Originally Posted by Okachickima

Perhaps you could post links showing whether or not there are significant racial disparities in the U. K. with regard to crime and imprisonment rates, academic achievement, infant mortality, etc.

Originally Posted by Okachickima

I will take a few points from the Independent story and the other link to show the amount of ill-researched and/or downright false drivel that is often published about the United States, and that you have chosen to post here.

"A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England."

Of the 51 entities that make up the United States, there is 8 years difference in life expectancy between the lowest, the District of Columbia at 72 and Hawaii, at 80 years.
http://www.femhealth.com/LongevityStatistics.html

"Asian-American males have the best quality of life and black Americans the lowest, with a staggering 50-year life expectancy gap between the two groups."


In 2002 the life expectancy of all Americans was 77.3 years. White males had an expectancy of 75.1 years and black males 68.8. (These figures have all risen since.) If Asian-American males lived 50 years longer on average than black males it means that their life expectancy in that year was 118.8 years, and the U. S. should be praised for providing an environment that enabled such longevity.

http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...115/3/619#SEC6

"The U.S. infant mortality rate is on par with that of Croatia, Cuba, Estonia, and Poland; if the U.S. infant mortality rate were the same as that of top-ranked Sweden, 21,000 more American babies would live to celebrate their first birthdays every year."

Cuba has indeed done wonders in reducing its infant mortality rate. They have done this by classing as stillbirths deliveries that are counted as infant mortality in advanced countries. This link from WHO shows, starting at page 36, the perinatal mortality rate (combined infant mortality and stillbirths) of the U. S. and U. K. to be the same, and Cuba's half again higher, in the company of Chile and Costa Rica.

http://www.who.int/reproductive-heal...ality/text.pdf

"Educational expenditures vary significantly by state; New Jersey and New York spend around $14,000 per pupil, Utah spends less than $6,000 per pupil."

But which states' students are posting the better grades on achievement tests?

Perhaps you could post links showing whether or not there are significant racial disparities in the U. K. with regard to crime and imprisonment rates, academic achievement, infant mortality, etc.

Originally Posted by Okachickima

Perhaps you could post links showing whether or not there are significant racial disparities in the U. K. with regard to crime and imprisonment rates, academic achievement, infant mortality, etc.

Originally Posted by RoadWarriorFromLP

I have a master's degree from one of the world's best business schools, earn more than most Americans (while maintaining low overhead) and am quite healthy. But none of that prevented my health insurance premium from increasing 60% since 2005, nor will it help me much if I get unlucky and need my insurance to the point that my carrier decides that dropping me and being sued is cheaper than taking care of me. (The joys of self-employment.)

A typical scenario for people such as yourself who end up on the wrong side of the healthcare system is this:

-You fall too ill to work
-Because you can't work, you lose your health coverage (COBRA only lasts for 18 months. You may not be able to afford the premiums, and no carrier will cover what are now "pre-existing conditions.")
-Meanwhile, with a serious condition, your insurer stalls, refuses expensive treatment and allows your condition to worsen
-Finally, you end up in bankruptcy, once you've either lost your insurance or else have discovered that it didn't cover all that much, after all

This "I got mine, Jack" attitude is simply appalling, and one of the reasons that I continue to think about emigrating. Indecency and selfishness have become acceptable and admirable traits in America.

The middle class s*its on the poor, even though most of them are two or three paychecks away from joining them. They want to feel rich because they have nice car leases and massive adjustable rate mortgages, when most of them are really serfs who are up to their eyeballs in debt, living lifestyles that are supportable only through excessive debt.

Ronald Reagan made this meanspiritedness acceptable, and I will never forgive him for it. He put us on the path of being a debtor nation with a bad attitude and a Pollyanna outlook, when we really need better healthcare, a higher savings rate and less consumption.

Originally Posted by Ridski

Don't tell me. You've been to Orlando, haven't you?

Originally Posted by Fonseca33

Sorry, but higher infant mortality (which is directly tied to high teenage pregnancy rates) and a life expectancy which is higher than Denmark, doesn't change the fact that this is the land of opportunity. It was recently rated as the most competitive economy on Earth, which is very impressive for such a large country,

The US receives more legal immigrants than the rest of the world combined. Period.

Originally Posted by Bob

Now I know your taking the mick...the economy is shit, and babies dying whilst still babies is a bad thing, there's no two ways about it.

Crap medical care is an issue, a very big issue to many million people.

If senators and other politicians had to make do without their medical insurance and rely and what middle class america has to, then something might change.

And all this gunning on Elvira is in rather poor taste, she posted a news story that is a big subject of content in the US, she also hasn't comented since with an opinion.

If your sick of such stories, don't respond, but if anyone else had posted this, it would have gotten a different reaction.

Originally Posted by Tracym

I've debated these issues too many times to do it again here.

Originally Posted by Bob

Now I know your taking the mick...the economy is shit, and babies dying whilst still babies is a bad thing, there's no two ways about it.

Crap medical care is an issue, a very big issue to many million people.

If senators and other politicians had to make do without their medical insurance and rely and what middle class america has to, then something might change.

And all this gunning on Elvira is in rather poor taste, she posted a news story that is a big subject of content in the US, she also hasn't comented since with an opinion.

If your sick of such stories, don't respond, but if anyone else had posted this, it would have gotten a different reaction.

Originally Posted by Fonseca33

Newsflash, the economy of the UK is also shit, and also that of many other countries. What matters is the bigger picture, and over the oast 30 years the US economy has done very well. Over the past 200 years, the US has averaged a recession every 8 years. What's so bad about it now? Doesn't change that this is the land of opportunity, especially for those w/ skills.

Originally Posted by Fonseca33

the US has averaged a recession every 8 years. What's so bad about it now?

Originally Posted by veryfunny

Asian-American males have the best quality of life and black Americans the lowest, with a staggering 50-year life expectancy gap between the two groups.

I certainly do not agree with this fact.