BRATTLEBORO — Recently, our president characterized Haiti and some African nations as “shithole countries” whose people are not worthy of emigration to the United States. Yet again, another racist assault from Donald Trump.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a United Nations affiliate of the top 35 advanced democracies, the United States has:
• the highest income inequality.
• the most childhood poverty - 25 percent.
• a rank of 19th in infant mortality. According to Dr. Ashish Thakrar of Johns Hopkins Hospital, the U.S. “is the most dangerous of wealth nations to be born in.”
• the least doctors and hospital beds per capita.
• a rank of 26 out of 35 OECD nations in life expectancy.
• the most expensive medical system, comprising 17.7 percent of gross domestic product, while 33 million remain uninsured.
With Trump continuing to spread his verbal manure, we Americans should consider the nature and depth of the hole that we, the richest of nations, are in.