Is America a great country?

Agree2Disagree Forum

I have read in this book that America is not as great as we think it to be.

• The European working class works less than the American working class
  
• People in Europe sue less
  
• Most people in Europe are atheist
  
• Europeans have better education than our children do
  
• Europeans have cradle-to-grave benefits
  

well I prefer to live in a Christian country...

I'd say Americans have nicer accents though. Beat that, Europe!

Why? I would rather live in an atheist country.

why? cuz I"m a Christian silly

My motto for this thread:

Everywhere you go, there you are.

I would rather live in a secular country, a theistic or atheistic government would definitely be problematic for me. Those type of governments tend to push their beliefs on the citizens and I think the citizens should choose what they want.

But America is definitely not the greatest country. I think many Americans equate material wealth with greatness, and when it all comes down to it, material wealth does not make a country the greatest. Sure it's great to get stuff, but since I never really did that in the first place, I don't believe the US to be the greatest country and I could easily live in other countries, other countries that I believe do seem to have a better standard of living. I feel the US is a bit too workaholic.

But there is a great concentration of wealth here, which explains why many people come here, but if there are people that use the people coming to the US because they think it's the greatest country, they should think again as you see many foreigners returning to their countries to build them up.

It's actually OK living in Europe to be honest but you cant really compare Europe and the US. Europe is 25 countries ( 41 if you want to take into account non EU members) and there are more Europeans that Americans or Russians combined.

The thing is every country has good and bad. The thing is that Americans are notorious for being ignorant of what is going on the rest of the world and that is why so many Americans equate the US with greatness and being the standard bearer for every other country in the world whereas in truth we can learn a lot from each other.

PS Dekka on the accents, there have been many polls, questionnaires etc and in the vast majority it has been the Scottish, Welsh or Swedish accents that have come out on top. Beat that.

that's fine... but French, German, Spanish etc. are fug-ugly.

Oh yeah German is a nasty language. I once met a guy who told me that the German langugae and accent was made for Hitler.

Devildog....The high amounts of suing in this country doesn't affect you in any way?

Think again because I think it affects almost everyone.

You said that America is more productive and prosperous then Europe....

I think I might have to disagree with this first statement. Europe, when I first visited the place, I think the country was Denmark, was a prosperous state. Most of the Western Europe is wealthy and productive.

Democratic Socialism insures that those who pay taxes will have benefits from the government. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

democratic socialism sucks big time

Beck agrees with Devildog!!!!!!!!1

Devildog you probably missed what I posted ealrier but how can you possibly comapre one country to 25 others. You obvioulsy have missed the immense growth in employment and productivity in the former communist countries that joined in 2001. These countries normally find themselves as the new growth areas in FDI obvioulsy behind China and India.

You have to try and get a level playing firld but that is difficult and makes any arguement pointless for example the UK has an unemployment rate of only 4% compared to the USA 5% does that make the UK better? of course not because agin we are dealing with a smaller country that has not had the economic problems that the USA has recently come out of.

Plus you talk about the Euro zone please be more specific what Euro zone? Are we talking about the countries that are in the Euro currency? if so that seems unfair to use figures which levae out Norway, the UK and Sweden 3 of the economic success stories in the European continent. Do you mean the EU countries again very unfair you are leaving out a further 22 countries that make up the continet of europe again including Norway.

I must say your graph does vary slightly with the OECD findings but that is neither here nor there really.

I said it before but maybe I should say it again that there is a lot of good things going on in Europe and in the USA but if some people are to blind to realise that then it's pretty sad really.

Also this cardle to the grave stuff do a little reading on it read about the UK we started the idea and we continue it until this day and it seems to work over here.

Points taken lodgebo, and you are currect about me needing to read up on that issue. It just sounds like socialism to me.

Hi Delta

Hi Devildog......Thanx.

I will write more when things here level out somewhat.

D

Motto #2:

Bloom where you are planted!

I am sorry to hear your plight Delta. I wasn't aware of your location. Happy that you are just still here with us. If I can send anything to make it easier, please do not hesitate to ask. Is family well?
Can't wait to get a witness view of the events when you get a chance.

look what I found:

· The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

· The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

· Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).

· "The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).

· Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!

· "The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).

· "Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).

· Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).

· Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.

· The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80). Pay more, get lots, lots less.

· "The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a "developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.

· Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

· "U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.

· Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).

· The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

· Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

· The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

· "Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

· "Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).

· "Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68).

· The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).

· U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).

· Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).

· Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.

· Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

· As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

· Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.

· One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).

· "Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28).

· "Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).

· Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).

· "Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).

· "The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

Hey, I resent that. I'm number 1 when it comes to delusion

Canada is far better than the us, I went to school in minnesota for two years and man it was the pits. Americans are too violent and disrespectful. I almost got killed 5 times being there! I'm staying in canada where they use the metric system and speak politely.

http://www.xonelabs.com/inreview/FlamingINBullet.jpg

As an red blooded American, I herby declare the Metric System is the Mark of the Beast. And I will have no part of it.



---Whizzle, a man who knows the evil system behind the kilometer.

You are wise, my friend.

-HECK!

china is the best country !! * smile *

We're a powerful country that is rapidly being weakened by idiotic leadership that is abusing a weakened and undereducated public.

You can complain all you want about what they show children, but from experience the way my parents raised me played a far greater role in my choices than anything the school or TV showed to me. The problem isn't the school, it's the parents who aren't parents. The people who let the TV raise their children rather than sit down with them with a book, or take them to a park. "Hey Johnny, here's a new video game console!" As a society, we need to get our kids off their butts and get them involved in something and support them. Hell, I know parents who play more games than their kids do and get upset when they have to take time away from that to be a mom or dad. THAT is the problem. Forget the video in class, I found a porno when I was 7, I still never got a girl pregnant until I had been married for a couple of years. I didn't even have sex until I was almost out of high school, and I never went through the phase when I didn't like girls or thought it wasn't cool to like a girl.

The problem is, we as a society find every reason in the world to blame something else or someone else for our mistakes. Some kids shoot up a school and the first thing they say is that it must have been the music, or it had to be those video games... as harsh as it may sound, it was the parents! Take a day off of work every once in a while and take your kids out for the day. Spend the weekend at home and stay off of the golf course. Learn to find that place where you're still a parent, but your children can still share their day with you, or what they've been up to without you chastising them or making them feel stupid. Kids do dumb things, and they have for eternity. The only way they learn is when someone nutures them and teaches them... holds them accountable for their actions. There are obviously exceptions to the rule, but if your kid robs a convenience store take a look in the mirror before you throw out the TV, radio, and game console.

The reason why this country is "weakening" is not because of our leadership, it's because of the things I've just discussed above. Nothing is ever anyones fault and we're all owed something from the government. Nonsense. Get out and do something with your life.

Know thyself and seek improvement.

Don't blame your misfortunes on anyone but yourself. If you need help from the government, seek it. Once you are able to sustain yourself, get off of it. You don't need to go to college to learn anything, you just need the desire. Last time I got a library card it didn't cost me a cent. Sure companies don't hire on book reports, but you'd be amazed at how far a great interview will get you. I'll give you a personal experience on this for good measure.

I sent my resume to a company who did contract work for the government with aircraft. The gentleman who was doing the hiring was in California and I'm in Misery, I mean Missouri, so it had to be a phone interview. One stipulation of the job was that I had to travel to Okinawa for six months and then return to the States. I told the guy that my wife wasn't on board with that, I appreciated the offer, but I had to decline. He called me back and told me he was going to CREATE A POSITION for me so he could hire me, I would just have to be willing to deploy eventually. I didn't even have the necessary certifications, only the experience.

Moral of the story is, hard work, education, and determination pays off. Pointing a finger at the world, claiming that your a victim does not.

If we could all stop worrying about who is better than who, and focus on ourselves, this whole damn world would be a much better place.

America is great, because you have the right to question it.

I think that's it... if not I'll be back.

I've been an American for over half a century and assert America is a decent place to live. "Great"? What standard do you use to determine what constitutes a "great" country?

On second thought; If you did have a standard you would not necessarily be asking your question.

By my standard, almost any country is great. The standard I use to determine "great" is the democracy routinely available. Many countries qualify.

I think America has its share of problems, but is a great place to be. Out of the 6 billion people on Earth, less than 1.4 billion have the standard of living we can claim to have. This also applies to Europeans and many other countries. Any of these places is a great place to live.

i imagine that everywhere else in the world sues a lot less than america. i personally feel that only in america can someone sure for millions of dollars over missing pants.