THE ECONOMIST Intelligence Unit ranked the US 49th in its Civil Liberties area down from 17th in 2006. And in its Democracy Index, using 167 countries, a drop from 11th to 17th was reported over the 10 years from 2000 to 2010. Press Freedom dropped from 17th to 20th in 2010, Business Freedom was down to 13th in 2010, from 8th in 2000.‏

Ronald G Dean (dean.ronald31@gmail.com) 7:35 AM
To: Joel Snell

THE ECONOMIST Intelligence Unit ranked the US 49th in its Civil Liberties area down from 17th in 2006. And in its Democracy Index, using 167 countries, a drop from 11th to 17th was reported over the 10 years from 2000 to 2010. Press Freedom dropped from 17th to 20th in 2010, Business Freedom was down to 13th in 2010, from 8th in 2000.

Well known is the continuing decline in academic achievement. In Math the US rank of 15th in 2000 dropped to 17th in 2010. In Science it was down to 23rd from 21st in 2000. Perhaps one is that a recent study found that 47% of America’s kindergarten through 12th grade teachers came from the bottom one-third of their college graduating class as measured by their S.A.T. scores.

In 2001 the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that $1.3 trillion (over 5 years) would be needed to repair the country’s infrastructure. By 2003 the estimate was $1.6 trillion and in 2010 they estimated that repairing it would require $2.2 trillion. Deficiencies in roads, bridges, and transport systems alone cost households and businesses nearly $130 billion in 2010 mostly because of higher running costs and travel delays. According to a report (2010) by the Building America’s Future Education Fund, freight bottlenecks and other congestion cost businesses, consumers, and the public at large approximately $200 billion per year . Additionally the number of deaths of 10-24 year old persons due to traffic accidents in America ranks the US at first, world-wide.

Although comparisons are difficult to draw, there is not much argument about the mis-management of electricity in the United States. In energy efficiency, the US ranks lower than the U. K. ,Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Austria, the European Union, and China. The average annual minutes of power outage per rate payer in the US from 1991 to 1995 was 41. By 2001 to 2005 it was 92 minutes. For contrast, in Germany during 2010 it was 21 minutes. This annual cost to the United States due to power interruptions is estimated to be 80 billion dollars.

Income inequality is a current topic and, excluding the Middle East Region, the four worst countries are Brazil, China, Turkey and the USA, which dropped from 41st in 2000 to 44th in 2010 according to a report from the OECD. Income distribution is more unequal in the United States than it is in Guyana, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Income of the typical American household fell again in 2010 for the third consecutive year. Median household income was $3,800 a year less than in 1999, adjusted for inflation.

Is the United States a Second World country? Not yet, but the trend line is disconcerting.