America - Sliding Down The Shitter

[CapnAwesome]

Yup.  I'd have done well if I stayed.  The reasons that I'd have done well ensure that the vast majority would do very..very poorly.

I think people would be surprised at what does (and doesn't) find a place in the third world.  We certainly wouldn;t want the US to fall so far as the second world tier.  It's untenable to american culture...and arent we supposed to be making america great or some such shit?

As far as socio-economic mobility...the US has long stagnated at a level close to medieval europe, but so long as the lowest rung is still first world..folks aren't likely to notice or give a shit.  Let just one rung of society fall below first world standards and see how those assholes act.

The notion that the lowest rung of US society is first world is simply ludicrous.  Every nation on the planet has its desperately poor, living in substandard housing in unsanitary conditions, without secure food and clean water,  By way of example:



and



The first picture is a slum in America.  The second is a slum in Bangladesh.  Both look pretty goddamed third world to me.

Boru

Except in the US they do have secure food and clean water. Aside from Flint, and people were outraged at that. Meanwhile there are whole countries you can't drink tap water in. Even in Spain I was surprised to find most places you can't drink the water.

US anyone can go on food stamps, food banks etc. Poor people here have an obesity epidemic. Even though the US trails behind Western Europe in dealing with extreme poverty, there is a huge difference between extreme poverty here and in the third world. Anyone who thinks differently just hasn't been there themselves to see.

[Minimalist]

Sure, Cap'n.  Keep telling yourself that.



You know in some places the yuppie scum call the cops to move the homeless out so they don't have to be inconvenienced by seeing them.  I hope you aren't one of those.

[Anomalocaris]

What do people actually think “third world” means?

“Third world” has no real meaning outside the Cold War context. During the Cold War “third world” refers to nations which do not align themselves to either the western block or the communist block. Switzerland is third world.

It has just become sort of derogatory term to imply poor countries. But which exact countries now count as third world?

India is still regarded by many as poor, and was historically nonaligned and thus bonafide third world. You can point to spectacular slums in cities in India that really has no match in the US. But so what? Increasing numbers of Indian graduates from science, engineering and management programs in elite America universities, who could easily find jobs in American economies, are choosing to return to India instead as offering better long term career prospects.

What does that tell you?

United States remain richer, to a large degree because past generations have accumulated wealth, but for bulk of the bread and butter talents that underlies national competitiveness, India and China are increasing seen as offering more room for upward mobility. From those countries, the point of view is America is living off of its inherited fat, while other countries are generating added capacity to create wealth.

That really is not surprising considering America believes it will be made great again by a realestate magnate who created no innovation, who inherited a large fortune, and is loath to reveal whether his fortune has truly been enlarged by more than what a dead investment in mutural fund could have done.

[Angrboda]

I recently faced a scare in which I thought I might end up homeless. Naturally, some practical questions came to mind. Most prominently, where I would go to the bathroom if that happened. Is that problem less of a problem in a supposedly first-world country, by CapnAwesome's criteria, or is it still pretty shitty? (No pun intended. Well. Maybe just a bit.)

[Amarok]

1. That secure food might as  well be poison 

2.Plenty of places in the US have poor or little access to clean drinking water 

3. Food Stamps 99% of the US in there current form

[TaraJo]

Have you ever lived in a third world nation?

Interesting question.  Current political discourse routinely compares America to third world countries as though they're the bar we have to beat.  It's either "they do this, so why can't we?" or "they don't have this law but we do so we can't compete with them."  I find it alarming that we're comparing ourselves to third world nations and dismissing successful, happy, peaceful nations as being socialist nightmares.

[Aroura]

Have you ever lived in a third world nation?

Although I agree the hyperbole of that term is highly misused here, America is in danger of losing it's place at the very tippy top of the world pecking order, and it's people are certainly doing worse than their counterparts in numerous other western countries already.  While not in danger of actually returning to developing nation status, we are in danger (if not already there) of becoming one of the lowest nations in the "developed" category.  Right below such gems as Argentina, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey, for quality of life for the middle class.

[Seraphina]

The notion that the lowest rung of US society is first world is simply ludicrous.  Every nation on the planet has its desperately poor, living in substandard housing in unsanitary conditions, without secure food and clean water,  By way of example:



and



The first picture is a slum in America.  The second is a slum in Bangladesh.  Both look pretty goddamed third world to me.

Boru

Except in the US they do have secure food and clean water. Aside from Flint, and people were outraged at that. Meanwhile there are whole countries you can't drink tap water in. Even in Spain I was surprised to find most places you can't drink the water.

False. A town in Texas hasn't had running water for decades.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017...sandbranch
Porterville, California ran out of water a few years ago during the drought.
I could go on but your eyes are only open to the problems you've personally temporarily experienced, which is uninformative. There are whole other worlds out there that you're not aware of.

-Teresa

[Chad32]

Have you ever lived in a third world nation?

I've lived in Alabama.

Ouchies.

[Aegon]

Have you ever lived in a third world nation?

The fact that we (as a nation) have so much money is the most frustrating thing about our income inequality and the disgusting lack of respect for the working poor.*

Because things are worse other places we shouldn't be addressing the problems here? How fallacious.

*The working poor includes a TON of people who mistakenly believe they are middle class