Now this is disconcerting

Rick Newman of U.S. News & World Report has written an article about nine signs America is in decline. He writes:  “But all empires end, and the warning signs of American decline seem to be blinking more consistently. In the latest annual “prosperity index” published by the Legatum Institute, a London-based research firm, the United States ranks as the ninth most prosperous country in the world. That’s five notches lower than last year, when America ranked No. 4. The drop might seem inconsequential, especially in the midst of a grueling recession—except that most of the world has endured the same recession, and other countries are bouncing back faster.” (Maybe they have someone who saw it coming sooner and prepared them.)  He also notes:

The U.S. poverty rate, about 17 percent, is third worst among the advanced nations … only Turkey and Mexico are worse. (If that changes, will Americans be running for the Mexican border?)

American 15-year-olds score below the average for advanced nations on math and science literacy. But they’re ahead ahead of their peers in Mexico, Turkey, Greece, and a few other places. (That’s not what the NJ teachers union and their candidate, Jon Corzine have been telling us, who’s lying?)

— In the Legatum study, the United States ranks 27th for the health of its citizens. Life expectancy in America is below the average for 30 advanced countries and the obesity rate in America is the worst among those 30 countries, by far.



About Bob Ingle

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11 Responses to Now this is disconcerting

  1. Enough is Enough says:

    “American 15-year-olds score below the average for advanced nations on math and science literacy. ” Now, here is the real problem and it goes like this… Education in the US has been in decline for so long 40, 50 years that there are now generations of people so uneducated that they don’t care their children are dolts and even worse than that…THEY DON’T KNOW.

    If you want to know how jonboy can win re-election and how bho got elected you need look no further then the marxist fools of the national education association who are also dolts that don’t care they aren’t teaching the children anything because they also DON’T KNOW.

    And what makes this all the worse is the nea and fool parents and their fool kids THINK they actually know something.

  2. billk says:

    Sadly this study will not be used to right our ship of state but to sink it further.

    The poverty rate will be used by those pushing more social programs, increasing the cost to taxpayers.

    The low math and science scores will be used to push for more education funding despite the fact we spend far more on it than countries ranking above us. More taxes that will be wasted in the end.

    Finally the health ranking will be used to vindicate the socialization of medicine that is underway. Again it is going to cost plenty to taxpayers and will probably not improve anyone’s health.

    And if we dropped five notches on the prosperity scale it could be due to the fact that our currency has been devalued due to the excessive borrowing done in order to provide bailouts and stimulus that has not worked.

    I suspect that some of the criteria of this study may be suspect based on the ranking of countries above the US on the list. Yep, I smell a political agenda here.

  3. db says:

    the dummbing down of America is almost complete. America’s schools are in crisis. Kids rank near to, or at the bottom of, international tests in math and science. National reading scores continue to fall. Despite increases in spending, schools persist in turning out children lacking in basic skills ,but remember this is all part of our politations agenda ,so they have working drowns to keep funding there socialist programs .We have see this happening in this state for years ,so why is this so surprising ? Bring on ‘dancing with the stars “

  4. ontheroad says:

    In general most great civilizations last about three centuries. Their effects may be felt forever. The bright lights of America are dimming. This is not my America and it certainly is not the America my for which my father fought. Democracy has given way to socialism. Liberal ideology for conservative practicality.New Jersey is the litmus test and we can see and feel how close we are to destruction when elected and even nonelected officials plan to blatantly plunder the electorate.
    Like the fiefdoms of the early and middle ages the Lords rule over the serfs with impunity and tax the land for whatever it will yield. Promise with lies and buy the votes with money and rule with corruption and deceit. Use the treasury as your own and then borrow more. leave the electorate with the deficit and mortgage. Then move on to somewhere else to enjoy the spoils.
    Don’t believe it? Corzine is either finished now or in 4 years with no responsibility for the destruction. He will be free to go. He has no real ties to NJ.He will have spent $130 to 150 million dollars or more for his own ego? Where is the return on his investment? Someone that incompetent and egomaniacal has such a plan for his ROI.

  5. al says:

    This is no longer the country our founders fought for. So dearly they paid, so cheaply it is piddled away. Shame on all of us. Some day we will face God and have to answer for our lives, then those who take the elevator up will have to face George Washington and other patriots who sacrificed so much only to see their efforts urinated down the drain because we were more concerned with “the game” or some other triviality. Are any of us ready to carry on their legacy?

  6. Rivetjoint says:

    It would be helpful if we had actual adults in charge. The Stimulus Bill did little, yet the real way to stimulate a moribund economy is not to raise taxes, but LOWER them. Cutting taxes and putting more $$$ in the pockets of everyone to SPEND is what gets economies rolling.

  7. JerseyOpine says:

    billk- well said!

    ontheroad- Agreed with almost all of what you said- but these fiefdoms in NJ are being actively maintained by the NJ voters. I wonder if it’s an equal split between Gravy Train riders & stupidity?

  8. NorthernLight says:

    I wonder how New Jersey aloe would stack up against the other “advanced nations”. I think we’d all be quite surprised at how well we fared. Of course that wouldn’t help support the point the column is trying to make so we won’t be seeing that comparison.

    Everyone carps about our “highest in the nation property taxes” but no one ever mentions our “highest in the nation incomes”.

  9. tall rube says:

    NortherLight: If you’re using the property tax to nation income ratio as a yardstick then New Jersey income levels would be over three times the national level.

  10. havabeer says:

    Get rid of the 20 million or so illegals and every one of those standards goes up.

  11. Douglas says:

    Well, as long as we keep defining the poverty-line as a percentage of median income it will keep going up and we’ll have more people below it, at least until we stop having wildly successful businesspeople pushing up on the top end of the pay scale…