Submitted by Michael Snyder of The American Dream blog [8],
Is America the greatest nation on the planet? Before you answer that question, you might want to check out the statistics that I have shared in this article first. The reality is that the United States is in a deep state of decline, and it is getting harder to deny that fact with each passing day. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually and financially we are a train wreck. Many that are “patriotic” attempt to put a happy face on our growing problems, but the truly patriotic thing to do is to admit just how bad things have gotten so that we can start finding solutions.
If you truly love this country, then you should know that this nation needs a huge wake up call. We have abandoned the values and the principles that early Americans held so dear, and as a result our society is a giant mess. The following are 55 things about America that you may not know…
#1 We are supposed to have a government “of the people, by the people, for the people”, but only 25 percent [9] of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only 20 percent [9] of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are.
#2 Americans spend more on health care per capita than anyone else in the world by far, and yet we only rank 35th [10] in life expectancy.
#3 Only one state [11] in the entire country has an obesity rate of under 20 percent. 11 states [11] have an obesity rate of over 30 percent.
#4 Of all the major industrialized nations, America is the most obese [12]. Mexico is #2.
#5 Back in 1962, only 13 percent [13] of all Americans were obese, but it is being projected that 42 percent [14] of all Americans could be obese by the year 2030.
#6 According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 31 percent [15] of all food in the United States gets wasted. In case you were wondering, that amounts to approximately 133 billion pounds of food a year.
#7 America has the highest incarceration rate [16] and the largest total prison population [17] in the entire world by a wide margin.
#8 In America, we even put 81-year-old women in prison for feeding the birds [18].
#9 According to a Newsweek survey [19] taken a few years ago, 29 percent of all Americans could not even name the vice president.
#10 Americans spend more time sitting in traffic [20] than anyone else in the world.
#11 60 percent [21] of Americans report feeling “angry or irritable”. Two years ago that number was at 50 percent.
#12 36 percent [22] of Americans admit that they have yelled at a customer service agent during the past year.
#13 Only 30 percent [23] of all Americans can tell you in what year the 9/11 attacks happened.
#14 There are more “deaths by reptile [24]” in America than anywhere else in the world.
#15 Right now, 29 percent [25] of all Americans under the age of 35 are living with their parents.
#16 Average SAT scores have been falling for years [26], and the level of education that our kids are receiving in most of our public schools is a total joke [27].
#17 According to a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent [28] of all Americans are on at least one prescription drug. An astounding 20 percent of all Americans are on at least five prescription drugs.
#18 Americans spend more than 280 billion dollars [29] on prescription drugs each year.
#19 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, doctors in the United States write more than 250 million prescriptions [30] for antidepressants each year.
#20 Children in the United States are three times more likely [31] to be prescribed antidepressants than children in Europe are.
#21 In the United States today, prescription painkillers kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined [32].
#22 America has the highest rate of illegal drug use [33] on the entire planet.
#23 According to the federal government, the number of heroin addicts in the United States has more than doubled [34] since 2002.
#24 It is hard to believe, but 56 percent [35] of all Americans now have “subprime credit”.
#25 America exports more weapons [36] to other countries than anyone else in the world.
#26 The United States has the most complicated tax system [37] on the entire planet.
#27 Corruption is rampant throughout our society. In fact, America leads the world in money given to fake charities [38].
#28 America leads the world in soft drink consumption by a wide margin [39]. Today, the average American drinks more than 600 sodas [40] a year.
#29 In 2008, 53 percent of all Americans considered themselves to be “middle class”. In 2014, only 44 percent [41] of all Americans consider themselves to be “middle class”.
#30 70 percent [42] of Americans do not “feel engaged or inspired at their jobs”.
#31 40 percent [43] of all workers in the United States actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968 after you account for inflation.
#32 Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans [44] was on food stamps. Today, about one out of every 6 Americans is on food stamps.
#33 The marriage rate in the United States has fallen to an all-time low. Right now it is sitting at a yearly rate of 6.8 marriages per 1000 people [45].
#34 In the United States today, more than half [46] of all couples “move in together” before they get married.
#35 America has the highest divorce rate [47] in the world by a good margin.
#36 America has the highest percentage of one person households [48] on the entire planet.
#37 100 years ago, 4.52 were living in the average U.S. household, but now the average U.S. household only consists of 2.59 people [49].
#38 According to the Pew Research Center, only 51 percent [50] of all American adults are currently married. Back in 1960, 72 percent [50] of all adults in the United States were married.
#39 For women under the age of 30 in the United States, more than half of all babies [51] are being born out of wedlock.
#40 At this point, approximately one out of every three children [52] in the United States lives in a home without a father.
#41 In 1970, the average woman had her first child when she was 21.4 years old [53]. Now the average woman has her first child when she is 25.6 years old [53].
#42 America has the highest teen pregnancy rate [54] in the world by a very wide margin.
#43 Approximately one out of every four [55] teen girls in the United States has at least one sexually transmitted disease.
#44 America has the highest STD infection rate in the entire industrialized world [56].
#45 According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are 20 million [57] new sexually-transmitted infections in the United States every single year, and Americans in the 15 to 24-year-old age range account for approximately 50 percent [58] of those new sexually-transmitted infections.
#46 As I wrote about recently [59], there are 747,408 registered sex offenders [60] in the U.S. according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
#47 America produces more pornography [61] than any other nation in the world.
#48 America has the most lawyers per capita [62] in the entire world.
#49 If you choose to be a “Constitutionalist” in America today, you may get labeled as a potential terrorist [63] by the U.S. government.
#50 America has the largest national debt in the history of the world. Back in 1980, the U.S. national debt was less than one trillion dollars [64]. Today, it is over 17 trillion dollars.
#51 According to the Congressional Budget Office, interest payments on the national debt will nearly quadruple [65] over the next ten years.
#52 Americans spend more money on elections [66] than anyone else does in the world by a very wide margin.
#53 65 percent [67] of Americans are dissatisfied “with the U.S. system of government and its effectiveness”. That is the highest level of dissatisfaction that Gallup has ever recorded.
#54 Only 8 percent [68] of Americans believe that Congress is doing a “good” or “excellent” job.
#55 70 percent [69] of Americans do not have confidence that the federal government will “make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2014.”