'Canada Sucks,' eh? Well, America is fading fast...

[ourmaninBusan]

Having just read the 'Canada Sucks' article
(and not disagreeing with it that much),
I now feel compelled to take the various Yanks on the board
down a peg or two. This is from this link:
http://www.citypages.com/databank/26...ticle12985.asp

No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character
than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest."
Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements
for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise
would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise
will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are.
An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2
billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is
ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:

The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth.
Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day
(The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).

"The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less
than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other
countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European
Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the
American Dream, p.78).

Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American
businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12,
2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!

"The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and
engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D)
expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).

Want more?

Sadly, I got more. Although it behooves me to admit
that you have to have been a once-great country
to fall so far, so hard:

The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in
Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder
(CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last
in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s....
In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only
slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream,
p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other
industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

"Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500
rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European
Dream, p.66).

"In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies,
conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European
Dream, p.69).

"Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today
are European....
In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are
European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American
engineering and construction company is included among the world's top
nine competitors.

In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever,
two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world.
In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...
are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top
ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream,
p.68).

The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last
decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).

U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).

Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our
government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.)
"By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play
an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004).
Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because
they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.

Am I being anti-American yet? Maybe. Maybe it's just me.
But there is a profound difference between someone trying
to predict a problem and someone who's trying to cause it....
and because all of these problems will spread to Canada,
which is like a remora to the American shark.

Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as
the world's largest agricultural producer....[In 2003,]
Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that,
you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade
deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported
(NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes.
Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT,
Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than
a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world
will think that election legitimate.

"Americans are now spending more money on gambling
than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28).

"Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get
what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).

"Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year
for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).


No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10
anymore. Not even close. The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry,
consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

And I edited out a lot of stuff. Still, GO TEAM!

[Grimmlok]

W00!

All bow to your new god, Square seedless watermelon!

[WickedHo]

Haven't read your posts yet, Grimm, but your subject title made me chuckle cuz it reminds me of a joke:

How do you spell "Canada"? C,eh, N,eh, D,eh.

ETA: Me so stupid. I did not mean to give credit were credit was not due, OurMan. Sorry!

[WickedHo]

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

And, yet, we still rock. America rules! Canada drools! :p
J/K.

But I am curious: how does Canada stack up? And you should post that funny-ass picture (Grimm), the one about "If this were prison..."

[DisruptiveHair]

Go America!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! USA! USA! USA!

[Grimmlok]

[Grimmlok]

The Canadian Manifesto:

Hey, I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader....
I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled....

and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I'm certain they're really really nice.

I have a Prime Minister, not a president.

I speak English and French, not American.

And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'.

I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.

I believe in peace keeping, not policing,
diversity, not assimilation,
and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.

A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch,
and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !!!!

Canada is the second largest landmass!
The first nation of hockey!
and the best part of North America

My name is Joe!!
And I am Canadian!!!

[WickedHo]

^^^ God, I love puns!!! So funny. "Dam proud." Hee hee. I'm still waiting, Grimm, for that picture of "We're bigger and we're on top..."

**folds arms, pouts**

[Grimmlok]

^^ I'm trying to find it, but it aint happenin... i only found it by accident before.

[WickedHo]

^^ You big tease. :p

[ohmygoodness]

I saved it. Hehe.

[AliceInWonderland]

America sucks!
our soldiers murdered a Spanish journalist in Iraq and burned and taunted "suspected" taliban memberS in Afghanistan!

WTF!?!

[UndercoverGator]

Canada rocks! Any nation that makes both Aerobars and little plastic penguins that poop candy gets my approval.

[DisruptiveHair]

Originally Posted by UndercoverGator

Canada rocks! Any nation that makes both Aerobars and little plastic penguins that poop candy gets my approval.

They make Aero bars here too.

I think the reason so many Americans like them is because they aren't widely available in the US. Sort of like...if you can't get it, you crave it all the more.

[Grimmlok]

omg the mint chocolate aeros... *spooge*