constellation

iTrader: (1)

So, Why again is America the best place to live in the world, patriots? I'm not being sarcastic, living here is great - but in what way is it better than say, australia or the like? What benefits do we have that they lack, and vice versa?
hmm, just interesting.



Aust third in UN standard of living index
Australia has come third in the United Nation's index which measures education, life expectancy and standard of living.

The Human Development Index, which was part of the UN's Human Development Report, placed Norway first for the fourth year, Sweden second, Canada fourth and the Netherlands fifth.

The United States was ranked in eighth place, a drop of one position from 2003, and Sierra Leone was in last place on a list of 177 rankings.

Aside from the overall index, the report produces indicators on women's equality, income inequality and consumption, poverty and other categories that countries use to measure development.

In Africa, the AIDS crisis reduced the average life expectancy in many countries to 40 years or less, making it the biggest factor in the decline of overall human development indicators, the report said.

In comparison, the average life expectancy in Norway was 79 years.

At least 20 nations suffered development reversals since 1990, 13 of them in Africa: Angola, Central African Republic, Lesotho, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the report said.

"The AIDS crisis cripples states at all levels because the disease attacks people in their most productive years," said Mark Malloch Brown, head of UN Development Program.

The report said embracing diversity and protecting the rights of minority groups is crucial to development and a stable society, be it in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Norway.

Government policies such as affirmative action or multi-lingual schooling strengthens states and reduce the risk of conflict among ethnic groups, it said.

The study said nations had a choice: recognise and promote cultural diversity or face violence, less development and a loss of human freedoms.

"These struggles over cultural identity, if left unmanaged or managed poorly, can quickly become one of the greatest sources of instability within states and between them - and in so doing trigger conflict that takes development backwards," it said.

More than 5,000 different ethnic groups live in the roughly 200 countries of the world, the report said.

In two out of every three countries at least one minority group makes up 10 per cent of the population.

"Today I think the reality is that we are recognising that the state does not need to be created on a single cultural identity," said Sakiko ***uda-Parr, lead author of the report.

Being tolerant is not enough, she said.

Specific government policies like affirmative action, having more than one official language and recognising holidays celebrated by religious minorities were key to furthering human development.

"This report says that public policies can make a difference," she said, citing Canada and Belgium as countries that had embraced language and cultural diversity while having an open, if heated, debate among different ethnic groups.

Affirmative action has boosted the number of black doctors and lawyers in the US, lifted different castes out of poverty in India, and equalised income differences between Chinese and Malay groups in Malaysia, the report said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wrote in a contribution to the report that having several official languages would strengthen his country as it made its transition to democracy.

"Recognising our diversity, while affirming our nationhood, will further solidify the foundations of a democratic Afghanistan," he wrote.

Ms ***uda-Parr said the report showed that even well established democracies such as the United States were not free of cultural diversity problems.

Norway and Sweden offer progressive social policies but have had trouble integrating immigrants, she said.

Discrimination based on culture has economic ramifications, the report said, citing Mexico as an example where 81 per cent of Indigenous people fall below the poverty line compared with 18 per cent of the general population.

The world's newest nation, East Timor, was included for the first time and ranked 158th out of 177 countries.

Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Liberia were among nations not included because of lack of data.

The 285-page report can be found on the Internet at http://hdr.undp.org.

FUNKED1

If they are using criteria like that, I'm not sure I'd be happy if we ranked higher.

psoper

I think you need to get out and see more of the world funked1.....

FUNKED1

If I saw more of the world I would suddenly become fond of the government discriminating on the basis of race or gender and would be happy to the see the government waging class warfare by confiscating and redistributing income?


Or was that just random ad hominem?
Disagrees with UN Report <---> Untravelled Nekulturny Yank
right?

psoper

no, but you might see that there are governments that actually discriminate less than ours, and that some degree of redistribution of wealth isn't necissarily class warfare, and doesn't have to be such a bad thing as you seem to believe it is.

Salty

iTrader: (14)

Funny thing is i just got off the phone with my best friend that's been doing a bit of traveling.

He made a 2 week pitstop in Sydney and said he absolutely loves Australia. He almost got married and said the city rocks. Now he's in Asia.

I have been to many, many places (with the military and pleasure) in Asia, Africa (Tripoli), Europe, Pacific Islands, Caribbean, the North and 42 states. I can tell you I've been to many places i loved. Although i'm a proud American, we do have a lot of faults like education etc and i'd pop smoke to many parts of Europe anyday. Not permanently... just a nice timeshare or property

Being ranked 8th isn't too bad either...

FUNKED1

I'm sure there are governments that discriminate less than ours. We invented the whole racist affirmative action concept IIRC.
And we have plenty of redistribution of wealth and income going on right here in the USA. It's theft plain and simple. I'm sure there are countries that use it to better effect but there is no way the ends will justify the means, at least for me.

psoper

Affirmative action was put in place in an effort to reverse a cetury and a half of abject racisim of the worst kind, parts of this country are still too stupid to value people for their individual being and worth rather than the color of their skin, so I still see it as a lesser of two evils.

And as long as corporate executives are compensated far beyond their productivity, THAT theft needs to be addressed, and taxation seems as good a way as any to me.

The biggest problem with strict Libertarianism is that it fails to account for greed as an influence, and when greed is allowed to overrun market influences, there needs to be a serious recource or civilization itself can be threatened, as we see in our current situation.

FUNKED1

Well regarding AA I don't think two wrongs make a right. Just like US war on terror can inspire more terror, US racist policies will inspire more racism. I agree to disagree with you on this.

Executive pay is not theft. If we voluntarily give our money to someone it's not theft. If they say "give us your money or we will jail you", that is theft. Coercion is the key. Voluntary vs. involuntary.

As far as the market, hell, greed IS the major market influence. If there wasn't an overly large and powerful central government warping/being warped by businesses, it wouldn't be so bad.

psoper

ALl the more we have to agree to disagree on, executive pay that is completely out of line with real productivity is theft, its just a lot better hidden.

Anything Duke Energy executives were paid in 2000 was a direct result of them extorting Californias energy market after deregulation.

If the government doesn't take an active role in regulating things like public utilities, food and health services, everybody will get screwed.

Which is why I consider myself less than a die hard libertarian, despite agreeing in principle with most of their less government is better positions, I still see a need for some degree of government regulation of all out greed for greeds sake.

HellaDumb

iTrader: (3)

The U.S. is getting worse all the time from the influx of ....... (you fill the blank), and an existing population that squanders opportunity. I sure hope that socialistic ideas never take hold because there are way too many free-loaders and people who think they are "held down by the man" here.

psoper

If you are pointing the finger at immigrants, think a second about where you're family is from.

And giving "the man" more power to hold people down (which seems to be W's preferred method) isn't going to make things any better though, only expanding the ranks of the disaffected.