Land of the Free?

Americans pay $12,555 per person per year on healthcare. That's more than any country in the world. Not even close.

And for all that money? The US ranks dead last among 10 rich countries on health outcomes. Last in life expectancy. Last in avoidable deaths. Last in equity.

32 out of 33 developed nations have universal healthcare. The one that doesn't? You.

That's not a typo. For every 100,000 Americans, 614 are behind bars. Here's what that looks like next to countries you consider allies:

The US has 4.4% of the world's population but holds 20% of the world's prisoners. Your incarceration rate is 17x Japan's. Nine times Germany's. And most of those people are in there for non-violent offenses.

The US has 4.4% of the world's people but 17.9% of all firearm deaths. In 2023 there were 656 mass shootings — that's almost two per day.

Every other country on that list had a gun massacre, passed laws, and it stopped. Australia did it in 1996. The UK did it in 1987 and 1996. It worked. America just keeps counting bodies.

Out of 41 OECD nations — every developed country in the world — the United States is the only one that guarantees zero weeks of paid parental leave. Zero.

Even countries America considers "poor" — Mexico, India, Iran — give new mothers paid time off. America doesn't.

Americans owe $1.7 trillion in student loans. That's more than the GDP of Australia. The next closest country (UK) has $200 billion — about one-eighth.

Germany, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, France, Austria — all free or nearly free university. These aren't small countries winging it. These are major economies that decided education is a right, not a debt trap.

The richest country in human history has a child poverty rate 7 times higher than Denmark's. One in five kids. In a country with 902 billionaires.

More than half of what Americans eat is industrially manufactured food-like product. The FDA allows thousands of additives that are banned in Europe. Your government lets food companies self-certify ingredients as "generally recognized as safe."

The US consumes more opioids than any country on Earth. Over 100,000 Americans die from overdoses every year — more than car crashes and gun deaths combined.

America's top 1% owns more wealth than the entire middle class. The US inequality score is 0.395 (Gini index — higher is worse) — the highest in the OECD:

63% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. In the richest country that has ever existed. Your GDP is $28.8 trillion — but that money doesn't reach you. It reaches shareholders.

Every American produces nearly 15 tonnes of CO2 per year. That's 2.5x the average European. And your government pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Twice.

The US has the highest political polarization of any OECD nation. The partisan gap is wider than it's been since the Civil War.

Democracy Index 2024 ranks the US 36th — classified as a "flawed democracy". Below Costa Rica. Below Chile. Below Estonia.