Thaddeus Howze looks at whether the USA is still #1. (Hint: Not even cose.)
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The loss of the America team to Belgium has knocked the USA out of the FIFA tournament. America went a lot farther than anyone expected and we are sure to do better in years to come. Go Team USA! The Fourth of July is coming and America will be involved in its orgy of self-congratulations and barbecues. Here’s a bit of animation from FOX’s Animation Domination video short series. The video will point out how America can’t claim top of the heap status in anything positive these days. I would like to think we’re going to do better, but I am hard pressed to see how.
In contrast to the video, I will point out some of the things we are still number one in…
Highest incarceration rate in the world.
Highest rate of CO2 emissions, narrowly edging out China.
Highest rate of plastic surgery.
Highest poverty rate of any “developed” country.
Highest rate of landfill waste in the world.
Highest rate of gun-related deaths in the world, even above war-torn nations.
Highest rate of economic disparity between the rich and the poor.
Least amount of social mobility of all developed nations.
and most importantly, the largest military in the entire world, a military so large it dwarfs the next 14 countries after us and all of them are allies.
So we’re still number one. Sort of…
The music used in this video is hokey but relevant. It is a parody of the music used in the Captain America animations when I was a kid. For the nostalgic among you, you can still hear it on Youtube.
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