Gus Speth in Solutions:
To our great shame, among the 20 major advanced countries America now has
- the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;
- the greatest inequality of incomes;
- the lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;
- the lowest number of paid holiday, annual, and maternity leaves;
- the lowest score on the United Nations’ index of “material well-being of children”;
- the worst score on the United Nations’ gender inequality index;
- the lowest social mobility;
- the highest public and private expenditure on health care as a portion of GDP,
yet accompanied by the highest
- infant mortality rate;
- prevalence of mental health problems;
- obesity rate;
- portion of people going without health care due to cost;
- low-birth-weight children per capita (except for Japan);
- consumption of antidepressants per capita;
along with the shortest life expectancy at birth (except for Denmark and Portugal);
- the highest carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption per capita;
- the lowest score on the World Economic Forum’s environmental performance index (except for Belgium), and the largest ecological footprint per capita (except for Belgium and Denmark);
- the highest rate of failing to ratify international agreements;
- the lowest spending on international development and humanitarian assistance as a percentage of GDP;
- the highest military spending as a portion of GDP;
- the largest international arms sales;
- the most negative balance of payments (except New Zealand, Spain, and Portugal);
- the lowest scores for student performance in math (except for Portugal and Italy) (and far from the top in both science and reading);
- the highest high school dropout rate (except for Spain);
- the highest homicide rate;
- and the largest prison population per capita.
More here.