In general, US poor are NOT scavenging batteries and scrap metal out of dumps and landfills, and literally living in shacks cobbled together out of scavenged materials. Nor are they crapping in the streets because we have insufficient toilets. Nor are they living the life of the US poor of a half-century ago.
And in other respects- economically, technologically, etc… the US along with a small handful of European countries (France, Germany, UK, Benelux, Italy), literally defined the category of First World country. Or of “Developed” countries, if you want to go that route.
The US is unique in that we are by far the largest developed country, both in population and in land area, and we have some unique circumstances and challenges with regard to rural vs. urban, racial and regional variations in poverty, opportunity, and education.
That hardly means that the country is “third world”. Even the most impoverished states like Mississippi, or parts of states, like the Rio Grande Valley in Texas far outclass the third world. Hell, people immigrate TO the Valley from Mexico, which is a developing country, and as developing countries, go, one that’s doing pretty well, believe it or not.
But if the point is to compare poverty between countries you can’t have different scales.
It would be like saying there are as many tall men in Indonesia (average height 5’2") as Iceland (average height 5’11.5").
Yes there are are as man tall Indonesian men compared to all Indonesian men, but most of those are not tall compared to Icelandic men.
There are people in the United States who live in poverty compared to all people in the United States, but most of those do not live in poverty compared to people in third world nations.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. The US certainly has plenty of immigrants and refugees from “fourth world” countries, but aside from the very worst off of the homeless no one in the US lives a fourth world lifestyle. Even the homeless have access to clean water, and, if they choose, adequate food and shelter overnight.
The expression “fourth world” refers to people living under the poverty line for a long time in a first world country. There are no fourth world countries.
Yes, I am aware of the UN definition and it has been criticised by many since as Wiki sez
[QUOTE=jonesj2205]
But if the point is to compare poverty between countries you can’t have different scales.
It would be like saying there are as many tall men in Indonesia (average height 5’2") as Iceland (average height 5’11.5").
Yes there are are as man tall Indonesian men compared to all Indonesian men, but most of those are not tall compared to Icelandic men.
There are people in the United States who live in poverty compared to all people in the United States, but most of those do not live in poverty compared to people in third world nations.
[/QUOTE]
True, but irrelevant. Poverty is not the absolute amount of money you have, but the availabiity and ability to get necessities. What exctly the latter is varies. An Indonesian cannot become tall by moving to Iceland or an Icelanidc become short by moving to Indonesia. Somone living in Mississippi in poverty will still be living in poverty if they move to Mozambique, since they don’t have the ability or skills or assets necessary to obtain the necessities of life in either place
[QUOTE=bump]
That hardly means that the country is “third world”. Even the most impoverished states like Mississippi, or parts of states, like the Rio Grande Valley in Texas far outclass the third world. Hell, people immigrate TO the Valley from Mexico, which is a developing country, and as developing countries, go, one that’s doing pretty well, believe it or not.
[/QUOTE]
There is a lot of immigration TO India and Pakistan. The Punjab and Tamil Nadu especially. Both still have poverty. Irrelevant example.
I think the point I was trying to make with this question was to expose the following.
We may be a first-world country, but we are at the bottom of the barrel compared to other first-world countries in a lot of areas. As already mentioned, income inequality and oppressive corporate fatcats are a pretty big problem. We have a pretty high crime rate, and as another poster said, backwards views on healthcare. We’re one of the only first world countries to not have a universal healthcare system and aren’t even attempting to have one, which is pretty shameful given the percent of GDP we spend on healthcare and how countries like India, South Africa, and Mexico are even working towards such a system. Our education system is also mediocre compared to other first-world countries. Our airports and infrastructure are trash. As Donald Trump said, our airports look like they’re from a third-world country. Life-expectancy is down. Outdated puritan societal attitudes galore making us one of the most socially conservative first-world countries.
Sure we may be better than most third-world countries, but that’s not much to brag out. If you notice, when Republicans boast about how our nation is the “best goddamned country on Earth” they’re comparing us to India, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Iran, etc as if that’s our competition. The GOP cries so much about government spending, but for some reason they’d rather blow it all in war instead of investing in education, infrastructure, social programs, and jobs.
We’re literally either the bottom of the barrel of first-world countries or the top of the barrel of third-world countries (which the GOP thinks is a great accomplishment lol).
Fourth World, while, out of politeness is never used, is a category and denotes the dead in the water economies of strife torn Africa and South/Central America . Third world is developing nations. Fourth World is non developing stagnant economies.
Be as it may, as **Xema **points out OP seems to admit this was a set up for his rant about how the exceptionalists always compare with unworthy opponents instead of aiming high.
Sure, hyperbolic as we may get at times, it’s usually just because damnit, we expect better! Everyone from Joe Biden down to the guy who just missed his flight while stuck in traffic saying La Guardia is a third world airport is just making a point about its sucktastic obsolescence, not claiming Queens is at the level of Bangladesh.
The USA is First World – once we normalize for size of the economy and population and stockpile of nukes , it may not be qualitatively astonishingly superior to the rest of the FW as some people want to make themselves believe, but that’s a whole other lecture.
Gotta agree with that. As one writer I forget momentarily once said, the Third World is not just the developed industrialized world minus electric toothbrushes.
, it may not be qualitatively astonishingly superior to the rest of the FW as some people want to make themselves believe, but that’s a whole other lecture.