Re: where we standL Numbers Tell a Surprising Story for U.S.
- From: "Jerry Okamura" <okamuraj005@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:31:28 -1000
EVERYONE has a right to the freedoms that our government gave to us at the founding of our country.
"GlennR@xxxxxxxxxxxx" <Gator@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:3c9_m.43803$_b5.41341@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
if you're not willing to risk your fat ass for your freedom and independence
and have to depend on men,women,boys, and girls who are much more courageous than you are,
then you have no right to freedom and independence,
that kind of describes republicans,hillbillies, conservatives, jews and japs
among other assorted gutless, loud mouth, bitter clinging, whining
losers and failures
"Jerry Okamura" <okamuraj005@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:6L7_m.661$yy2.493@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxIf you are willing to give up your freedom and independence, anything is possible. Of course you may not like what will happen, but it is possible.
"arthur wouk" <awouk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1261426841.576338@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
December 21, 2009
Numbers Tell a Surprising Story for U.S.
By ALBERT R. HUNT
WASHINGTON -- Taking several days off last week to bring a child
home from college, I had as my reading materials reports from the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, courtesy
of a breakfast with Angel Gurría, the energetic Mexican secretary
general of the outfit.
The O.E.C.D., based in Paris, is a group of 30 developed and
developing countries that promote democracy and free-market
economics; these are mostly high-income economies, like the
United States, Japan, South Korea and the larger European
nations, and a few less-affluent countries, including Mexico and
Poland.
I have drawn two conclusions from this experience: I get more
boring with age, and some of the data comparing U.S. economic and
social performance with those of other O.E.C.D. countries are
very instructive for current policy debates.
The numbers reveal realities and a few myths. The United States
isn't an overtaxed country; indeed, taxes are relatively low;
government, in general, makes fewer public expenditures than in
most other countries; total health care spending dwarfs that of
anyplace else, and the outcomes are mediocre at best; the United
States invests more in education, especially higher education,
though high school performance results are comparatively
disappointing; and America remains a leader in scientific
research and development.
Most of these statistics are for 2006 or 2007. Experts say
there's been little basic change; the financial tsunami of the
past year and a half affected all O.E.C.D. countries.
The comparative health care data reinforce the case for a major
revamping of the U.S. system, which, by any measurement, doesn't
work. The recent arguments of the political left and political
right that the changes considered are worse than the status quo
seem dubious.
According to the O.E.C.D. figures, the United States spends 16
percent of its gross domestic product on health care (it's a
little higher this year), almost double the average of other
nations and almost 50 percent more than the next highest-spending
country.
The outcomes in the United States are inferior. Life expectancy
is lower than in most other countries, infant mortality is
higher, and Americans are twice as likely to be obese; not
surprisingly, diabetes is a bigger problem. The cancer outcomes
are mixed, with America doing better on prostate cancer than most
other countries but not as well on lung cancer and in the middle
in treatment of breast cancer. At almost eight times the O.E.C.D.
average, the incidence of AIDS in the United States is
dramatically higher than in any other country in the group.
There is a category called "unmet needs," which usually means
that because of excessive cost, long waiting lines, not being
able to take time off from work or taking care of children,
citizens don't receive necessary care. In most of the O.E.C.D.
countries, a majority of the population reports no unmet health
care needs. In the United States, more than half the adult
population with below-average income reports not getting care --
missing a medical test, treatment or follow-up or not filling a
prescription -- because it was too expensive.
On a cost-effective basis, the United States trails all other
countries.
On education, America invests more than other countries do,
almost 7.4 percent of G.D.P., although it's in the private
outlays that it overshadows other places. On higher education,
the United States spends twice the average. The secondary
education performance provides a good argument for the school-
reform movement in America. Teachers' salaries are pretty high,
though below those in high-performing countries like Japan and
South Korea. On performance, high school students lag behind the
average in math and science and well behind Japan, South Korea
and the leader, Finland.
In science and technology, the investments are well above the
average, trailing only the Scandinavian countries, Japan and
South Korea. In the United States, more investment comes from the
private sector than from government.
The most instructive O.E.C.D. data may be in the area of public
finance. There is some good news for the United States: Despite
concerns about public debt, it's a bigger problem in other
countries. Government in America spends less of the nation's
G.D.P., about $3 out of every $8, than in the other countries.
Under a category the O.E.C.D. calls "social protection," which
includes unemployment benefits, old-age pensions and disability
payments, the United States is particularly stingy, paying out
less than any country other than South Korea.
Overall government revenue comprises only a little more than
one-third of the nation's output, much lower than in all O.E.C.D.
countries except Japan and South Korea. Tax receipts are
equivalent to about 28 percent of G.D.P.; the O.E.C.D. averages
about 36 percent, and European nations average almost 40 percent.
Moreover, and no surprise, the United States relies much more on
corporate taxes and individual income taxes than on other taxes.
Taxes on goods and services in America raised only about 17
percent of total tax receipts in 2007, about half the average of
O.E.C.D. countries. About half of U.S. taxes are income and
profit taxes -- this is the sixth-highest rate of member nations.
This provides an argument for tax-reform proponents who claim the
United States, with comparatively high income taxes, is at a
competitive disadvantage to countries that have consumption
taxes. Despite the idea's political unpopularity -- only 20
percent of the public in a recent Bloomberg national poll said a
consumption or value-added tax would be acceptable -- this
reality, coupled with the chronic deficits, may force a
rethinking of this issue.
There is a bit of cheer this holiday season, though not from the
O.E.C.D.
In the United States, charitable contributions total more than
1.5 percent of G.D.P. That's twice the percentage in Britain, and
tenfold what the French give. With the severe recession, giving
is down everywhere. In the United States, hospitals, universities
and foundations have been hit especially hard. Still, Americans
remain the most generous people on the globe when it comes to
charity.
Bloomberg News
--
The world began without the human race and will certainly end without it.
from Tristes Tropiques by Claude Levi-Strauss
to email me, delete blackhole. from my return address
.
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- Re: where we standL Numbers Tell a Surprising Story for U.S.
- From: Jerry Okamura
- Re: where we standL Numbers Tell a Surprising Story for U.S.
- From: GlennR@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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