Time to Take Note of USA Firsts

Anthony Freda Art

Catherine J. Frompovich
Activist Post

Everyone always is impressed when someone accomplishes that coveted award or title of Number One—Numero Uno, which defines the epitome of accomplishment. For many years the USA stood proud at the Olympics, taking home more gold medals than any country. The USA many times has had the honor of being number one in many more categories. However, in recent years, Old Glory may be somewhat embarrassed by many of the Number One spots USA statistics has had her flying in. Let’s take a closer look to see where we shine as Number One.

First and foremost, it seems that the USA quickly is becoming a police-controlled population or state. That dubious recognition is attained from incarceration statistics, which certainly are not enviable. Back in October of 2012, Salon featured the article “US has more prisoners, prisons than any other country.” [1] According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, the USA had 730 incarcerated persons for every 100,000 in population. We ‘towered’ over the second-best rival, the Czech Republic, which had slightly over 200 incarcerations per 100,000 population. The USA outshined Mexico for Numero Uno; Mexico’s rate was 200 per 100,000.

According to the Federation of American Scientists, [2, 3] the USA was Number One in arms deliveries to the world by supplier for the years 1999 through 2006 inclusive. Taxpayers forked over a grand sum totaling $107,672 Millions of constant 2006 U.S. dollars. The USA outshined and outspent its nearest contender, Russia, several times over, since Russia ponied up a measly $38,754 Millions of constant 2006 U.S. dollars. Was that money well spent? Who knows, since it represents what many consider the Republican “Bush-2” war horse machine that got us into inextricable military action. But, it did get us to be Numero Uno!

Probably where the USA ‘shines’ the brightest as Number One is in healthcare statistics. No one beats us in many of the various aspects of those statistics. Let’s see how well we do there.

Regarding percentage of Gross Domestic Production (GDP) spent on healthcare, the USA outranks every country as of 2007 data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with a whopping 15.3%. Next is Switzerland with 11.6%; then Germany at 10.7%; the United Kingdom at 8.3%; and Japan at 8% -- almost half the U.S. GDP. [4] Notation ought to be made that the U.S. Congressional Budget Office projects that total U.S. healthcare spending will reach 31% of GDP by 2035. [5]

Now, let’s compare what we are getting for our GDP outlay as a return on longevity or life expectancy at birth and compared with:

• Japan  82.1 years
• Switzerland  81.3 years
• United Kingdom  79 years
• Germany  79 years
• The USA slips to  77 years 

So, it looks like Japan’s 8% GDP in 2007, which was almost half the USA, secured for the Japanese a life expectancy of 5.1 years more than the USA, who spent 15.3% GDP. [6]

According to OECD statistics for 2007, infant mortality rates place the USA into a position it should not be in, i.e., considering all the money spent, our advanced medical technology, and vaccines, which are touted to prevent childhood and other diseases.

In the category Infant Mortality (Deaths per 1000 Live Births): [7]

• United States  6.8
• United Kingdom  5.1
• Switzerland  4.2
• Germany  3.9
• Japan  2.8

In trying to weigh the benefits of healthcare parameters that affect overall health outcomes, we need to consider the role that vaccines play in health. Let’s check out this chart for starters.

[8]

Although the base year in the above chart is 2009, not 2007 used in prior statistics, it graphically illustrates something we need to consider seriously: The country of Japan has one of the lowest number of vaccinations given to children before 5 years of age, i.e., 11 vaccinations. Whereas, the United States mandated children before 5 years of age in 2009 receive 36 vaccinations, more than three times the vaccines given to children in Japan in 2009. And yet, we don’t hear of outbreaks or pandemics of contagious infectious childhood diseases in Japan, which the U.S. media would be only too obliging to report. Isn’t that rather remarkable?

Now, for sake of argument, consider the Lifespan Rankings in 2009. Japan was Number 4; the USA was Number 34! Moreover, did you notice that the 2011 statistic for USA’s Life Ranking slipped to 39?

Here is something else to ponder. Let’s examine another chart to see some extremely interesting data. The Mortality Increase Trendline climbs from a low end of mandated vaccines of 11 to the high end of mandated vaccines: 36 in the United States in 2009. How does that vaccine mandate affect healthcare costs from several perspectives, i.e., costs of vaccines and their administration, including costs of healthcare services and vaccine failures for premature birth, sick, and dying children, who may be impacted by the very vaccines they receive, since the graph below seems to associate mortality and number of vaccines given? Questions should be airborne in science and the U.S. court system about the possible role of vaccines in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS

[9]

Another journalist, Cynthia A. Janak, published information from the U.S. Census Bureau that is no longer available on Census Bureau servers. Question: Why? Janak points out the apparent ‘hidden’ costs vaccines will saddle healthcare with for numerous countries, including the USA, in the coming years. Janak addresses two vaccines in particular: Cervarix® and Gardasil®.

According to WHY IS HEALTH SPENDING IN THE UNITED STATES SO HIGH? by the OECD,

The United States spends two-and-a-half times more than the OECD average health expenditure per person (Chart 1). It even spends twice as much as France, for example, a country which is generally accepted as having very good health services. At 17.4% of GDP in 2009, US health spending is half as much again as any other country, and nearly twice the average. [10]

If we examine the chart at http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/49084355.pdf , we see how the USA is Number One in health expenditures per capita, but apparently: (a) not very healthy; (b) not getting our money’s worth; and (c) in need of a complete overhaul for better quality of care, something that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) may not provide but, in actuality, will result in an escalation of health insurance costs enforced by the IRS.

According to About.com,

The Obamacare ruling allows the IRS to tax you 1% of adjusted gross income (above the taxable minimum income), but no less than $95 per adult/$47.50 per child in 2013. 

These taxes rise in 2015 and 2016. For more, see Obamacare Taxes. [11]

Before we leave the vaccine component in this article, here’s a chart that needs to be studied since it implicates the role of chemicals in disease, and seemingly with polio. Please study this chart.

click to enlarge [12]

We note that there is no indication of paralytic polio epidemic(s) worldwide prior to the 1886 epidemic in Sweden. Polio starts to escalate during the World War I years when mustard gas and phosgene [13] were used in combat. Then polio intensifies into pandemic proportions with the introduction of many DDT-like chemicals. Note that “DDT was discovered to cause nerve damage, paralysis and death by respiratory failure in calves, via milk. 1953, confirmed by Swiss.” So, let’s see where the USA stands on the production of chemicals.

Again, the USA is Numero Uno in chemical shipments per Wikipedia’s “Chemical Industry.” [14]

What impact do all those chemicals have on our health, the quality and safety of the air we breathe, and the food and water we take into our bodies? What percentage of those shipments pertains to glyphosate and other chemicals used in GMO agriculture? This writer discusses chemical issues in her book, Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick.

According to the United Nations Survey Report [15], the United States is Number One in total number of crimes! Numero Uno, again, according to the map showing the top ten countries with the highest reported crime rates.

The Washington Post in June of 2005 reported, “Study: U.S. Leads in Mental Illness, Lags in Treatment.” [16] "We lead the world in a lot of good things, but we're also leaders in this one particular domain that we'd rather not be,” according to Ronald Kessler, the Harvard professor of health care policy who led the study.

What about pharmaceutical drugs? How does the USA stack up with them? Well, according to bls.gov,

Total value of U.S. consumption of pharmaceutical drugs in 2009 was $300 billion, or about 40 percent of the worldwide market share, and reflected a 37-percent increase since 2003. [17]

With close to 306 million people in the USA in January of 2009 and an estimated 6 billion 8 hundred thousand plus people world-wide in March of 2009, we realize just how disproportionate a use—40% of the worldwide pharmaceutical drug market share—there is in the USA. Why? Are pharmaceuticals over-prescribed in the U.S., or are we just sicker than the rest of the world? With that amount of pharmaceutical consumption, we undoubtedly have to be Number One.

After reviewing these statistics, U.S. healthcare consumers, taxpayers, voters, and those who regulate and govern in the United States need to take a long, hard, conscientious look at how the U.S. excels where it should not. Everyone ought to realize that being Number One in so many areas where we would rather not be—and should not be considering capital outlay in healthcare, especially—is cause for major concern, plus definite confirmation of the desperate need for fundamental reform and the change we were promised, not the same old lip service with higher taxes, especially those coming in the name of healthcare insurance.

Notes:

[1] http://www.salon.com/2012/10/15/us_has_more_prisoners_prisons_than_any_other_country/

[2] http://www.photius.com/rankings/arms_sales_major_suppliers_1999_2006.html

[3] http://www.fas.org/asmp/campaigns/smallarms/Statefactsheet29jun06.htm

[4] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/etc/graphs.html

[5] http://www.cnbc.com/id/44180042

[6] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/etc/graphs.html

[7] Ibid.

[8] http://www.google.com/search?q=charts+of+vaccines+in+usa+and+other+countries&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=yh33UfvoDMz_4AOYl4DYCA&ved=0CFgQsAQ&biw=1012&bih=650#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=a_dXjwustv2AKM%3A%3BglZ8zmU_fVjn_M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.newautism.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F12%252FVaccinesChart.png%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.newautism.com%252Fcuba-vaccines-and-autism-vs-usa%252F1555%252F%3B713%3B294

[9] Ibid.

[10] http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/49084355.pdf

[11] http://useconomy.about.com/od/healthcarereform/f/What-Is-Obama-Care.htm

[12]] http://www.wellwithin1.com/pol_all.htm

[13] http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/poison_gas_and_world_war_one.htm

[14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_industry

[15] http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-with-highest-reported-crime-rates.html

[16] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601651.html

[17] http://www.bls.gov/ppi/pharmpricescomparison.pdf

Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies.

Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.

Catherine’s latest book, A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.

Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008).