Sicker and Shorter
By Jonathan Gitlin has a post up on the sad state of healthcare in America. Not only do we predictably fall behind other industrialized countries in every conceivable category, but our lack of preventative healthcare for children, along with inadequate nutrition, has lead to the stunting of our average height. Whereas Americans used to be amongst the tallest people in the world, Europeans are now 2-6 mm taller.
When I taught Third World Politics at UK, I would cover how the lack of nutrition and medicine in childhood would stunt physical development in poor countries. Its strange that because of poverty and our ridiculous healthcare system that Europeans can now look down on us, figuratively and literally.
Not to make light of this shameful situation, but this might also explain why the Europeans are starting to kick our butt in Olympic basketball.
(crossposted at BlueGrassRoots)