Hey Retro, said like a non-American, most of whom dislike American out of pure (although never admitted) jealousy.
If you want to piss on America. Go to town. Where was it this site was formed? Who invented the Internet over which it's delivered to you? Are you forming your opinions about our educational system from television? And who's the bigger dumb*sses when it comes to American television. Your folks watch it, and it isn't even home made for you. What does that say about the Aussies? Worse, are you forming your opinions from television that's intended to showcase a lack of common sense? How much of our "stupid" culture does your culture suck up? And you should be advised that the show you're talking about (and similar shows that non-Americans cite) are barely watched here.
Where do most pharmaceutical innovations come from? And we pay more than our share for them because so many countries insist on slapping price controls on them under the stupid misapprehension that the cost of a medication is simply the cost to manufacture it.
As for health care, we get a bad rap because we don't have universal health insurance; however, healthcare is provided to all. Just visit Southern California and visit emergency rooms to see how we provide health care to illegal aliens. I don't know about about Australia, but I know that our cancer survival rates are higher than in European countries with nationalized health care. I also know that many drugs routinely prescribed for cancer here are unavailable in some countries that have nationalized health care. Some of the European countries held up as examples to us have breast cancer survival rates that would be positively stone age here.
I can personally say that I have had MRI's done for routine issues (sinus infections, etc.) with absolutely no wait at all. On the other hand, we have hospitals north of me that do a cash business not only in MRI's, but also in Cat Scans for Canadian customers who cannot get them there. Other border hospitals do a cash business in surgical procedures for Canadians who must wait years for routine procedures.
As far as education goes, of the world's top 20 universities, we have 13 of them (see the Guardian). Australia hits the list with one university at #20. I guess somehow the education system that is ranked at 50th in the world produces university candidates that are the best in the world. Of the top 100 universities, we have nearly one third of them, although I'll grant that Australia has better primary education than the US.
Lastly, I'll say it again and again. People are literally dying to get into the US. There is no other engine for entrepreneurship like the US.
