Remember when Americans used to make fun of Russians for all being so fat? Now Russia is only the 4th most obese nation, but the USA is Number One! We are not #1 in median wealth any more, or education, or life expectancy, or social mobility, or hardly anything else. But two things we certainly top the list in: military might, and obesity. We have once again proven Herman Goering was wrong: you can have both guns and butter, a nation can be both strong and fat. When folks chant USA is Number One, now you know what they are talking about. [ Actually, there are many things in which we are number one, such as rates of drug use (legal and illegal); divorce rate; incarceration rate; we produce most of the world’s pornography, probably most of the world’s entertainment. On the “positive” side, we have more really really rich people than any other country. (For a couple centuries America boasted itself “the best poor man’s country in the world,” the country where the common man was king, and we sneered at Europe for its wealthy elites, its aristocracies, it’s luxury. Now the shoe’s on the other foot.) On the other hand, when it comes to other things, we are only average: thing like homicide, other violent crime, and nonviolent crime. We are only #1 among so-called developed nations. But I am sure “our readers” can come up with other things at which we are number #1. Weigh in there, readers! ]
Remember when Americans used to make fun of Russians for all being so fat? Now Russia is only the 4th most obese nation, but the USA is Number One! We are not #1 in median wealth any more, or education, or life expectancy, or social mobility, or hardly anything else. But two things we certainly top the list in: military might, and obesity. We have once again proven Herman Goering was wrong: you can have both guns and butter, a nation can be both strong and fat. When folks chant USA is Number One, now you know what they are talking about. [ Actually, there are many things in which we are number one, such as rates of drug use (legal and illegal); divorce rate; incarceration rate; we produce most of the world’s pornography, probably most of the world’s entertainment. On the “positive” side, we have more really really rich people than any other country. (For a couple centuries America boasted itself “the best poor man’s country in the world,” the country where the common man was king, and we sneered at Europe for its wealthy elites, its aristocracies, it’s luxury. Now the shoe’s on the other foot.) On the other hand, when it comes to other things, we are only average: thing like homicide, other violent crime, and nonviolent crime. We are only #1 among so-called developed nations. But I am sure “our readers” can come up with other things at which we are number #1. Weigh in there, readers! ]