Nine sad facts about America

From Bill Quigley’s “Nine Myths About Socialism in the United States”:

  1. The gap between the rich and everyone else is wider in the US than any of the 30 [OECD] countries surveyed. In fact, the top 10% in the US have a higher annual income than any other country. And the poorest 10% in the US are below the average of the other OECD countries.
  2. Infant mortality in the US is 4th worst among OECD countries — better only than Mexico, Turkey and the Slovak Republic.
  3. Child poverty in the US, at over 20% or one out of every five kids, is double the average of the 30 OECD countries.
  4. The US ranks in the bottom half of countries in terms of financial benefits for families with children.
  5. The US gives no paid leave for working mothers having children. [The other OECD] countries [all offer] some form of paid leave… Over two thirds of the countries give some form of paid paternity leave.
  6. Social mobility… in earnings, wages and education tends to be easier in Australia, Canada and Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway, and Finland
  7. Educational achievement of US children… is 7th worst in the OECD. On public spending for childcare and early education, the US is in the bottom third.
  8. Of the 30 countries in the OECD, only in Korea is the impact of governmental spending [on income distribution] lower.
  9. The US gives the smallest percentage of aid of any of the developed countries in the OECD.

Posted by James on Monday, April 12, 2010