Decline and Rebirth

In American Prospect: Decline and Rebirth, Gus Speth spells out some of the problems that America faces:

To our great shame, among the 20 major advanced countries America now has the highest poverty rate, both generally and for children;

the greatest inequality of incomes;

the lowest government spending as a percentage of GDP on social programs for the disadvantaged;

the lowest number of paid holiday, annual, and maternity leaves;

the lowest score on the United Nations’ index of “material well-being of children”;

the worst score on the United Nations’ gender inequality index;

the lowest social mobility;

the highest public and private expenditure on health care as a portion of GDP [more]