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RE: I wouldn't limit this conclusion to just pop-ups
By jajig on 9/24/2008 9:04:45 AM , Rating: 3
I'd say the general public in the US would have to be reasonably smart. It is the richest most powerful country in the world after all. Furthermore, your examples don't prove that Americans are brain dead, but they do suggest you're an emo.

By Alexstarfire on 9/24/2008 9:52:21 AM , Rating: 2
That would seem to be a logical answer, but it's not so simple.

By bandstand124 on 9/24/2008 10:04:07 AM , Rating: 4
Actually, in 2007 USA ranked the 8th richest country in the world by GDP per person. If you treat it as a trade group it comes 2nd to the EU in a lot of estimates .

I don't really know what you mean by "most powerful".

Diplomatically, the USA has lost a lot of it's influence in recent years. Ditto for political and cultural power. It most definitely would have been top dog at some point.

Maybe military power, though how do you measure that? Ability to replace munitions?, population at "fighting age"?, number of nukes?

I agree with you, however, that crap tv and magazines doesn't suggest anything. Smart people read and watch dumb stuff all the time.

By Oregonian2 on 9/24/2008 1:15:19 PM , Rating: 2
How's the ranking as just a country (not per capita, not as a "trade group", not for all those younger than 12, etc)?

RE: I wouldn't limit this conclusion to just pop-ups
By jajig on 9/24/2008 1:44:27 PM , Rating: 2
In 2007 (in millions); #1 USA - $US13 840 000, #2 - Japan $US4 384 000. The US has more than 3 times the GPD of the next richest country.

For power I was referring to the military. Nukes do level the playing field somewhat, but as far as a large, modern, well trained defence forces goes the US is the most powerful.

I would also say the US is very influential from a cultural perspective. Just about everyone in the world watches American TV and movies, so goes for music too.

By lemonadesoda on 9/25/2008 4:51:32 AM , Rating: 2
er, bigger = better, is that your formula? The simplicity of your approach is awesome.

Is Italy equally influential because we all eat pasta and pizza?

By typo101 on 9/24/2008 10:10:12 AM , Rating: 4
First of all, most Americans today were born into this rich and powerful nation you speak of, so you can't really credit them with that achievement.

Secondly, although I think current American culture does not exactly cultivate intelligent, creative, inquisitive minds, I do recognize that there is no shortage of smart people to be found in the United States. However, there is no doubt in my mind that there is an over abundance of stupidity to be found all over the world and primarily in the US.

In all fairness, I had to use firefox's spell checker several times to write this comment and less than half were due to typos. So I am not exempt from the stupid gene.

By Meinolf on 9/24/2008 10:41:30 AM , Rating: 2
It proves we are dumb we voted Bush back in for a 2nd term.

RE: I wouldn't limit this conclusion to just pop-ups
By mdogs444 on 9/24/08, Rating: -1
RE: I wouldn't limit this conclusion to just pop-ups
By ZoSo on 9/24/2008 12:21:44 PM , Rating: 2
Could have been worse. We could have given Gore his first term. Or Kerry for that matter.

Talk about naive! ,,,LMAO!

By Oregonian2 on 9/24/2008 1:11:28 PM , Rating: 2
Funny thing is that Gore's VP running mate was very close to being in Palin's place now, he made the short-list. :-)

By kampret on 9/24/2008 1:09:17 PM , Rating: 2

Have you read the news lately? This country's going down man...

