Wake Up People

Some statistics on United States citizens I was able to find in about 30 minutes:
------------------------------------------------------

Health:

3.8 million people are over 300 pounds, over 400,000 people carry over 400 pounds.

The average adult female weighs an unprecedented 163 pounds.

More than half of U.S. adults are overweight
All adults (20+ years old): 97.1 million (54.9 percent)
Women (20+ years old): 46.9 million (50.7 percent)
Men (20+ years old): 50.2 million (59.4 percent)

Nearly one-quarter of U.S. adults are obese
All adults (20+ years old): 39.8 million (22.3 percent)
Women (20+ years old): 23 million (25 percent)
Men (20+ years old): 16.8 million (19.5 percent)

Less than half of U.S. adults are a healthy weight


Lazy Time:

Americans spend nine times as many minutes watching TV or movies as they do on sports, exercise and all other leisure-time physical activities combined.

On average, Americans spent 170 minutes a day watching TV and movies.

An average adult spent 29-34 hours per week of watching TV.

The average adult plays video games 7.5 hours per week


Work:

The average American worker gets an average two weeks vacation per year. Europeans get four to six weeks.

The average American worked 1,978 hours last year.

The average employed American works a 46-hour work week; 38% of the respondents in their study worked more than 50 hours per week.

Work hours are strictly regulated and the 35-hour basic week remains the standard in France.


Money:

We surpassed 1 million bankruptcies per year 7 years ago.

85% of those reaching age 65 do not have $200 in the bank.

87% retire on less than $250 per week for life.

 

As I read all these statistics I see lots of money.

 

Okay, so now I'm even more depressed.....

 

YAWWWWWWWN- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

 

How much time a week do you have to spend on da internet to be 'lazy'??!! I only spend about 70 hours on da internet, so I must not be lazy, since I never watch TV or play video games!!!

 

What's a 40 hour work week? I'm self employed, I think 80 or 90 is more normal for me.

How do these jive?

1978/50 = 39.6 hours. How is the average 46 hours?

 

All the numbers come from different sources, so there will be discrepancies.

 

So I can make up my own number on how miserable life in the US is, and you'd parrot it everywhere too?

 

If you have a more reliable number then post it.

-----------------------------------------------------

Marriage & Divorce:

The divorce rate for college graduates who married between 1990 and 1994 would end up at about 25 percent, compared to well over 50 percent for those without a four-year college degree.

This is the Census Bureau's often-cited "50%" rate, the proportion of marriages taking place right now that will eventually divorce, which has since been revised downward to roughly 43% by the National Center for Health Statistics but was moved back up to around 50% by the Census Bureau in 2002, with even more ifs ands and buts than usual. Most recently, according to the New York Times, it has been revised downward to just over 40%.

About 43 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control.

25% of adults have had at least one divorce during their lifetime.

Divorce rates among conservative Christians were significently higher than for other faith groups, and for Atheists and Agnostics.

Children living with only one parent has increased from 9% in 1960 to 29% in 2004. Of those 83% of the children live with the mother.

 

http://www.libraryspot.com/know/workweek.htm

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/trends/08/30/ilo.study/

The date on the 2nd quote was 2001, and I don't know the time of the 1st one. Either way, it's clear Americans work too much.

 

So you're advocating laying around and watching TV more.

 

Exactly.

Actually as part of the post I was waiting to see how long it would take someone to question the source of data (I read some where most people just believe statistics w/o questioning them).

I'm also hoping some will see my reason for seeming so "negative" and "critical" of my home, the United States. I feel like I'm surrounded by a country full of people that don't question anything and just follow what they're told. Now, I'm not saying that nobody questions things, but a large majority of people obviously don't.

How can anyone be motivated to go on working 40+ hours a week at a job they probably don't like just to end up retiring in debt?

 

Touche! The only problem is with this data is that if you go downtown in most parts of America, Australia etc... and look around... you'll see a lot of overweight people using credit cards to buy all kinds of junk they really don't need.

In otherwords the data seems pretty representative of whats staring you in the face every day.

 

Who's to blame?

3 days after turning 18 I recieved a check in the mail for $1,800 with a letter, saying to cash the check and by doing so they would send me a credit card with a $6,000 limit and would put the $1800 on the card.

Now I know 18 is the legal age of being an adult, but how many 18 year olds are really mature and wise enough to realise the risks involved in accepting such an offer?

How much easier is it to drive a block down the street and pick up food from Taco Bell or Wendy's instead of preparing and cooking a healthy meal yourself? The same gos for spare time... why workout and exercise when you can lay around at home and watch TV?

And the saddest part is that it seems every generation is getting worse...

 

I agree that some of us Americans have a lot of areas where we can improve. The statistics you have given just goes to show what happens to an empire once it has reached its height. Some people get fat(excuse the pun) on their success.

I'am an anomaly in the since that I or very few people I know fall under that category. I'm self employed now, so the issue of long work hours no longer matters to me. I can pick whatever hours I choose.

Technology is having bad consequences on some people. Whats even worse is how ignorant the average person is these days.

I challenge anyone in this forum to go up to someone they know or just met and ask them if they happen to know:

1. Issac Newton's three laws of motion.
2. Where Yemen is located in relation to Iraq
3. The fourth Amendment of the Constitution
4. The difference between Einstein's special theory of relativity and his general theory of relativity.

More than likely they won't know the answers to these questions. It is very sad. I will answer these questions myself.

1. Newtons first law is the law of Inertia(that an object at rest stays at rest, or an object in motion stays in motion, unless disturbed by an external force) 2(Acceleration is directly proportional to the net force, in the direction of the net force, and inversely proportional to the objects mass)3(for every action their is an equal and opposite reaction.)

2. Yemen is located to the Soutwest of Iraq, to the south of Saudi Arabia and sits right near the Red Sea and is close to Africa's east coast.

3. The fourth Amendent basically lays down laws for due process and dictates that Americans may not be subjected to unjust searches and seizures.

4. The principle difference between Einstein's special and general theory of relativity is Special Relativity shows that matter can be converted into energy and the General Theory of Relativity shows that Gravity bends light, and is a by product of matter( Planets and large bodies of mass generate their own gravitational field.)

 

The problem with your 4 questions is that they don't effect the individual in everyday life (that they notice). Is it really important to know where Yemen is? or exactly what the constitution says when George Bush breaks it on a daily basis? Those are things you can look up in a matter of minutes.

I'm talking about simple everyday things like eatting right, taking a few minutes a day to exercise and not buy new cars and widescreen TV's on credit. Probably all of us fail on at least one of these things if not all of them.

 

yeah but who cares, if people want to fat debters screw them, most people are useless anyway

 

shooot zem all!

 

Tesla---

Looking forward to your acceptance speech in Stockholm.