[Cyber Liberty]

I’ve never been a big fan of using life expectancy as a measure against the cost of health care. Life expectancy is a single outcome composed of a whole slew of contributing variables.

[captbarney]

eliminate black homicide rates and watch the stats change

[Alberta's Child]

That's an excellent point. Homogenized populations also seem to grade out well in this regard.

Look how high Japan is on that graph, for example. I'd venture to guess that on a per-capita basis, Japanese culture has dramatically lower incidences of almost any social pathology compared to any other industrialized nation.

I don't know if this is still the case, but I remember reading some years ago that the phrase "crack baby" can't even be translated into Japanese.