our population? More than 20% How many (other than Canada) have the same percentage of our land mass? Yes, we could do a heck of a lot better but we're playing in a league that is rarefied trying to create that qualify of life for 300 million plus people over an enormous country. It's not easy to compare apples to apples when doing something like social progress. I'm not making excuses or saying we deserve a pass on any of the things we're doing badly but a little perspective and possibly a wee bit less bashing.
1
It's not "our political system seems unable to rise to the challenges," Nick, it's our politicians. ALL of them.
And the NYT, save Brooks and Douthat, continues to lock us in their grid.
And the NYT, save Brooks and Douthat, continues to lock us in their grid.
1
This information, no matter how often it's repeated, will simply not register with most privileged Americans. In their minds "those people" just aren't like "us." THEIR struggles don't count.
America WAS exceptional in that at one time everyone DID count. But now we're stratified in ways a Dane or a Norwegian couldn't imagine.
Keep repeating it, Nick, or better yet draw pictures, phrase it in fables, and add celebrity endorsements. Maybe it will sink in before we sink.
America WAS exceptional in that at one time everyone DID count. But now we're stratified in ways a Dane or a Norwegian couldn't imagine.
Keep repeating it, Nick, or better yet draw pictures, phrase it in fables, and add celebrity endorsements. Maybe it will sink in before we sink.
5
"As an American, what saddens me is also that our political system seems unable to rise to the challenges." It's worse than that. Our politicians either don't understand the issues or intentionally make matters worse.
3
I can't help but notice that the countries that are passing the United States by in terms of these social progress indicators seem to place a high value not only on equal access to quality education, but also on the equality of women and the value of their full participation in civic life.
8
The answer is right in front of Kristof's nose. He writes, "We can send people to space and turn watches into computers, but we seem incapable of consensus on the issues that matter most to our children." When this country believes humans have become so "enlightened" that we now know better than everyone else before and ignore God's laws, you get what we now have. NYT readers, believe it or not, there are moral absolutes. Everything is not relative and there are 'rights' and 'wrongs.' This country has chosen to ignore the ample guidance provided by He who is the source from which our rights and liberties flow. Right now, Sodom and Gomorrah have nothing over this nation--and we know how that turned out.
The "pious" have ruled for 1000's of years and global inequality has only recently gone down as more secular and non codified laws reign supreme. Religion has no monopoly on moral or ethical values, that is an absolute truth my friend.
2
That's pretty funny Falcon 78. The countries above us on the list are far more secular than the U.S. So how is that their people are so much happier than ours? God has nothing to do with it.
That list of 16, with the US at the bottom leaves something out. How easy is it for a lower class person to become wealthy? The US would be #1 for that.
Norway and Sweden do not have many poor people, but they also do not have many rich ones either. The ones that want to become rich move to places like the US.
Also, at some point we have to acknowledge that poor people in the US are poor due to choice, and that the government cannot change that choice. The biggest health problem of our "poor" is obesity. That is not a disease of the poor, that is a disease of the lazy with too much to eat.
Norway and Sweden do not have many poor people, but they also do not have many rich ones either. The ones that want to become rich move to places like the US.
Also, at some point we have to acknowledge that poor people in the US are poor due to choice, and that the government cannot change that choice. The biggest health problem of our "poor" is obesity. That is not a disease of the poor, that is a disease of the lazy with too much to eat.
4
Actually, recent studies show that economic mobility in the U.S. is stagnant while it has increased in the OECD.
4
Of course the US has one of the lowest rates of social mobility among industrialized countries, but you go roght ahead hanging on to the fantasy.
1
Not the least part of our problem is that we have way too many people thumping their chest about their patriotism rather than actually caring about their country (at least, their REAL country) and doing something rather than collecting guns, muttering about Them, and piling up supplies for Der Tag.
Many ambiguous false equivalencies here. Comparing the United States to ethnically homogeneous societies (with 20% of the population we have), stimulates and promulgates unachievable goals. These are socialist democracies, an identity within certain political regions comparable to being a "Commi", or some parochial aphorism (I digress). The inequality matrixes flowing through society are uncontrovertibly established facts by Thomas Pikety (and other contemporary economists). Another fact is that capital concentration within a few "slave lords" is how capital allocation within society has been for thousands of years (will probably change). We need to emancipate the "mobilization" discussion from the "inequality" discussion. The few times in the past 300 years a "middle class" was allowed to breath was catalyzed from INCOME focused policy. Call it redistribution/socialism, or what ever you want but income floors need to be a universal american establishment. If the poverty level is set at 15,500$ nobody working 40 hrs a week should make less, health-care INCLUDED. Demonizing the 1% is not progressive, they are a paranoid lot and we should leave them to fester. Although undoubtedly a 5-10% wealth tax for the .01% of tycoons (making 500 Million$ a year on fixed income) should go towards education or environmental/energy R&D. We need a universal policy that gives laborers a chance to save a little through wages and income, not focus on capital inequality.
*(will probably never change)
Note that the top 15 countries are all liberal democracies with relatively homogeneous and well-educated populations. The US is a liberal democracy but is by no means homogeneous. I note that the top 15 gave up the practice of slavery long ago and without the necessity of a civil war. I note that our educational levels are lower than the top 15. As we become more fragmented by economic, political, and religious divides and as our education system declines we will slowly slip further down the list. The unproductive quagmire of our Congress is symptomatic of these problems and is unlikely to provide any solutions. That leaves it up to we the people, doesn't it.
1
Too many Americans prefer hating each other to helping each other. It's so much easier to hate than to love, to tear down rather than build. The plutocracy thrives and prospers when the nation is weakened through social division and political balkanization.
3
All this may be true, Nick, but in my book the US is still #1 in at least one most critical area: the opportunity to change one's life chances. America, I think, offers the greatest opportunity of any country for personal transformation. It remains still the land of the possible.
Norway, Sweden etc may be at the top of this Index. But you don't see immigrants flocking to those countries in quite the numbers they do the USA.
You cite Ms Beyonce. So let's look at that type. Think of the countless other so-called pop stars and reality TV stars (most talent-less, in my view, but no matter) that America has lifted from the ghetto and transformed into pop stars. The leading name brands and richest entrepreneurs in hip-hop culture are some poorly educated folks who probably wouldn't have been able to scratch it elsewhere.
Some of the largest corporations in America are being run by first generation immigrants, and there's lots more in corporate leadership cadres, whatever the vertical.
I could go on. But there's not need. I just want to say: this grateful immigrant thinks the world of the United States of America, warts and all!
Norway, Sweden etc may be at the top of this Index. But you don't see immigrants flocking to those countries in quite the numbers they do the USA.
You cite Ms Beyonce. So let's look at that type. Think of the countless other so-called pop stars and reality TV stars (most talent-less, in my view, but no matter) that America has lifted from the ghetto and transformed into pop stars. The leading name brands and richest entrepreneurs in hip-hop culture are some poorly educated folks who probably wouldn't have been able to scratch it elsewhere.
Some of the largest corporations in America are being run by first generation immigrants, and there's lots more in corporate leadership cadres, whatever the vertical.
I could go on. But there's not need. I just want to say: this grateful immigrant thinks the world of the United States of America, warts and all!
1
The Republican party and the pundits who support them, use an agenda of fear, channeling the ways of former Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. In the 1950s, McCarthy had accused hundreds of Democrats in the United States of being members of the communist party without having any proof of his claims. As the years went on, the American people took McCarthy and his fear agenda as a sad and pathetic joke. The current Republican party goes further than McCarthy did, using what conservatives hold close to them against them, their religion. Republicans push the fear of gays, Muslims, atheists and others who aren't evangelical Christians onto conservatives voters, using those fears to bypass many economic issues that could normally work against them.
Whether it's religion, fear or simply a case of misinformation, conservative voters have been getting the wool pulled over their eyes for years and it's not only affecting them, but the entire country. The Democratic party is far from perfect, but more often than not, their policies represent the best interest of the majority of the American people. Until the media becomes accountable for the truth in their reporting and Americans start to think outside the box and accept that others might have some good ideas, the American people will have to continue to weather the storm of Republican destruction.
Whether it's religion, fear or simply a case of misinformation, conservative voters have been getting the wool pulled over their eyes for years and it's not only affecting them, but the entire country. The Democratic party is far from perfect, but more often than not, their policies represent the best interest of the majority of the American people. Until the media becomes accountable for the truth in their reporting and Americans start to think outside the box and accept that others might have some good ideas, the American people will have to continue to weather the storm of Republican destruction.
1
It's all about money. When a person is able to earn a wage they can actually live on without having to humiliate themselves at the food-stamp window, they can actually begin to experience and explore the things that make life worth living. Only in our dreams. Sigh.
Enter the billionaire. Our pop culture has elevated the billionaire to rock star status, and we all end up drooling; ah, just think if I had a tenth of that!
Only in our dreams. Sigh again.
After reading about the cold-blooded murder of an unarmed American citizen by an Officer of The Peace, after reading about Leo DiCaprio's luxe eco-friendly resort which alas will only be affordable by the above-mentioned billionaires who wish to augment their sustainability credentials,
after reading about.....oh heck, need I go on? More sighs.
I find myself scanning the Top 16 looking for a warmish climate and bingo! there are a few that I could retire to. Then I realize I would have to leave behind a life and family I'm rather fond of, save for reading those headlines above. Sigh.
Guess I'm stuck here in good ole Number 1 USA. I'm going to be a good citizen and go out and vote, because that's going to bring about the changes we so badly need. Sigh.
~TR
Enter the billionaire. Our pop culture has elevated the billionaire to rock star status, and we all end up drooling; ah, just think if I had a tenth of that!
Only in our dreams. Sigh again.
After reading about the cold-blooded murder of an unarmed American citizen by an Officer of The Peace, after reading about Leo DiCaprio's luxe eco-friendly resort which alas will only be affordable by the above-mentioned billionaires who wish to augment their sustainability credentials,
after reading about.....oh heck, need I go on? More sighs.
I find myself scanning the Top 16 looking for a warmish climate and bingo! there are a few that I could retire to. Then I realize I would have to leave behind a life and family I'm rather fond of, save for reading those headlines above. Sigh.
Guess I'm stuck here in good ole Number 1 USA. I'm going to be a good citizen and go out and vote, because that's going to bring about the changes we so badly need. Sigh.
~TR
1
We cannot get a consensus on "what matter to our children" but we do have a very strong consensus on LOW TAXES. We have been so brain-washed that low taxes has become part of our religious mantra, and we are re indeed the most religious country in the world, thus the most tax averse.
Maybe taxes are low in Florida, but try coming up here. You'll pay 6-9% income tax, and $15K in property tax on a $300K house.
2
When our national mantra is "We're the greatest country on earth," we make it almost unpatriotic to talk about where we fall short. It is a way to end meaningful discussion about what we need to do to make our country greater.
We should be chastised by these stats, and more than a little ashamed of ourselves.
We should be chastised by these stats, and more than a little ashamed of ourselves.
1
Add one more category to the list related to immigration. What country are people moving to? Which embassies have the longest lines for visa-seeking citizens? The US would win hands-down.
2
No, not exactly, on a per capita basis, Canada has far more immigrants coming in to the country than the U.S. You might also be interested in knowing that in recent years, among the largest of that group are, "Americans".
1
"'We’re starting to understand that we can’t put economic development and social progress in two separate buckets,' Porter added. 'There’s a dialectic here.'"
Is he kidding? We're a nation that's becoming dominated by people who don't think there should even *be* a social progress bucket.
Is he kidding? We're a nation that's becoming dominated by people who don't think there should even *be* a social progress bucket.
2
Relative to the better-performing countries, we (the US) are stuck in a conservative, capitalistic agenda. President Obama seems to have the right ideas for leading us to a more equitable future, but the opposition is fighting him on every move.
I am afraid that the world is already experiencing the results of alienation and disenfranchisement, especially among young adults. Time for the opposition to wake up!
I am afraid that the world is already experiencing the results of alienation and disenfranchisement, especially among young adults. Time for the opposition to wake up!
3
"We can send people to space and turn watches into computers, but we seem incapable of consensus on the issues that matter most to our children — so our political system remains in gridlock, even as other countries pass us by."
Huh?
1. We can't send men into space, not anymore.
2. Watches are computers.
3. Even if you were right about 1 & 2, why would these abilities lead to a "consensus about the issues that matter most about our children's lives"?
4. Our political system is in gridlock because rich people pay billions of dollars to keep it that way. It has nothing to do with technology.
Huh?
1. We can't send men into space, not anymore.
2. Watches are computers.
3. Even if you were right about 1 & 2, why would these abilities lead to a "consensus about the issues that matter most about our children's lives"?
4. Our political system is in gridlock because rich people pay billions of dollars to keep it that way. It has nothing to do with technology.
3
msdillo1 nails it: we have way too many poorly-informed citizens, and too many of them vote for the wrong people. I would add to that the perspective, having lived in Europe and New Zealand and travelled all over the globe, that one of the reasons many Americans lack this world-view is because the US is large enough that a vast swath of the populace never ventures outside of the border, whether that be national, state, county, or gated community. For example, New Zealanders are overwhelmingly well-informed--I'd argue the average Kiwi knows more about American politics and foreign policy than the average American!--in part because they're a small nation in the middle of the Pacific, and very much dependent on international commerce, for starters. It's also quite common for Kiwis to spend a year (or more) abroad in some chosen foreign country simply for the purpose of broadening their personal horizons. What a concept! Think we could get Congress to pass a bill promoting such a thing for American youths?
Naaaaaaaaaaah….
Naaaaaaaaaaah….
9
There are some fundamental systemic differences between Canada and the US. In the 1960's, through the actions of Tommy Douglas, premier of Saskatchewan and later NDP leader, universal medical care came into being. This freed up employers and workers from fear of providing medical coverage or losing everything to a medical emergency. Second, we never had a huge ethnic underclass (except for First Nations, but that's a different story). We also believe in government being part of the solution, given our geographic size, distance that limits scales and required duplication of services across a vast landscape. Lastly, the poor aren't demonized, but Canada puts limits on welfare and makes it not too easy to claim it. For instance, a single person on welfare in British Columbia might receive $400.00 a month. Out of that he has to pay for housing, food and clothing. Medical care is covered, as it is for all Canadians and he won't have to pay a medical premium (BC is about the only province left that makes its population pay a medical premium - usually 56 to 90 dollars a month (single/family) - but it covers all medical services). He will receive a bus pass while he is on welfare. However, he can only claim social benefits for three years. He will be offered training or education. He might even get a job through welfare - and if he turns it down, he risks losing his benefits. Canada is much less conservative than the US, but welfare is made unattractive.
43
Even Denmark had to cut back. As reported in the NY Times, they used to give generous unemployment payments for four years; so many guys loafed for four years, and then got a job. But now, they start to reduce them gradually after six months, giving a bit of a hint to the recipients. This policy has proven quite effective.
When will we stop talking about welfare in the US as it existed in the 70's? Clinton ended "welfare as we know it," -- nobody stays on welfare indefinitely in the US.
There is no free bus pass.
We simply have allowed the Right to make a cool political and cultural fetish out of NOT believing in government, and not paying taxes into the system. So the Rich could get away with murder, they had to convince us all that government, society, and anything that "took" money to support it was bad, and therefore worth murdering. The result: in some cases, the Rich, and large corporations are at the lowest tax levels in history, and getting ever lower... yet they scream bloody murder at the injustice of all those "entitled" takers - losers everyone of them.
Now, all we fund is our shockingly large military, so we can possibly go fight a war in Iran. We don't want to pay for anything, since government is a hateful thing that funds losers. The Right successfully sold Reagan's message: because government does a few things wrong, they can't do anything right. As a result, the Rich have now skewed the system where they are the biggest and most entitled takers... but they earned the money, so it's OK.
Healthcare is a sin to pay for, roads should be built by private corporations and paid with tolls, and parents should all pay for their own darn kids' education! Now, cities can't buy textbooks, and some cities, even states are working on eliminating core courses and shortening the school year... We are indeed "exceptional."
We have lost our sense of society - and our way. Taxes pay for civilization. We don't pay or care, so our civilization is fading fast.
Now, all we fund is our shockingly large military, so we can possibly go fight a war in Iran. We don't want to pay for anything, since government is a hateful thing that funds losers. The Right successfully sold Reagan's message: because government does a few things wrong, they can't do anything right. As a result, the Rich have now skewed the system where they are the biggest and most entitled takers... but they earned the money, so it's OK.
Healthcare is a sin to pay for, roads should be built by private corporations and paid with tolls, and parents should all pay for their own darn kids' education! Now, cities can't buy textbooks, and some cities, even states are working on eliminating core courses and shortening the school year... We are indeed "exceptional."
We have lost our sense of society - and our way. Taxes pay for civilization. We don't pay or care, so our civilization is fading fast.
9
Mr. Kristof--what do you suggest we do? We have a permanent underclass who practically refuses to assimilate, refuses to take education seriously, can't commit to any kind of work schedule--and prefers to exist on the margins of life, living off the labor of others. In addition to that, our schools are poorly equipped to perform any kind of intervention, refuses to go along with a longer school day, longer school year--and is vehemently opposed to charter schools or any type of teacher improvement--or rewarding of excellent teachers.
In addition to all that, half of our politicians are heavily invested in convincing our citizens that they are poor, abused, downtrodden--and that hard word, dedication and entrepreneurship is a waste of time.
Let's face it--Liberalism has taken its toll--in rotting out the foundation of this great nation. Who gets the blame for that?
In addition to all that, half of our politicians are heavily invested in convincing our citizens that they are poor, abused, downtrodden--and that hard word, dedication and entrepreneurship is a waste of time.
Let's face it--Liberalism has taken its toll--in rotting out the foundation of this great nation. Who gets the blame for that?
3
I doubt our political types would even care. Even our Supreme Court is a vehicle for business interests over people.
Our political system has been hijacked by a type of reactionary conservatism that is mired in old authoritarian fear-based thinking. Its characteristic is negative, not optimistic. It is too bad. As the graphs show, it has little to offer the American people.
Our political system has been hijacked by a type of reactionary conservatism that is mired in old authoritarian fear-based thinking. Its characteristic is negative, not optimistic. It is too bad. As the graphs show, it has little to offer the American people.
1
We are not 'frozen' about our national public policy, we have been frozen by powerful political forces that want to and have succeeded in freezing all human progress, predominantly the Greedy Old Party complemented by the Democratic Party which refuses to stand up and hit the Republicans over the head with their nefarious economic weapons of mass destruction and an electorate that refuses to vote in large numbers and that is systematically disenfranchised from voting by the Grand Oppression Party.
Most of the countries that do well on the index also have higher voter turnout than the US, not because they're better citizens, but because there's no Republican Party in their country disincentivizing citizens to vote.
Voter registration is automatic in most countries; there is no separate 'registration' hoop to jump through in most civilized countries and there certainly are no major political parties actively working to make voting harder as is today's GOP.
Voting is not limited to Tuesdays in civilized countries; it's held on weekends or multiple days to give poor people with multiple jobs a real chance to get to the polls.
Voting is compulsory and not optional in some countries since the outcome is so serious.
Voting is not subcontracted out to black-box DIEBOLD voting machines with no audit trail as it is in America.
In short, when you add moneyed 'speech' and corporate 'people' to America's shameful voter system, there is not much of a functioning democracy left.
Most of the countries that do well on the index also have higher voter turnout than the US, not because they're better citizens, but because there's no Republican Party in their country disincentivizing citizens to vote.
Voter registration is automatic in most countries; there is no separate 'registration' hoop to jump through in most civilized countries and there certainly are no major political parties actively working to make voting harder as is today's GOP.
Voting is not limited to Tuesdays in civilized countries; it's held on weekends or multiple days to give poor people with multiple jobs a real chance to get to the polls.
Voting is compulsory and not optional in some countries since the outcome is so serious.
Voting is not subcontracted out to black-box DIEBOLD voting machines with no audit trail as it is in America.
In short, when you add moneyed 'speech' and corporate 'people' to America's shameful voter system, there is not much of a functioning democracy left.
168
Voter registration is now automatic in 1 of the 50 states; Oregon.
1
I agree on your arguments. It is always good to put our perception in perspective. I have a couple of (minor ?) remarks about the index ranking. I am currently living in two Countries, Italy and France, which I know well, also given my age. The index ranks Italy better than France in both "Nutrition and Basic Medical Care" and "Health and Wellness". I can tell you that this is simply not possible, sorry for Italy but France is, for many reasons (access, cost, competence of the staff, quality of the infrastructure, etc.), far better in both these fields. Another domain on which the ranking is suspicious is "Access to higher education", where the US ranks first. This is also seems very strange to me. My daughter, 21, is currently at the third year of the School of Medicine in France. The School is higlhy ranked and the tuition fees are below 1.000 US$ per year. How is it possible that France higher education is ranked as less accessible than the one in US where the cheapest Public University of Medicine charges 16.000 US$ per year ? Ranking is good but travelling and seeing by oneself is better. Cheers
'Accessibility' has a wide variety of meanings. Anyone with money, and most people without money, can go to college in the US. Even if you can't read or write, some institution will take you in and enroll you - just sign here!
Whether this is a advantage or a defect I leave to the judgement of my audience.
Whether this is a advantage or a defect I leave to the judgement of my audience.
1
None of this is new. Moreover, as the 1% and their GOP minions continue to destroy unions, the last bastions of the middle class, and gut programs that help the working poor, this are only going to get worse. Wake up America, they're buying our country.
3
None of this comes as a surprise. Look at the countries topping the list: 5 of the top 10 comprise the Scandinavian countries, where "socialism" (AAAAHHHH!) reigns supreme.
By "socialism," I mean of course not Stalinist Russia or Castro's Cuba but "social democracy," the model whereby the people pay higher taxes and the government invests those taxes in the welfare of the people. When you invest in your human capital, you will naturally come out better in the Social Progress Index.
The United States has categorically rejected the social democratic model (decrying it as plain "socialism," a scare-word with political clout). Right-wing politicians drone on about the business-killing effects of higher taxes and the sapping of the entrepeneurial spirit by "government dependency." Their claims are disproven every single day by the ongoing success of places like Norway and Denmark.
Yet the GOP appears to have won the debate. So instead of investing in our human capital in the US, we let the bodies fall where they may as determined by unfettered capitalism, minimum taxes, minimum social welfare, vast military spending, minimal oversight of corporations, and no unions. The result is the modern feudalism we see around us.
I used to think that perhaps Americans would be able to rethink these choices. I no longer think that. The GOP has been so successful in inculcating the rightist virtues of greed, racial resentment, and selfishness that I doubt the country can change.
By "socialism," I mean of course not Stalinist Russia or Castro's Cuba but "social democracy," the model whereby the people pay higher taxes and the government invests those taxes in the welfare of the people. When you invest in your human capital, you will naturally come out better in the Social Progress Index.
The United States has categorically rejected the social democratic model (decrying it as plain "socialism," a scare-word with political clout). Right-wing politicians drone on about the business-killing effects of higher taxes and the sapping of the entrepeneurial spirit by "government dependency." Their claims are disproven every single day by the ongoing success of places like Norway and Denmark.
Yet the GOP appears to have won the debate. So instead of investing in our human capital in the US, we let the bodies fall where they may as determined by unfettered capitalism, minimum taxes, minimum social welfare, vast military spending, minimal oversight of corporations, and no unions. The result is the modern feudalism we see around us.
I used to think that perhaps Americans would be able to rethink these choices. I no longer think that. The GOP has been so successful in inculcating the rightist virtues of greed, racial resentment, and selfishness that I doubt the country can change.
17
This sort of socialism works in these countries because they are ethnically homogenous and socially cohesive. The people paying the taxes believe that they themselves will benefit from the resulting government spending.
People in the US do not believe that, and it is highly probable that they are correct.
People in the US do not believe that, and it is highly probable that they are correct.
The Enlightened liberal left has been so successful in creating a large, stable, impoverished and dependent voting block. Aren't they proud!
This "cannon fodder" is forced into undisciplined failing schools where few survive failure. But sacrifices have to be made for that teacher's union vote.
An entire healthcare system is trashed to deliver healthcare to the most dependent at the expense of the independent. Not that they didn't have healthcare already, it just felt like charity. Now they have a right. Not charity.
We give them food so they can feed their children. But it felt like charity. So we give them a credit card, so they're just like regular folks. So they buy cakes and go to movies - cigarettes and booze and drugs. But these are rights now, not charity. Is there really any doubt that our drug problem is not primarily financed by our immense welfare system?
Most of the other countries that rate higher on all the scales, so championed by the enlightened liberal, have safety nets for mostly an independent and productive society that occasionally suffers setbacks - not a safety net for a huge population of perennial dependents.
Those countries don't have 20 percent of their population living entirely off of government charity. Ours does.
Brought to you by the Enlightened liberal.
The Right then delivers you a Corporate welfare system that makes the other one pale in comparison.
Both brought to you by the Elite ruling political class.
This "cannon fodder" is forced into undisciplined failing schools where few survive failure. But sacrifices have to be made for that teacher's union vote.
An entire healthcare system is trashed to deliver healthcare to the most dependent at the expense of the independent. Not that they didn't have healthcare already, it just felt like charity. Now they have a right. Not charity.
We give them food so they can feed their children. But it felt like charity. So we give them a credit card, so they're just like regular folks. So they buy cakes and go to movies - cigarettes and booze and drugs. But these are rights now, not charity. Is there really any doubt that our drug problem is not primarily financed by our immense welfare system?
Most of the other countries that rate higher on all the scales, so championed by the enlightened liberal, have safety nets for mostly an independent and productive society that occasionally suffers setbacks - not a safety net for a huge population of perennial dependents.
Those countries don't have 20 percent of their population living entirely off of government charity. Ours does.
Brought to you by the Enlightened liberal.
The Right then delivers you a Corporate welfare system that makes the other one pale in comparison.
Both brought to you by the Elite ruling political class.
1
So we're so rich we can afford welfare for both poor people and corporations, and still have low taxes? Maybe things here aren't so bad after all...
One major nitpick: to the degree that our education system is a mess, it's not at all because we've been passive. Our education system has generally been doing well for decades, offering opportunity to those who'll take it and slowly but steadily improving everybody's lives, but then a few opportunists saw that they could profit from tearing it down, and worked hard to convince the public that it was a mess. Then they worked actively, not passively, to "fix" it. And they made a mess.
Go back to the system we had before the last fifteen years of "reform," and you'll have far less of a mess.
Go back to the system we had before the last fifteen years of "reform," and you'll have far less of a mess.
1
Interesting assessment of what makes us 'tick' as human beings. Beyond a certain level of income, to satisfy 'basic needs', happiness becomes immaterial (as countries as poor as Bhutan have shown). If this society were really 'social', where I feel your pain and you do mine, we would 'impose' universal public education, so that the wealthy would recognize the need to optimize the system...and contribute accordingly. Otherwise, the balance between our selfishness and our altruism becomes, well, unbalanced.
1
Correction: We could have sent people into space - we abandoned our space program before it became sufficiently viable to open the pathway to space for private industry because it was too boring for primetime and we could spend the money on other, more important things - which we never did. Our infrastructure is a national shame, our educational system is being tweaked to death without helping our kids, our social programs are growing weaker by the day, we're falling behind on science and manufacturing.
Why? Because the extremely wealthy in our nation, in our world, control the foregoing.
Why? Because the extremely wealthy in our nation, in our world, control the foregoing.
3
Hard to know where to start with this column. Anybody can construct their own quality of life index--there isn't enough information here to know if this is a good one or a bad one. So we rank 87th in cell phone use; does that mean we use it too little or too much?
Also "Perhaps we should worry less about reigning in the top 1% and more about helping the bottom 20%". Call me naive but I always thought that was the idea. We can always burn down wealthy people's homes--won't help anyone else but will reign them in. Only the NYT could think that a good idea.
Does the index measure various forms of freedom--including freedom from overweening regulation of private life and excessive taxation? Maybe school choice is a good thing and we should move to make charter schools accessible to more people, not less as NK seems to imply.
More generally, do we need to be first on everyone's list.?Some other countries do some things right too. And different cultures can have different preferences and different lists.
Also "Perhaps we should worry less about reigning in the top 1% and more about helping the bottom 20%". Call me naive but I always thought that was the idea. We can always burn down wealthy people's homes--won't help anyone else but will reign them in. Only the NYT could think that a good idea.
Does the index measure various forms of freedom--including freedom from overweening regulation of private life and excessive taxation? Maybe school choice is a good thing and we should move to make charter schools accessible to more people, not less as NK seems to imply.
More generally, do we need to be first on everyone's list.?Some other countries do some things right too. And different cultures can have different preferences and different lists.
2
If Norway and Sweden are so far superior to the United States, why don't any Americans move there?
What a silly comment. If I might say so, as a foreigner, too many Americans have the attitude that they cannot possibly learn anything from another Country.
They do and they have. Several of them post routinely here on the NYT blogs. I have no knowledge of the immigration requirements for either country but it is generally difficult for non-EU members to freely migrate to an EU country, not impossible, but difficult.
1
How many countries that outrank us on this index get a free ride on military defense at the expense of the average American taxpayer??
I should say taxpayer from 2030 since it's our children and grandchildren that will be paying the bill and not getting anything in return, let alone quality of life.
I should say taxpayer from 2030 since it's our children and grandchildren that will be paying the bill and not getting anything in return, let alone quality of life.
I've never put much trust in artificial catch-all indices like this one. There are biases that go into nearly everything measured. As an American (#16) who now lives in Canada (#6) I can see that context matters too. For example, university tuition here is nearly an order of magnitude cheaper than in the US, but schools are also chronically underfunded. Even so, students are marching in the streets demanding lower tuition rates here because we compare unfavorably to Europe. So is our tuition too low or too high?
19
I think that is a good observation but you might argue that American schools are overfunded or at least many are.
Having spent stretches of my life desperately poor and others relatively affluent, I can tell you that people can change radically with their financial position.
In my worst straits, though, I had hope of a better future. I can't even imagine how depressing it would be to be born to grinding poverty and have never known anything else.
It is possible to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps, but a lot harder than patronizing politicians think.
Consider: We live in a country dominated by so-called Christians who demand that women produce every baby that's conceived and then shout, "I am not my brother's keeper!" forevermore.
We have taken Cain, a fratricidal skinflint, as our role model.
Billions for bombs, billions for Israel, billions for Exxon-Mobil and GE, little to fix crumbling schools in poor neighborhoods.
Soon, we will have little left worth defending. Will we disband our armed forces then?
Didn't think so.
In my worst straits, though, I had hope of a better future. I can't even imagine how depressing it would be to be born to grinding poverty and have never known anything else.
It is possible to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps, but a lot harder than patronizing politicians think.
Consider: We live in a country dominated by so-called Christians who demand that women produce every baby that's conceived and then shout, "I am not my brother's keeper!" forevermore.
We have taken Cain, a fratricidal skinflint, as our role model.
Billions for bombs, billions for Israel, billions for Exxon-Mobil and GE, little to fix crumbling schools in poor neighborhoods.
Soon, we will have little left worth defending. Will we disband our armed forces then?
Didn't think so.
12
But that isn't what the polititatians tell us. They clam we are # 1, they want everyone to reach the "American Dream" we are the greatest country on earth. Well we were close to being that at certain times in the past, however these days it's all about polititatians winning, and one percent making $$$$.
Too much interest, enthusiasm, and political capital has shifted to social and cultural issues to the exclusion of other priorities. That seems to drive voting patterns and has led voters to vote against their own best interests. As long as that pattern continues, our status on the world stage will continue to fall.
Just work on the "education" issue and the rest of the indexes will magically get better as well.
Being 87th in cellphone sounds like the bright spot in our otherwise dismal rankings.
3
I'm currently in Limerick, Ireland. They will have an anti-water-tax rally Saturday. These are happening everywhere. The large department store, Dunnes, just had a labor walk-out/strike last week, over hours, shifts and labor rights. These type of issues are occuring due to the 'low life', as Kristof calls it. Millions upon millions have only known the low life, but the change is in the ever-growing millions headed that way.Jobs are low-wage now for most of us. We give the young no hope of middle-class life or owning their own home. We've been led into the carnage of poverty and inequality, and we continue to follow (just look at our most recent elections). I'm glad Kristof wrote the article, for as Krugman commented earlier, their jobs (our duty) is to speak the truth, without fear or hesitation. The People may choose to continue their march towards oligarchy and plutocracy and dependency and all the crimes associated with poverty. We control only so much. Eventually the common, working, American will awake and see the moral and spiritual need of creating a more just and equal and perfect union. That 'tipping point' approaches; the 'all lives matter' point. Speak the truth. Change is coming. Already happening in Ireland. I pray it comes soon to my home country.
4
What a meaningful index! In time I hope it gets weightier than GDP to guide governments in making rational policies which actually benefit people, and assess quality of life, in countries round the planet
I believe that term limits and a change in age qualifications so that both younger people could serve in Congress and an age cap so that a retirement age is mandatory for Congress would help make changes in our national policies. Additionally, there should be a common core sort of education for the people who are going to lead our country. Aside from knowing how to be elected, representatives need to know about history, science, technology, and social/global cultures.
Our world moves very quickly now and it is entwined more globally than ever before. We need people who understand this. With almost life tenures at some political positions, we have not provided protection for a person to be free from influence but a platform for them to be influenced for the longest possible time.
Also, nations used to reach out to other countries to exploit their resources and that still occurs but America seems to be eating itself at the moment, using up infrastructure, people, natural resources, etc. We need people to take a long view but our Congress is always taking a short view. Somehow we must change the nature of what it means to govern here, to truly represent the best interests of the people and the land. For that to happen, our representatives need to be connected to the people and the land. Those voices need to be reclaimed from the money at the top that is shouting now.
Our world moves very quickly now and it is entwined more globally than ever before. We need people who understand this. With almost life tenures at some political positions, we have not provided protection for a person to be free from influence but a platform for them to be influenced for the longest possible time.
Also, nations used to reach out to other countries to exploit their resources and that still occurs but America seems to be eating itself at the moment, using up infrastructure, people, natural resources, etc. We need people to take a long view but our Congress is always taking a short view. Somehow we must change the nature of what it means to govern here, to truly represent the best interests of the people and the land. For that to happen, our representatives need to be connected to the people and the land. Those voices need to be reclaimed from the money at the top that is shouting now.
1
Mr. Kristoff, thank you once again for telling us the hard truths about our contemporary American lives. The facts make one wonder whether the arrogance that is now so prevalent throughout our society is a response to the subconscious realization of the truths told here.
Are the cocksure rantings of an O'Reilly arising from a place within him that knows something is dreadfully wrong in the good old US of A, but simply cannot acknowledge the fact? Is the Republican party's shrill denial of the mortal dangers that face us - as we continue to pollute our atmosphere, using up what has to be a limited supply of fossil fuels - actually an attempt to silence the noise within their own brains? I am guessing that it is.
But forget the politics - what I find most difficult today is the almost universal national atmosphere of hostility and contempt. Interactions within our communities, between individuals, and among groups are now so badly charged with negative emotion that I value the few friendly encounters that I have as I go about the business of my life.
This ain't fun any more, being an American.
Are the cocksure rantings of an O'Reilly arising from a place within him that knows something is dreadfully wrong in the good old US of A, but simply cannot acknowledge the fact? Is the Republican party's shrill denial of the mortal dangers that face us - as we continue to pollute our atmosphere, using up what has to be a limited supply of fossil fuels - actually an attempt to silence the noise within their own brains? I am guessing that it is.
But forget the politics - what I find most difficult today is the almost universal national atmosphere of hostility and contempt. Interactions within our communities, between individuals, and among groups are now so badly charged with negative emotion that I value the few friendly encounters that I have as I go about the business of my life.
This ain't fun any more, being an American.
3
I've have aged into being more spectator....than participator. I anticipate a vigorous experience today, as I can appreciate another day of savoring the verbal responses to Mr. Kristof's tantalizing offering. Never before have I felt more cynical about "my" Congress, lingering in Limbo, while sabotaging a diligent President. I search for the perfect metaphor, in disappointment.
2
"our political systems seem unable to rise to the challenges."
Our political systems are unable to rise to the challenges because our citizens will not vote for a politician who will address the challenges. That would place the problem, not with our political system, but with our citizens.
Long ago, I decided that many Americans would prefer doing without something themselves than risk seeing someone else get something. So large numbers of uninsured people oppose the Affordable Care Act. The states with the highest percentages of their populations receiving federal nutrition assistance elect candidates who promise to cut funding for those programs. It seems the fault dear Brutus is not in our political system but in ourselves.
Our political systems are unable to rise to the challenges because our citizens will not vote for a politician who will address the challenges. That would place the problem, not with our political system, but with our citizens.
Long ago, I decided that many Americans would prefer doing without something themselves than risk seeing someone else get something. So large numbers of uninsured people oppose the Affordable Care Act. The states with the highest percentages of their populations receiving federal nutrition assistance elect candidates who promise to cut funding for those programs. It seems the fault dear Brutus is not in our political system but in ourselves.
1
But Nicholas we still can believe in 'American Exceptionalism', can't we?
The third-world kid was asked why he wanted to go to America. He answered, "I want to go where the poor people are fat." I am not sure what a "Social Progress Index" measures but I do know the poor in America are well-off compared to the rest of the world. What they need is jobs, not a job-killing higher minimum wage.
And basically, the US would be much lower if not for the 'opportunity'-category, in which the US ranks 8th Worldwide. Based mostly on some flawed assumptions I would argue. How does the US-universiry system (ranked 1st) reflect opportunity? It really doesn't for 98% of people, the other 2% being rich and/or gifted. Basically this score is mostly a bonus for being the biggest 1st World country. Nothing else.
Looking at the statistics dealing with oppotunity I see quite a few flaws, for instance the US ranks first in years of tertiary education, while with 100% certainty I know that most fo Western Europe and Scandinavia get significantly better education. The college education I got the US wasn't even on par with my high school education in the Netherlands. Being 17/18 I took senior year seminars without studying for finals.
I think the US (for 98/99% of its citizens) ranks more somewhere between 30 and 40th place. Just like in healthcare.
Looking at the statistics dealing with oppotunity I see quite a few flaws, for instance the US ranks first in years of tertiary education, while with 100% certainty I know that most fo Western Europe and Scandinavia get significantly better education. The college education I got the US wasn't even on par with my high school education in the Netherlands. Being 17/18 I took senior year seminars without studying for finals.
I think the US (for 98/99% of its citizens) ranks more somewhere between 30 and 40th place. Just like in healthcare.
2
The article says "Perhaps we should worry less about reining in the top 1 percent and more about helping the bottom 20 percent?"
The only way to have the money to help the bottom 20 percent IS to reign in the excesses of the top 1%. The fact that they have an unfair advantage in just about every economic system sucks money that would otherwise help create jobs and living wages.
These rankings aren't a surprise when you realize that all the countries above us have single payer medical care or some variation thereof, much stronger support for higher education, stronger worker protections, and strong social safety nets.
The only way to have the money to help the bottom 20 percent IS to reign in the excesses of the top 1%. The fact that they have an unfair advantage in just about every economic system sucks money that would otherwise help create jobs and living wages.
These rankings aren't a surprise when you realize that all the countries above us have single payer medical care or some variation thereof, much stronger support for higher education, stronger worker protections, and strong social safety nets.
4
Thanks, Mr. Kristof for reminding us the reality of our claims of exceptionalism and "city on the hill" status. The reality is that our military budget exceeds that of other major countries combined; we are too quick to resort to military intervention rather than diplomacy in other countries; we are one of the few advanced countries that still practice capital punishment; our health care is inferior and costly; our education is sub par; our criminal justice system produces an incarceration rate ranking among the highest in the world; we are one of the few advanced countries who have not ratified the international cluster bomb treaty; and growing inequality of wealth and income threatens public support for our democratic free enterprise system which is fast becoming an oligarchy.
142
I don't think Americans are passive or frozen. There is broad consensus on spending money to improve our infrastructure or improve our schools. The current gridlock is a symbol of money poisoning our political system that makes our political leaders less responsive to its citizens.
196
Precisely! The lack of sanctions vis a vis Citizens United, et al has made the political field one of gross injustice to the ordinary/average/employed/unemployed/overage/undereducated/bullied US citizen. The need for investing within our country as opposed to investing outside is rampant - the culprits are the Congressional leaders who are not leaders at all, but followers: following the wishes of those who donate the huge money in all of its darkness and clandestine origins; all determined to undercut the basic needs of our citizens and to stretch the earning capacity of the very few who control the flow of money. Not one Congressional leader ( I use that term despairingly) with the emption of Warren and Sanders extoll the virtues of public campaign financing - actions such as those would alleviate the corruption, the buy-outs and the gross mean spiritedness of those giving the money - consider this Koch Brothers, using 898 billion dollars by donating it to the highway fund? Now doing that you would cement your legacy in the cement of our country, but alas, your egos get in your way as you look upon your greaness in a single sided mirror.
1
Right, it's not our fault, it's all the fault of "big money". There might be "broad consensus" in there sense that many Americans talk a good line, but how many of us vote every two years in Congressional elections, and hold our Representatives to account?
"There is broad consensus on spending money to improve our infrastructure or improve our schools. "
Sadly, actual events at different levels of government since the rise of the Teatotalitarians belie your belief.
There seems to be an increasing number of people very actively opposed to spending any taxpayer money on anything that they themselves (no longer) need.
Sadly, actual events at different levels of government since the rise of the Teatotalitarians belie your belief.
There seems to be an increasing number of people very actively opposed to spending any taxpayer money on anything that they themselves (no longer) need.
" A newly released global index finds that America falls short, along with other powerful countries, on what matters most: assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens."
This is wrong headed, from the beginning. Our system doesn't assure a high quality of life for ordinary citizens. It allows for all citizens to pursue a high quality of life, for themselves. Huge difference. Our system isn't there to provide for ordinary citizens. It's there to protect ordinary citizens' efforts to pursue their happiness.
This is wrong headed, from the beginning. Our system doesn't assure a high quality of life for ordinary citizens. It allows for all citizens to pursue a high quality of life, for themselves. Huge difference. Our system isn't there to provide for ordinary citizens. It's there to protect ordinary citizens' efforts to pursue their happiness.
32
Our system today no longer “allows for all citizens to pursue a high quality of life, for themselves.”
This historical truth is no longer true. Inequality of opportunity in the US has been heavily documented in this study and others. As a consequence of inequality of opportunity we have inequality of results. We would like to be proud of our nation like in the past but all this is changed by the drive of the ultrarich, who would be happy with a banana plantation country as long as they own the plantation themselves.
This historical truth is no longer true. Inequality of opportunity in the US has been heavily documented in this study and others. As a consequence of inequality of opportunity we have inequality of results. We would like to be proud of our nation like in the past but all this is changed by the drive of the ultrarich, who would be happy with a banana plantation country as long as they own the plantation themselves.
9
Except that the numbers are a pretty good indicator that, in America, many citizens have very little chance of attaining a high quality of life because the system has been so thoroughly corrupted by money, politics, racism, disfunctional government, and off-the-charts disparity of income.
"It's there to protect ordinary citizens' efforts to pursue their happiness." Oh, if only that were the case.
"It's there to protect ordinary citizens' efforts to pursue their happiness." Oh, if only that were the case.
5
Sadly, Lzylitnin, there are many laws and policies and people that actually operate against certain segments of our society to prevent them from pursuing that individual happiness. Taxes are collected and spent in ways that burden middle class citizens more than the wealthy; also, education and infrastructure supports etc. are inadequate to 21st century needs in poorer (i.e., minority) districts; deprivation makes utilizing what governmental supports exist impossible to get to (no car because inadequate income.) Law enforcement is applied in unlawful ways that are both rigorous and and unequal: too many minority citizens are pursued and/or beaten or jailed or killed for minor infractions. The list of society's ways of dealing with the less than wealthy are manifold and manifested everywhere, every day. The idea that a person can succeed on their own against the odds is, on average, consummately wrong. The problem is that nice, middle class folks can't imagine that everyone's life isn't like theirs: relatively stress free with possibility for success free floating everywhere around them.
3
Maybe now you will understand why school reforms aren't working. In fact many charters are failing around the country. Reforms never focused on the needs of inner city students. These schools are the most overcrowded, delapicated in our country. Supplies are nonexistent. Crime and unemployment are much higher. Yet teachers got the blame. And each day money is being siphoned from these schools to go to testing companies and hedge fund managers, but not a penny of RTTT funding goes directly to the student. In the countries listed, social and ecomonic needs go hand in hand with education.
Success Academy may post higher scores, but not one student in 2 years can pass a test for specialized high schools proving teaching to the test is artificial teaching. And struggling students are expelled because scores are more important than helping the student improve at his own pace and level to their investors. This after a year of psychologically abusing these students by labeling them stupid and lazy. The philosophy behind charters were usurped by Wall Street and editorials. So it's nice to see The NYTimes finally coming to their senses by waking up to the fact poverty is the biggest issue in this country. And offering low paying jobs with no benefits is the cure.
Success Academy may post higher scores, but not one student in 2 years can pass a test for specialized high schools proving teaching to the test is artificial teaching. And struggling students are expelled because scores are more important than helping the student improve at his own pace and level to their investors. This after a year of psychologically abusing these students by labeling them stupid and lazy. The philosophy behind charters were usurped by Wall Street and editorials. So it's nice to see The NYTimes finally coming to their senses by waking up to the fact poverty is the biggest issue in this country. And offering low paying jobs with no benefits is the cure.
8
When you go to some of these countries and see how they live, you have to ask what they mean by social progress. I will take my three cars, my own home, a quarter acre of land and gas at less than $3.00 a gallon over what we find in Britain for instance. The problem is social programs often lead to lack of personal responsibility, which leads to lower statistics. I came from a poor home, worked hard to get a good education, watch my health, and pay attention to my social, spiritual, and emotional health as well.
I expect to live the American dream like many of these other world citizens only wish they could. It is about personal choice and accountability and not government programs.
I expect to live the American dream like many of these other world citizens only wish they could. It is about personal choice and accountability and not government programs.
4
I'd take the London Tubes over the New York Subways.
It is clear you have never been to Britain or anywhere else for that matter. In terms of what you perceive as the "American Dream" is now a relic of the past and you obviously don't care about anyone else anyway.
Most of the top countries on the list have advantages over the US. Most are homogeneous populations, and smaller countries. Of the top 16, only the US, Britain and Germany have significant international responsibilities and none of these is in the top 10. I don't see Russia, China, or even France at the top of the list.
Bottom line is that the US does pretty well for a country with a larger international burden and a large population.
Bottom line is that the US does pretty well for a country with a larger international burden and a large population.
3
As a U.S. citizen living abroad, what is embarrassing to me is the penchant of many Americans and, particularly, many U.S. political candidates, to invoke the "American exceptionalism" mantra when describing their patriotism for America's greatness. The Social Progress benchmarks do not support this view. What is exceptional about America is our ability to project hope, remain independent, and intrinsically believe in our ability to evolve and thereby improve our social contract with ourselves and the rest of the world. We aren't perfect, by many standards, but mostly better and improving when compared to the alternatives out there. Americans, let's keep some honest, self-scrutinizing perspective here.
4
Nick: you column is well intended, but as usual, you miss the mark by a long shot on public education. First off, it is not "for the needy." 88% of Americans attend public schools, and that number varies up and down only slightly over time. It is the ultimate definition of the commons, and in fact is often a powerful uniting force across all economic strata. Secondly, it is not a "mess." Sure there are bad schools and mediocre teachers. But any entity that satisfactorily serves even let's say 75% of that 88% of a HUGE population, cannot be considered a failure. In CA, our great public universities are populated mostly by grads of public schools, with a far small number and percentage of students being alums of private schools. So much for a "mess."
6
Here in the US, the prevailing economic wisdom holds that insecurity is good for you and keeps the economy healthy.
6
Good point, Steve. According to the "moderate" economists, making the rich feel anxious will tank the economy because they'll store their money in the Caymans until the storm passes, but making the poor feel anxious will motivate their sorry butts to get out of the house and over to the Home Depot parking lot.
America has been down the slippery slide since Bush Jr. took over. There are no simple solutions or instant policy changes that can fix systems in decline.: highest medical tariffs in the developed world, disintegrating race relations which are fast approaching pre bellum status, idealistic and in some ways potentially threatening foreign policy decisions, eg Vladimir Putin and Iran, the disaster of immigration.... and education? How does the country fix itself when it's becoming so fragmented with conflicting ideologies?
2
It started with Reagan.
2
"Perhaps we should worry less about reining in the top 1 percent and more about helping the bottom 20 percent?"
I agree wholeheartedly. What else do the top countries on that list have in common besides their robust social safety nets made possible by modest defense spending (as opposed to our out-of-control offense spending)? And half our so-called leadership wants to shred this country's social safety net even further in the years ahead.
If only the top 1 percent understood that they don't "lose" anything by giving some help to the bottom 20 percent. Their mindset reminds me of an old New Yorker cartoon of two dogs, with one saying to the other, "It's not enough that dogs win -- cats must lose!"
I agree wholeheartedly. What else do the top countries on that list have in common besides their robust social safety nets made possible by modest defense spending (as opposed to our out-of-control offense spending)? And half our so-called leadership wants to shred this country's social safety net even further in the years ahead.
If only the top 1 percent understood that they don't "lose" anything by giving some help to the bottom 20 percent. Their mindset reminds me of an old New Yorker cartoon of two dogs, with one saying to the other, "It's not enough that dogs win -- cats must lose!"
10
There defense spending is modest because WE defend them. If they had to defend themselves, they would not be in such great shape.
You think no one will attack Europe? Both ISIS and the Russian army could get there quite easily, and if they acted quickly before defenses could be properly organized, might slice through a number of countries.
You think no one will attack Europe? Both ISIS and the Russian army could get there quite easily, and if they acted quickly before defenses could be properly organized, might slice through a number of countries.
None of these other countries had large slave populations or as much immigration from socially backward countries. I suspect the low raking is largely due to (1) America's horrendous sins in the past (enslaving people for 100 years and then suppressing them for at least another 100) and (2) to America's tremendous openness to illegal immigration from poor countries. Canada and Australia are very choosey about their immigrants with point systems and deportation so rigorous people don't go in the first place. Japan has zero. Germany and many of the other European countries have fewer immigrants and/or get more educated ones. In the UK, many immigrants work as professionals or doctors in the NHS but that's because they come from educated success oriented families and the families were that way before they immigrated. The US takes in many peasant type people with no culture of education. If there is no culture of education, then even great schools don't necessarily help. It would be interesting to see the social progress level of US states that don't have illegal immigration.
7
Is this a time travel back to the early 20th century when the exact same arguments were made about Italians, Jews, eastern Europeans, and Greeks. And don't forget we also didn't admit Chinese and only small numbers of Japanese because they were so backward?
So when do we declare Hope and Change a failure?
When do we admit that Obama's trickle down economics haven't done anything but create another Wall St. Bubble?
When do we agree that the health care legislation, The ACA has not met any of its goals? The legislation that was supposed to insure 40 million has only reached a quarter of that, and only by forced participation.
How many more have to die before the realization hits, that being nice to our enemies didn't change their hearts?
Wages stagnant, labor force participation at an all time low...
Race relations? Hate has reached new levels.
All the while government spending is at an all time high and growing.
When do we admit that Obama's trickle down economics haven't done anything but create another Wall St. Bubble?
When do we agree that the health care legislation, The ACA has not met any of its goals? The legislation that was supposed to insure 40 million has only reached a quarter of that, and only by forced participation.
How many more have to die before the realization hits, that being nice to our enemies didn't change their hearts?
Wages stagnant, labor force participation at an all time low...
Race relations? Hate has reached new levels.
All the while government spending is at an all time high and growing.
2
Nice try. The mess we are in has taken decades to devolve to. Can't be blamed on one single president, who inherited the nadir results of these decades: 2 unfunded wars, a regressive tax system, an economy that had imploded, etc.
1
The United States abandoned social progress with the election of Ronald Reagan, Crown Prince of Excess and Pomp. Since 1980, America's progress has been the ongoing erosion of the middle class as income and wealth accumulation flowed in a torrent up to the already wealthy served by their Republican Party.
Our fixation on the world's most powerful military (and most expensive) is to protect the wealthy who own America. But, there is a Trojan Horse in what they own: America has slipped into a 2nd world country and is on its way to 3rd world status along the lines of a banana republic. What the wealthy have bargained for ultimately may not be worth owning.
Our fixation on the world's most powerful military (and most expensive) is to protect the wealthy who own America. But, there is a Trojan Horse in what they own: America has slipped into a 2nd world country and is on its way to 3rd world status along the lines of a banana republic. What the wealthy have bargained for ultimately may not be worth owning.
52
The disparity of income and the shrinking of the middle class has been much worse under Obama. If that is a reason to not like Reagan, then you should not be able to say much good about Obama where the 1% has gotten richer and the bottom has gotten less of the pie. Good luck with the duplicity of that argument.
Every successful country has a grand narrative that drives the life force of the citizens - American grand narrative was 'exceptionalism'. By hard work and sacrifice, this grand narrative was realized by the generation of Americans who lead the country in twentyth century.
By end of twentyth century, Americans started falling short of this grand narrative and become a country of 'greed' - country of MBA programs where success is measured in Wall Street and corporate profit. The greedy intellectuals and Ivy League universities took the country to a wrong direction in the name of efficiency and forget the intangible - emotional and spiritual value. The common people could not grasped this subtle change and fooled by media repeating the old grand narrative.
People are the building blocks of grand narrative and today America is falling short to create this building blocks to regain the hold on its grand narrative. It will not happen in the Congress, not at Silicon Valley, even not in Bill and Milenda Gates Foundation - it requires new social leaders like Martin Lauther King. It has to touch the consciousness of the whole country - it is not LGBT right or Ferguson. The message will encompase all these and much more and penetrate the national consciousness. Small small local leaders influenced by this message reinvigorate the community - similar to Tea Party. We lost significant energy by leaderless Tea Party mess, we need to get our energy channeled in the right direction.
By end of twentyth century, Americans started falling short of this grand narrative and become a country of 'greed' - country of MBA programs where success is measured in Wall Street and corporate profit. The greedy intellectuals and Ivy League universities took the country to a wrong direction in the name of efficiency and forget the intangible - emotional and spiritual value. The common people could not grasped this subtle change and fooled by media repeating the old grand narrative.
People are the building blocks of grand narrative and today America is falling short to create this building blocks to regain the hold on its grand narrative. It will not happen in the Congress, not at Silicon Valley, even not in Bill and Milenda Gates Foundation - it requires new social leaders like Martin Lauther King. It has to touch the consciousness of the whole country - it is not LGBT right or Ferguson. The message will encompase all these and much more and penetrate the national consciousness. Small small local leaders influenced by this message reinvigorate the community - similar to Tea Party. We lost significant energy by leaderless Tea Party mess, we need to get our energy channeled in the right direction.
4
Another ranking system by cherry-picking liberal academics.
I'll pick on one of these metrics cited here - life expectany. Researchers have long puzled over immigrants living less long than the native born, and only one factor has been shown to correlate: smoking. Eliminate 11 million illegals who statistically smoke much more than average, and life epectancy will rank higher.
I'll also add that a statistical ranking without some measure of actual differences is deceptive. Who cares if we rank 10th in something if the difference from 1st is miniscule?
I'll pick on one of these metrics cited here - life expectany. Researchers have long puzled over immigrants living less long than the native born, and only one factor has been shown to correlate: smoking. Eliminate 11 million illegals who statistically smoke much more than average, and life epectancy will rank higher.
I'll also add that a statistical ranking without some measure of actual differences is deceptive. Who cares if we rank 10th in something if the difference from 1st is miniscule?
"As Porter notes, Americans generally understand that we face economic impediments such as declining infrastructure, yet we’re frozen. We appreciate that our education system is a mess, yet we’re passive."
Is it not the educational system or the infrastructure, Porter, it is the Republicans. Republicans stand in the way of every governmental effort to help the ordinary American. You've seen it over the past 6 and a half years. Opposition to the stimulus. Umpteenth repeal of the Affordable Care Act. And everything else that would be good for the ordinary American. The fact that Kristof can't put the blame where the blame lies, is why America can't dig itself out of the whole the Republicans put us in. That's why we lag: the Republicans get off scott free.
Is it not the educational system or the infrastructure, Porter, it is the Republicans. Republicans stand in the way of every governmental effort to help the ordinary American. You've seen it over the past 6 and a half years. Opposition to the stimulus. Umpteenth repeal of the Affordable Care Act. And everything else that would be good for the ordinary American. The fact that Kristof can't put the blame where the blame lies, is why America can't dig itself out of the whole the Republicans put us in. That's why we lag: the Republicans get off scott free.
2
An entire political wing of the US electorate has been conditioned to reflexively reject any policy platform or item that has the words "social" or "progress" as a rationale.
10
"We obsess on the wrong measures, so we often have the wrong priorities." The irony is devastating: Mr. Kristof is one of the biggest advocates of foreign entanglements, which have bled us of the very resources which are needed at home to pay for a higher quality of life, not even counting the unmeasured misery of those poor Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the egos of those fools who bring us endless wars fighting for ungrateful foreigners. (The last time a nation attacked us was 1941. All the wars we fought since then were unnecessary, and the people who advocated for them should be held to account or condemned by history.)
Of course, we should vastly increase domestic government spending: leaving our well-being to the vicissitudes of the private sector alone has been a colossal mistake. We need Big Government, but not stupid wars. (We also need better training of police.) We need more teachers and fewer soldiers. We need more housing and infrastructure spending at home, not abroad. Charity does begin at home. (We have too many homeless Americans.) We should pay for a bigger government by ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, not getting entangled in any more stupid wars, reducing our foreign aid, and increasing the income taxes of the rich.
Of course, we should vastly increase domestic government spending: leaving our well-being to the vicissitudes of the private sector alone has been a colossal mistake. We need Big Government, but not stupid wars. (We also need better training of police.) We need more teachers and fewer soldiers. We need more housing and infrastructure spending at home, not abroad. Charity does begin at home. (We have too many homeless Americans.) We should pay for a bigger government by ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, not getting entangled in any more stupid wars, reducing our foreign aid, and increasing the income taxes of the rich.
3
The countries at the top of the list generally value the well-being of their society as a whole over their individual citizens' freedom and liberty. Here in the US, we do it the other way. It's in our national DNA and comparisons like this to other countries really won't change anything of significance. Good, bad or otherwise, we are who we are. I guess if you want to live in a society like Norway's, you're going to have to move to Norway.
1
It's your two-party system. It worked in a relatively serene political environment where reaching consensus was facilitated by a homogenous population and a media that fostered that consensus. Since George W Bush gave voice to the more strident (and uneducated) forces in the Republican Party, the US has tumbled and stumbled. The rest of the world now watches in shock as the GOP devalues US political credibility and news operations such as Fox subvert the process. You need a third party to create a middle ground.
13
My wife and I have traveled abroad to many of these countries. It is no surprise to me that the Nordic countries top the list. No surprise at all.
3
When you have systems that are less democratic, individuals, particularly those with fewer means, become of less concern to that system. Our educational system is a prime example. The more oligarchic and driven by money the politics become, the more likely lower ratings will follow.
4
These polls should tell us that while "American Exceptionalism" is a hollow, jingoistic relapse to our brief flirtation with imperialism, we shouldn't beat ourselves up too much by its results.
Look at the countries on that list. All of them are considerably less diverse than the United States. None of them could have elected someone like President Obama to lead their country. There was an amusing letter to an editor from a Canadian asking Americans that after Obama retired from the presidency, " can we borrow him up here?"
No doubt, the world is catching up with America and all of the countries listed in that poll ahead of the United States are making contributions to the world. But let's not panic because this country always reinvents itself because of its diversity if only Americans would recognize it as a strength.
Look at the countries on that list. All of them are considerably less diverse than the United States. None of them could have elected someone like President Obama to lead their country. There was an amusing letter to an editor from a Canadian asking Americans that after Obama retired from the presidency, " can we borrow him up here?"
No doubt, the world is catching up with America and all of the countries listed in that poll ahead of the United States are making contributions to the world. But let's not panic because this country always reinvents itself because of its diversity if only Americans would recognize it as a strength.
4
Mr. Kristof, technological prowess is not a reliable indicator for wisdom. Our politicians rise out of the society you describe using the SPI. To expect other than we're getting is not a reasonable ... or sane expectation. They are us.
3
I am often stunned and hurt by what happens here in the U.S., the crime, economic disparity, prejudice, anger, selfishness. I recognize that it's a different country than the one I grew up in during the 60s and 70s. I feel that we've gone backwards, and feel naive for not realizing these conflicts were always present, I was just unaware of them. I wonder why there isn't some guiding force to keep us growing, to keep us unified. It seems that religion should be doing that, but of course it isn't, it seems to be building even bigger walls. People seems to lack a willingness to agree on basic levels of decent and sensible behavior. I'm not sure how or if we can ever get back to what I believe we once were.
6
The crime rate was higher, not lower, in the 60s and 70s. I also seem to recall a lot of rioting and fighting, and every aspect of morality being vigorously disputed by pugnacious factions.
America use to be a place where we respected people for working, working on the farm or in their business, but today huge conglomerates put people out of their farms and small businesses. Where small businesses still exist they are marginalized and rely on the overflow from large businesses.
We were store clerks, cleaning people, stock clerks, servers and cashiers in our own businesses and tradesmen so we appreciated these positions. We believed in hard work and that if you worked hard you should be able to live a decent life. Today we love soft work and hard work is disdained. We treat those that do manual and regular jobs, like the ones we did in our own businesses, as loafers and takers. We exalt the rich who live off these people's work and our soft work and look to them to solve our problems while belittling those who actually work hard and try to work their way up. We have gone back to the making of kings and the paternalism of the kingdom. We must give to the rich so they will take care of us trickling down pittances to us as we give them huge tax cuts, pay usury rates on the money we borrow and allow them to borrow at zero interest rates. All the while we pretend we are still the stalwart pioneers of the past. This schizophrenic nature of America can only make us unhappy. When a people who believe themselves strong individualists are told for over a generation that they must be saved buy others they lose all social and economic cohesiveness. It is irreconcilable.
We were store clerks, cleaning people, stock clerks, servers and cashiers in our own businesses and tradesmen so we appreciated these positions. We believed in hard work and that if you worked hard you should be able to live a decent life. Today we love soft work and hard work is disdained. We treat those that do manual and regular jobs, like the ones we did in our own businesses, as loafers and takers. We exalt the rich who live off these people's work and our soft work and look to them to solve our problems while belittling those who actually work hard and try to work their way up. We have gone back to the making of kings and the paternalism of the kingdom. We must give to the rich so they will take care of us trickling down pittances to us as we give them huge tax cuts, pay usury rates on the money we borrow and allow them to borrow at zero interest rates. All the while we pretend we are still the stalwart pioneers of the past. This schizophrenic nature of America can only make us unhappy. When a people who believe themselves strong individualists are told for over a generation that they must be saved buy others they lose all social and economic cohesiveness. It is irreconcilable.
6
These problems were legislated into existence and fiercely supported by the influencial 1% class of capital holders and financial / corporate managers. Capital is now favored over labor (low tax treatment of unearned income like capital gains tax, carried interest). Income taxes have recently become less progressive... the wealthy are now paying lower rates and a smaller share than before.
Finally, disgraceful campaign finance laws and Citizens United has stacked the odds so far against the middle class that our democracy is now a farce. This is reinforced by highly distorted and politically biased opinion outlets such as Fox news and radio/TV talking heads. The US is truly in full speed reverse.
Finally, disgraceful campaign finance laws and Citizens United has stacked the odds so far against the middle class that our democracy is now a farce. This is reinforced by highly distorted and politically biased opinion outlets such as Fox news and radio/TV talking heads. The US is truly in full speed reverse.
46
We seem to want to police the world and ignore our citizens needs.
Our transportation networks are abysmal and underfunded.
Massachusetts appears to be a rich, liberal state, but when one drives into rural areas one sees housing stock of poor quality and neglect.
Many buildings are abandoned, we do not clear them out, just let weeds take over.
Living on a vast continent has has led us to abuse our environment and undervalue it.
Our transportation networks are abysmal and underfunded.
Massachusetts appears to be a rich, liberal state, but when one drives into rural areas one sees housing stock of poor quality and neglect.
Many buildings are abandoned, we do not clear them out, just let weeds take over.
Living on a vast continent has has led us to abuse our environment and undervalue it.
7
same in CA-- the silicon valley boom makes that area look like disneyland; a few miles away from the core of the "apple," abject poverty.
Healthy, wealthy, and wise ... not us.
10
Have you noticed the inverse relationship that exists between militarization and feeling secure?
The more massive our military expenditures, the larger our footprint with 1,000 bases, a policy of continuous warfare, coupled with universal surveillance of citizens, the less secure our government leaders believe we are! And as reported in this newspaper, there are those in Congress who think we are underspending by a $1 trillion or more, wkho push for more carriers groups and submarines, more planes that don't work well, complete overhaul of our nuke arsenal, more weapons in space, etc., etc.
This can't end well for the average citizen of the United States or of the world.
The more massive our military expenditures, the larger our footprint with 1,000 bases, a policy of continuous warfare, coupled with universal surveillance of citizens, the less secure our government leaders believe we are! And as reported in this newspaper, there are those in Congress who think we are underspending by a $1 trillion or more, wkho push for more carriers groups and submarines, more planes that don't work well, complete overhaul of our nuke arsenal, more weapons in space, etc., etc.
This can't end well for the average citizen of the United States or of the world.
18
Welcome. This is the dumbing down, the magic marketplace, the thirty-five years of decline Ronald Reagan delivered us upon his election in 1980. What was promised was not what has happened. He was a very mediocre person himself, actually.
49
God bless America.
Seems she may have fallen down a bit here.
Oh well, smaller government will fix it, right? Right.
Seems she may have fallen down a bit here.
Oh well, smaller government will fix it, right? Right.
6
Investing in society pays off. Think about the park building movement in the 1800's, the library building that accelerated in the 1900s, the free high school drive starting in the 1920's, and all the social programs such as the GI Bill, and the Head Start program. We are still getting benefits from these actions done long ago. We need to do the same today
16
I agree. A major one is the death penalty , one of the most uncivilized laws US still a spouses
3
When Americans say, "This is the best country on earth!" they're referring to what in their hearts and not the results of Kristof's elitist rankings surveys.
15
Bless their hearts.
JoeDog, I love my country but that love will not feed my kids or put a roof over their heads or clothe them. The ability of Republican philosophy to produce an economy that works for the great mass of people in an already advanced society is not very good. The language seems ennobling but the reality is destructive because it fails to address the massive inequity in pay.
We actually see the discrepancy between language and productive law all the time, all around us, but many people, especially in the South and Midwest, are so enrobed in their religious orientation that they are unable to discriminate between the lack of jobs and the inability of jobs found to support family life. For them everything devolves around the individual effort and that supposition simply isn't valid, but they cannot see that or will not see that.
We live in a people matrix where money is now buying policy makers and policy whose goal is to advance corporations as job creators but which fails to do a quality check afterwards to determine whether the jobs produced can sustain family life and are actually doing what they purport. The result is a dysfunctional economy, despite a greatly improved production of jobs, following on the heels of the dysfunctional political model based on a blind religious conceit that everything devolves on individual effort. It just ain't so.
We actually see the discrepancy between language and productive law all the time, all around us, but many people, especially in the South and Midwest, are so enrobed in their religious orientation that they are unable to discriminate between the lack of jobs and the inability of jobs found to support family life. For them everything devolves around the individual effort and that supposition simply isn't valid, but they cannot see that or will not see that.
We live in a people matrix where money is now buying policy makers and policy whose goal is to advance corporations as job creators but which fails to do a quality check afterwards to determine whether the jobs produced can sustain family life and are actually doing what they purport. The result is a dysfunctional economy, despite a greatly improved production of jobs, following on the heels of the dysfunctional political model based on a blind religious conceit that everything devolves on individual effort. It just ain't so.
1
Bangledesh is elitist?
A more apt comparison would be to compare the U.S. to the E.U. Norway does better than Greece, much as Massachusetts does better than Alabama. Not that I take anything away from the Northern European countries as they've done a wonderful job with their resources, but there is a significant difference between countries of six million people versus four hundred million people. We should always be trying to learn from others, that's the only way to improve ourselves. From what I've seen on the list, single-payer healthcare would be a fine place to start.
There are some odd "findings" on the Social Progress Index website; for example, the absolute score for the US in "Access to Basic Knowledge" is 95.33, which is BELOW Libya (95.49), Saudi Arabia (96.00) and Russia (96.53). This seems to contradict the Times' Feb 18th article by Gary Shteyngart about his experience watching Russian-only television for a whole week (see the article, 'Out of My Mouth Comes Unimpeachable Manly Truth'.
My point is that while these rankings are useful broadly, the differences between the top ten (and maybe even the top thirty) are so trivial as to be within margins of error, and somewhat subjective. I really doubt that by moving to Libya that my access to basic knowledge will improve... There are real problems the US needs to solve, but let's not quibble over whether we're number 16 or number 1. Number 16 is pretty good overall.
My point is that while these rankings are useful broadly, the differences between the top ten (and maybe even the top thirty) are so trivial as to be within margins of error, and somewhat subjective. I really doubt that by moving to Libya that my access to basic knowledge will improve... There are real problems the US needs to solve, but let's not quibble over whether we're number 16 or number 1. Number 16 is pretty good overall.
35
Timothy C, the differences in government social and other policies between the U.S. and the Scandinavian and other European countries aren't trivial to those affected by them, e.g.,, capital punishment for individuals sentenced to death in this country, or paid leave for new parents, just to name a couple.
Russian t.v. is not an indicator of Russian education. It is an indicator of the prevalence of propaganda. You remember propaganda, don't you? We had a ton of it during the most recent Bush administration.
Number 16 makes our collective arrogant assumption of being Number 1 a really bitter joke.
Number 16 makes our collective arrogant assumption of being Number 1 a really bitter joke.
1
"assuring a high quality of life for ordinary citizens" Is that really what our government prime responsibility is? Also, please stop the endless comparison's with homogenous European countries.
Why do I never READ anything or hear from our Government about the individual's responsibility in this equation? Anyone at any station in life can be a success in this great country regardless of education. Basic disciplines like...showing up for work on time, performing the prescribed work satisfactorily, taking an active interest to learn, etc. assure an individual more opportunities and thus an every increasing wage/salary.
We do need to protect and have plans in place for the most vulnerable in our society. But for those people who are able bodied and of sound mind they need to be pushed out of the nest and allowed to fly or crash on their own.
Why do I never READ anything or hear from our Government about the individual's responsibility in this equation? Anyone at any station in life can be a success in this great country regardless of education. Basic disciplines like...showing up for work on time, performing the prescribed work satisfactorily, taking an active interest to learn, etc. assure an individual more opportunities and thus an every increasing wage/salary.
We do need to protect and have plans in place for the most vulnerable in our society. But for those people who are able bodied and of sound mind they need to be pushed out of the nest and allowed to fly or crash on their own.
1
Moreover, the government is elected by this very same lot of citizens, who are not expected to know anything or do anything without the government's assistance.
I think I see the problem....
I think I see the problem....
RC Kelly, I have several instances if you are open to them, that prove otherwise. In the 1970's, we HAD 3 steel mills in our area that provided good jobs, great school taxes with plenty of hard working people. A stable middle class. Then the companies sold them, and sold them... now we have 1. The company that bought one of the mills, ran it into the ground, the second company that bought it (from a foreign country) sold all the equipment and the remaining steel that had been produced for more than they paid. Nice gutting of the business for profit. Wrangler Jeans did the same thing to NC by the government? insisting they move their business to South America. What happened to the workers in NC? No new garment factories were put in, all the existing ones moved to China. It is not the people's fault, it is government policies that are pro business and pro profit. There are no more good employers that will take a loss for a year or so to make sure their workers are paid. Now companies are all Scrooge.. profits, profits, profits. No one cares about the workers. Such a shame.. but not the workers shame.
1
No, no one "gets pushed out...and crashes on their own". That's rubbish and that attitude is part of the problem.
The greedy run our country. They are more interested in the 1% and votes to stay in office more than anything else. The common good for all is forgotten and most likely even scoffed at. In a country where college tuitions force students seeking the American Dream to take out enormous loans at a high interest rate are a dream killer, especially with the lack the of jobs available post graduation.
The ranking for the safety of mom's giving birth is appalling. I have no words.
The ranking for the safety of mom's giving birth is appalling. I have no words.
20
You are so correct. But we are under the control now of the three cartels that have morphed into one big one..the imperialism of the USA. The big three are oil, banking and war profiteers. They own us. This cartel keeps us busy fighting endless wars..the hallmark of an imperialist nation, busy spreading the borders we have to guard for the interests of those big three. This cartel could care less about the Social Progress Index.
43
"As Porter notes, Americans generally understand that we face economic impediments such as declining infrastructure, yet we’re frozen. We appreciate that our education system is a mess, yet we’re passive."
If we did not elect officials whose stated goals are to shrink government to the point where it can be drowned in a bathtub we might be doing better. If we made it clear to our representatives that we will vote them out of office if they do not improve our lot rather than the lot of companies that demand tax breaks we might be better off. If we had representatives who wanted to make our government work rather than indulging themselves in obstructing President Obama at every step we could have a better economy, one that would benefit us, all of us. We have none of these. What we have instead is an infrastructure that is dangerous, a political class that has no idea how we live, medical care that is unaffordable even with insurance, businesses that insist that they have to outsource jobs or bring in immigrants because of a non-existent skills gap, and too many people at the end of their economic rope. But we vote for these policies when we voted in people like Ted Cruz, John Boehner, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, etc. We're getting the government we deserve and the unkind society we seem to want. If we don't want this we need to look past our own noses and understand that what affects one can affect all.
If we did not elect officials whose stated goals are to shrink government to the point where it can be drowned in a bathtub we might be doing better. If we made it clear to our representatives that we will vote them out of office if they do not improve our lot rather than the lot of companies that demand tax breaks we might be better off. If we had representatives who wanted to make our government work rather than indulging themselves in obstructing President Obama at every step we could have a better economy, one that would benefit us, all of us. We have none of these. What we have instead is an infrastructure that is dangerous, a political class that has no idea how we live, medical care that is unaffordable even with insurance, businesses that insist that they have to outsource jobs or bring in immigrants because of a non-existent skills gap, and too many people at the end of their economic rope. But we vote for these policies when we voted in people like Ted Cruz, John Boehner, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, etc. We're getting the government we deserve and the unkind society we seem to want. If we don't want this we need to look past our own noses and understand that what affects one can affect all.
12
I admire the enlightened social welfare policies of the countries high on the list. That being said, this kind of ranking doesn't mean terribly much, since it doesn't account for social issues, e.g., percentage of recent immigrants and where they come from.
Not to be too blunt about it, we have millions of immigrants, many of them here illegally, and while the children of some of these immigrants groups do well (e.g., Asians), the children of others do poorly.
Did you notice that with the exception of Japan, all of the countries on the list are Scandinavian or Anglo Saxon/German?
If you considered only citizens of Scandinavian, British, or German descent, the figures would be more meaningful. As it is, they're just an excuse for confirmation bias.
Not to be too blunt about it, we have millions of immigrants, many of them here illegally, and while the children of some of these immigrants groups do well (e.g., Asians), the children of others do poorly.
Did you notice that with the exception of Japan, all of the countries on the list are Scandinavian or Anglo Saxon/German?
If you considered only citizens of Scandinavian, British, or German descent, the figures would be more meaningful. As it is, they're just an excuse for confirmation bias.
1
Actually Canada has a higher per capita immigration rate than the US and Canadian cities are among the most multicultural and rated highest for quality of life in the world.
5
We also at some point seem to have decided that the paradigm of the self-made person is not just an inspiration but a requirement. And at the same time we seem to have made the playing field bumpier. The self-made people I've known had access to high quality public education, affordable even at the college level, for example.
Do the countries who come in ahead of us see being poor as a moral failing? Do they worship wealth and assume that wealthy business people possess other skills too just by virtue of their being able to amass wealth, skills such as wise judgment about governing the whole country and who should be elected to do it?
I guess my point is that we currently use, in my opinion, a peculiar set of assumptions, which I don't think we bother to examine adequately. I would also relate our results to our tendency to make everything adversarial, from customer relations, to patients relations, to dispute resolution, to discussion of health or economic issues to be addressed. Approaching everything as a necessary clash of interests diverts a lot of energy and resources from their constructive use to their fruitless dissipation.
Do the countries who come in ahead of us see being poor as a moral failing? Do they worship wealth and assume that wealthy business people possess other skills too just by virtue of their being able to amass wealth, skills such as wise judgment about governing the whole country and who should be elected to do it?
I guess my point is that we currently use, in my opinion, a peculiar set of assumptions, which I don't think we bother to examine adequately. I would also relate our results to our tendency to make everything adversarial, from customer relations, to patients relations, to dispute resolution, to discussion of health or economic issues to be addressed. Approaching everything as a necessary clash of interests diverts a lot of energy and resources from their constructive use to their fruitless dissipation.
58
Diana, our political problem, as opposed to the morally questionable logic of our Ayn Rand rich, is the way these rich people have so brilliantly created a propaganda brainwashing machine for America's white lower classes with Fox, Rush, and the rest. We'd have a much more just, and much happier society, if lower-class American white people were not such dittoheads for the Ayn Rand rich. The lower classes of the societies ranking highest on the Social Progress Index are much better educated than ours and thus have radically different, and superior, communitarian political vales to our "it's your problem and none of mine" lower-class Ayn Rand society. It's amazing how different the values of our white lower classes were under FDR than they are now in the Ayn Rand age.
1
No matter what, the always exceptional US of A is, still, the Land of Opportunity.
Where else, after all, could a couple of Viet Nam dodging cowards like Boy George and Cheney grow up to be war criminals?
Where else, after all, could a couple of Viet Nam dodging cowards like Boy George and Cheney grow up to be war criminals?
117
Shouldn't being 87th in cell phone use be listed on the credit side of our ledger?
22
Sailing to Byzantium: we have arrived. Like many 50 somethings, I wonder what happened to my country. But moving on, I would like to say that the party that would get my vote would stand, among for simplicity. Let me know what I am paying for. With two big ticket items, college and medical costs, I constantly feel confused, blindsided and anxious--and I am a well-educated professional. Two of our three children are still in college. What does it cost? Who knows? You fill out byzantine forms and then pay what they tell you, which bears no visible relationship to what you can afford. Will it be the same next year? Who knows? An extra $1500 holdup comes as your child is trying to register for classes? Put it on the credit card. You file for need based aid for both twins at the same college, the numbers come out radically different, you call, and you learn its because one had better grades. How is that need based? Medical copays: As Primo Levi said, "there are no whys here." I was charged 1800 an HOUR for a recovery room, not really a room, just a bed behind a curtain with no medical equipment and maybe 5 minutes of nursing attention. Why? Who knows. Beyond all ideology, if I could know what I was paying for ahead of time, my happiness would increase. Of course, corporate America benefits hugely from this confusion, as the average person whips out the credit card, signs the loan payments and bleeds out money to cover incomprehensible costs.
241
There's also the myth that if we question things, become "smart consumers," we will be able to get better value. My impression is that questioning things can lead to denial of service altogether, or at least make things worse. Our social patterns seem instead to require something else, to learn how to work the system, maybe to become a poster child someone wants to help for their own reasons.
2
Well, that would be the Democrats, since they favor single payer health care. The complexities in these things typically reflect Republican efforts at partial privatization or compromises that have been hammered out because the Republicans oppose social programs. Not that the Democrats are perfect, but that $1800/hr is essentially going to subsidize Medicaid, Medicare, Obamacare, and uninsured patients for which the government doesn't pay enough to cover the cost of care.
Well, I'm 65 and I've felt as you do for a long time. There is no transparency in college tuition programs and certainly none in medical billing practices. It creates a great deal of stress. Thankfully, I've lived long enough to reach Medicare and I have only 7 more years and my Parent Plus loans for 2 children will be paid off ($375/month). Is that not ridiculous? Multiply me by the tens of thousands and look how much money that pulls out of the economy to feed the corporate bank monster. If you knew what you were paying for ahead of time, you'd likely get off that train, live a more stress-free life, and that's what they are all afraid of.
4
Mr. Kristof assumes the countries at the top of the survey are doing something right America is not. But look at the top ten countries. Are they there because of their social policies, or because they are much smaller, relatively insular societies? If you took the social policies of Iceland and put them into effect in the United States would it fix our problems? There is some validity to the approach, but first you need to group like nations together. Our policies, size, and challenges are more like EU nations. We have much the same social policies and are getting much the same results. Not much here to cheer or change.
3
That's a red herring. We're larger and we have enough resources to do better by our citizens. We don't want to. We choose to have punitive policies on social welfare programs, to make it difficult for people to receive help when they need it but easy to cut them off once they reach the bare minimum. We choose to incarcerate people in inhumane conditions, to deprive them of the means to rehabilitate themselves. We prefer to leave people in poverty because we believe that they want to be poor. We constantly second guess decisions people have made and blame them for making the wrong ones even if those people have had the misfortune to be fired from a job, to have serious medical problems, or to become incapable of working. We decided to offer as little as possible and in as mean a way as possible to people.
We are not a compassionate country. America is a very cruel country to those who have any sort of trouble whether it's monetary, health, family, or a natural disaster. We are stingy unless we're helping out the rich or a big corporation. We do not invest in our citizens. As citizens and employees the middle and working classes are viewed as disposable widgets. We do not have much the same social policies. Ask anyone who is need for any reason, especially if they are single and childless. Ask the person who has been fired for no reason. Ask the person who cannot afford needed medical care. Our social policies are stuck in the 19th century.
We are not a compassionate country. America is a very cruel country to those who have any sort of trouble whether it's monetary, health, family, or a natural disaster. We are stingy unless we're helping out the rich or a big corporation. We do not invest in our citizens. As citizens and employees the middle and working classes are viewed as disposable widgets. We do not have much the same social policies. Ask anyone who is need for any reason, especially if they are single and childless. Ask the person who has been fired for no reason. Ask the person who cannot afford needed medical care. Our social policies are stuck in the 19th century.
10
I don't need to compare the United States to other countries to realize that the middle and working classes are losing ground. I can just compare the past with the present. In the late 1950s, my father, a teacher with a modest salary, was able to afford a house in the suburbs. My parents paid for both my brother and me to attend college, and neither they nor we were saddled with crippling debt. My husband's father, a blue- collar worker and World War II veteran, also was able to afford a house, and my husband and his sister both attended college as well. We have fallen behind what we used to be.
4
While I agree that comparing the US to Norway is very much like apples to oranges, I don't agree that our policies are comparable to the EU nations.
To take one easy example, Germany, France, etc provide far more support to parents than the US. The long term ramifications of getting a few weeks off after childbirth vs. a year are huge. Same with basic social services, free to cheap undergraduate education, a culture that believes in taking vacation, and so on and so forth.
To take one easy example, Germany, France, etc provide far more support to parents than the US. The long term ramifications of getting a few weeks off after childbirth vs. a year are huge. Same with basic social services, free to cheap undergraduate education, a culture that believes in taking vacation, and so on and so forth.
3
At least we're number one in incarcerations and have the world's largest military as befits an Orwellian hyperstate.
218
Yeah, and a few years back you would have been complaining that we're number one in crime. And what other country would you nominate as a good candidate for the world's largest military, Russia? China?
2
And if we didn't have the largest military, the top, oh look all top 15 countries, would probably not exist as independent states. The majority of the world exists as independent states because for the last century we (the United States) have defeated, kept in check, or prevented the rise of every aggressive power in the world. Perhaps Japan and Germany would be independent states, with most of the others as their territorial possessions. Or maybe both would be possessions of China and Russia respectively. But in truth, we'll never know which countries might have become regional titans conquering and subjugating their neighbors, because the threat of US intervention stopped that from happening. And oh, look, 7 out of 15 are NATO members, while most of the rest exist in the shadow of NATO and couldn't be invaded without NATO members falling first (so, de facto NATO protectorates). So yes, the top ranked countries each have a smaller military per capita than we do. It must be nice to be able to rely on another country to do all the heavy lifting for you, to keep you safe and warm in its protective embrace, like a mother protecting her infant. To know with absolute certainty that your protector will not abuse that power and become the invader you fear. The United States wouldn't know how that feels. We stepped up to BE that protector, because no one else who might have been trusted to do it could or would. Yes, it is truly terrible that we have the largest military.
42
Surely also #1 in per capita gun deaths across all categories - civilian homicide, police homicide, civilian suicide.
#1 in per capita miles driven as opposed to traveled by public transport, walked or cycled.
#1 in per capita consumption of fast food and soda
#1 in per capita obesity
#1 in fewest paid sick/holiday/maternity/paternity leave days...
America is #1 in so many ways!
#1 in per capita miles driven as opposed to traveled by public transport, walked or cycled.
#1 in per capita consumption of fast food and soda
#1 in per capita obesity
#1 in fewest paid sick/holiday/maternity/paternity leave days...
America is #1 in so many ways!
13
Congratulations to Norway, absolutely one of the finest countries in the world, even if more than a bit of its success is attributable to the excellent fortune of finding oil in the North Sea roughly fifty years ago. We in the United States should be less concerned with our #16 overall rank and more alarmed by our downward trend. Could we keep falling in this and similar indices? It's quite likely, given how Republicans in Washington and around the country have blocked legislation that would benefit our most vulnerable people and continually threaten to cut what we do provide to them. The outlook for our immediate future is not very good and may worsen before it improves.
150
Here is a factoid:
Corporate taxes actually paid are 12.5% of GDP in Noway, the highest in the developed word. They are 1.8% of GDP in the US, tied with Turkey for the lowest.
Corporate taxes actually paid are 12.5% of GDP in Noway, the highest in the developed word. They are 1.8% of GDP in the US, tied with Turkey for the lowest.
4
@Len - So you would expect the goods and services provided by corporations to be more expensive in Norway, so they can get the same after-tax return on invested capital. Otherwise, capital would flow out of Norway.
The way the U.S. has gone is comparable to the relative survival of anthills
where the ants follow some rules of 'their 'culture'. The anthills where individual rights of ants are overridden for the sake of the whole, perhaps
survive as large 'progressive' anthills.
In such anthills there exist little possibility of individual right of contract.
This is what happened in the U.S. New laws in effect outlawed free right of contract. The U.S. had excelled in most everything before this sad event.
where the ants follow some rules of 'their 'culture'. The anthills where individual rights of ants are overridden for the sake of the whole, perhaps
survive as large 'progressive' anthills.
In such anthills there exist little possibility of individual right of contract.
This is what happened in the U.S. New laws in effect outlawed free right of contract. The U.S. had excelled in most everything before this sad event.
"We can send people to space"
We CAN????
We could. Last I heard, we had to ask someone else to give our astronauts a ride.
But most Americans agree that getting into space is not important. Neither are any of the things on the Social Progress Index. If poor women have high maternal and infant mortality, we already have too many of them, so that's not a problem.
What's important is returning to the halcyon days of feudalism, where the gentry, who are the only ones who know how, own everything and the rest of us get a bunk in the basement and crumbs from their table.
If the Social Progress Index were important to Americans, they wouldn't elect the leaders they do elect. And Democracy says the leaders Americans choose must be the best in the world, so what they choose for us must be the best.
We CAN????
We could. Last I heard, we had to ask someone else to give our astronauts a ride.
But most Americans agree that getting into space is not important. Neither are any of the things on the Social Progress Index. If poor women have high maternal and infant mortality, we already have too many of them, so that's not a problem.
What's important is returning to the halcyon days of feudalism, where the gentry, who are the only ones who know how, own everything and the rest of us get a bunk in the basement and crumbs from their table.
If the Social Progress Index were important to Americans, they wouldn't elect the leaders they do elect. And Democracy says the leaders Americans choose must be the best in the world, so what they choose for us must be the best.
8
What we're seeing is the result of the Regan/Thatcher focus on the individual - "there is only you and your family, not society" - to paraphrase Thatcher. The counties that are ahead of us invest for the overall good of the nation, not for an individual. The US has hyped its rugged individual image to mythic proportions and the result is a refusal to accept that we have an obligation to each other. The social contract is broken and unless we can reframe the discussion we won't make any progress.
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So why are we #16?
It's our broken political. Money talks. Those Tycoons own Congress. Raise taxes? Make me laugh!
It's our broken political. Money talks. Those Tycoons own Congress. Raise taxes? Make me laugh!
17
This is one of those stories that I wish was more widely known by the American public. Republicans are constantly crowing about "American exceptionalism" while we continue to fall behind many other countries in our quality of life. There never seems to be any money for fixing our infrastructure but somehow there is always plenty of money for wars. People would be surprised at some of the countries that offer their citizens universal health care and free college educations. Soon we'll be inundated with the political blather of the 2016 campaigns and I doubt that any of the candidates will discuss any of the issues raised in this column, they'll be trying to distract and divide us about Iran or gay rights or whatever shiny object they pull out this time, but make no mistake, this column raised the real issue you should care about.
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American exceptionalism is now an oxymoron. We have a significant number of children going to bed hungry each night. We have thousands of homeless men and women sleeping in the streets of Washington, D.C. A national disgrace and tragedy.
Is it possible that our endless wars from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan to Yemen to you name your country, has sapped our national treasury and will and we are unable to focus on our own people and our infrastructure? Interesting to note that the top countries on the Social Progress Index have avoided both war and massive investment in the military. Just might be a clue.........
Is it possible that our endless wars from Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan to Yemen to you name your country, has sapped our national treasury and will and we are unable to focus on our own people and our infrastructure? Interesting to note that the top countries on the Social Progress Index have avoided both war and massive investment in the military. Just might be a clue.........
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No, it isn't our wars. The American military budget is much smaller as a percentage of GDP than it was through much of our history. Indeed, in a typically demand-limited economy, wartime spending makes us more prosperous than no war (though obviously less prosperous than had we spent the money on domestic investment).
The truth is we have enough money to eliminate poverty but three things prevent that: the greed of the Republicans, the massive influx of impoverished people from Latin America, and globalization with the third world.
The truth is we have enough money to eliminate poverty but three things prevent that: the greed of the Republicans, the massive influx of impoverished people from Latin America, and globalization with the third world.
1
The civilized world has become dependent upon the US military for their protection against anything. That is why the Saudis cannot-- with all their fire power and money-- destroy ISIS, which is THEIR enemy, not ours. But the Mil Ind Complex that IKE warned us against is so powerful, we will not ever step back from this role, no matter what efforts Obama or any reasonable dem might make in this direction. And so we will destroy ourselves.
1
the problem is the Republican party. They just recently struck down an infrastructure bill because of the way it was funded, of course without proposing one of their own or any other solutions. The democratic party has got to try and shame them on a continuing basis for the way that we treat people of limited means in this country and not back down when they start to whine. Democrats have got to be tough and organised, Democrats have the better ideas, they need to forcefully make their case and dare rebublicans to solve the problems that face the middle class, not just give speaches about Thomas Jefferson and limited government.
71
The democrats are just the other side of the corrupt coin.
2
When the right gets angry they vote. When the left gets angry they march for a while. We need to organize and vote.
2
Why are we surprised at all by this? We are number 1 where our nation deems the quality to be important: money. We are capitalists. This is not a democracy but a republic; the quarterly economic report is the benchmark of all indexes; everything else is irrelevant.
Our international policies are driven by international investment, our scientific research is driven by profit, etc, ... we assess products only and never process. Why, why would we expect anything to be different?
Our international policies are driven by international investment, our scientific research is driven by profit, etc, ... we assess products only and never process. Why, why would we expect anything to be different?
38
It depends a lot on where one lives in each country. There isn't one universal standard per country as we all know.
1
America has been transformed into a political whorehouse, where everyone in the legislative branches of Federal, state and local governments are up for sale. And yet our innate cultural puritanism makes us squeamish about admitting this fact out loud, which would be to begin its remediation. Corruption is rampant, the megacorporations bulldoze their line-item wish lists through Congress, and we the little idiots are told to shut up and pay for it all...
123
Good point and even in the Times, one sees relatively little about that. You can't fix the stew if the pot leaks.
Exceptionalism is a joke on the low information folks. The US is one of the few developed nations that does not provide universal health care, affordable child care, or reasonably priced low-income housing. As a result, our poverty rate is approximately twice the European average.
We have the distinction of having the most billionaires with the highest wealth disparity. We rank 24th in both life expectancy and per capita income. We imprison more people than any other country. We have more prisons than anywhere else. The US is 19th among wealthy nations for retirement security, yet both Ds & Rs agree we need to cut Social Security. US kids scored 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading and we're closing schools and firing teachers. We have the most expensive health care with some of the worst outcomes. Seven people get shot every hour -- but six are lucky enough to live another day! Our child poverty rate is exceeded only by that of Romania. With our long history of doing the greatest good for the fewest number, we are truly exceptional.
What other country could spend magnanimously $4-6 trillion on two “good wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq against lightly armed minority insurgencies without winning or accomplishing a thing? See also:
Bragging Rights: Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the 21st Century
Thursday, 26 September 2013 09:22 By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch
We have the distinction of having the most billionaires with the highest wealth disparity. We rank 24th in both life expectancy and per capita income. We imprison more people than any other country. We have more prisons than anywhere else. The US is 19th among wealthy nations for retirement security, yet both Ds & Rs agree we need to cut Social Security. US kids scored 25th in math, 17th in science and 14th in reading and we're closing schools and firing teachers. We have the most expensive health care with some of the worst outcomes. Seven people get shot every hour -- but six are lucky enough to live another day! Our child poverty rate is exceeded only by that of Romania. With our long history of doing the greatest good for the fewest number, we are truly exceptional.
What other country could spend magnanimously $4-6 trillion on two “good wars” in Afghanistan and Iraq against lightly armed minority insurgencies without winning or accomplishing a thing? See also:
Bragging Rights: Eight Exceptional(ly Dumb) American Achievements of the 21st Century
Thursday, 26 September 2013 09:22 By Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch
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You ignore the demographic differences in the population. Also, your suggestion taht we didn't accomplish anything in Afghanistan is contrafactual; at the time we invaded, Afghan training camps were churning out Al Qaeda trainees at an amazing pace.
Insurgencies are by their nature difficult to eradicate, doubly so when the insurgents find shelter and support in a neighboring state. They have troubled great powers at least since our own revolution. We Americans have become such infants that we treat anything less than instant victory as failure.
Insurgencies are by their nature difficult to eradicate, doubly so when the insurgents find shelter and support in a neighboring state. They have troubled great powers at least since our own revolution. We Americans have become such infants that we treat anything less than instant victory as failure.
1
I want to banish the politically correct term "low information." Let's just say "stupid." Forest Gump: Stupid is as stupid does.
Sorry Josh, but the Sunnis and the Shiia have been killing each other for 1,380+ years and no US military effort is going to stop that. No military effort is going to solve their issue. That is factual. The only thing contra is the idea that there is a military solution to irrational hate. Ideologies cannot be the basis for any factual information because they in and of themselves are not based on facts, regardless of how large or passionate their cult followings.
1
So much for "American exceptionalism".
8
I am going to Russia at the end of the month. This essay is great. Kicking the can down the road just doesn't cut it anymore. Neither does selling and capitalism as it's practiced in the U.S. Communism is no better. What Patricia Barber said in the '90s in "Postmodern Blues" is really true, too: "....the Communists squandered their chance....." So did the Americans.
And taxes? If you can make it in the vaunted Silicon Valley then you should pay taxes, not get out of them courtesy of a "tax professional" and/or loopholes. And giving it to Africa doesn't let you off, either.
And taxes? If you can make it in the vaunted Silicon Valley then you should pay taxes, not get out of them courtesy of a "tax professional" and/or loopholes. And giving it to Africa doesn't let you off, either.
16
Taxes? Heaven forbid. Gates just said recently he does't want his raised. Unfortunately for him and many others, it's time again for 1932-tax them through the roof, they've taken everything they can already.
The great driver of our inequality is the ongoing information technology revolution which is replacing US workers with automation and outsourcing. Since 1972, the percentage of primary working age males (25-55 yrs) without a job has risen from 5% to 15%. Add to that the great mass of grossly unemployed this glut of labor has produced and it is easy to understand how worker well being in the U.S. and the world is falling.
We need a paradigm change if we are to come to grips with this. In particular, we need to stop looking at GDP as the primary factor and also look at what portion of GDP flows to workers in the form of payrolls. Since the beginning of the information technology revolution in the early 1970's, payrolls have fallen from 52% to 42% of GDP. This is not only an issue of worker well being but of economic survival as it is wage-based demand for goods and services that fuels our economy. If today's workers received the same healthy share of our economy as 1972 they would each see, on the average, an increase of $1,000 a month.
Sooner or later we will be forced to impose corporate allocation of gross profits between earnings and wages. Just as we saw collapse of worker purchasing power as a result of the mechanization of the 1920's which brought on the Great Depression, the rise of demagogues and WWII, not only will workers suffer but the wealthy will soon face similar impacts to their net worth unless we bring our economic system back into balance.
We need a paradigm change if we are to come to grips with this. In particular, we need to stop looking at GDP as the primary factor and also look at what portion of GDP flows to workers in the form of payrolls. Since the beginning of the information technology revolution in the early 1970's, payrolls have fallen from 52% to 42% of GDP. This is not only an issue of worker well being but of economic survival as it is wage-based demand for goods and services that fuels our economy. If today's workers received the same healthy share of our economy as 1972 they would each see, on the average, an increase of $1,000 a month.
Sooner or later we will be forced to impose corporate allocation of gross profits between earnings and wages. Just as we saw collapse of worker purchasing power as a result of the mechanization of the 1920's which brought on the Great Depression, the rise of demagogues and WWII, not only will workers suffer but the wealthy will soon face similar impacts to their net worth unless we bring our economic system back into balance.
139
"Just as we saw collapse of worker purchasing power as a result of the mechanization of the 1920's which brought on the Great Depression," Uh - no. It was brought on by speculation on wall street. Henry Ford was smart enough to know that you had to pay workers enough to buy your product - and paid $5.00 an hour. However, he resisted unions and paid strikebreakers and scabs, although that changed. In the 1920s the economy was much less consumer driven and much more industry-driven. But the Smoot-Hawley Act and global tariffs and protectionism killed industry, along with risky bank lending and insolvency when called upon to pay out deposits.
3
Wage stagnation and productivity gains not going to labor are not primarily because of technology advances. Capital accumulation a la Piketty, the destruction of organized labor, and importantly government policy are bigger culprits.
3
Back to the 40 hour work week, and twice as many people to do the jobs today's workers spend 60-80 hours, a week, doing. It's uncivilized, and self-defeating.
2
Again, Kristof hits the nail on the head. We cannot rise to a challenge that is becoming more challenging by the minute. The republican minions of the one percenters have the angry, undereducated population bamboozled, and our poverty and inequality plunges us further down the list of these determinants of the good life each year.
We must guarantee every adult a job at a living wage, and then expect them to perform it. Out with the expensive, ineffective and humiliating social "safety net" and back to what we do best--take care of ourselves and show the world the way out of a generally brutal existence. Instead, we seem to be joining them in their brutality. Endless war, vicious security systems at home, a permanently debased underclass, and a disappearing middle class.
Will we ever awaken? Seems unlikely.
We must guarantee every adult a job at a living wage, and then expect them to perform it. Out with the expensive, ineffective and humiliating social "safety net" and back to what we do best--take care of ourselves and show the world the way out of a generally brutal existence. Instead, we seem to be joining them in their brutality. Endless war, vicious security systems at home, a permanently debased underclass, and a disappearing middle class.
Will we ever awaken? Seems unlikely.
115
"We must guarantee every adult a job at a living wage, and then expect them to perform it. "
And what if they refuse to do the job assigned to them but still demand the money for doing so?
And what if they refuse to do the job assigned to them but still demand the money for doing so?
Cross that bridge when we get to it.
So far, "unwilling to work" is the prejudiced excuse offered by those unwilling to offer jobs.
So far, "unwilling to work" is the prejudiced excuse offered by those unwilling to offer jobs.
8
What happens if you refuse to do your job and still "demand" to get paid for it?
It is my experience that Americans think we are best in everything because they have no frame of reference. They know very little about other countries and the lives people live in those countries. They may know that Scandinavians pay high taxes, but they don't know what those taxes provide, such as universal college, decent retirement, full medical, etc. What is so distressing is that most Americans are so uninformed and have no interest in becoming informed. Our dysfunctional government is a direct result of our lack of knowledge, our laziness about becoming better informed and our hubris in thinking that we are the best country in the world.
755
Note how most of the highest countries also have many of those dreaded "socialized services." When will we realize that Reagan was about as wrong as he could get: as long as you watch, monitor, and improve, government is not the problem, it's the solution!
If the Right continues to have their way, we will be a nation with a huge military, a few shockingly Rich, and the rest of us "undeserving" citizens will be nosediving towards conditions like Somalia. Don't worry, it will be our fault, and it's good for us: some tough love for those experiencing tough luck.
If the Right continues to have their way, we will be a nation with a huge military, a few shockingly Rich, and the rest of us "undeserving" citizens will be nosediving towards conditions like Somalia. Don't worry, it will be our fault, and it's good for us: some tough love for those experiencing tough luck.
11
Ignorance causing dysfunctional government? Try the other way around. Government is working well for its little gang of owners. The work includes keeping the rest of us ignorant.
1
It appears, there is such a thing as an ‘american dream’,
And americans got to wake up from it.
And americans got to wake up from it.
3
Poor people in the United States are viewed by many in our morally challenged country as a business opportunity.
They pay stupifying rates for payday, car and home loans, which are then bundled into securities to be sold by Wall Street. Upon default, their repossessed property is then resold at a steep discount to yet another Wall Street investor group, to be flipped to the next unsuspecting victim.
They are targeted by local law enforcement for jaw dropping fines, fees and imprisonment in privatized facilities.
They are rounded up for Medicare and Medicaid scams, given small amounts of cash or cheap tennis shoes for their cooperation in billing thousands for tests and equipment.
The food industry targets the poor with junk food, which monopolizes inner city shelf space.
The business opportunities to exploit the poor are endless but the greatest abuse of all to poor people in the US is the dirt poor minimum wage that traps millions in poverty while enriching their employers. Such Dickensian labor policy could be changed overnight, but it is lining too many pockets today.
It will change gradually in progressive states, further increasing regional inequality.
They pay stupifying rates for payday, car and home loans, which are then bundled into securities to be sold by Wall Street. Upon default, their repossessed property is then resold at a steep discount to yet another Wall Street investor group, to be flipped to the next unsuspecting victim.
They are targeted by local law enforcement for jaw dropping fines, fees and imprisonment in privatized facilities.
They are rounded up for Medicare and Medicaid scams, given small amounts of cash or cheap tennis shoes for their cooperation in billing thousands for tests and equipment.
The food industry targets the poor with junk food, which monopolizes inner city shelf space.
The business opportunities to exploit the poor are endless but the greatest abuse of all to poor people in the US is the dirt poor minimum wage that traps millions in poverty while enriching their employers. Such Dickensian labor policy could be changed overnight, but it is lining too many pockets today.
It will change gradually in progressive states, further increasing regional inequality.
334
True, and, worst of all, many of the poor vote against their own best interests. Now I wonder where they got that idea? Could it be from our mostly right wing media?
3