This is NOT good folks:

[kpete]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/07/30/business/Measuring-Us-Against-the-World.html?ref=economy&_r=1&
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/08/income-inequality-measuring-us-against-the-world/

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. But, none of those on the bottom tier have the Crazy Uncles MIC and Surveillance State to support.

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. K&R "We're still not as bad as Mexico!" Yay! n/t

[exboyfil]

7. Joke when I was in High School in Mississippi

49th in the nation in education. Thank God for Arkansas.

[Brigid]

10. Here in Indiana,

We lefties sometimes call this state North Mississippi.

[exboyfil]

37. Spent 3 1/2 years

in Indiana at Purdue. Had a good friend from Whitestown. He joked about how Whitestown got his name (we hung in a very ethnically diverse group - a native Hawanian, a native of Hong Kong, and an African American along with my friend the white Indiana boy and the white West Virginia/California/Mississippi boy).

[roamer65]

51. Pretty soon we will be able to claim...

We number ONE!!!! USA, USA, USA!!!!

[ThoughtCriminal]

36. Growing up in Alabama

in the 60's and 70's. We often said "Thank God for Mississippi".

Now I live in Arizona, and even Mississippi is spending more per student than we do. Purple state with an infrared legislature that tries to prove every week that nobody bows lower and grovels to the Koch Brothers than we do.

[bvar22]

9. The Mexican 1% managed to just barely scrape by in the last election...

...with a LOT of help from the 1% in the USA.

Hopefully, the Bolivarian Populist Democratic Reforms will be more successful
in migrating northward in the next election,
because the Old Guard Oligarchs in Mexico are hanging by a thread.

And THEN, we're next!
Spread the Good Word!
VIVA Democracy!
WE outnumber THEM!

[Egalitarian Thug]

21. Yes we do. I'm still resisting the temptation to hope, however,

I remember their 2006 "election".

[populistdriven]

57. Thank God Obama is so willing to Compromise with the Republicans

[leftstreet]

3. Take that, Estonia! USA!! USA!! USA!!

DURec

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. For clarification (and it is not good) these are the top 30 OECD economies

It does not include, India, Somalia, or other suspects

[secondvariety]

8. India has

a better Gini Index rating than the U.S.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2172.html

We fall between Uruguay and Cameroon on income inequality.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Yes we do

I am not saying is good...it's just what part of the classification is. Neither Cameroon or India are in the OECD economies. It is a world bank thing.

[think]

5. Sadly K&R....

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. Note Britain. 20th in child poverty, 3rd with single parent families

Sort of debunks claims about single parent families harm to U.S. by people like BOR.

[treestar]

12. What is wrong with single parent families?

And it appears to be limited as to countries. There are no African or South American countries there. It looks like merely a first world comparison. How could child poverty be worse in the 20 countries listed than in most of Africa?

[Fumesucker]

15. They generally can't provide the level of financial support a two parent family can

If you think financial support is unimportant to children then you've never raised any.

And do you really want to start comparing the USA to Africa as a means of making us look good?

"Good morning Mr Smith, why don't we look at the bright side of your diagnosis, you only have drug resistant TB, not Ebola."

[treestar]

20. I merely pointed out that saying we have the nth highest this or that rate

Would be different if all countries were involved.

[SMC22307]

34. So Somalia needs to be included for the United State to have a better showing?

How embarrassing.

[treestar]

45. Or Somalia needs to be excluded in order to

not have the US look as bad as possible? How obviously manipulative of those who want to make the case the US is the worst. They have to ignore the very worst-off countries in order to make the illusion.

[SMC22307]

47. Doesn't matter. Those other countries will still be ahead of us...

and we should be striving to improve our rankings. More Europe, less worse-off, please.

[BobbyBoring]

23. That's the sad thing about today.

I'm a boomer, born in 53. As I was growing up, most families were 2 parent with one working and the other raising the kids (or kid in my case). People were paid a living wage back then and it wasn't much, but it was enough to provide all the necessity's.

[SMC22307]

35. Yep. I never thought I'd look back on the '70s so fondly...

especially the health insurance offered through my father's job. Glasses, braces, dentist 2x per year, the occasional broken bone, a surgery or two -- our family never went without in that regard.

And my parents sent me through 4 years of college -- WITH NO DEBT. Unreal.

[Heather MC]

41. Back then Divorce was taboo, women could hardly get work

And spousal abuse was not discussed in mixed company.

I am sure the Divorce rate would have been just as high as today if women weren't so handled and ruled over.

[Awknid]

54. Yes, but at least one person could make enough

for the family to live on. Now that is very hard! Yes, thank God women are no longer treated that way.

[Heather MC]

56. Agreed, I am officially a stay at home mom, but work part-time

it's not always easy
but daycare is $425 a week in my area it's cheaper not to work

[jtuck004]

18. Nothing wrong with SPF - it's just that they are more likely to have less assets, more

likely to live in or near poverty, not have adequate health care, etc.

It is a comparison of inequality among the countries listed, not a list of who is worse off in the world. And in a country that touts itself as being so powerful, where everyone is "created equal", we have let a surprising few make a whole lot of people less equal over the years.

[theHandpuppet]

19. Poverty rates

"Poverty rates are highest for families headed by single women, particularly if they are black or Hispanic. In 2010, 31.6 percent of households headed by single women were poor, while 15.8 percent of households headed by single men and 6.2 percent of married-couple households lived in poverty."

http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/

[rhett o rick]

48. Do you have a point? nm

[Tikki]

13. It's all about the 'boot straps' here...babies are supposed to pull themselves out of poverty..

by their bootie straps..
The fools don't believe in evolution but make sure it's survival of the wealthiest.



Tikki

[Heather MC]

42. We got our bootstraps second hand from Goodwill. They were pretty much wornout but

we couldn't afford the nice new ones from Hills or Kmart

[leveymg]

14. It just seems like yesterday that we were the world's last rogue superpower - wait, we still are,

but this is the price we've paid for it. Along with crumbling roads, falling bridges, bankrupt cities, overflowing prisons, and a heavily-armed population that's getting ready to explode into mass annihilation.

[Dustlawyer]

16. If the United States is in a forest and then it falls, will anyone hear it?

[Whisp]

17. I hope that everyone thinks before the: Greatest Country On Earth...

I hear that coming from some supposed smart pundit people.

Mass Hypnotism.

[Faygo Kid]

22. Only one solution: More tax cuts for the rich

Well, I suppose a 41st House repeal of Obamacare would solve it, too.

[KamaAina]

27. You forgot "More guns"

[Heather MC]

43. And more money for Defense! we must be kept safe

[tiredtoo]

46. Heather mc, please join me in my effort to call it what it is

it should not be called the defense department. the correct phrase should be the war department or the department of war. Just this small change would make a vast difference.

[Heather MC]

49. Agreed, it's just I live in the DC area. DoD is used daily

how about ITWE
increasing the war effort

or DoDD
department of death and dismemberment

[Va Lefty]

24. Slowly circling the toliet bowl

[PD Turk]

25. Yup

Getting worse all the time and we aren't doing a damn thing to stop it

[Purveyor]

26. Shouldn't be long now...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

28. Right Wingnuts will see that "single parent families" and claim sluts are to blame.

[Heather MC]

44. I Remember during the debate Mitt Romney blaming women for turning down prince charmings proposal

As if single mothers were like, no thank you prince charming, but you can make a baby with me and never return. I have always wanted to struggle financially.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

50. Mitt just can't picture women as providing anything of real value....

He's a classic Male Chauvinist Pig.

[bhikkhu]

30. Its also kind of BS in how it presents information

one would look at it and say, for instance, that the US appear to be the fourth worst in the world for infant mortality...but what isn't clear is that this is a small selection of countries. Why these countries? Why not all countries? What is the significance of how the US compares to these ,specific countries?

I dislike articles and data presentations which, after you have read through them, odds are you are stupider than before you started.

If you want better data on infant mortality, btw, here is the complete table: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.IMRT.IN

The US isn't nearly as good as it should be, but there's no reason to phony things up.

[David Krout]

31. sad

Dismal.

[LiberalBeliever]

32. WTF?!?

Hold on a dang minute! How is this possible - I mean we're the greatest nation on earth? Better tune into Fox news quick for some patriotic brain washing and flag waving - hold on a sec............................
Phew MUCH better. Turns out we need more tax cuts and deregulation. Also Obama is a socialist. There I fixed it.

[Kablooie]

33. None of this matters at all. America is STILL the greatest country on earth!!!

Though I do kind of wish we had less infant mortality than Poland.

But I'm proud that we beat Estonia in something!
America all the way! Yeah!!!

Crack me open a Bud, bud.

[liberal_at_heart]

38. Wow. It's really hard to look at just how bad it is. This is truly sad.

[Enthusiast]

39. If we would just get the government off the back of corporations

we would be swimming in high paying jobs! And lower the corporate tax rate!

[bluedeathray]

40. Sooooo, how are we going to

Last until the current FOWM (fat old white man) system fails?

The FOWM arm of the GOP can still buy enough politicians to ruin the economy and the environment. BOTH of which are teetering now!

[Chalco]

52. If you do the math, USA is the worst!

Of the countries that have a place in the top 20 of for each of the categories, USA comes out at an average of 3.8 which is worse than any other country.

Congrats!!!!

[demosincebirth]

53. What happened to "we're number one!?"

[Coyotl]

55. Raise the minimum wage NOW!