I read the article, noted the lack of citations and a number of claims in which it is factually incorrect, and went on with the discussion. What else do you want?
As a person who has lived in “the south” his entire life, the claim that it’s a “third world banana republic” is asinine. Why the need to delve further into the screed that was linked in the OP if it’s going to make idiotic claims such as that?
Then there’s this:
In the 19th century, robust private investment turned the US from an agrarian state to the worlds largest industrial power in a 75-year period. That was basic Economics 101. The argument that is being made is being supported by citations that were true for just the post-war period, completely ignoring the larger fact that American industrial and infrastructure improvements are mostly privately funded.
The US still invests “great sums of money in its interstate highways” and its “education systems”, but, again, the US has NEVER scored in the higher percentiles in international education comparisons, so the depiction of the US as having the “best education system” in the world at one point in the past is, again, not supported by any evidence.
I could go on, and the author does get some facts right, but it’s not worth picking over.
I read it. It was a load of hyperbolic horseshit, an attempt to use faulty statistics to make support the writers already predefined position. If you want to decry the fact that 'dopers have focused on the banana republic aspect then perhaps YOU should read the article yourself, since it’s the recurring theme of the thing. Not only are we a banana republic, but we are apparently a BROKEN banana republic to boot.
Why should anyone take seriously an article full of hogsheads of hyperbolic horseshit (without even the clever use of alliteration :p). Even so, if YOU actually read the thread, you will see that most of the major points of the article have been addressed by various 'dopers in this thread. Basically, the author of that article attempts a verbal shell game, claiming that we are a broken banana republic because of this (cherry picked and unsupported) stat or that one, most of which either are a distortion, and exaggeration or something that the US NEVER was a world leader in. The bottom line, previously addressed, is that the US doesn’t have to be at the top of ever category, and the very nature of our country is going to preclude us EVER being at the top of every one of the authors pet cherry picked categories of greatness because of how diverse we are, with people from literally every nation on earth…hundreds of millions of them. Trying an apples to aardvarks comparison between the US and small, mainly ethnically/culturally/socially and from a religious aspect homogenous is ridiculous if you are looking at the stats this guy is attempting to use to ‘prove’ we are a ‘broken banana republic’. We don’t have high speed rail and that’s a factor in our broken-ness and banana republic-esque quality?
Basically, if you feel there is some worth in the article it’s on you to do what the OP didn’t do…cut and paste out what you think is relevant and show why you think it is. Trying to say that people didn’t read the article and are focused mainly on the OPs title isn’t really making your case.
I clicked on the “World’s leading superpower” link and was surprised to find out that 55% of the people think that Spain is going to supplant the US as the dominant superpower… until I realized that I was reading the chart incorrectly. :o
Interesting that we have such low regard in Turkey. I’ve been there and that wasn’t the impression I got of the folks there, who seemed to like Americans. Of course this was decades ago, so maybe the attitudes have shifted since the 2 Gulf Wars and the invasion of Afghanistan? The other interesting one I thought was Germany…I thought that after the cold war was over attitudes had shifted, but looks like we rank the same there as with the Venezuela and just about Russia (never big fans of the US). I don’t see the UK on that list either, which is odd.
Yeah, I saw that when I was clicking through the list of individual countries and viewing it that way. I guess we are hitting a low point with our British brethren and sistren atm. Looking at this and comparing it with China’s favor-ability or even the EU, however, is educational…especially to folks who think the US is a pariah in the world.
The data goes back only to 2002, at which time Turkey was 30% favorable. The run-up to war was already in effect then, it’s a shame they didn’t conduct the poll in '00 or '01 for a better comparison.
Makes sense if you think about it in light of recent fiscal developments. It’s popular with some of the countries that were helped during their various issues, but less popular with the nations doing the helping. I thought reading the top countries that favor China and looking at the large number below 50% was interesting…I didn’t realize that they has such a low favor rating in the US. Woof.
Germany is dropping though…and they (and France) would tend to have higher ratings because, basically, it’s their baby and they get the most benefit out of it.
ETA: But you are right…the data doesn’t back up my off the cuff assumption.
The German Basic Law wasn’t drafted by Americans. It was drafted by Germans in the western sector of occupied Germany, drawing heavily on Germany’s pre-Nazi constitutional traditions.
Germany wasn’t just under American occupation; it was under US-UK-French-Soviet occupation. All four occupying countries had to approve the Basic Law.
