eat it hippies U.S. Leads in Nobels, Trails in Alleyway Sex by Caroline Baum http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-24/u-s-leads-in-nobels-trails-in-alleyway-sex-commentary-by-caroline-baum.html (abbrv.) Before you sell the house, auction the family heirlooms, gather up the kids and book passage on a boat to anywhere to escape the decline of the American Empire, take a deep breath. Things aren’t as bad as some would have you believe. Perhaps you’ve read articles or seen statistics that claim the U.S. is among the worst of the worst when it comes to things like income inequality, life expectancy and student performance in math and science. If that’s the case, you have to wonder why so many folks are risking life and limb to get in. The U.S. happens to be the No. 3 destination for asylum seekers, according to NationMaster.com, an online database that aggregates statistics from the CIA World Factbook, United Nations and World Bank among others. Not surprisingly, the U.S. ranks first in the number of immigrants. (We are a nation of immigrants.) What about other indicators that challenge the notion the U.S. is going the way of empires past? Students from across the globe flock to the U.S. for college and post-graduate education. Six of the top 10 universities in the world are located in the U.S., according to U.S. News & World Report. The other four are in the U.K., that other emblem of Empire Passe. U.S. students may score poorly in math and science, but somehow they manage to overcome that handicap to become world- class researchers. The U.S. can claim more Nobel Prizes than any country: 320 versus 116 for runner-up U.K. In areas such as physics, chemistry and medicine, the U.S. has two to three times as many Nobels as its closest competitor, which is either the U.K. or Germany. Productivity Gains You know all those manufacturing jobs that are disappearing to low-wage developing countries, or better yet, the jobs China is stealing from the U.S.? The real reason for the vanishing act is increased productivity, the ability to produce more for each hour worked. Gross domestic product per capita? Second in the world. Innovation and entrepreneurship? The U.S. ranks first in the number of new businesses that were registered in 2005, according to the latest available data from the World Bank. The number of patents issued to U.S. residents in 2009 (93,727) was about the same as those issued to residents of all other countries combined (96,395), according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Treatment Nirvana Once you suffer a heart attack or are diagnosed with cancer, your chances of survival are best in the U.S. Isn’t that why millionaires and monarchs seek treatment in the U.S.? The U.S. ranks first in airports, tourist receipts and in the number of winners at the Miss Universe Contest. It ranks fourth of 41 nations in spending on research and development as a share of GDP and first when it comes to investment in information and communication technology. Sexually Repressed As far as the number of people who have had sex in an alleyway, the U.S. was tied for a lowly 24th with such sexually progressive countries as Sweden and Finland. Of course, there are some firsts of which the nation should be less proud. The U.S. leads the world in obesity, oil consumption, anxiety disorders and divorce rates. It has the highest corporate income tax rate among industrialized countries. Attitude of Gratitude For every number homegrown America-haters spit out to show our best days are behind us, there’s an offsetting statistic that points to our underlying strength. The solution isn’t a war of words or statistics. It’s the recognition that many of the characteristics that made the U.S. the envy of the world are still intact or begging to be resuscitated. The naysayers don’t appreciate American exceptionalism and never will. Caroline Baum, author of “Just What I Said,” is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
I feel like I could walk out the door and punch Hitler in the face!
Mar, the title and your caption are hillarious
Black Swan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- thanks. i like reminding the naysayers who’s driving the ship every now and then. granted, we don’t know where its going, but we are driving.
The nobel prize winners are probably of Asian decent.
ASSet_MANagement Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The nobel prize winners are probably of Asian > decent. obama’s is pretty shady, too, but its still on the board
mar350 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ASSet_MANagement Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > The nobel prize winners are probably of Asian > > decent. > > > obama’s is pretty shady, too, but its still on the > board The point of the post was to look at how asian kids are raised vs american kids. If Obama was raised as a black kid with one mom in america he’d be knocking over 7-11’s in hawai’i and boosting surfboards.
I’m getting tired of hearing about China. Wake me up when the crack the top 50 in per capita GDP (which won’t happen during any of our lives). I wonder if you asked the average American person if they would like to change places with the average Chinese person, what percent would say yes
Huh what? I think the point that he was indirectly making is that Asian kids tend to do better in school than most Americans, given similar opportunities. This doesn’t have much to do with China as a country, in which opportunities are more limited than they are in the US.
either way, Obama’s still an undocumented worker and look how things have turned out for him…
ohai Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Huh what? I think the point that he was indirectly > making is that Asian kids tend to do better in > school than most Americans, given similar > opportunities. This doesn’t have much to do with > China as a country, in which opportunities are > more limited than they are in the US. Thanks.
CFA vs. USA?
sublimity Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > CFA vs. USA? CFA if you’re coming from IT USA if you’re coming from da’ hood.
ASSet_MANagement Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > sublimity Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > CFA vs. USA? > > > CFA if you’re coming from IT > > USA if you’re coming from da’ hood. What if you do IT in da’ hood - like liquor inventory control systems or some sort of cloud based advanced electronic check cashing service?
jcole21 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > What if you do IT in da’ hood - like liquor > inventory control systems or some sort of cloud > based advanced electronic check cashing service? I started looking out the window, see gun store, gun store, liquor store, gun store, where the f you taking me? This don’t look good. He didn’t say sh@@. He just pulled up in front of an old rickety building that looked like a project. I’ve never been there before, I’m not sure if it was a project, it certainly had all the familiar symptoms of a project.