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The American Human Development Index has applied to the US an aid agency approach to measuring well-being – more familiar to observers of the Third World – with shocking results. The US finds itself ranked 42nd in global life expectancy and 34th in survival of infants to age. Suicide and murder are among the top 15 causes of death and although the US is home to just 5 per cent of the global population it accounts for 24 per cent of the world's prisoners.

Despite an almost cult-like devotion to the belief that unfettered free enterprise is the best way to lift Americans out of poverty, the report points to a rigged system that does little to lessen inequalities.

"The report shows that although America is one of the richest nations in the world, it is woefully behind when it comes to providing opportunity and choices to all Americans to build a better life," the authors said.

Some of its more shocking findings reveal that, in parts of Texas, the percentage of adults who pass through high school has not improved since the 1970s.

Asian-American males have the best quality of life and black Americans the lowest, with a staggering 50-year [sic - should be 14-year: see posts below] life expectancy gap between the two groups.

Despite the fact that the US spends roughly $5.2bn every day on health care, more per capita than any other nation in the world, Americans live shorter lives than citizens of every western European and Nordic country, bar Denmark..

Using official government statistics, the study points out that because American schools are funded primarily from local property taxes, rich districts get the best state education. The US has no federally mandated sick pay, paternity leave or annual paid vacation.

"Some Americans are living anywhere from 30 to 50 years behind others when it comes to issues we all care about: health, education and standard of living," said Sarah Burd-Sharps co-author of the report.

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Executive Summary (9 pp. - .pdf)

[ 18 July 2008: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

An expanding military budget [U.S.] taxpayers can't afford

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Today, Bush's military budget is $515 billion, more than half of all discretionary spending. This is in addition to the $200 billion a year being spent on the war in Iraq, and another $16 billion spent on nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, as military spending explodes, the middle class in America is shrinking, poverty is increasing and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider. While we now spend $94 billion more on defense than three years ago, poverty and hunger are increasing, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and an entire generation of young people wonders how to afford college.

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The American spending on defense is amazing as well.

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Asian-American males have the best quality of life and black Americans the lowest, with a staggering 50-year life expectancy gap between the two groups.

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Worth noting this is a typo. There is a 50-year gap in development between Asian and African Americans.

[ 18 July 2008: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

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Originally posted by West Coast Greeny:
Worth noting this is a typo. There is a 50-year gap in development between Asian and African Americans.

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Asian males in the US were found to have the highest human development index score and were expected to live 14 years longer than African-American males, who had the lowest human development index rating.

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It's all very confusing, and unnecessarily so. Here's the kind of thing that confuses me:

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What the American Human Development Index Shows

The American HD Index shows for the first time that some Americans are 10, 20, and even 50 years behind others in human development or well-being. Source (.pdf)

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Apparently not. The so-called "fact sheet" linked to above doesn't even bother to mention that the American Human Development Index is actually a number on a scale of 1 to 10, as is evident from the chart on this page.

So how do you get "years ahead" or "years behind" figures? Well, here's the "explanation" from the so-called FAQ:

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What does it mean to "live 30 years behind" in human development, and how is that measured?

In the Report, we present the HD Index for the U.S. as a whole, calculated for the years 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2005. For states, congressional districts, and racial/ethnic groups, the Index is calculated for 2005. When making comparisons across groups (for instance, the states with the highest and lowest HD Index) we also compare them against the historical HDI values, using a simple linear interpolation to obtain an approximation of the year in which America as a whole had a specific HDI value.

So, when we say that there is a 30 year human development gap between Connecticut and Mississippi, that’s because Mississippi had, in 2005, a Human Development Index similar to the HD Index for America as whole in 1990, while Connecticut’s HD Index, on the other hand, will be the average HD Index for America in the year 2020, given the current trends.

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[ 18 July 2008: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

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Originally posted by bruce_the_vii:
The Asians earn more that whites on a national basis. This is despite being immigrant and less established than whites they earn more. They must work long hours and as a group.

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