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Re: The troubles -Reply



In the discussion on the lowered reading/
intellectual level of students coming to college,
Thomas Wayburn added (on 10-7-97):
---------------
"Most Americans think they live in the greatest
country in the world with the best economic system
imaginable. I hope that doesn't include you."
---------------

I had no intention of getting in on this
discussion, but the above ranting got me going. I
wonder, By what objective measure can Tom make
such a bold assertion? It sounds a lot like the
anti-U.S. "noise" we used to hear from the Viet
Nam war protesters, that promted the "America--
love it or leave it" bumper stickers.

Personal feelings aside, as scientists we
should look to evidences to base our conclusions
on. It so happens that I looked up on the Net a
few days ago information on the GNP of the US. The
info I downloaded was from the 1996 International
Facts and Statistics from Seven Seas Mailing
Lists, with URL =
http://www.mightymall.com/sevenseas/facts.html.
This gives the population and Gross National
Products for seventy countries (primarily--it does
include Hong Kong separately, for example, but not
China, per se). The country with the highest GNP,
not surprisingly, is the United States--by a
sizeable margin. I entered the data into my
favorite spreadsheet in order to sort it as I
wished. Following are two lists, the first one
sorted by GNP, where the US stands well above the
nearest competitor, Japan. The second list is
sorted by GNP divided by population, to normalize
by population. (The spacing was for Courier font.
In case it doesn't come out lined up on your
display, you may want to change the font.)

(sort column)
Country pop,n(million) GNP($B) GNP/pop.
US 260.3 6387.7 24,540
Japan 124.4 3926.6 31,564
Germany 80.9 2004.8 24,781
France 57.6 1289.2 22,382
Italy 57.1 1134.9 19,876
UK 58.2 1042.7 17,916
Canada 28.7 574.8 20,028
Spain 39.1 533.9 13,655
Brazil 162.1 471.9 2,911
Russia 148.2 343.4 2,317

(sort:)
Country pop,n(million) GNP($B) GNP/pop.
Switzerland 6.9 254 36,812
Luxembourg 0.4 14.2 35,500
Japan 124.4 3926.6 31,564
Denmark 5.2 137.6 26,462
Norway 4.3 113.5 26,395
Sweden 8.7 216.3 24,862
Germany 80.9 2004.8 24,781
US 260.3 6387.7 24,540
Austria 7.9 183.5 23,228
Iceland 0.27 6.2 22,963
France 57.6 1289.2 22,382
Kuwait 1.6 34.1 21,313
Belgium 10.1 213.4 21,129
Netherlands 15.4 316.4 20,545
Canada 28.7 574.8 20,028

I don't know if these numbers mean anything to
Tom or anyone else, but to me they say that the US
is the strongest country in the world,
economically speaking. Even if you think there
might be a better system somewhere else. It's like
someone once said (Was it Churchhill??--I don't
know): Democracy is the worst form of government
there is--execpt for all the others. Could I be
permitted a paraphrase? Capitalism is the worst
economic system there is--except all the others.

Rondo Jeffery
Weber State U., Odgen, UT