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>But don’t rush to celebrate American exceptionalism: If IQs are dropping in other advanced countries but not here, maybe that means we’re not really an advance

>But don’t rush to celebrate American exceptionalism: If IQs are dropping in other advanced countries but not here, maybe that means we’re not really an advanced country (too much poverty, too little social support). I couldn't help but laugh at this. Is the author trying to spin the USA as second- or third-world? We are the top global economy!

computerex 7y ago
Top global economy indeed! With people having to choose between life saving medicine, food and rent. /s America is a 3rd world nation in many aspects.
- Wheaties466 7y ago
  In what aspects? I can't think of any that I would want to compare to a third world country.
  - computerex 7y ago
    Healthcare for starters. People routinely have to hop borders over to Mexico or elsewhere to get affordable healthcare.
  - rhombocombus 7y ago
    Then you've never watched a loved one get bankrupted by medical bills and skip medicine because it's too expensive. It's a common tale here that is a fairy tale even in many developing countries. We have higher infant mortality than most of the developed world and 60-70% of bankruptcies here are because of medical debt.
    - Wheaties466 7y ago
      so in a third world country they'd just die instead of being bankrupt, is that better?
  - StanislavPetrov 7y ago
    Social mobility and life expectancy among other things. The US ranks 41st in life expectancy globally behind countries like Cuba, French Guiana and Slovenia. http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/life-expectancy/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/life-expectancy/
  - hedora 7y ago
    Income inequality.
  - Bartweiss 7y ago
    - Infant mortality in the Mississippi River delta is higher than in some third world countries. - Roughly 1.5 million US households are living in 'extreme poverty' by global standards, meaning <$2 per day at ppp before government aid. - Hookworm is still a relatively common problem in parts of Alabama, because sanitation is nonexistent; sewage is piped from homes but dumped untreated nearby. Outside the US, it's viewed as an "underserved tropical disease" which only goes untreated in the absence of functioning medical systems. - The UN Human Rights Commission sent a special reporter to the US to study extreme poverty, who concluded that on many metrics like youth poverty rates the US is more comparable to developing or underdeveloped nations than other first world countries: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22533 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?N... This isn't just "we could help poor people more" or "things are less nice than in Canada". Significant portions of the US, mostly in the rural Southeast and West, are literally impoverished at the same rates as mid-rank third world countries.
    - ncmncm 7y ago
      Infant mortality overall is higher than in numerous third-world countries, not just in the Mississippi delta.
      - CalRobert 7y ago
        Maternal mortality is pretty horrible too.
        ncmncm 7y ago
        ... and still rising. Also not accidental.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
        0x54D5 7y ago
        The United States isn't very united when it comes to these things. Living in the Northeast where a city might have 10 hospitals and dozens of clinics is very different than living in rural Mississippi. There's a reason those of us that live in developed parts of the US call it "fly over" country. tldr; overall averages for a country like the USA are pointless
- chillacy 7y ago
  This is why I find it so funny when people point to GDP or the stock market as evidence that it's all going fine. Most people don't own significant amounts of stock or see their wages grow as much as the already economically successful.
ncmncm 7y ago
US infant mortality rate exceeds that of numerous "third-world" countries. Recently we were just ahead of Belarus, but they now have pulled ahead, well out of reach. The US matches third-world countries in numerous other indicators, and is declining in most of them. This is not accidental; it is a direct consequence of choices made by those in power.
- free652 7y ago
  I recall that it's hard to compare infant mortality due to reporting differences. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/3/editorial-the-statistics-of-life/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/3/editorial-th...
  - ncmncm 7y ago
    Hard to compare precisely enough to defend a stable ranking, yes, but it easily places the US below dozens of other countries regardless. More to the point, US infant mortality is still increasing. Reporting within the US has not changed.
crispinb 7y ago
The US on a large range of measures has never quite joined the ranks of the mainstream West. It has the largest GDP, sure, but with inequality rates approaching 3rd world levels, that wealth isn't sufficiently distributed to bring its human development on many measures up to that of other nations. It's very obvious to W. Europeans, Canadians & Australasians who spend much time in the US that life is harder and poorer and less socially mobile for vast swathes of the population.

computerex 7y ago

Top global economy indeed! With people having to choose between life saving medicine, food and rent. /s America is a 3rd world nation in many aspects.

Wheaties466 7y ago
In what aspects? I can't think of any that I would want to compare to a third world country.
- computerex 7y ago
  Healthcare for starters. People routinely have to hop borders over to Mexico or elsewhere to get affordable healthcare.
- rhombocombus 7y ago
  Then you've never watched a loved one get bankrupted by medical bills and skip medicine because it's too expensive. It's a common tale here that is a fairy tale even in many developing countries. We have higher infant mortality than most of the developed world and 60-70% of bankruptcies here are because of medical debt.
  - Wheaties466 7y ago
    so in a third world country they'd just die instead of being bankrupt, is that better?
- StanislavPetrov 7y ago
  Social mobility and life expectancy among other things. The US ranks 41st in life expectancy globally behind countries like Cuba, French Guiana and Slovenia. http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/life-expectancy/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/life-expectancy/
- hedora 7y ago
  Income inequality.
- Bartweiss 7y ago
  - Infant mortality in the Mississippi River delta is higher than in some third world countries. - Roughly 1.5 million US households are living in 'extreme poverty' by global standards, meaning <$2 per day at ppp before government aid. - Hookworm is still a relatively common problem in parts of Alabama, because sanitation is nonexistent; sewage is piped from homes but dumped untreated nearby. Outside the US, it's viewed as an "underserved tropical disease" which only goes untreated in the absence of functioning medical systems. - The UN Human Rights Commission sent a special reporter to the US to study extreme poverty, who concluded that on many metrics like youth poverty rates the US is more comparable to developing or underdeveloped nations than other first world countries: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22533 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?N... This isn't just "we could help poor people more" or "things are less nice than in Canada". Significant portions of the US, mostly in the rural Southeast and West, are literally impoverished at the same rates as mid-rank third world countries.
  - ncmncm 7y ago
    Infant mortality overall is higher than in numerous third-world countries, not just in the Mississippi delta.
    - CalRobert 7y ago
      Maternal mortality is pretty horrible too.
      - ncmncm 7y ago
        ... and still rising. Also not accidental.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - 0x54D5 7y ago
        The United States isn't very united when it comes to these things. Living in the Northeast where a city might have 10 hospitals and dozens of clinics is very different than living in rural Mississippi. There's a reason those of us that live in developed parts of the US call it "fly over" country. tldr; overall averages for a country like the USA are pointless
chillacy 7y ago
This is why I find it so funny when people point to GDP or the stock market as evidence that it's all going fine. Most people don't own significant amounts of stock or see their wages grow as much as the already economically successful.

ncmncm 7y ago

US infant mortality rate exceeds that of numerous "third-world" countries. Recently we were just ahead of Belarus, but they now have pulled ahead, well out of reach. The US matches third-world countries in numerous other indicators, and is declining in most of them. This is not accidental; it is a direct consequence of choices made by those in power.

free652 7y ago
I recall that it's hard to compare infant mortality due to reporting differences. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/3/editorial-the-statistics-of-life/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/3/editorial-th...
- ncmncm 7y ago
  Hard to compare precisely enough to defend a stable ranking, yes, but it easily places the US below dozens of other countries regardless. More to the point, US infant mortality is still increasing. Reporting within the US has not changed.

crispinb 7y ago

The US on a large range of measures has never quite joined the ranks of the mainstream West. It has the largest GDP, sure, but with inequality rates approaching 3rd world levels, that wealth isn't sufficiently distributed to bring its human development on many measures up to that of other nations. It's very obvious to W. Europeans, Canadians & Australasians who spend much time in the US that life is harder and poorer and less socially mobile for vast swathes of the population.