The young’uns were asking why exactly we grownups think so badly of the president. We mostly focused on the war(s), how long they have lasted, how wasteful, and in the case of Iraq, how unjustified.
But I didn’t know that we doing this badly in something we all have taken for granted. People in Jordan have a longer life expectancy than Americans, as a result of different healthcare policies?:
The AP reports that while Americans are living longer than ever, they are not living as long as people in 41 other countries, including Japan, Guam, Jordan, and most nations in Europe. “A baby born in the United States in 2004 will live an average of 77.9 years. That life expectancy ranks 42nd, down from 11th two decades earlier.”
A New York Times editorial today writes that the “disturbing truth” is that “by an array of pertinent yardsticks, the United States is a laggard not a leader in providing good medical care.”