[lobo221]

U.S. News has spoken: The best country in the world is — Germany.

Is the United States second? Nope, that’s Canada.

Third? Try again; that’s the United Kingdom.

The United States is ranked fourth, followed by Sweden, Australia, Japan, France, Netherlands, and Denmark.

U.S. News claimed it used 65 different metrics to measure the relative value of countries, including adventure, citizenship, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, and heritage.

Why isn’t the U.S. at the top of the list? The U.S. ranks No. 1 in power and leadership, but No. 2 in political influence, after Russia, and No. 2 in economic influence, after China. The U.S. ranked fourth in citizenship, which was measured in part using leftist memes like gender equality and progressiveness.

U.S. News lauds Germany as the best country for fostering entrepreneurship and claims it ranks high “for the power it wields and the quality of life it provides its citizens.”

Tell that to the women of Cologne.

Philip Seib, a professor of journalism and public diplomacy at the University of Southern California, told U.S. News:

There was much talk during the 20th century that that was the American century. I would call the 21st century everybody’s century. There has been a considerable leveling of the playing field. The U.S. is still by far the most powerful nation – certainly militarily there is no comparison. But I think if there was a unipolar moment that has passed.

Source

[lobo221]

Fucking bullshit if you ask me...

[kellyhound]

only things that counts for me is the quality of life.
http://www.usnews.com/news/best-coun...life-full-list

[lobo221]

No Poland in that data :-(

[SLAPAPPY]

Fuck that Antarctica is number one simply for being migrant free... although some of them uppity penguins gotta go back to where they came from!

[Bletch]

Somalia should be number one

[lobo221]

With what appears to be a politically-motivated downgrade by the S&P on January, from A to BBB+, with steady outlook, Poland's sovereign and macro risks have been pushed to the top of news flow. Meanwhile, Moody's rates Poland A2 (stable) and Fitch A. However, as noted by Euromoney country risk recent assessment, the sovereign risks turmoil that accelerated over the last few weeks have been building up for some time now.

The Euromoney Country Risk (ECR) survey shows that by the end of 2015, Poland's political risk score dropped to 20.06, "the lowest it has been since ECR launched an updated methodology in 2011". More interestingly, "Poland's political risk score has been declining - indicating increased risk - since 2011."

Worse, per ECR:

the drop in Poland's political score from 20.17 in September to 20.06 in December combined with a fall in its economic risk score from 19.38 to 19.27 over the same period, contributing to a decline in its overall score to 65.62 from 66.93. Poland, which enjoyed a ranking as the 29th safest country in the world in September, dropped four spots in rankings since the year end survey.

Here is ECR's summary of scores for Poland, including some recent moves:

It is interesting to see Poland significantly underperforming Slovakia:

Overall, given that both Slovakia and Hungary have, over recent years, adopted a series of reforms that severely undercut effectiveness of institutional checks and balances over the power of the executive, the reaction of ratings agencies and European authorities to Poland following the same route suggests growing concern and nervousness in Europe over all and any national experimentation with populist and/or non-conformist (to EU 'standards') policies.

Not being a fan of the current Polish leadership, I find myself in Poland's corner: in a democratic setting, it is people, not Eurocrats, who should decide on their future institutions.

Source

Statistics

[commondenom]

there's no way the USA could be number one....they don't even have proper fucking maternity leave there!!! that's a fucking joke!!

[twayblade]

My country beat the USA. Go Canada! I am not referring to hockey either. Ha Ha

[vipersna]

Originally Posted by twayblade ↗

My country beat the USA. Go Canada! I am not referring to hockey either. Ha Ha

Canada is America's hat.