The USA Sucks

FFXI =/= Real Life

I don't get it... the futility to explain to people that each place has its pros and cons and expecting utopia is laughable.

This is life. Write a journal, become famous, get assassinated. Then you'll have the martyrdom you want so bad. Life sucks for everyone, its just a matter of time before it comes to you. Just be happy for the things you do have, and continue to better the parts that aren't.

Life is what you make of it :)

I'll just leave these numbers here:

Countries Ranked by Citizen Self-Reported Happiness (Gallop, 2010):

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Netherlands
5. Costa Rica
6. Canada
7. Switzerland
8. New Zealand
9. Sweden
10. Austria
11. Australia
12. United States
13. Belgium
14. Brazil
15. Panama

Countries Ranked by Human Development Index Standard of Living, 2010

1. Norway
2. Australia
3. Iceland
4. Canada
5. Ireland
6. Netherlands
7. Sweden
8. France
9. Switzerland
10. Japan
11. Luxembourg
12. Finland
13. United States
14. Austria
15. Spain

Countries Ranked by Per-Person Income Purchasing Power (CIA World Factbook 2010):

1. Liechtenstein
2. Qatar
3. Luxembourg
4. Bermuda
5. Norway
6. Jersey
7. Kuwait
8. Singapore
9. Brunei
10. Faroe Islands
11. United States
12. Andorra
13. Cayman Isles

Countries Ranked by Per-Capita Gross Domestic Product (IMF 2009)

1. Luxembourg
2. Norway
3. Qatar
4. Switzerland
5. Denmark
6. Ireland
7. Netherlands
8. United Arab Emirates
9. United States
10. Austria

Countries Ranked by Education Performance Levels (UNICEF 2008)

1. South Korea
2. Japan
3. Finland
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. Austria
7. Britain
8. Ireland
9. Sweden
10. Czech Republic
11. New Zealand
12. France
13. Switzerland
14. Belgium
15. Iceland
16. Hungary
17. Norway
18. United States
19. Germany
20. Denmark

List of Countries by Life Expectancy (Wikipedia):

1. Japan
2. Hong Kong
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Australia
6. Spain
7. Sweden
8. Israel
9. Macau
10. France
11. Canada
12. Italy
13. New Zealand
14. Norway
15. Singapore
16. Austria
17. Netherlands
18. Martinique
19. Greece
20. Belgium
21. Malta
22. United Kingdom
23. Germany
24. Virgin Islands
25. Finland
26. Guadeloupe
27. Channel Islands
28. Cyprus
29. Ireland
30. Costa Rica
31. Puerto Rico
32. Luxembourg
33. United Arab Emirates
34. South Korea
35. Chile
36. Denmark
37. Cuba
38. United States

Countries Ranked by Health Care System Performance (WHO Citizen Satisfaction / Care Levels, 2005)

1. France
2. Italy
3. San Marino
4. Andorra
5. Malta
6. Singapore
7. Spain
8. Oman
9. Austria
10. Japan
11. Norway
12. Portugal
13. Monaco
14. Greece
15. Iceland
16. Luxembourg
17. Netherlands
18. United Kingdom
19. Ireland
20. Switzerland
21. Belgium
22. Colombia
23. Sweden
24. Cyprus
25. Germany
26. Saudi Arabia
27. United Arab Emirates
28. Israel
29. Morocco
30. Canada
31. Finland
32. Australia
33. Chile
34. Denmark
35. Dominica
36. Costa Rica
37. United States

Countries Ranked by Amount of Foreign Aid Given (%GDP, UNDP 2005):

1. Denmark
2. Netherlands
3. Austria
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Sweden
7. Belgium
8. Canada
9. Ireland
10. Switzerland
11. France
12. Finland
13. Germany
14. Australia
15. New Zealand
16. United Kingdom
17. Italy
18. United States

I'm a proud American, but the "USA! USA! USA! WE'RE NUMBER ONE!" chest-thumping in this thread is ridiculous. We don't suck, but we're sure as hell not #1. That hasn't been the case for many decades. It just plays into the stereotypes other countries have of Americans as being delusional and ignorant about the rest of the world. As long as we keep sticking our fingers in our ears and pretending we're the best in the world at everything, the rest of them will zip right past us.

We even lost #1 in total GDP/economic output to the European Union in 2006. Really, the only thing we're #1 in the world in anymore is military spending:



Can anyone explain to me why we need to spend more on our military than every other nation in the world combined? Are we expecting to go to war with the entire rest of the world any time soon?

/thread

Wow now I understand why this nation is going to hell. Maybe we are Jaerik, those of us outside the government loop would never know if they were truely planning such a thing.

I've been wondering this for years. Even if we cut it in half we'd still have more than the top 9 most powerful military countries in the world.

Also:

Countries Ranked by Net Immigration Rates (Legal or Illegal) (2009)

1. Macau
2. United Arab Emirates
3. Afghanistan
4. Cayman Islands
5. Liberia
6. Anguilla
7. Andorra
8. San Marino
9. Aruba
10. Turks and Caicos Islands
11. Luxembourg
12. British Virgin Islands
13. Monaco
14. Northern Mariana Islands
15. Singapore
16. Bosnia and Herzegovina
17. Australia
18. Jordan
19. Canada
20. Burundi
21. Botswana
22. Man, Isle of
23. South Africa
24. Ireland
25. Liechtenstein
26. Hong Kong
27. French Guiana
28. Guernsey
29. Portugal
30. United States

Yes, you read that right. More people try to immigrate to Canada every year than the US.

Are these legal immigrations? lol

It's net total, meaning number of people arriving via any method versus number of people leaving, so I assume it encompasses both. I really doubt Afghanistan has a robust legal immigration department at the moment.

I believe these are classified as "successful" immigrations, both legal and illegal.

Well, Canada does have free health care. And hockey ;p

There goes Jaerik being right and proving everyone wrong again.

There are some countries that have been proven to falsify information to UNICEF. Its cool and all that all this information is given, and it's even cooler that the lot of you have been given the *** freedom to spit on your own soil.

Here a drop of knowledge. Freedom isn't free. It shows your own ignorance that you think other countries in the world will give you the civil liberties you take for granted. That's the true meaning of being American... and human. Once you have a certain level of wealth, its human nature to want more... being American you are given a lot at birth. If you are playing *** FFXI and browsing forums, you are not the destitute people who, I'm sure you'll mention as a comeback. I'm not looking to start a flame war or even be so cool as to admit the points to where you're right. However, I would like to point out that its *** stupid to not acknowledge how good we all have it. If you wanna live longer, go to Japan. Let's see you try and disrespect the country there. Just be happy with what you have and kill a thread that is only going to show once again, how wonderfully faceless the internet is.

If your expectations for a life with limited variety appeals to you. Good luck in all your endeavors in I.E. Norway.

****WARNING***** LOTS OF WORDS. READ WITH CAUTION.


While there is a lot of corrupt politicians milking every *** they can find, it really doesn't surprise me how much we spend on military affairs. Take a look at some of this data:

*Sited from http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance8.html

According to the Department of Defense publication, "Active Duty Military Personnel Strengths by Regional Area and by Country," the United States has troops in 135 countries. Here is the list:
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Antigua
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote D’lvoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji

Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mexico
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia and Montenegro
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovenia
Spain
South Africa
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

This means that the United States has troops in 70 percent of the world’s countries. The average American could probably not locate half of these 135 countries on a map.

To this list could be added regions like the Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia, Gibraltar, and the Atlantic Ocean island of St. Helena, all still controlled by Great Britain, but not considered sovereign countries. Greenland is also home to U.S. troops, but is technically part of Denmark. Troops in two other regions, Kosovo and Hong Kong, might also be included here, but the DOD’s "Personnel Strengths" document includes U.S. troops in Kosovo under Serbia and U.S. troops in Hong Kong under China.

Possessions of the United States like Guam, Johnston Atoll, Puerto Rico, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the Virgin Islands are likewise home to U.S. troops. Guam has over 3,200.

Regular troop strength ranges from a low of 1 in Malawi to a high of 74,796 in Germany. At the time the most recent "Personnel Strengths" was released by the government (September 30, 2003), there were 183,002 troops deployed to Iraq, an unspecified number of which came from U.S. forces in Germany and Italy. The total number of troops deployed abroad as of that date was 252,764, not including U.S. troops in Iraq from the United States. Total military personnel on September 30, 2003, was 1,434,377. This means that 17.6 percent of U.S. military forces were deployed on foreign soil, and certainly over 25 percent if U.S. troops in Iraq from the United States were included.

Here's a map for those visual viewers:



Why does the US station troops in so many countries? In 1975 Thailand told us to remove all five of our major military bases from their country and we did. In a matter of months Vietnam invaded Cambodia and they asked us to come back in. Few years back the Philippines told us to remove our bases and we did we are back in there helping them. All a country has to do is tell us to leave and we will.

If a war breaks out anywhere in the globe, and the US is involved, the US wants to fight "over there" rather than on their own soil. This has been its policy since WWII.

Because he's articulate and well informed. Something many of us lack.

About the immigration section...

(Image removed by moderator, too big to fit in forum div.)

Probably why we're so low on the ranking.

Er, yeah sorry about that...

Damnit,

http://i48.tinypic.com/29bfxis.jpg

Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders, 2009)

1. Denmark
2. Finland
3. Ireland
4. Norway
5. Sweden
6. Estonia
7. Netherlands
8. Switzerland
9. Iceland
10. Lithuania
11. Belgium
12. Malta
13. Austria
14. Latvia
15. New Zealand
16. Australia
17. Japan
18. Germany
19. Canada
20. Luxembourg
21. United Kingdom
22. United States


Civil and Political Liberties by Country (Freedom House, 2010)

1. Netherlands
2. Austria
3. Sweden
4. Canada
5. New Zealand
6. Denmark
7. United States
8. Ireland
9. Norway
10. Finland
11. Portugal
12. Iceland
13. Switzerland
14. Uruguay
15. Australia
16. Slovenia
17. Latvia
18. United Kingdom
19. Italy
20. Costa Rica

LOL

I don't get where Myrrh was going with that.

I thought it was pretty common knowledge that we're not "the most free", oh well

I think what he was trying to imply was they slice your fingers off or something worse but failed to understand that only happens when you've disgraced your gang leader and doesn't happen in the general public.

You say that as if it's embarrassing to you.

... owned.

I'll just leave this here; It's a pic of this thread.

Actually you were a bit late for that...

I think that also happens in america too? It's called Mafia maybe?

I think I do agree withthe notion that America right now is not a great. Economy is down, half of the population is fat, too many false christians running around, the government can't work together to figure any solutions out, and people worship hardcore hip-hop, the list just goes on and on.

Right now I sure has hell am not proud of this country, there no reason to be.

Mafia here don't care if you strut down 'their' streets screaming USA sucks since they care more about the $ in their overseas accounts than patriotism.

Also they rather waste bullets on someone who loses a kilo of their crack or so =P.