[Red_Tarsius]

Because the US is the de-facto leader of the Free World, the wealthiest country in the Western hemisphere and the winner of the Cold War. Heavy Lies the Crown. Especially when it's about fighting the deadliest infectious disease known to man.

[ivewonyoung]

Country yes but govt no.

Just the interest on the US debt is almost a trillion dollars a year now which is 3% of GDP and the debt is ~35 trillion. Deficit spending is higher than federal taxes on the paycheck, which means you're basically paying double of what your paycheck shows.

Meanwhile Norway's sovereign wealth fund has $1.75 trillion dollars.

[epoxia]

Norway and Singapore are petro-states. Alaska and Texas (to a much smaller degree) have wealth funds off of resources. Whether they're fiscally responsible with that is up to the state.

[c_o_n_v_e_x]

Labelling Singapore as a petro-state is a stretch. Collecting taxes from refining is a very different thing than reaping the benefits of royalties from oil production.

[danielfoster]

True point, but I question how many people remember the Cold War. It’s arguably no longer relevant.

[jjtheblunt]

> the deadliest infectious disease known to man

where did you get that?

it seems like Ebola Zaire, Marburg, and sundry other diseases are saying "hold my beer".

[mplanchard]

TB is vastly underestimated here in the US where we have largely eliminated it, but it is indeed the deadliest infectious disease known to man. It killed 1.25 million people in 2023.

https://www.pih.org/article/tb-deadliest-infectious-disease-...

https://www.who.int/news/item/29-10-2024-tuberculosis-resurg...

[StackRanker3000]

This is nitpicking, but I guess which disease bears the title depends on how you define it. I remember seeing some estimate that malaria has killed ~40% of all humans that have ever lived.

[yostrovs]

Rabies has a nearly 100% kill rate. It's just rare that someone does get infected.

[jjtheblunt]

good data; thanks.

i realize "deadliest" could be evaluated both as "least curable" and "most killed", which are definitely different things.