U.S. children ranked 20th out of 21 industrialized nations in well-being according to a UNICEF report. Only Britain had a lower ranking, with the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark topping the list.
The well-being of children was determined by scores in six categories: material well-being, health and safety, education, peer and family relationships, behaviors and risks, and young people’s own subjective sense of well-being.
The United States scored the lowest in health and safety, based on infant mortality rates, low birth weights, immunization rates, and death from injuries and accidents. Other factors that led to the low score included the percentage of children who eat breakfast, are overweight, used drugs, smoke cigarettes or were sexually active.
Posted by Patrice Hein
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34 Comments
Hogwash.
Hogwash exactly. You can talk all the BS made up criteria you want. It’s just propoganda.
Here’s the test that matters. People are dying trying to get into the US. And how many to you see leaving?
Triple Hogwash. The Hate America crowd never sleeps.
US. Out. Of. UN. Now.
“Other factors that led to the low score included the percentage of children who eat breakfast, are overweight, used drugs, smoke cigarettes or were sexually active”
Hell, just take all the fun out of life why dont they!
I see these children, they do exist. Most of all from single parent households and from the ghetto (let’s tell the truth here).
Now we can argue what happened to the breakdown of the family structure, many people believe it’s the welfare state created by Democrats to get people dependent on government. Some say our poor communist style education system ran by the teachers unions who output uneducated and funtionally illiterate people into our society. Some blame Bush.
But we do have a mass influx of immigration and the UK does too. Usually 1st wave immigrated groups have a tough time adjusting to our society and to intergrate their children to our standards of learning and care. Many are also single parents.
The one thing that Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark have in common is School Choice and tough illegal immigration stance.
Probably the best thing we can do for poor children is to get rid of teacher unions and our antequated soviet style education system.
Yup, good point, Joe.
You never saw kids loitering on the streets 100 years ago before those pesky “child labor” laws passed by do-gooding liberals.
Nope, back then, a kid was too valuable in a factory making lead paint or working in a coal mine.
Things really went to hell once the libs took over . . .
Joe
You won’t often hear me praise Brittain, but they are like the Netherlands, no public school system, the money follows the student.
The UN amasses reams of data to support its claim and the response of the CONs is “hogwash.”
Not a single piece of evidence to support their assertion.
The fact is that the United States which should be the richest country in the world by virtue of its economic power and natural resources chooses to squander more than ONE-HALF of all federal gov’t expenditures on military outlays, more than the top ten countries of the world combined.
Guns or butter? Bush Co. has chosen to screw the people to enrich his friends by funnelling billion dollar no bid contracts to them under the cover of “national security.”
And the willing idiots like BDP Fleetwood and Heckler and Joe W. go right along with them, cutting their own throats to further enrich the already filthy, stinking rich . . . .
Capn
There’s a reason the Communist Manifesto included making all schools government run, and it had nothing to do with child labor.
Marx also breathed air, Heckler.
If you want to stop being like Marx, stop breathing air.
I encourage you to start right now.
Good luck.
Capn
Over half? I don’t think so, show me the pie chart.
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
— James Madison, Political Observations, 1795
Good question, Heckler.
If you look at the bogus pie chart that the IRS sends out every year with your tax forms, it shows military spending is only some 24 percent.
This is a lie. They roll in the Social Security and Medicare into that mix.
But Social Security payments ARE NOT paid by income taxes. They are paid by Social Security taxes (duh)–and by the way, we are currently collecting MORE taxes for Social Security than we pay out. The IRS can only include SS payments OUT if they are going to include SS payments IN, which they don’t.
The federal gov’t further massages and minimizes the figures for military spending by 1. requesting “emergency” funds for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq that will only be counted into the budgets later 2. rolls military expenses into unrelated areas–the Dept. of Energy for instance maintains nuclear missiles and 3. lumps all interest on borrowing for military spending with “interest on the federal debt.”
When you tease out all these hidden costs, you find that the military expenditure for 2005 was 48 percent.
See the pie chart below.http://www.warresisters.org/US_military_spending.htm
Given the latest budgets however, the estimate is that last year or this year, military spending will top 50 percent.
Heckler,
I agree,
The money should follow the students… I say the same thing for further education, be it VoTech or WSU or Friends…
ANOTHER good thread for your Patrice.
I saw this story last week. I wondered when we would get it here.
This is a shameful statistic. But in some it will not bring shame. It will bring a smile and smug satisfaction.
They require that some, even most, have a lower standard of living than they do to reassure them that they are superior…somehow.
For example, according to the Center for Defense Information, the US outlays for defense as a percentage of federal discretionary spending, has from Fiscal Year 2003 consumed more than half (50.5%) of all such funding and is steadily rising.[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States
What amazes me more is that the US spends more than the next 13 countires do COMBINED!
Empire is not cheap.
It is truly sad our defense budgetis so astronomical. I still prefermilitary superiority, however tothe alternative. North Korea,Iran and a host of other nations are just waiting for their opportunity.
Wow, Ethiopian kids must have it better than ever now.
Bull crap has more worth than this article.
It is only a silly UN comparison of kids from Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark to other nations of world.Try not making a political crisis out of every littlest thing, it sounds like you would get frustrated at the drop of a hat.
Ha – When did Ethiopa become an industrialized nation?
There is actaully a lot in that report. I think what has happened (and I have been guilty of this) is that we have allowed careers etc to pre-empt family. This is made worse by the ‘nuclearizing’ of families as many of us relocate chasing our jobs. That deprives the children of aunts/uncles/grandparents.
Years ago there was a good song (Cat’s in the Cradle) that said so much.
Ben, totally agree; and I am as guilty as any. The Harry Chapin song you reference does say it well; my elder was known to play it in my presence when she was in high school.
The UN report is largely meaningless. When the writers of the report can pick their stats and pick their measures, one can make the report say anything one likes.
Liars, damn liars, and statisticians.
As a poster put it above, the fact that people are still trying so hard to get IN says it all.
Just out of curiosity, has anyone posting here taken the time to read this report?
Four people commented on the report and I doubt that a damned one of them actually read it. All you have to do is click on the link.
Reading about a report ISN’T reading the report. Data doesn’t lie. We could do much more in this country with regard to health care, infant mortality and safety.
Just because we are not a third world country doesn’t mean we are perfect. And naysayers will never improve our situation.
Wow, talk about time lag….
Ok, when I opened my browser this morning only four people had commented on this report!
For those who claim this is such a bogus article, there are others to back it up. Including a World Health Organization report that showed CUBA had better healthcare than the USA. And the USA ranked far below all the other industrialized nations with universal healthcare in access, quality, mortality rates, etc.
And a new report just out the other day shows that healthcare costs will double in the next ten years.
I can’t wait till we see how many here will be paying 1k a month for their health insurance…and how many will have none.
Bury your heads, you did it when Hillary tried to address this years ago.
Wow . . . the neo-cons are out in full force trashing the U N report. But then again, they’re the same people calling anyone not in lock-step with the “war” effort terrorist lovers.
Pulleeezzzeee!!!!! There is a problem in this country with the care of the young, and it needs to be looked at with a very critical eye. Shooting the messenger aint going to make it go away, but with the neo-cons living in their shoot first, ask questions later world, it will take, again, the liberals actually doing something about it.
“Ha – When did Ethiopa become an industrialized nation?”
Thats the whole point. How bad can it be?
My kids are fine, what about yours, need a bowl of rice? I
Wouldn’t take my kids to any other country, what about you?
When are ya leaving?
You said it J M.
And look what little they bring! “Guns not butter!”
One guy is worried about Iran and N Korea! I don’t THINK these two nations have intercontinental navies, air force, or missiles. I feel fairly secure against any threat from them.
Remember this comparison is among INDUSTRIALIZED nations. No doubt some on the right would have no problem with our poor living in third world conditions before they would be concerned….if then.
An illustration of the way neocons think, examine the quote from another person here. He is conservative, but far from the most radical of conservatives here.
“Probably the best thing we can do for poor children is to get rid of teacher unions and our antequated soviet style education system.”
I don’t mean to pick on anyone here but when data shows a trend that neocons don’t agree with they don’t just shoot the messenger. They also try to shoot whatever they perceive as a flaw in the dreamworld they live in. In this case, I have to wonder what teachers unions have to do with causing childhood poverty! The last time I checked, teachers unions purpose was to protect and support TEACHERS and EDUCATORS. Likewise, how many more children would go without immunization from common diseases if “our antequated soviet style education system” did not require a basic level of immunization before a child could attend?
But I guess they happened to be standing in the way of a utopian ideal so they were fair game to blame!
Look, all you need to do is put an electric fence on the border and throw a heap of bear traps in front of it. Oua la! All your illegal immigration problems are solved. The Irish didn’t do so well when they first came into this country, but now just look how many of em are cops today!