Friday, April 11, 2008
Just because America is a better place to live than places like Saudi Arabia, Sudan, or Indonesia, does not by default make it No. 1. In fact, America isn’t No. 1 in environment, education, life satisfaction or savings rate. However, we are number one in people incarcerated and the cost of healthcare.
For some odd reason, the “freest country” in the world has the greatest number of people in jail or prison. In February, The New York Times reported that America reached 2.3 million people behind bars. This is the first time more than 1 in 100 American adults were behind bars, though we continue to lead the world in people incarcerated.
According to figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this population has increased an average of 3.5 percent a year since 1995. Using Census figures, this is more than three times the annual population growth rate.
In 2006, the bipartisan Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons reported “67 percent of former prisoners are rearrested and 52 percent are re-incarcerated, a recidivism rate that calls into question the effectiveness of America’s corrections system, which costs taxpayers $60 billion a year.”
The only good thing about a high inmate population is that it keeps unemployment low. At 5 percent we have a lower rate than most countries in Western Europe. For example, a country like France has a 3 percent higher unemployment rate than America, but the incarceration rate is about one-eighth of what it is the U.S. According to the BBC, England leads Western Europe in inmates. Though even there, the unemployment rate is about one-fifth of what it is in America. Luckily, you can’t technically be unemployed when it’s impossible for you to have a job.
As for our healthcare system, we can sit here all day and talk about how great it is or how terrible it is. Let’s look at the facts.
No country in the world pays more for healthcare than the United States. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2004 the U.S. spent 15 percent of GDP on healthcare. In February, MSNBC reported that total healthcare costs will top $4 trillion by 2017 at the current 6.7 percent a year average annual increase. Yet, despite this runaway spending, 40 million Americans still have no health insurance. There’s nothing like the freedom to have a catastrophic illness destroy your life.
As for quality of care, The World Health Organization ranks the United States as 37th best in the world. We are two spots above Cuba and two below Dominica. This is a fair ranking when you break down the healthcare system.
The life expectancy of an American is 78 years, which puts us at 26th in the world.
As for infant mortality, America is second worst in the industrialized world. CNN reported in 2006 that “American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the United States than in Finland, Iceland or Norway.”
Healthcare will only become more important as baby boomers retire. In 2003 the Center for Disease Control said, “The rapid growth in the number of older persons, coupled with continued advances in medical technology, is expected to create upward pressure on health- and long-term-care spending. In 1997, the United States had the highest health-care spending per person more than 65 years ($12,100).”
Arrogance leads to stagnation. That stagnation leads us to fall behind in the world. Uncle Sam is shouting from a dark corner with a plastic fifth of Vodka in hand, “I don’t have a drinking problem. You don’t know me. America is the best country in the world!” Yes, you’re right Sam, just not in the way you see it through your hazy eyes and in your dizzy head.
Mangiaracina is a Lenexa senior in journalism.
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Comments
Mangiaracina: America tops list of most incarcerated
Mangiaracina takes such a simplistic approach that she sheds no light on the subject, but changes are needed.
Our welfare system has promoted the destruction of the family. The statistics are truly astounding. The single greatest predictor of a child's success in school, and the single greatest predictor of a child's involvement in crime, is the presence or absence of the father. I am not blaming single mothers. But single parent homes shortchange children. High incarceration rates are a direct result of the destruction of the family.
Our society has an "entitlement mentality." This is partly due to business and advertising. But if you sit through a criminal court session while the judge assesses whether to grant court appointed attorneys, you will soon realize our welfare system plays a huge part as well. Rather than reducing crime by providing a safety net, our welfare system creates a mindset that increases crime.
Crime is typically very low in poor, rural areas. This is not because poverty is less oppressive there. Nor is it because rural people do not see others’ wealth - some of the greatest gaps in wealth are in rural areas. Nor is it because rural people have greater opportunities - rural people may have to travel hundreds of miles for an opportunity. It is a sense of self-reliance. And they do not let self-esteem get in the way of self-improvement.
Even if we add our entire incarcerated population to our unemployment rate, it is still less than France's. Further, France's unemployment is artificially low. To cut unemployment, the French government forced shortened work weeks and longer vacations. This is one reason the French standard of living is far below ours. Even our poor have more cars, televisions, microwaves, dishwashers, etc., per capita, than the average French citizen.
As to our healthcare, there is a reason so much of the world comes here, if they can afford it. Cleveland became a world center for joint replacement due to Canadians who did not want to wait years for surgery. Great Britain and Canada have long waiting lists for procedures we consider routine. Are you willing to wait months to see a specialist, you now see in days?
Healthcare is too expensive, but the solution is competition, not government control. In the 1960's, before Medicare and health insurance for routine care, my grandmother hated going to her cardiologist, because it cost $8.00 per visit, compared to $2.00 for her family doctor. Now, how many people even know what a visit to the doctor, not just the co-pay, costs? There is no competition, yet we wonder why healthcare is so expensive.
Mangiaracina: America tops list of most incarcerated
Graduating in propaganda! Placing your opinions mixed in with some numbers is a lazy way to write articles. You seem to be living in a country you don't like. All three of my boys have went to school in other countries and then have lived and worked in other countries. They returned after years of living and working in Germany, France, England, Brazil, Indonesia, and Kenya. You should visit and live in actual places before you shoot your mouth off. Don't spout your teachers opinions, get some of your own.
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