Child Poverty Data Charts Final: Fill & Download for Free

I don’t know how you define “human rights,” but as far as we Chinese are concerned, we’d like to put our “right to life” above all other “human rights,” only when you, he/she, I and everyone else who are alive can enjoy the other human rights including freedom of speech, dignity, equality, etc.(In Pictures: China’s poverty alleviation, Children of relocated families attend a kindergarten class in Chengbei Gang'en community, in Yuexi county. People are concerned that their language and culture could be under threat as the local schools teach in Mandarin only. [Roman Pilipey/EPA])And we can see from the UN website, Human Rights,“What Are Human Rights?Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.”It also put the “right to life” as the first right. It’s really not difficult to understand.So, first, the latest example, the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese government indeed has put its people’s life above all the other matters, so it basically controlled the pandemic within 3–4 months, at whatever prices it could take. The casualties, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics, as of today (Oct. 31, 2020), are 91,306 confirmed cases, 4,739 deaths.Also, the Chinese poverty reduction endeavor, according to CGTN’s Four charts tell you China’s achievements in poverty alleviation, as of the end of 2017,“As shown in the chart, China has brought 740 million rural people, nearly the combined population of the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom, out of poverty from 1978 to 2017, almost 19 million each year.With the poverty incidence decreasing to 3.1 percent at the end of 2017, this indicator dropped 94.4 percentage points during the same period with an average annual decrease of 2.4 percentage points.”The the campaign has continued in the past three years, 2018, 2019, and this year, with more precisely measures taken under the “targeted poverty reduction” policy.China’s extreme poverty rate to fall below 1% in 2018: World Bank,Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has lifted its villagers out of poverty by developing cultural industry. Such efforts include building cultural bases, staging art exhibition, setting up experience houses and others. (Photo by People’s Daily Online)“China is expected to continue its strong progress toward eliminating extreme poverty, the World Bank said in its latest report, projecting its extreme poverty rate to fall below one percent in 2018, based on the international poverty line of purchasing power parity (PPP) US$1.90 per day.”China to lift another 10 million people out of poverty in 2019“China will continue to work vigorously to reduce poverty and lift no less than 10 million people out of poverty in 2019, to lay a solid foundation for winning the battle against poverty, the State Council’s executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Feb 11.”China Expected to Have Lifted Over 10m out of Poverty in 2019“China is expected to have lifted over 10 million people out of poverty in 2019, a senior official said Sunday, as part of a three-year plan to eradicate poverty completely by 2020.‘More than 95 percent of China's poor population is expected to shake off poverty and over 90 percent of poor counties are expected to be removed from the poverty list by the end of this year,’ the Director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development Liu Yongfu said.”China endeavors to eradicate poverty in final 52 impoverished counties by end of 2020“China's three key present poverty eradication goals consist of eliminating all instances of absolute poverty by the end of 2020, consolidating results, and ensuring that people who have gotten out of poverty do not fall back into it. Fifty-two counties in seven provinces and regions and 1,113 villages need to emerge from poverty in the next six months in order for the nation to stay on schedule with its poverty reduction work. They are mostly located in extremely impoverished regions in the western part of the country and represent some of the most difficult aspects of poverty alleviation.China has been mobilizing all resources necessary to win the battle against poverty and ensure that poverty elimination objectives are met as part of the development of a moderately and comprehensively prosperous society.”A remote village reflects China’s achievements in poverty alleviation (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1198258.shtml)(Qiu Fengqin, an 83-year-old Yuanxin villager, expresses happiness with her current life Photo: Li Hao/GT)“Despite the adverse impact caused by COVID-19, China has steadily pushed ahead with efforts to fight poverty in the first half of the year. A total of 2.85 million people in 52 key poverty-stricken counties have returned to work, and 22 provincial-level regions in central and west China have relocated around 4.79 million poor people through creating public welfare jobs, showed data from the office.”Graphics: Ending China's poverty by 2020“If China achieves its 2020 goal, it would be 10 years ahead of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals' target of ending global poverty by 2030. China was also the first developing country to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of reducing the population living in poverty by half ahead of the 2015 deadline.”And, China’s primary health care system and achievements, http://en.nhc.gov.cn/2019-07/17/c_75509.htm,“The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued a new guideline to implement the country's Healthy China initiative and promote people's health.With a focus on disease prevention and health promotion, the guideline proposed 15 special campaigns to "intervene in health influencing factors, protect full-life-cycle health and prevent and control major diseases."An action plan for 2019-2030 devised by a newly-established State Council special committee was also made public Monday, specifying the objectives and tasks of each campaign, as well as the responsibilities of different actors in the campaigns.Major health concerns in society, including psychological health, student myopia, child obesity and cancer, will be covered by the campaigns.”China's healthcare sector promising for 2020 and beyond(Visitors pass the WeDoctor booth during the Flex Future Life Expo 2019 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo by Li Zhong/For China Daily])“Per capita healthcare spending in China has risen from $42 in 2000 to $398 in 2016, according to World Bank statistics. However it has simultaneously remained comparatively low in relation to GDP per capita, which is considerably small at 4.9 percent, compared to the US at 17 percent in 2017, for example.China has passed Japan in total healthcare spending in 2016 with $574 billion compared to Japan's $469 billion and passed the US in hospital beds per 1,000 persons, with 3.8 for China and only 2.9 in the US according to OECD data. Compared with 2.75 in 2011, China is seeing some of the fastest growth in this category, putting it ahead of countries such as Norway, Canada and the UK. This is in part due to Chinese government policies such as increased funding for hospitals in recent years.The numbers of doctors per 1,000 inhabitants has also been continuously rising in China since 2002, from 1.13 to 2.01 in 2017, according to OECD health data, putting it above the East Asia and Pacific average. A similar development is seen in the number of nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, with 1 in 2004 rising to 2.7 in 2017.The maternal mortality rate is equally impressive for China, having plunged from 97 per 100,000 births in 1990 to only 27 in 2015 according to the World Bank.Life expectancy has also continuously risen in China. According to statistics for the United Nations World Population Prospects, the current life expectancy for China in 2019 is 76.79 years, a 0.22 percent increase from 2018, putting it significantly higher than the world average life expectancy of about 72 years. The UN projects a similar rate of increase for the rest of the 21st century for China.”Why can China provide 1.4 billion people with healthcare coverage?“China has rebuilt its health care system, especially for the rural area. Every person is covered by basic health insurance.In addition to covering the employed urban population, it also takes care of the urban unemployed and rural population, effectively safeguarding the health of the Chinese people.In 2017, the average life expectancy of the Chinese people reached 76.4, rising to the 40th place globally to become one of the fastest-ascending countries.”A country which has not engaged in any wars for more than 30 years,Did not bomb any other lands to cause humanitarian crises,Did not topple legitimate leaders in other sovereign nations,Did not assassinate leaders of other nations with drones and missiles,Does not sanction any other nations just for sake of its own national interest but endangering other people’s livelihoods and even lives,Does not deploy military bases and stationed troops across the world,But focuses on controlling the pandemic and putting its own people’s lives on top of other issues,Lifting millions and millions of its people out of poverty and providing a brighter and better future for its people,Improving its medical care system continuously and providing a better and full medical coverage for its people,Promising to provide available and affordable vaccines for people across the world, especially for those from underdeveloped and developing nations,Providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), medical equipment to most of the world during the pandemic to save their people, especially to protect their medical staff,………Why can’t such a country have a seat in the U.N. Human Rights Council?If China can’t, who can then?

Unfair trade policies between Africa and western countries ( EU and US).Unfair Trade deals between Africa and the West.The days of fair trade between Africa and other continents are long gone.If I was in charge of AU trade deals, I would lock our markets, trade with one another among ourselves, until we are economically strong enough to compete with the European Union, and the US.Home | African UnionThe fair trade deals we have today put African farmers out of business.They do not help with large trade deficits. We import more than we export.Some African countries prefer to buy stuff from Europe instead of buying from their African counterparts. Why do we need to import tomatoes from France? Absolutely, worshipping with the white man. EU and US subsidies to their farmers hurt our farmers. Then, we complain when we go hungry.Impose tariffs to selected goods and services coming to African markets. Starting with agricultural and farming produce that we already produce here at home.Why impose tariffs?Europeans and Americans keep pushing for fair trade fantasies. Africans need to trade with one another before they can open up their markets. Especially for goods and services we can produce at home.When European governments continue to subsdize their farmers and dump all their produces on the African markets, putting our African farmers out of business in a few years. Who really benefits? EU and US.EU agriculture policy 'still hurting farmers in developing countries' | Mark Tran ( The Guardian, 11 October, 2011).The desperate plight of Africa's cotton farmers ( 14 November 2010, Cotton Farmers in Mali).When a developed country like the US impose sanctions on a developping country like Rwanda over used clothes imports. Who benefits?The US has another trade spat going on — and it's over old clothesRwanda, US eye trade war over $1 billion used clothing marketUntil Africa is competitive enough to go head to head with EU and the the US. We have no choice but to work together. Close our markets to any imports ( we can produde at home), trade within ourselves, with 55 countries and 1.2 billion people).The age of free trade is long gone because African Union has been begging EU and US to stop their subsidies to their farmers, but they said NO. How is that benefitting Africa?In addition to unfair trade deals signed by mediocre African leaders decades ago, we have a multitude of other issues are well. I have a good summary below.African Hot Issues..Work In progressAid dependency and poverty mentality.Aid recycling through multinational aid project.NGOs don’t help Africans but shaming through povery porn is the only thing they are good at.The current aid model is not sustainable and it is meant to keep people in poverty.How do NGO stay in business? By making sure that poverty is rampant.How do they collect money? By marketing their needs to be the “ savior” of Africans.The damage that NGO’s have done cannot be measured in loss of monetary funds from tourism, to investment, and all.Worshipping the West ( EU and US).Prefer to trade with the West instead trading within themselves.Limited Africa Intra-trade. Too much reliance on importation rather creating local industries and companies.Lack of planning and foresight.Myopic on short-term goals instead long-term goals.Long term views are inexistent in many countries.Politicians are too focused on scoring political points every 3 to 5 years, but nothing longterm at all.Mediocre Education Systems.Colonial education system that does not encourage critical thinking.Originally designed to create civil servants in the 70’s, but has not changed and improved to adapt to current times. Designed to create lots of job seekers instead of job creators and innovators.Failure to invest heavily in post secondary education where higher institutions of learning are centers of technological research and scientific breakthroughs.Corrupt and unpatriotic leaders.Leaders who don’t care. Pursuing their own self-interests instead of their people.They are not “servants” to the people. They are the “bosses”. Lot of inefficiencies goes to taking care of the bosses.With aid, they are okay enriching themselves in exchange of lack of dignity, respect and integrity from the so-called “donors”.Failure to develop manufacturing and industry.Transforming raw materials into finished products ( Cocoa industry, oil and gas industry, minerals from gold, diamond, copper, uranium, plutonium, cobalt, and many others).Develop these industries at home. Create local jobs, pride, collect more taxes, and increase GDPs.Reliable Infrastructure ( roads, bridges, connecting cities and countries).Africans need to take charge of the narrative that they want to push out.“ Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will glorify the hunter”. Chinua Achebe, Nigerian Author and Poet.Speak for themselves instead of waiting for Westerners to speak for them.African need to tell their own stories. Refer to one of the Chinua Achebe’s greatest quotes below. Every African child needs to read his books before finishing high school.Until the lions learn to speak for themselves, their story will always glorify the hunter.Until Africans learn to tell and share their history, they will always be misrepresented.We live in a world of branding and marketing today. Africa is the most misrepresented continent in the world today. Why? Because many people around the world don’t know the real Africa besides the images of animals in the jungle, hunger, wars, etc. These narratives do not represent Africa at all. They represent Africa of 20–30 years ago. They do not represent Africa today.Religion: The mother of 50% of the problems ( Christianity).Lack of critical thinking and analysis that Religion brings with.False hope with miracle pastors who promise wealth out of nowhere.Money in exchange of blessings. All hopeless and desperate people finish off their properties in churches. Just like the migrants going to Europe in boats hoping for a better life, they do believe blessings will come out of nowhere.We need to be entrepreneurial Oriented people.Job creators instead of job seekers.Discouraging entrepreneurs ( Not failure friendly).Delayed Gratification ( YOLO mindset).Keep the educated home (Brain Drain)Healthcare (Doctors).Infrastructure ( Engineers and Scientists).Why Africa rich but Africans are poor?Didier Champion's answer to Why is Africa rich but Africans are poor?Human resource versus mineral ( oil and gas) resource.Africa is rich by mineral resources. However, those minerals are nothing if nobody put them to good use. Somebody has to dig them in form of raw materials and transform them into finished products.Whoever is transforming those resources into finished products makes the most money. They benefit the most. You can be an oil rich country all you want. However, if you don’t have refineries within your borders, you lose lots of money.Nigeria is a good example with their Oil and gas industry.DRC is an other example with their minerals.Cote d’Ivoire is a good example with their cocoa.Niger is a good example with their Uranium.The list can go on and on, but you get the idea. Rich raw materials are nothing if you don’t have a local human resource to manage them effectively and efficiently. Nigeria fuel crisis: Why is Africa's largest oil producer short of petrol?I will give you two examples.Norway ( Europe) versus Equatorial Guinea ( Africa).Norway( GDP per capita): $ 92,000 ( 2017).HDI: 0.949 ( Rank 1 out of 188 countries).Norway is rich because Norwegians have enough knowledge and expertise to transform their oil and gas resources by themselves in Norway. They sell finished products to the rest of Europe and others. The money that Norway earns come back to benefit every Norwegian citizen in the form of free healthcare, free education, and other entitlement benefits. They can afford it because they make the most money from their resources and are able to manage those funds really well on behalf of the whole population. This is why Norway has the highest human development index in the whole world. Happiest people in the world with good quality of life.Norway GDP per capita | 1960-2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar | ForecastNow, let’s look at the another similar country in Africa.Equatorial GuineaThis is the country with the highest GDP per capita in Africa. In 2008 before oil prices went down, Equatorial Guinea had their highest GDP per capita at around $40,000.00. Today, it has come down to about $30,000.00.Equatorial Guinea GDP per capita PPP | 1990-2018 | Data | Chart | CalendarGDP per capita: $ 30,000 ( 2017 World Bank report).HDI: 0.592 ( Rank, 138th).Equatorial Guinea is an example of a country that is filthy rich and has all the necessary ingrediants to be the wealthiest nations in the world. However, the missing link seems to be their government and how the management of their resources.I have published this country’s profile on my blog Africa is Home. Check it out if you are interested.Equatorial Guinea, the richest country in Africa.This country is like beautiful lady (by physical appearance ) with mediocre qualities. Content is scarce and you can barely hold an intelligent conversation.You don’t hear that much about this country because there is a significant number of people in this country who live in extreme poverty. President has been in power for 40 years. His son is the vice president who will most likely replace him after he dies . Together they own the whole country of 1.30 million people. Too much money for every citizen of Equatorial Guinea to live a happy fulfulled life.Teodorin Obiang, the vice president ( and son of the president) who really does not live in Equatorial Guinea. He just spends most of his time in Paris ( France), Malabu, CA, Monaco and other exotic locations around the world. He has apartment buldings, yatchts, and other ridiculous stuff when half of his country live in extreme poverty. BBC has published many articles about him. E Guinea president's son faces probeWhy does Mr. Obiang need a six storey masion building in Paris? I don’t know.By the numbers, Equatorial Guinea should be one of the richest countries in the whole world. In addition to oil, they also have a big ports ( by the sea) and many other natural resources. However, their resources are only benefitting a minority of people in Equatorial Guinea. The elites in this country enjoy the best of the best lifestyle you cannot think of.However, their resources are not benefitting many people. The country loses so much money by having refeneries in Spain, France, and other countries. To make matters worse their resources benefit a small portion of the population.To answer your question directly.Africa is indeed rich. Many Africans are hella rich too. The elites and the upper middle class Africans will put European’s lifestlyles to shame. However, a significant portion of Africans are desperate people who should be benefitting from their countries’ resources. The NGOs in Africa have made the elites and the middle class assume that helping the poor is not their business. They have shifted those responsibilities to non-profit organizations.This is why I advocate for stopping all of the aid to Africa. Because whatever country you look at, the rich and the middle class in those countries should be able to help those in poverty. From Nigeria, to Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and many others on this list below.Akon Lighting Africa: Why is Akon against charities?If the resources of Africa were managed well and evenly distributed across the board, no Africans would be poor. Absolutely none. Futhermore, African governments are not taking advantage of their resources to build enough knowledge, expertise, and experience to transform raw mineral resources into finished products. To make matters worse, the resources and the funds coming from those countries are only benefitting a significant portion of people. That’s why Africans are not as rich as we should be.We are not as poor as you think we are.The western media and the NGO aid machine industry portrays an image of Africa that is incomplete and not a fair representation of our lives. Like you, we have issues, but to collect more donations from you, NGOs have to show that Africa is dying in poverty.That is far from the truth and quite frankly it is wrong and unfair. Our tourism industry and investment take the most hit. We have many countries who are doing really well, improving their conditions, reducing corruption among other things. Countries such as Rwanda, Botswana, Senegal, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Ghana, Djibouti, and so on.See my full list at Didier Champion's answer to Which African nations have the most potential?.Photo Credit: Rwanda the Heart of AfricaI have worked with NGOs and those funds don’t make it to the poor anyway.85% of it does not make it to the beneficiairy anyway.55% goes back to the West ( middle class staff and workers of NGOs).30% goes to the politicians who get the piece of the pie.By the time, it makes it to those who needs it, the damage is already done. Corruption, low self-esteem, dehumanization through poverty porn type of images that NGO use to collect donations from the West, etc, government officials who feels liable to the West agenda in their countries instead of their people.Charities in Africa. How does Aid hurts Africans.In the end, I want to tell you that Africa has lots of potential and some countries have been growing and doing well. We still have work to do, but we are getting there. Over 90% of 55 countries are peaceful and really progressive in every sector of the economies.We are like a Lamborghini who cannot move fast because the battery is not charged up yet. Once it gets charged up, we will move faster than many of you. Just wait for it. In Rwanda, I will be driving a few of them. I am very sure my African millenial brothers and sisters will be driving theirs in their home countries too.Just wait for it. We are already coming at you. Batteries are charging and we are checking the alternators to make sure that the battery voltages will keep adding up to keep the Lambos moving.We are the first humans on this planet and there is no reason why we should be behind everybody.We will claim our spot in this world. Where we need and supposed to be.Just wait for it.We went from “Africa, the dark continent”, to “ Africa Rising”, and now “ Aspiring Africa”. We will indeed the “ the giant( powerful) Africa”.Just wait for it.We are not trading with one another within the continent as we should be. However, finally, our folks at the top seem to be getting their acts together.Once we start doing that, we will be unstoppable.55 countries alltogether, 1.2 billion people, a combined $3 trillion economy. Once we start doing that, we will indeed be unstoppable.The young millenials have already started changint the status quo. They are some of the youngest millionnaires in the world. They are involved in technology, business, music and movie industry, and other key sectors of our economy.Just wait for it. We are coming at you.Just like the Kenyan marathon runners, we will be unstoppable. We will come first, second, and third, and maybe you will follow.The Beauty of Africa: Kenyan RunnersWe are empowering our own scientists and engineers to solve various issues and problems we face in our society. instead of waiting for westerners to solve our problems in healthcare, we are doing the work by ourselves. We understand our problems way better and our methods can be efficient to reduce costs of medecines and vaccines on the continent.Ugandan wins Africa prize for bloodless malaria testBrian Gitta, a 24 year old from Uganda. Showcasing his inovation at the Royal Academy of Engineering. “Matitabu” is a swahili word for “treatment”.I would like to conclude by saying that our lives and way of life is very misrepresented, especially to the western world. We are not as less developed as you think. I don’t like labels, but for goodness sake, We went from being a dark continent to an aspiring continent in less than 15-years.I am proud to be African. I follow Africa and what is going on. I spend enough time in Africa in business, tourism, and in the equity space. If Africans work together to implement the recent signed African Trade continental Free Trade Agreement to promote business, cooperation, and collaboratin on the continent, I predict by 2030. Many people around the world are going to be moving to Africa , looking for work.This time, only we will be more hospitable that you people in the West have been to Africans. Top priority will be our people though. Those who are getting humiliated day and night in your countries. Only then, we will allow you to come work in our countries.Thanks for reading and for your attention.God bless Africa. Strong Together.Rwanda ( East-Africa)The Kigali Convention Center ( Rwanda).2. Dar-es-Salaam ( Tanzania)3. Mauritius ( Island country in the Indian Ocean)Port-Louis, Mauritius4. Morocco ( North Africa)Image source: Tangier, Morocco on the Mediterranean seaI will be visiting this wondefuk country this month. Anybody in Tangier? HMU.Morocco is a combination of Arab, African, and French cultures together in one place by the sea. It does not get any better than that. Only in Morocco.Image source: FriendlyMoroccco5. Ethiopia ( Home of the first humans to ever walk planet Earth).Image source: Addis Abbaba, the capital city of Ethiopia. Home to the African Union Headquarters.Cheers from Rwanda, my beautiful nation.A land of a thousands hills and a country of milk and honey.Ellen Degeneres in Rwanda last month ( May 2018)Photo Credit: Rwanda the Heart of AfricaFor more about Africa, check out Africa is Home and Rwanda Today.Didier Champion

It’s a book worthy topic (and I just happened to have one — Casino Healthcare), but in a word — money.We spend far more than every other industrialized country — and yet our results (for a host of reasons beyond and including healthcare) don’t suggest we get better results. To the contrary, our life expectancy is considerably lower than most of the other industrialized countries:Footnote: The data for this chart only goes up to 2014. This year (2017), our per-capita spending on just healthcare will exceed $11,000 — AND — our life expectancy has not improved. In fact, there is evidence that life expectancy in the US has declined.Here are just 5 examples (of many) on how the U.S. healthcare system is a failure:Maternal health:The ability to protect the health of mothers and babies in childbirth is a basic measure of a society’s development. Yet every year in the U.S., 700 to 900 women die from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes, and some 65,000 nearly die — by many measures, the worst record in the developed world. American women are more than three times as likely as Canadian women to die in the maternal period (defined by the Centers for Disease Control as the start of pregnancy to one year after delivery or termination), six times as likely to die as Scandinavians. In every other wealthy country, and many less affluent ones, maternal mortality rates have been falling; in Great Britain, the journal Lancet recently noted, the rate has declined so dramatically that “a man is more likely to die while his partner is pregnant than she is.” But in the U.S., maternal deaths increased from 2000 to 2014. In a recent analysis by the CDC Foundation, nearly 60 percent of such deaths were preventable. [1]Childhood poverty:While about 11.8 percent of US children live in absolute poverty (as indicated by the US poverty line), only 6.2 percent of German children do, and only 3.6 percent of Swedish children. The numbers get even worse when you define poverty like most European countries do, as living under half the median income. By that standard, 20 percent of children in the US live in poverty, compared to only about 10.3 percent in Germany or 4.9 percent in the Netherlands. [2](NB: childhood poverty is a major contributing factor to children (under 18) that are also (logically) uninsured — over 4 million in 2015. [3])Sheer waste:In 2012 the National Academy of Medicine estimated the U.S. health care system squandered $765 billion a year, more than the entire budget of the Defense Department. Dr. Mark Smith, who chaired the committee that authored the report, said the waste is “crowding out” spending on critical infrastructure needs, like better roads and public transportation. The annual waste, the report estimated, could have paid for the insurance coverage of 150 million American workers — both the employer and employee contributions. [4]ER Dental Pain:Last year, more than 2 million U.S. emergency room visits were attributed to neglected teeth — at a cost of $1.6 billion. Most ER’s have no capacity to treat the underlying causes — so patients are treated (antibiotics and pain medications) and then discharged with instructions to “see a dentist.” The reason they show up at the ER in the first place is because they can’t afford to see a dentist. [5]Pharma settlements (with the Department of Justice — mostly related to off-label marketing):I could go on, but the point is simply that we have the money and resources to provide high-quality healthcare to every American — but we just don’t. It’s not that we can’t afford to — it’s that our system has been optimized for revenue and profits — not safety and quality (let alone equality).We can change this. We should change this, but it would mean altering the revenue and profits of the status-quo — and the incumbents protecting those dollars are heavily entrenched, fortified, and well funded to prevent this from happening. Here are two final quotes that highlight this challenge — and why we don’t move to a system like our neighbors to the north.You know, when Bernie was talking about single-payer healthcare people rolled their eyes. Not because it was a bad idea, but because there’s no chance to get single-payer healthcare in a world where money dominates the influence of how politicians think about these issues. Lawrence Lessig (9/21/2016)How many businesses do you know that want to cut their revenue in half? That’s why the healthcare industry won’t change the healthcare industry. Rick Scott (politician, businessman)[1] The Last Person You’d Expect to Die in Childbirth[2] Child poverty in the US is a disgrace. Experts are embracing this simple plan to cut it.[3] Health Insurance Coverage of Children 0-18[4] What Hospitals Waste[5] Some Americans spend billions to get teeth whiter. Some wait in line to get them pulled.