Monday it is and I’m almost ready for it. Just another cup of coffee and I think that will do it. My brain will then begin to function and the words will flow from my fingertips like rain falling off the tin roof of a barn in the middle of a storm in January…or February, which is traditionally a wetter month than January.
Ah! It worked. And with that functioning comes a story from yesterdays Christian Science Monitor. Among the 16 wealthiest nations, we are not doing as well as Mr. Bush and Co. would have us believe.
“In terms of the percent of its population living at or below the poverty line, for instance, the US ranks worst among 16 wealthy countries, according to the Luxembourg Income Study. That study found that 17 percent of Americans are poor. As for child poverty, the US also sits on the bottom, with 21.9 percent.” The number one nation? Finland. And in 2004, the official US poverty rate in 2004 was 12.7 percent, and that number translates to 37 million Americans.
“America spends more than all other nations combined on defense. It spends relatively little on alleviating poverty. It chooses a private health system rather than a socialized, or partly socialized, system.”
“The US spends more on healthcare per capita than any other rich nation...But about 16 percent of Americans have no insurance.”
Even with all of that spending, “the life expectancy in America shares with Denmark the bottom ranking out of 16 wealthy countries. Denmark spends about half as much per capita as the US does.”
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