U.S. Leads in Nobels, Trails in Alleyway Sex

Caroline Baum, a columnist at Bloomberg.com, is a terrific writer with a very good sense of humor:

"Before you sell the house, auction the family heirlooms, gather up the kids and book passage on a boat to anywhere to escape the decline of the American Empire, take a deep breath. Things aren’t as bad as some would have you believe.

Perhaps you’ve read articles or seen statistics that claim the U.S. is among the worst of the worst when it comes to things like income inequality, life expectancy and student performance in math and science... 

One widely cited statistic during the health-care debate was how much the U.S. spends compared with how little it gets in return. That return was measured by life expectancy, which at 78.1 years put the U.S. 50th among 223 nations.

Yikes! Like many statistics, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Health and health care are two different animals. If you eat and drink too much and smoke, it reduces your life expectancy.

Once you suffer a heart attack or are diagnosed with cancer, your chances of survival are best in the U.S. Isn’t that why millionaires and monarchs seek treatment in the U.S.? 

...As far as the number of people who have had sex in an alleyway, the U.S. was tied for a lowly 24th with such sexually progressive countries as Sweden and Finland...

For every number homegrown America-haters spit out to show our best days are behind us, there’s an offsetting statistic that points to our underlying strength. The solution isn’t a war of words or statistics. It’s the recognition that many of the characteristics that made the U.S. the envy of the world are still intact or begging to be resuscitated.

The naysayers don’t appreciate American exceptionalism and never will." 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-24/u-s-leads-in-nobels-trails-in-alleyway-sex-commentary-by-caroline-baum.html