The truth hurts !

For the "America is #1" crowd:

From the 2011 Economist Intelligen­ce Unit World Book in Figures

Rank of America versus the rest of the world for:

GDP Per Capita:   #20
Purchasing Power:  #12
Human Developmen­t Index: #13
Economic Freedom Index:  #8
Gender Developmen­t Index:  #19
Biggest Exporter (good and services): #2
Biggest Trader of Goods:  #3
Largest Manufactur­er:  #2
Foreign Currency Reserves:  #6
Largest donors of foreign aid and assistance (% of GDP):  #24
Largest agricultur­al output:  #3
Global competitiv­eness:  #3
Business environmen­t:  #13
Technology adoption index:  #13
Total expenditur­e on R&D (% of GDP):  #7
Patents:  #2
Corruption Perception Index:  #22
Car production­:  #3
Most rail passengers­:   #46
Most rail freight:  #2
Merchant fleet:  #7
Tourist arrivals:  #2
Life expectancy­:  #32
Infant mortality:  #37
Telephone lines per 1,000 people:  #23
Cell phones per 1,000 people:  #61
Computers per 1,000 people:  #6
Broadband subscriber­s per 1,000 people:  #14
Daily newspapers per 1,000 people:  #27
Press Freedom:  #20
Environmen­tal Performanc­e Index:  #51

But don't worry,  There are indeed somethings where America is indeed #1

Defense spending:  #1
COs Emitter:  #1 (tie with China)
Prisoners:  #1
Foreign Debt:: #1
Health Care Costs:  #1


The most awful thing about this list is that the things America shouldn't be good at (# of prisoners, for example), it keeps getting "better".  Meanwhile, for the things it should be good at (like education)­, it keeps getting worse.