US fails on "human index"

I would rather live my life as an American. Living is about quality not quantity.

"can't feed 'em don't breed 'em " .

I think the saddest part is that "The US has a higher percentage of children living in poverty than any of the world's richest countries."
If we can't grant our children access to better education and better healthcare then the future of this country is going to be in more jeopardy. It's only a matter of time before we slip from 12 to 21st on the list. Sad.

"Human development is concerned with what I take to be the basic development idea: namely, advancing the richness of human life, rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live, which is only a part of it," said the Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen, who developed the HDI in 1990.

This is exactly the opposite of the "American ideal". In America socialism = communism = enemy. Americans have been taught that they are in fierce competition with everyone and everything. Every man for himself. Justice is a game, breaking the law is just a cost of doing business and nothing is sacred (except greed). American policy is simply not about quality, it's about quantity. So if you try to increase the quality of life and decrease capital flow, you are denounced as un-american. This is why although America has the largest economy in the world (by a long shot) it has the lowest rights for workers and the highest wage disparity in the industrialized world. Although the average wealth per person (143,727!) may seem good the distribution is very polarized with 58% of the wealth in the hands of 5% of the population. The vast majority of Americans (90%) control less than 1/3 of the wealth.

Hence the comments by Cheney and Phil Gramm. America IS doing great with still an overwhelming majority of the worlds capital. Just realize when the rich and powerful say "We" or "us" or "America" they are not talking about you. What they really mean is "shut up and shop".

you cannot afford to live in Iceland . don't even try .

The United States used to have an strong hold of values and embraced enhancing the quality of life. It is unfortunate that more and more American not only live to be ridiculed because they're americans. But not they are perceived to have less and be less. I love the US alot, just disappointed in leadership in so many areas.

If you all are curious as to where all the healthcare money is going, (obviously most poeple don't spend $6,000 a year in healthcare), this is where:

http://www.assertivepatient.com/2007/02/the_high_cost_o.html

For some more perspective, also enjoy this...

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6x_Cancer_Prevalence_How_Many_Pe...

If each of these people (these numbers are likely to be higher, seeing as 1/6 of our population doesn't have any coverage at all) Gets just ONE treatment it would cost:

10,326,000 * $20,000 = $206,520,000,000

^ one treatment.

What happens if you calculate this out to total number of treatments? Don't forget that there is 1/6 of the population that can't go to the doctor, and will have cancer that no one will ever see. i.e., not included in these figures.

THIS is where your healthcare costs are coming from.

Could that little vial of chemo REALLY cost $7,000 to produce? It probably costs nearly one ten-thousandth of that.

Don't even get me started on how the doctors see patients or how the administrators run these hell holes. According to a friend of mine who was a nurse in one of these places, there was one doctor for about 1,200 patients. Literally, all of these people should be charged with duress in making these people pay this much money.

"I have this cure for you, and if you don't take it, you WILL die. Oh, that will be your entire life savings, please."

Even worse, they turn people away all the time because their insurance isn't good enough. They only seldom take medicare and medicaid patients, so that 700 billion we pay out in those programs annually, is only PARTIALLY to blame.

Healthcare is THE issue you should vote on, fixing it can balance the US economy in and of itself not to mention the fact that it's the ONLY way to go, morally, I've done the research. If you want to see it, Ill give it to you.

im not even slightly surprised by this one...

the U.S. has a high rate of obesity, bad food, not much people get much sleep overall, and some of the worse habits in the world. Not to bag on this country too much, but is this any surprise about the U.S. life expectancy?

I'm not surprised by this in the least.

When you go to a hospital with no health insurance, spend 8 hrs in the waiting room, 5 mins with a nurse and 1 min with a doctor and walk out with a $1,200.00 bill just because the doctor stated what you already told him was the issue and doesn't do anything but write a prescription... there is a problem.

The medical field is too money hungry, they want to prescribe and treat, not cure. They want to operate when you don't need it. It's as corrupt as our government.

Canada looks that much nicer everyday. I would rather have socialized medicine and take the risk of dying before an operation than be fleeced on a continual basis.

you don't want that "socialized medicine" because you won't be able to pick your doctor. and if you have a brain tumor you'll have to wait 5 years to remove it, and by then you'll be already dead!!!!!!. while we're on topic, maybe we should get rid of "socialized" public schools, fire departments, and police.

Anyone listened to hip-hop music lately? American culture is eroding into hollow values and principles. The fall in all of the rankings is simply a reflection of that. The system is based on competitive greed and materialism, not concern for others. What do you expect?

I would move to another country but then I wouldn't get the lastest technologies years after the americans would.

..wait isn't that the problem.

Other countries don't get the awesome new product that everyone wants, until years after americans because thats what americans want to spend their money on.

Not saving and prolonging life.

A dying breed. Good.

The terms have become meaningless. There was a time when liberal had a good connotation to it. Same with conservative. We have become excellent at arguing and putting labels on others. What we aren't doing is listening. We're all guilty of that. There are good ideas coming from all sides, but few people will listen and think before jumping into the argument.

I think a big part of the problem is that this country has become so divisive. We label conservative and liberal with negative connotations. Democrats and Republicans, for the most part, stick to party lines. And this creates a situation where its all about the immediate short term gain and a lot of negative politics. Nothing is getting done and few people have their eye on creating action for long term goals.

they've been making these lists for years and we fall lower every time. it's sad that there are people who still have unwarranted pride in this failing republic.

Part of the problem in the US is that there is more interest in spending the money than in making sure that it is spent well and going to those who need it most. We spend thousands of dollars per student in public schools, but cannot guarantee that they're being educated. Our government is out of touch with its citizens and seems not to realize that it's a problem for the people it governs. Washington DC has the highest per capita income of any of the states, our elected officials seem more interested in looking out for their own bottom line than for the well being of their constituents.

let the facts be known

I was curious to see what countries are better. Here's the top 12:

1 Iceland
2 Norway
3 Australia
4 Canada
5 Ireland
6 Sweden
7 Switzerland
8 Japan
9 Netherlands
10 France
11 Finland
12 United States

I've always wanted to go to some of those countries, maybe permanently now.

The empire is collapsing.