Thursday, October 7, 2010

How U.S. compares to Iran, China and Russia

Here are some U.N. and Cambridge statistics (reasonably reputable institutions so hopefully the data is somewhat accurate) collected on wikipedia that compare the U.S. with Iran and China.  Also the Gini income inequality index from CIA factbook, higher score means more income disparity. These statistics represent a basic metric one might use to judge a governments success or failure at addressing issues important to their populations. 

Homicide rate per 100,000: U.S. 5.4 Iran 2.93 china 1.2 Russia 15 India 2.8  Countries by homicide rate
Incarceration rate per 100,000: U.S. 754 Iran 222 China 119 Russia 582 India 32 countries by incarceration rate
Police officers per 100,000:  U.S. 279  Iran 54 China 148  Russia 976 India 130 countries by police per capita
percent GDP spent on military: U.S. 4.7% Iran 2.9% China 2% Russia 4.3 India 2.8% % GDP on defense list 
Gini index of income inequality: U.S. 45   Iran 44.5  China 41.5 Russia 42.2 India 36.8 more info on income inequality
net international investment position as a percentage of GDP: U.S. -17% Iran ?(only 4% external debt) China +37.1% Russia +17.9% India -10.3% countries by net international investment
Suicide rate per 100,000: U.S. 11.1 Iran ?(Middle East has a low rate) China 13.85(1999 data) Russia 23.5 India 10.6  countries by suicide rate per capita

Of U.S., Iran, China and India the U.S. has by far the most homicides per capita, by far the highest incarceration rate and police per capita, by far the highest percent of GDP spent on the military, highest suicides per capita (except China but this is 1999 data), highest income inequality and worst international investment position as a percent of GDP.  This does not stop George W. Bush from declaring Iran part of the "axis of evil."  That declaration had more to do with the Israel lobby than anything else.  Of the five countries compared only Russia has more homicides, suicides and police per capita than the U.S. (Russian crime increased dramatically after the fall of the Soviet Union) but the U.S. has a higher incarceration rate, percent of GDP spent on defense and more income inequality than Russia as well as a worse international investment position.  The United States in 2009 spent at least 661 billion on the military while the total world military spending was $1531 billion, the U.S. accounts for nearly half of all world military spending.  Who is the police state?  Does this not indicate glaring hypocrisy in the U.S. government and culture? The European Union will also beat the U.S. on virtually all of these measures, the only major regions that the U.S. compares favorably with is South America and Africa, not exactly high standards.  The U.S. education system is decidedly mediocre and the list goes on, the U.S. healthcare system produces a higher infant mortality rate and lower life expectancy than basically every industrialized nation while costing twice as much.  The U.S. spends more as a percentage of GDP (16%) than any other member of the U.N. but get much worse results than most industrialized countries in terms of infant mortality (41st in the world) and life expectancy (46th in the world).  Industrialized countries tend to spend a little under 10% of GDP on health care. 31% of our health care dollars go to administrative costs and we have the highest paid doctors in the world  Voter turnout in the U.S. is extremely low compared with other nations, clearly our commitment to democracy is basically non-existent.  The one area in which the U.S. does not suck donkey balls is GDP per capita, primarily because the U.S. has a lot of resources per capita (coal, oil shale and arable land) and it was one of the earliest countries to industrialize, that and we can use our military to demand tribute.  The U.S. also has a massively fraudulent financial industry that it uses to extort money.  The U.S. has the massive advantage of the highest GDP per capita of any major nation yet astoundingly bad results for its citizens, the elite of the U.S. care vary little for the welfare of the U.S. population but they do seem to care about the security of Israel

Another event where the U.S. excels is at making war around the globe.  According to an article by Harvard professor Stephen Walt 288,000 is a low ball estimate for the number of Muslims killed by the U.S. in the last 30 years while Muslims have killed only 10,325 U.S. citizens. 

"The terrorist is the one with the small bomb." Brendan Behan



Stephen Walt on why Muslims hate the U.S.

How the U.S. sedates its citizens to the government hypocrisy is illustrated in the documentary on U.S. media and propaganda "War Made Easy."

War Made Easy

"We Americans are the ultimate innocents. We are forever desperate to believe that this time the government is telling us the truth." Sydney Schanberg

It is worth noting that in their first speech in power Hitler and Goebbels had similar observations about the mismanagement of Germany, corruption and use of media for propaganda.  Of course, while initially Hitler's leadership was a boon to the German economy, his leadership ended badly for the Germans. 

"The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes."--Mark Twain

"The hero of my tale, whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful, is Truth."--Leo Tolstoy

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