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Now let me share with you some info about the US: More than 1 in 100 adults in the United States are in prison. The United States has less than 5% of the world

Now let me share with you some info about the US: More than 1 in 100 adults in the United States are in prison. The United States has less than 5% of the world's population and 23.4% of the world's prison population. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_States#Comparison_with_other_countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration_in_the_United_Sta...) The 2009 U.S. military budget accounts for approximately 40% of global arms spending and is over six times larger than the military budget of China. The United States and its close allies are responsible for two-thirds to three-quarters of the world's military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the majority). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States#Comparison_with_other_countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_S...) From wars against the Mideast, healthcare, the environment, teachers, working class, democracy; and in favor of corporations, capitalism, etc... Many (maybe most, like myself) here are from the US, and I think the US's wealthy elites are a greater threat to the world than teachers unions and Venezuelans. So let's focus on not only what we're in a position to affect — as citizens with above-average power and privileges — but what matters too.

rick888 16y ago
"The United States has less than 5% of the world's population and 23.4% of the world's prison population." Did you ever stop and think that if some of the other countries mentioned weren't so corrupt, they might also have a higher prison population? Our system is pretty, damn fair, even though once in awhile it fails and an innocent person goes to prison. "The 2009 U.S. military budget accounts for approximately 40% of global arms spending and is over six times larger than the military budget of China. The United States and its close allies are responsible for two-thirds to three-quarters of the world's military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the majority)." The US has to babysit the world. I wish it wasn't the case, but most countries do not have their shit together. "US's wealthy elites are a greater threat to the world than teachers unions and Venezuelans." Teacher's unions directly threaten good education, which can lead to uneducated citizens and poverty. It's very difficult to get fired while you are in a teacher's union and there is no incentive to actually teach well. I've seen the same thing happen in the auto unions. It's like a mini example of why communism doesn't work (everybody is equal and since you not only get an automatic raise every year, and everybody in your department/position needs to get a raise if you do, it offers no reason to actually do better). Capitalism isn't a bad thing. It's provided the best standard of living the world has ever seen. There may be some problems with it, but we shouldn't discount it as a whole. I don't know how you can say the US is against the environment. If you mean global warming, then yes. Global warming isn't a religion. I need more evidence than what we have (which is based on falsified data) to prove that it's man-made. It's also become such a politicized issue, that if you are a scientist and go against it, you can lose funding from the government and respect from your peers. Nobody scientist would want to do this.
- arethuza 16y ago
  You might want to compare incarceration levels in the US with other not-particularly-corrupt countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    Compare us to the UK, but compare like for like. Most of our prison population is comprised of high crime groups who do not exist to any significant degree (35% of the US, 2.6% of the UK) in the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States#Racial_demographics_of_the_US http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_St... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdom#Ethnicity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdo... That said, our prison population is still large even after accounting for this, just not as large as the naive statistics make out.
    - michaelchisari 16y ago
      majority of the prison population in the US comprise only 2.4% of the UK. I'll point out another statistic which doesn't look good for our incarceration rates, regardless of the racial demographic argument you're making: Half of all persons incarcerated under state jurisdiction are for non-violent offenses, and 20% are incarcerated for drug offenses, in State prisons. Federal prison percentages are higher.
- michaelchisari 16y ago
  Teachers unions haven't seem to hurt Finland (#1 in education), and auto unions haven't seem to hurt Germany. Theirs are much stronger than our respective unions.
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    Rather than selecting an outlier [1], lets compare two typical US states: Texas and Wisconsin. http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-badgers-1.html http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-ba... It seems the non-unionized teachers in Texas do considerably better than the unionized teachers in Wisconsin, particularly for minorities. [1] At least, according to this graph: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-EMpadQx4hM/TRKVzaSdWnI/AAAAAAAAAYs/26q8mk1dT3M/s1600/PISA.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-EMpadQx4hM/TRKVzaSdWnI/AAAAAAAAAY... You could also compare the relatively non-unionized US to more highly unionized Europe.
jdminhbg 16y ago
None of this has anything to do with either the posted article or the comment to which you're responding.
- nir 16y ago
  But the US Is Bad, what don't you understand?! (Seriously, I was expecting some relativist argument, but this is not even that. I'm surprised there's no mention of obesity rates as well, while we're at it)
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- calibraxis 16y ago
  Sure it is. The article was written by a US media corporation; that post I responded to advocated overthrowing Venezuela's government; and since many of us are citzens of the US, we should maybe deal with the real problems that we can affect, rather than go around attacking others.

rick888 16y ago

"The United States has less than 5% of the world's population and 23.4% of the world's prison population." Did you ever stop and think that if some of the other countries mentioned weren't so corrupt, they might also have a higher prison population? Our system is pretty, damn fair, even though once in awhile it fails and an innocent person goes to prison. "The 2009 U.S. military budget accounts for approximately 40% of global arms spending and is over six times larger than the military budget of China. The United States and its close allies are responsible for two-thirds to three-quarters of the world's military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the majority)." The US has to babysit the world. I wish it wasn't the case, but most countries do not have their shit together. "US's wealthy elites are a greater threat to the world than teachers unions and Venezuelans." Teacher's unions directly threaten good education, which can lead to uneducated citizens and poverty. It's very difficult to get fired while you are in a teacher's union and there is no incentive to actually teach well. I've seen the same thing happen in the auto unions. It's like a mini example of why communism doesn't work (everybody is equal and since you not only get an automatic raise every year, and everybody in your department/position needs to get a raise if you do, it offers no reason to actually do better). Capitalism isn't a bad thing. It's provided the best standard of living the world has ever seen. There may be some problems with it, but we shouldn't discount it as a whole. I don't know how you can say the US is against the environment. If you mean global warming, then yes. Global warming isn't a religion. I need more evidence than what we have (which is based on falsified data) to prove that it's man-made. It's also become such a politicized issue, that if you are a scientist and go against it, you can lose funding from the government and respect from your peers. Nobody scientist would want to do this.

arethuza 16y ago
You might want to compare incarceration levels in the US with other not-particularly-corrupt countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  Compare us to the UK, but compare like for like. Most of our prison population is comprised of high crime groups who do not exist to any significant degree (35% of the US, 2.6% of the UK) in the UK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States#Racial_demographics_of_the_US http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_St... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdom#Ethnicity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demography_of_the_United_Kingdo... That said, our prison population is still large even after accounting for this, just not as large as the naive statistics make out.
  - michaelchisari 16y ago
    majority of the prison population in the US comprise only 2.4% of the UK. I'll point out another statistic which doesn't look good for our incarceration rates, regardless of the racial demographic argument you're making: Half of all persons incarcerated under state jurisdiction are for non-violent offenses, and 20% are incarcerated for drug offenses, in State prisons. Federal prison percentages are higher.
michaelchisari 16y ago
Teachers unions haven't seem to hurt Finland (#1 in education), and auto unions haven't seem to hurt Germany. Theirs are much stronger than our respective unions.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  Rather than selecting an outlier [1], lets compare two typical US states: Texas and Wisconsin. http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-badgers-1.html http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/03/longhorns-17-ba... It seems the non-unionized teachers in Texas do considerably better than the unionized teachers in Wisconsin, particularly for minorities. [1] At least, according to this graph: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-EMpadQx4hM/TRKVzaSdWnI/AAAAAAAAAYs/26q8mk1dT3M/s1600/PISA.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-EMpadQx4hM/TRKVzaSdWnI/AAAAAAAAAY... You could also compare the relatively non-unionized US to more highly unionized Europe.

jdminhbg 16y ago

None of this has anything to do with either the posted article or the comment to which you're responding.

nir 16y ago
But the US Is Bad, what don't you understand?! (Seriously, I was expecting some relativist argument, but this is not even that. I'm surprised there's no mention of obesity rates as well, while we're at it)
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
calibraxis 16y ago
Sure it is. The article was written by a US media corporation; that post I responded to advocated overthrowing Venezuela's government; and since many of us are citzens of the US, we should maybe deal with the real problems that we can affect, rather than go around attacking others.