THE DON JONES
INDEX… |
GAINS
POSTED in GREEN LOSSES
POSTED in RED |
|
8/28/17… 15.667.47 8/21/17… 15.680.37 6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
|
(THE DOW JONES INDEX: 8/28/17… 21,813.67; 8/21/17… 21,674.51; 6/27/13… 15,000.00)
LESSON for August 28, 2017 – LOVING LIFE more
than DEATH!
Our next Lesson will be a
little late, coming, as it does, on the week between Labor Day and the
sixteenth anniversary of 9-1-1.
Alongside the Franklin Files,
those categories most useful (to Americans, at least) in differentiating
pleasant versus unpleasant nations are those ideals expounded by slaveholder
Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, asserting that all men
(not women or coloured people) should be entitled to
“life”, “liberty” and the “pursuit of happiness” (if not necessarily happiness
itself).
So – we turn to
life. Where does one go to experience
the full measure of life… not necessarily simply its Expectancy, but along with
other qualities that may advance or hinder it?
Life expectancy is, of
course, important (as it was also considered in Mr. Franklin’s “healthy”
considerations). Were expectancy alone
the sole criteria for this Lesson, the gold medal would have to go to the Japanese,
who live longer than any other men or women on the planet. But do they live well? And do their lifestyles advance the
habitability of their nation and their world?
Let’s see.
The Lesson might be
especially appropriate in that the zombie Hurricane Harvey, which was thought
to have played itself out in the mountains of Mexico, turned back into the Gulf
and regained strength as a Category 4 hurricane. Such strong storms often reap a terrible
toll.
How terrible?
“On September
8, 1900,” according to History.com, “a Category 4 hurricane ripped through
Galveston, Texas, killing an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people. At the time of
the 1900 hurricane, Galveston, nicknamed the Oleander City, was filled with
vacationers. Sophisticated weather forecasting technology didn’t exist at the
time, but the U.S. Weather Bureau issued warnings telling people to move to
higher ground. However, these advisories were ignored by many vacationers and
residents alike. A 15-foot storm surge flooded the city, which was then situated
at less than 9 feet above sea level, and numerous homes and buildings were
destroyed. The hurricane remains the worst weather-related disaster in U.S.
history in terms of loss of life.”
That was only
because the hurricane which destroyed the town of Indianola, Texas, fourteen
years earlier, struck at a less populated time (and also followed an
unmeasured, possibly stronger storm that hit the town in 1875, killing 400. Many of Indianola's residents relocated farther
inland after the storm. Five weeks later, in September 1886, another hurricane
hit the Texas coast between Brownsville and Corpus Christi. Indianola was again
flooded by rainwater and storm surge from Matagorda Bay. The remaining
residents were evacuated. Following this storm the post office at Indianola was
shut down, marking the official abandonment of the town. The old town's ruins
sit just offshore under 15 feet of water in Matagorda Bay.
Says History.com…
“The storm
ended the rivalry between Galveston and Indianola as the chief port of Texas.
With the abandonment of Indianola and the unwillingness of the former residents
to rebuild close to shore, Galveston became the most important Texan port until
the 1900 Galveston Hurricane led to the rise of Houston as a major port.”
So, while we ponder the
potential loss of life in Houston, here are our categories – together with
their winners… and losers…
LIFE EXPECTANCY
As mentioned, Japan’s
83.7 years places it atop the rankings.
As is to be expected, most of the leaders come from what we consider to
be the “developed” countries of the world, where adequate quantities of the
other categories are available.
The United States ranked
31st. Factors that experts
consider to be responsible for the lower rankings include diet, drug and
alcohol use, gun violence and, despite the relatively clean air (in most
places) potential carcinogens.
CLIMATE CHANGE (as ranked by CCIP,
the Climate Change Performance Index)
The CCPI ranks countries
according to their emissions, efficiency, development
of emissions, renewable energy and climate policy. One of the more self-righteous and scolding
bureaucracies we have consulted, their mission statement begins…
“While the positions 1-3
were not awarded, because 'no country is doing enough to prevent dangerous
climate change' we have listed countries from 1-58 for ease of reading. A
country's score is shown in brackets.”
It must be re-asserted
that some of the data used is old. Old!
Most assuredly, the listing were compiled before the present
administration gave the boot to the Paris Climate Accords, joining a chaotic
Syria and an even more self-righteous Nicaragua. Nonetheless, we also ranked 31st. The proper and conservationist Danes win this
category… the United Kingdom finishing a rather surprising second given London’s
coal and steel history as gave it the nickname “The Smoke” back in the
day. So, things do change.
FOOD SECURITY
The Global Food Security
Index, sponsored by DuPont, “considers the core issues of affordability,
availability, and quality across a set of 113 countries. The index is a dynamic
quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model, constructed from 28 unique
indicators, that measures these drivers of food security across both developing
and developed countries.”
“This index is the first
to examine food security comprehensively across the three internationally
established dimensions. Moreover, the study looks beyond hunger to the
underlying factors affecting food insecurity. To increase the ongoing relevance
of the study, the index will employ a quarterly adjustment factor for food
price fluctuations to examine the risk countries face throughout the course of
the year.”
OK – what did they
discover?
We’re Number One!
That’s right, America is
the most food-secure nation on the planet.
(There might be some misanthropic doctors who would say that we have too
much food security, but let’s brush these aside for the moment as we wallow and
gloat.)
Because…
WATER STRESS
Of
particular interest this week, “water is the
basic necessity of mankind” states the
World Resources Institute (WRI). To assess the water situation in 167 nations
by 2040, the World Resources Institute ranked and scored the future
water-stress in these countries. WRI gave the nations a score between 0 and 5.
While 5 was the greatest level of water risk, 0 was the least.
“It is needed for
every activity whether it is in agriculture, commercial purposes or domestic
consumption. However, the population across the globe is increasing at a fast
pace and the stress on water resources has already begun to show. In fact, in
some nations water has almost become a luxury and it is estimated that the next
few years will see a rise in the demand for water. Further, people are
migrating to cities in search of better opportunities and this will further
strain water resources. So, what will be the situation in 2040?
“According to the data, the
situation is dire in 33 countries. These countries, which have scores of 4 and
5, will face extremely high water-stress by 2040. Domestic users, businesses,
as well as agricultural farms will face much more scarcity than what they are
facing in the current times.”
But, as you can see from the
data, the WRI primarily considered drought to be the overriding factor in water
stress. Flooding is noted in other WRI
reports, but even a 500 (or 800) year flood is an anomaly, here and gone. Katrina was twelve years ago. Who remembers that Galveston flood of 1900
which killed between five and seven thousand?
Yet there are places, not only worldwide but in America,
that would like nothing so much as to have some of that Texas water.
Who has enough water? The tropical oil sheikhdom of Brunei, that’s
who… the island paradise of Fiji, the kingdom of Bhutan high in the glacial
Himalayas and a few otherwise unlifely spots in the
African rainforest. America?
121st…
Not so good! If there was only a way to capture the water
from our oversaturated locations and transport it to the dry spots (like
Arizona, Vegas and… sooner than we might wish… Los Angeles). Some, you know, infrastructure?
INFANT MORTALITY
In order to keep our data
under control, we counted only those countries that posted results in at least
4 of the 7 categories and have been recognized as discrete and self-governing
civilizations (as opposed to the outlier provinces of larger folks, like Hong
Kong and Macau). Consequently, the
leader of this pack… the tiny gambling mecca of Monaco… did not make the cut,
moving the Japanese up to the top spot.
The United States also
did poorly here, relative to the rest of the developed world… 57th.
DOCTORS
Another micro-state, San
Marino, has such an outstanding number of physicians, it’s a wonder that
anybody else is left to do any other jobs.
Monaco finished third in this category and Number Two… much to the shame
and disgrace of the free-market world… is Cuba.
Perhaps, after 2016, Havana will become a destination spot again… not
for its casinos, but for medical tourism.
America did a little better here, 52nd.
HOMICIDES
Compiler Theodora.com states:
“Intentional homicide is defined as unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a
person by another person. Where only estimates were available, we used the
highest UN estimate in the ranking table. Countries and regions are ranked
highest to lowest score.”
The United States
finished almost in the middle… 82nd in the world, better than such wild west places as South Africa and El Salvador, but far
behind the law-abiding (or sword-wielding) Japanese.
Japan, finishing first in
two of the seven categories and a virtual winner in another, should have been
deemed the most “lifey” nation on earth, but its
large population and island status renders its food and water situation rather
dicey (not to mention the North Koreans and their missiles). So, they did not win. Who did?
Here's the results…
|
Country |
Avg. |
Life Expectancy |
Climate Change |
Food Security |
Water Stress |
Infant Mortality (Per
C.I.A.) |
Doctors/1,000 (Nationmaster) |
Homicides/1,000
(Theodora.com) |
||||||||||||||
|
|
Yrs. |
Rank |
Score |
Rank |
Score |
Rank |
Score |
Rank |
Toll |
Rank |
Ratio |
Rank |
Ratio |
Rank |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
1 |
Iceland |
11.3 |
82.7 |
7 |
57.25 |
24 |
0.00 |
8 |
2.10 |
3 |
3.62 |
16 |
1.0 |
10 |
|||||||||
2 |
Norway |
22 |
81.8 |
15 |
54.65 |
33 |
81.0 |
12 |
0.51 |
51 |
2.50 |
5 |
3.1 |
t34 |
0.8 |
4 |
|||||||
3 |
Malta |
23.2 |
81.7 |
16 |
61.82 |
12 |
3.50 |
23 |
3.18 |
32 |
1.7 |
33 |
|||||||||||
4 |
Denmark |
25.6 |
80.6 |
27 |
71.19 |
1 |
80.0 |
t14 |
0.47 |
49 |
4.00 |
33 |
2.9 |
40 |
1.1 |
15 |
|||||||
5 |
France |
26.6 |
82.4 |
9 |
65.97 |
5 |
82.5 |
t6 |
2.28 |
96 |
3.30 |
14 |
3.37 |
25 |
1.6 |
31 |
|||||||
6 |
Germany |
27 |
81.0 |
24 |
58.39 |
19 |
82.5 |
t6 |
1.70 |
88 |
3.40 |
21 |
3.4 |
t23 |
1.0 |
8 |
|||||||
7 |
Sweden |
27.1 |
82.4 |
10 |
69.91 |
3 |
81.3 |
10 |
1.53 |
82 |
2.60 |
8 |
3.3 |
t26 |
2.4 |
51 |
|||||||
8 |
Ireland |
28.9 |
81.4 |
19 |
62.65 |
9 |
84.3 |
2 |
1.75 |
87 |
3.70 |
28 |
2.79 |
41 |
1.1 |
16 |
|||||||
9 |
Bermuda |
29 |
81.3 |
T26 |
2.50 |
7 |
1.77 |
69 |
1.1 |
14 |
|||||||||||||
10 |
Italy |
29.7 |
82.7 |
6 |
62.98 |
8 |
75.9 |
t22 |
3.49 |
129 |
3.30 |
15 |
4.2 |
8 |
1.2 |
20 |
|||||||
11 |
Switzerland |
30.7 |
83.4 |
2 |
62.09 |
11 |
80.9 |
13 |
1.13 |
75 |
3.60 |
27 |
3.6 |
17 |
2.9 |
60 |
|||||||
12 |
Netherlands |
32 |
81.9 |
14 |
54.84 |
32 |
82.6 |
t4 |
1.86 |
91 |
3.60 |
24 |
3.1 |
t34 |
1.4 |
25 |
|||||||
13 |
Belgium |
32.2 |
81.1 |
23 |
68.73 |
4 |
77.4 |
21 |
3.59 |
132 |
3.40 |
19 |
3.9 |
12 |
2.1 |
42 |
|||||||
14 |
Brunei |
32.4 |
77.7 |
39 |
0.00 |
1 |
9.90 |
88 |
1.01 |
111 |
1.4 |
23 |
|||||||||||
15 |
New
Zealand |
33.1 |
81.6 |
17 |
52.41 |
39 |
81.1 |
11 |
0.62 |
58 |
4.50 |
43 |
2.2 |
t55 |
1.5 |
29 |
|||||||
16 |
Japan |
35 |
83.7 |
1 |
37.23 |
55 |
75.9 |
t22 |
2.32 |
101 |
2.00 |
2 |
2 |
63 |
0.5 |
1 |
|||||||
17 |
Czech Republic |
35.3 |
78.8 |
33 |
57.03 |
26 |
73.9 |
25 |
1.60 |
85 |
2.60 |
9 |
3.5 |
22 |
2.2 |
47 |
|||||||
18 |
Finland |
35.4 |
81.1 |
22 |
58.27 |
20 |
78.9 |
t17 |
1.86 |
80 |
2.50 |
6 |
2.6 |
46 |
2.8 |
57 |
|||||||
19 |
Austria |
36.1 |
81.5 |
18 |
50.69 |
42 |
79.3 |
16 |
0.43 |
44 |
3.40 |
17 |
3.4 |
t23 |
0.8 |
3 |
|||||||
20 |
United
Kingdom |
37.1 |
81.2 |
20 |
70.13 |
2 |
81.9 |
t8 |
2.58 |
107 |
4.30 |
36 |
2.2 |
t55 |
1.6 |
32 |
|||||||
21 |
Slovenia |
37.2 |
80.8 |
26 |
56.87 |
28 |
|
|
0.35 |
39 |
4.00 |
32 |
2.25 |
53 |
2.1 |
45 |
|||||||
22 |
Cyprus |
39 |
80.5 |
29 |
65.12 |
6 |
8.10 |
73 |
2.34 |
51 |
1.8 |
36 |
|||||||||||
23 |
Portugal |
39.6 |
81.1 |
21 |
59.52 |
16 |
80.0 |
t14 |
3.05 |
118 |
4.40 |
41 |
3.3 |
t26 |
1.8 |
38 |
|||||||
24 |
Luxembourg |
40.5 |
82.0 |
13 |
62.47 |
10 |
2.82 |
114 |
3.40 |
16 |
2.7 |
43 |
1.1 |
17 |
|||||||||
25 |
Greece |
40.6 |
81.0 |
25 |
55.06 |
30 |
71.5 |
31 |
3.77 |
137 |
4.60 |
46 |
4.4 |
6 |
1.0 |
9 |
|||||||
26 |
Canada |
41.1 |
82.2 |
12 |
38.74 |
53 |
81.9 |
t8 |
1.01 |
71 |
4.60 |
47 |
2.1 |
57 |
2.0 |
40 |
|||||||
27 |
Spain |
42.6 |
82.8 |
5 |
|
|
|
|
0.00 |
138 |
3.30 |
13 |
3.2 |
t30 |
1.4 |
27 |
|||||||
28 |
Hungary |
43.6 |
75.9 |
57 |
60.76 |
14 |
69.3 |
34 |
0.56 |
53 |
5.00 |
49 |
3.2 |
t30 |
2.2 |
48 |
|||||||
29 |
Slovakia |
44.4 |
76.7 |
47 |
57.83 |
23 |
67.7 |
40 |
0.74 |
67 |
5.20 |
50 |
3.1 |
t34 |
2.3 |
50 |
|||||||
30 |
Croatia |
44.5 |
78.0 |
36 |
58.43 |
18 |
0.31 |
37 |
9.50 |
85 |
2.4 |
50 |
2.0 |
41 |
|||||||||
31 |
Australia |
44.7 |
82.8 |
4 |
36.56 |
56 |
82.6 |
t4 |
3.43 |
126 |
4.30 |
38 |
2.5 |
t47 |
1.5 |
28 |
|||||||
32 |
Serbia |
45.7 |
75.6 |
60 |
|
|
59.4 |
52 |
0.74 |
66 |
5.90 |
58 |
2.06 |
t58 |
1.4 |
26 |
|||||||
33 |
Singapore |
45.7 |
83.1 |
3 |
42.81 |
52 |
83.9 |
3 |
5.00 |
155 |
2.40 |
4 |
1.4 |
t81 |
1.3 |
22 |
|||||||
34 |
Israel |
47.8 |
82.5 |
8 |
|
|
78.9 |
t17 |
4.97 |
155 |
3.50 |
22 |
3.82 |
13 |
4.7 |
72 |
|||||||
35 |
Korea,
S. |
47.9 |
82.3 |
11 |
37.64 |
54 |
73.3 |
28 |
2.63 |
109 |
3.00 |
11 |
5.81 |
73 |
2.2 |
49 |
|||||||
36 |
Taiwan |
49 |
80.1 |
T30 |
45.45 |
49 |
|
|
1.91 |
93 |
4.40 |
40 |
|
|
|
|
|||||||
37 |
Venezuela |
49.2 |
74.1 |
85 |
|
|
56.9 |
t60 |
1.97 |
95 |
12.50 |
110 |
1.94 |
t65 |
37.0 |
180 |
|||||||
38 |
Bosnia/Herzeg. |
50.8 |
77.4 |
42 |
0.29 |
35 |
5.60 |
56 |
1.34 |
t86 |
1.9 |
39 |
|||||||||||
39 |
Uruguay |
52.7 |
77.0 |
44 |
|
|
68.4 |
36 |
0.65 |
61 |
8.50 |
76 |
3.65 |
15 |
6.0 |
84 |
|||||||
40 |
United
States |
53.6 |
79.3 |
31 |
54.91 |
31 |
86.6 |
1 |
3.16 |
121 |
5.80 |
57 |
2.3 |
52 |
5.9 |
82 |
|||||||
41 |
Qatar |
55 |
78.2 |
35 |
|
|
77.5 |
20 |
5.00 |
155 |
6.20 |
61 |
2.22 |
54 |
0.8 |
5 |
|||||||
42 |
Cuba |
55.6 |
79.1 |
32 |
2.86 |
116 |
4.50 |
45 |
5.91 |
2 |
6.0 |
83 |
|||||||||||
43 |
Bulgaria |
58 |
74.5 |
81 |
53.85 |
34 |
60.6 |
50 |
1.59 |
84 |
8.50 |
77 |
3.56 |
19 |
3.1 |
61 |
|||||||
44 |
Latvia |
58 |
74.6 |
79 |
61.38 |
13 |
|
|
0.92 |
59 |
5.30 |
53 |
3.01 |
t37 |
10.2 |
108 |
|||||||
45 |
Romania |
60.3 |
75.0 |
67 |
60.39 |
15 |
65.5 |
t42 |
1.28 |
78 |
9.60 |
86 |
1.9 |
67 |
3.3 |
65 |
|||||||
46 |
Estonia |
61.2 |
77.6 |
40 |
47.24 |
48 |
|
|
2.91 |
117 |
3.80 |
29 |
3.16 |
33 |
8.9 |
100 |
|||||||
47 |
Belarus |
61.7 |
72.3 |
98 |
51.18 |
41 |
63.1 |
46 |
1.13 |
76 |
3.60 |
26 |
4.55 |
5 |
10.2 |
107 |
|||||||
48 |
United
Arab Emirates |
64.3 |
77.1 |
43 |
|
|
71.8 |
30 |
5.00 |
155 |
10.30 |
94 |
2.02 |
62 |
0.7 |
2 |
|||||||
49 |
Montenegro |
65 |
76.1 |
53 |
|
|
0.73 |
65 |
4.30 |
T36 |
3.6 |
68 |
|||||||||||
50 |
Panama |
65 |
77.8 |
37 |
|
|
64.4 |
44 |
0.00 |
19 |
10.10 |
91 |
1.5 |
t78 |
13.4 |
121 |
|||||||
51 |
Costa
Rica |
66.2 |
79.6 |
30 |
68.3 |
t37 |
1.04 |
74 |
8.30 |
75 |
1.32 |
t88 |
7.3 |
93 |
|||||||||
52 |
Lithuania |
66.7 |
73.6 |
89 |
|
|
2.30 |
92 |
3.80 |
31 |
3.97 |
11 |
10.3 |
110 |
|||||||||
53 |
Botswana |
67.7 |
65.7 |
138 |
57.8 |
54 |
2.51 |
106 |
8.60 |
81 |
0.4 |
140 |
21.5 |
158 |
|||||||||
54 |
Kuwait |
70 |
74.7 |
76 |
73.5 |
27 |
5.00 |
155 |
7.10 |
66 |
1.53 |
75 |
1.4 |
24 |
|||||||||
55 |
Bahrain |
72.3 |
76.9 |
45 |
70.1 |
33 |
5.00 |
155 |
9.20 |
83 |
1.09 |
t105 |
1.1 |
13 |
|||||||||
56 |
Chile |
72.3 |
80.5 |
28 |
74.4 |
24 |
3.72 |
134 |
6.70 |
64 |
1.09 |
t105 |
5.5 |
79 |
|||||||||
57 |
Ukraine |
73.4 |
71.3 |
104 |
49.81 |
43 |
55.2 |
63 |
2.82 |
115 |
8.00 |
72 |
2.95 |
39 |
12.0 |
118 |
|||||||
58 |
Poland |
74.7 |
77.5 |
41 |
56.09 |
29 |
72.4 |
29 |
1.78 |
89 |
4.50 |
44 |
2.5 |
t47 |
1.7 |
34 |
|||||||
59 |
Lebanon |
75 |
74.9 |
72 |
4.97 |
152 |
7.60 |
69 |
3.25 |
29 |
2.5 |
53 |
|||||||||||
60 |
Russia |
76.4 |
70.5 |
110 |
44.34 |
50 |
62.3 |
48 |
1.60 |
86 |
6.90 |
65 |
4.25 |
7 |
29.7 |
169 |
|||||||
61 |
Mexico |
77 |
76.7 |
46 |
57.04 |
25 |
68.1 |
39 |
3.76 |
135 |
11.90 |
104 |
1.5 |
t78 |
11.3 |
112 |
|||||||
62 |
Oman |
79.5 |
76.6 |
48 |
|
|
73.6 |
26 |
4.99 |
155 |
13.20 |
116 |
1.32 |
t88 |
2.1 |
44 |
|||||||
63 |
Bolivia |
79.8 |
70.7 |
108 |
51.6 |
70 |
0.41 |
42 |
36.40 |
171 |
1.22 |
95 |
5.3 |
75 |
|||||||||
64 |
Egypt |
80 |
70.9 |
107 |
56.96 |
27 |
57.1 |
t57 |
1.36 |
79 |
19.70 |
141 |
0.54 |
128 |
1.3 |
21 |
|||||||
65 |
Fiji |
80.2 |
69.9 |
113 |
|
|
0.00 |
1 |
9.70 |
87 |
0.34 |
t144 |
2.8 |
56 |
|||||||||
66 |
Georgia |
80.2 |
74.4 |
82 |
|
|
|
|
2.75 |
98 |
15.60 |
126 |
4.09 |
10 |
6.2 |
85 |
|||||||
67 |
Argentina |
81.9 |
76.3 |
50 |
48.34 |
45 |
68.3 |
t37 |
2.60 |
108 |
10.10 |
92 |
3.01 |
161 |
5.5 |
78 |
|||||||
68 |
Saint
Lucia |
82 |
75.2 |
66 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
11.20 |
101 |
5.17 |
4 |
21.3 |
157 |
|||||||
69 |
Mauritius |
82.5 |
74.6 |
78 |
|
|
|
|
10.00 |
90 |
1.06 |
108 |
2.7 |
54 |
|||||||||
70 |
Brazil |
82.6 |
75.0 |
68 |
51.90 |
40 |
67.6 |
41 |
0.93 |
68 |
18.00 |
132 |
2.06 |
t58 |
30.8 |
171 |
|||||||
71 |