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Which world do you live in?
Several of my friends were confused about how Donald Trump got elected when the economy by objective standards was thriving. This is not an article on the genius of the Republicans or the stupidity of the Democrats. It is information based on a report derived from 13 scholars that have advised US Presidents of both parties going back to President Clinton on the state of the US. These scholars come from both liberal and conservative points of view. The research ranked 39 countries on multiple factors from GDP to Drug deaths from #1(best) to #39 (worst).
Here's a few highlights:
US #2 in GDP only to China.
US is #39 out of 39 countries in OD Drug deaths
US Life expectancy #19 in 1990 now #29
Child death rate #23 in 1990 now #33
Gains in the economy mostly affected the top 10% of Americans
US Suicide rate in 1990 #13 to #33 in 2019
Prevalence of Depression: #18 1990 to #32 now
Conclusions:
Add to the above our addiction to phones and isolation from Covid increasing the epidemic of loneliness. The enormous wealth concentrated at the top when averaged looks like all are doing well. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are at least two very distinct economies in the US. Wild economic riches for some, poverty and despair for many others.
As I wrote in the last Newsletter young men are in deep trouble, https://conta.cc/4gHIYkZthey are the vast majority of those Deaths of Despair (Drugs, Alcohol and suicide) they voted for Trump in large numbers. Desperate people do desperate things.
If your 401K is loaded with Apple and Nvidia you are in one economy if you are working 3 crap jobs and still get a Payday Loan to get by you are in another economy.
If suicide and gun violence is something you hear about in a news story you live in one world if you can name 5 family members whose lives were cut short by drugs, suicide and gun violence you live in another.
We are #33 in the child death rate, suicide, and murder rate and #39 deaths from OD. Number 2 GDP policies have supported corporate raiding, low taxation rates for corporations and the Super rich. The cause of the increasingly high rate of child deaths is school shootings and we yet can’t pass an assault weapons ban nationally.
If you can stomach the reality of what these scholars have put together you should do longer be confused about some of the contributing underlying structural issues the country faces. You must ask yourself which America you live in (if you do live in the US). Not just which economy but which world do you live in. Which of the low rankings do you read about, and which do you experience crammed down your throat every day.
There is way more to this story of how this election turned out the way it did. But we have to start by understanding not simply blaming and vilifying those that picked Trump.
As always, we invite your comments.
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