" They are adjusting for certain factors but not others."
Right. And their choices makes their conclusions suspicious.
" You aren't adjusting for anything"
Sure I have. I have pointed out that the overall mortality rate is no worse, and in many cases, better in the US than in other countries. And that means that Americans tend to die at a younger age. I have shown that the homicide rate, while higher in the US, is still pretty low when compared to other mortality factors. In addition, I have shown that the suicide rate in the US is much lower than it is in many countries with a higher life expectancy. The only way to get the figures to work like those posters claim is to have an accidental death rate much, much higher than it is in other countries. And there really isn't any good data to show that. There isn't any data I've been able to find that shows otherwise, but it doesn't pass the smell test to get to that point. I do know that the US had a dramatically lower traffic fatality rate than any other country up through the 1970s. And that was true regardless of how you counted it, either per 100k population or per 1 million miles driven. Given that the roads are less crowded in general, the speed limits lower and the cars larger than in many countries and we have at least the same if not better safety features, I doubt seriously that the traffic fatality rates are much higher than other countries. Certainly not the double or more that is seen in the differences in suicide rates.
So that isn't really going to change the standings much.
And, while obesity is an unquantified parameter, it also is unlikely to make a huge difference. Because many of the complications that crop up due to obesity are also ones that the US excels at in treating. So things like cardiovascular conditions, cancer and the other risk factors due to obesity tend to be exactly the ones that our medical system treats better than other countries.
Face it Tim, your arguments have been busted. |
