DP blog 7. America is far from developed and is failing its citizens across the board.

Abstract: GDP fails. Nations need to adopt a multidimensional indicator so that the well being of a society is measured. A more complete indicator is step one to change and development. A concrete analysis of the state of a nation will lead to better policy implication and general well being.

America success and development is only seen in material goods and wealth. We are seen as a power nation because of our high GDP. However, that extreme wealth is made and limited to the top 1%. America is failing, just as developing countries are. Our biggest failures in my eye is the attention to the GDP over the environment, health, education and general life satisfaction. Education and health are two sectors are gravely important for development and in terms of measuring the well being of a society. GDP fails to highlight America’s shortcomings.

The Human Poverty Index is an indication of the standard of living in a country, measured by a three basic dimensional approach- a long healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. I question is survival being directly linked to health in terms of physical health and how is mental health and drug abuse impacting survival. Mental health problems are analogous with extreme poverty in the United States. Studies have found a high rate of mental health problems among homeless substance abusers. Often mental health goes unmeasured due to inadequate numbers and willing participants. The mental health of my country is poor. We have the highest illegal drug use. Doctors are quick to prescribe medicine to increase their stock investments and leading to a drug induced, hazy society.

America’s education system is failing. We lag in education ranking among developed countries. Also, there is a lack of data in regards to math skills, there is documentation on school performance but not outside the classroom. The skills developed on the street may be well above those who do not suffer hardship. In the book, Freakeconomics, it shone light to the well-developed economic plans and financial literacy of crack dealers in Chicago. Furthermore, there is a grace concern for the financial illiteracy in America. Annamaria Lusardi an economist was cited in The New Yorker article by James Surowiecki titled “Greater fools” states that “Almost half of those surveyed couldn’t answer two questions about inflation and interest rates correctly, and slightly more sophisticated topics baffle a majority of people. Many people don’t know the terms of their mortgage or the interest rate they’re paying.” This has led to our current economic crisis, the average American has an average of 10,000 dollars of credit card debt. The “Slip-Sliding Away” survey was released by research nonprofit Public Agenda. “It showed that only two out of every 10 Americans report no financial struggles, while four out of 10 struggle just to make ends meet”(The Average American Debt?) So, who is better off those who are in developing countries who have no debt and are making ends meet or those who have the opportunity of financial services and are falling into debt? I would argue those involved in microcredit programs have a greater well being for their capacity to pay off debt. Financial literacy skills are very important for consumers in developed countries are just as valuable as developing and in my opinion those in developing countries are working within their means due to lack of financial institutions and perhaps a greater financial understanding. “In India, for example, more than half of laborers surveyed indicated that they store cash at home, while borrowing from moneylenders at high rates of interest.” (The Case for Financial Literacy, 13) The low savings rate in Sub Saharan Africa is comparable to the middle class of America. “Financial education and financial literacy are only one part of an effective policy response to empowering consumers in the financial marketplace.” (The Case for Financial Literacy, 15) This needs to be developed in both OECD countries and those developing.

Continuing with the analysis of poverty, often the measure of unemployment is an indicator. However, as I mentioned before there is a large unaccounted for working class. This class of people entails systems such as the black market, worldwide the black market provides 1.8 billion jobs. “In the U.S. unreported income is estimated to be $2 trillion resulting in a “tax gap” of $450–$500 billion.” (America’s Underground Activity) So, those who are following below the poverty line and are receiving Governmental aid may in fact be very well off. The value of unpaid employees in America is great, with hundreds of thousands of volunteers and committed workers are going unreported and unvalued in society. Furthermore, What about societies that are based on the barter system? Developing countries may be much better off in terms of meeting their needs even if their GDP is dismal. In conclusion, poverty has been traditionally been measured by dollars. However, the monetary focus does not give adequate insight into the well being of the poverty stricken.

Education. America’s education system is failing and is pathetic compared to other developed countries. Our funding for education only drives the gap between the rich and the poor. Programs and schools are being cut across the board. Our education budget federally is 56 billion compared to our military budget of 515 billion dollars, something is seriously wrong. Our nation is far from ranking high in terms of well being and development, especially if we are burning funds on war, we are essentially destroying the humanitarian well being both domestically and internationally. It greatly saddens me that America is in the last tier of developed countries in education. I was lucky enough to be afforded one of the best private education but it came with a large price tag, my college degree cost close to 180,000 dollars. This is absurd. The funding for education is driving the gap between the rich and the poor and needs to be reassessed and refocused and provided equally for all.

Health. America spends twice as much on healthcare then other developed countries. The US is ranked last in most areas such as access to health care, patient safety, timeliness of care, efficiency and equity. 45 million Americans are without healthcare, I was one of them until I recently was able to get an international healthcare program that is only valid outside of the USA. My country is obese and ridden with chronic illness. One third of my population is obese which results in heart disease that ultimately claims the lives of millions a year which is comparable to aids in Sub Saharan Africa which has a 5% prevalence rate. America’s health care system slightly prolongs life but not without serious financial consequences. As the US claims to be a “developed,” country it seems no better off then those in developing countries. The amount of unreported illness and mental illness is myriad. Again, my countries over all well being is poor.

Employment and Income I covered in previous blogs and above. In terms of shelter as I mentioned before, the housing crisis and America’s mortgage systems is impeding upon the well being of my country. Rents and mortgages are high. If it were plausible I would opt to go live in the woods. Our shelter, or our housing system does not guarantee that you will have a roof over your head and the high cost leaves most Americans unsatisfied and their well being diminished.

The Environment and a brief history for the need for environmental Indicators. There is a recent growing trend for the concern of the environment. Now, that climate change and the consequences of global warming are being seen, the world needs better indicators to access their national environment and the environment of the world. “Many highly aggregated economic and social indicators have been widely adopted, but there are virtually no comparable national environmental indicators to help decision makers or the public evaluate environmental trends.”(World Resource Institute) International Interest in the environment and developing environment indicators began in the late 1980s in Canada. Then in 1987, the Dutch government began similar work. After a G-7 economic summit in 1989, the OECD countries work towards formulating environmental indicators. The apex of the environmental indicators was in 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and the Agenda 21 called for development indicators. Several concepts, methods and measurement factors have been proposed to formulate indicators. These attempts at formulating environmental indicators were fueled to address the discrepancy with GDP. The call for green accounting is a consequence of the narrow scope of traditional economic indicators. The basic idea behind green accounting is to address the depletion of nature’s capital and the cost of waste and pollution on a society. The UN development Index focuses on human’s safety, health and a productive environment. Air pollution, waste, toxins, fish stock, deforestation and waste all need to be accessed in order to account for the well being of a nation.

The information base used to build environmental indicators attempts to answer such questions as: What is happening to the state of the environment or natural resources? Why is it happening? What are we doing about it? Furthermore, indicators of stresses or pressures from human activities that cause environmental change (pressure indicators), and measures of the policy adopted in response to environmental problems (response indicators) ( Environmental Indicators, 18) As I have previously stated measuring the environment is extremely hard. I personally like the ecological economic approach the best. It combines national accounts and environmental accounting into one matrix where the measurement is relates economic units to physical units. This idea is the best to me because by equating stock of the environment as energy units it applies the law of thermodynamics and better describes the state of the environment. This works well for measuring intangible things such as air quality. We need thorough formulated pollution indexes, resource depletion index, ecosystem risk index and the impact on human welfare. America has the environmental protection agency but has failed to protect the well being of its citizens. Three examples that especially upset me are: the BP oil spill, the Haliburton loop hole and my countries general disregard for our Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu. The complete disregard for the environment in my country greatly angers me.

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Firstly, the EPA warned of the potential collapse in the BP oil rig. The project should not have been attempted and yet the all mighty dollar was more valued than the ecosystem of the gulf and the potential negative impact on the lives of people residing by the coast. Secondly, Cheney took office and the oil and gas industry was permitted to inject hazardous material unchecked into the ground which has resulted in contaminated drinking water, directly affecting the health of citizens and the environment. The national parks were not to be built on and due to the manipulation of corporate, capitalistic America have now been destroyed. And lastly, Steven Chu proposes the most simple, cheapest idea to fight global warming: paint the roofs and the roads white. It would be equivalent of taking 600 million cars of the road and significantly reducing energy cost which would improve the happiness of our citizens. Furthermore, America has the potential to be entirely dependable upon wind energy and yet the power of oil in congress has prevented renewable energies progression. America is spewing toxic material into the air, land and water and is significantly lowering the well being of our nation. “According to the recent epidemiological studies more than 500,000 Americans die each year from cardiopulmonary disease linked to breathing fine particle air pollution.” (pollutionarticles) As my nation’s welfare and well-being are being disregarded a new multi focus indicator should be employed for the betterment of the society.

The next sector of society that contributes to the well being of a nation is political participation. 63% of my nation has participated in political activities in the last year. (civic engagement) However, it seems convenient that laws are being passed in the middle of the night. Protest and general dissatisfaction is largely ignored. Our congress is being deployed by interest in their personal stock portfolios. (BUSH, OIL, WAR, need I say more) 70% of my country disagrees with our involvement in the middle east so why are our tax dollars being spent over there then at home. If we were really a country devoted to liberty and justice for all we would put down the weapons and help the world move forward in development not only domestically but internationally. “The cost of one nuclear weapons test alone could finance the installation of eighty thousand hand pumps, giving third world villages access to clean water.” Political agenda needs to focus on its citizens and not the GDP. Congress’ focus on money has lost sight of the overall happiness and well being of citizens.

I touched on human rights and family and household well being in previous blogs. USA claims to promote personal freedom but more and more rights are being bound and restricted. The loss of the nuclear family and disconnected communities in hindering progress in well being. America is weak and getting weaker. We need to really reevaluate the well being of society and see to it that our failures are recognized and work towards the betterment of all.

In conclusion (Not to sound like a Beatles song but), we all need to work together. We need to stop putting our personal financial interest ahead of the rights of humanity. All sectors of society need to address it strengths and weaknesses. The strength of the country will only flourish when we consider the different dimensions and factors that compose the well being of a society and weave it into one multi-dimensional national indicator. Indicators should tell us if things are getting better or worse. Indicators are used to develop successful policy to ensure the well being of a society. In conclusion, America needs to wake up and retake congress with politicians that are devoted to the well being and happiness of its citizens.

Work Cited, all previous sources were used to build this conclusion

1. http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15–The-Internet-and-Civic-Engagement/2–The-Current-State-of-Civic-Engagement-in-America/2–Participation.aspx
2. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/07/05/100705ta_talk_surowiecki#ixzz1jF3kaFlK
3. http://www.npr.org/programs/specials/poll/poverty/
4. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2010/07/05/100705ta_talk_surowiecki
5. http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2011/02/10/average-american-debt/
6. The Case for Financial Literacy in Developing Countries
7. www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/32/43245359.pdf

8. http://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/29672.html

10 comentarios / 13 Jan 2012 por Lauren Musiello
IMSD /

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