One learns the most interesting things reading the morning paper. In the Jan. 10 issue, we learned that the biggest problem with the U.S. tax code is its complexity (Page B6); that all Russians pay a flat 13 percent tax rate; and that the French tax for those who make more than 1 million euros per year is 75 percent (Depardieu/Putin story, Page B5).

In the same issue, we learned that U.S. health and life expectancy are worse than in other countries in general (infant mortality rate “comparable to that of sub-Saharan Africa,” teenage pregnancies “more than three times greater than the average of other countries,” obesity rampant, etc., Page A3).

We have all read the discouraging statistics comparing our students to those in other countries.

Apparently, Americans’ set ideas that higher taxes are “communistic,” that we have the “best health care system in the world,” and that our current methods of funding education and health care work for us are not based on reality!

I look forward to more in-depth analysis of these revelations so we as voters can have an objective view of what works and doesn’t work in other places, and more importantly, why or why not.