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After government transfers, the bottom income quintile in the US makes more than in the UK and many other wealthy nations. Looking at heart disease and cancer,

After government transfers, the bottom income quintile in the US makes more than in the UK and many other wealthy nations. Looking at heart disease and cancer, the US does better, with a less healthy more diverse population than just about every other country (the top ten hospitals with the best cancer survival rates are overwhelmingly in the US), maternity leave may not be mandated, but is available to many if not most. 98% of the US has completed at least 5th grade. And how is the US so different from a social democracy? Massive transfers of wealth to the poor, strong regulations, large government influence in industry, and of course democracy, with strong protections against a "murderous crazy dictator".

collyw 11y ago
"Looking at heart disease and cancer, the US does better.." No it doesn't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_health_care_outcome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_heal...
DanBC 11y ago
The US does well on cancer, but that's because cancer is mostly a disease of old age and the US spends a lot of public money via medicaid on older people. > 98% of the US has completed at least 5th grade. There's a lot of illiteracy in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States > The study, the most comprehensive study of literacy ever commissioned by the U.S. government, was released in April 2002 and reapplied in 2003 giving trend data. It involved lengthy interviews of over 90,700 adults statistically balanced[clarification needed] for age, gender, ethnicity, education level, and location (urban, suburban, or rural) in 12 states across the U.S. and was designed to represent the U.S. population as a whole. This government study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information." Further, this study showed that 41% to 44% of U.S. adults in the lowest level on the literacy scale (literacy rate of 35 or below) were living in poverty.[2]

collyw 11y ago

"Looking at heart disease and cancer, the US does better.." No it doesn't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_health_care_outcome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_OECD_countries_by_heal...

DanBC 11y ago

The US does well on cancer, but that's because cancer is mostly a disease of old age and the US spends a lot of public money via medicaid on older people. > 98% of the US has completed at least 5th grade. There's a lot of illiteracy in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States > The study, the most comprehensive study of literacy ever commissioned by the U.S. government, was released in April 2002 and reapplied in 2003 giving trend data. It involved lengthy interviews of over 90,700 adults statistically balanced[clarification needed] for age, gender, ethnicity, education level, and location (urban, suburban, or rural) in 12 states across the U.S. and was designed to represent the U.S. population as a whole. This government study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information." Further, this study showed that 41% to 44% of U.S. adults in the lowest level on the literacy scale (literacy rate of 35 or below) were living in poverty.[2]