A Lesson from CAKE:

Here are some facts that I found interesting, thanks to my new best friends, CAKE.

• The U.S. is 49th in the world in literacy
• The U.S. ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy
• 20% of Americans think that the sun orbits the Earth
• American businesses spend $30 billion yearly on remedial training
• Due to cuts by Congress, the National Science Foundation will issue less than 1,000 grants this year
• The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. 37th in overall health performance and 54th in the fairness of health care, even though the U.S. spends more money per capita for health care than any other nation in the world...hmmm...
• The U.S. and South Africa are the only two countries that don't provide health care for all of their citizens
• Lack of health insurance is responsible for 18,000 unecessary deaths a year
• Mexico is the only country after the U.S. that ranks the highest in childhood poverty
• The U.S. ranks 41st in the world in infant mortality
• Women are 70% more likely to die in childbirth in the U.S. than in Europe
• The leading cause of death to pregnant women in the U.S. is murder
• Americans work longer hours and take less vacation time, but is still ranked last in total compensation to its workforce
• In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, all but one were European
• The U.S. has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the past decade
• U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004
• In the next ten years, Brazil will surpass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer
• 79,279,000 eligible voters didn't show up to the polls last November. If this many Iraqis don't show up for their election, no country in the world would think that election was legitimate.
• Americans spend more money on gambling than movies, videos, DVD's, music, and books combined
• Nearly one out of four Americans believe that using violence to get what they want is acceptable
• 43% of Americans believe that torture is sometimes justified
• Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data is available