I’ve been giving this some thought. The USA has always claimed to be a world leader, in other words #1. I decided to see what we are actually leading the world in. Here is what I found (read more HERE and HERE):
- Most coronavirus cases and deaths in the world
- Beef production (just under 20% of total global beef production)
- Education (see HERE)
- Military spending (The annual US military budget stood at $732 billion in 2019, some 38% of global spending)
- Medical research (The US spends more than any country in the world on medical R&D as of 2017)
- Healthcare expenditures (Both per capita and in total, the US spends more money on healthcare than any other country)
- Billionaires (according to Forbes magazine)
- Pet dogs and cats (69.9 million pooches and 74.1 million cats)
- Higher education (America is home to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the planet’s best university)
- Natural gas production (In 2018, production in the US reached 30.6 trillion cubic feet)
We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn’t belittle it; it didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
Jeff Daniels as Will Macavoy in ‘the newsroom’ 24 June 2012, HBO