# Third World Areas In the United States

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-areas-in-the-united-states/519424>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-areas-in-the-united-states/519424 "2009-11-30T03:04:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-areas-in-the-united-states/519424/61 "2009-12-06T16:48:57Z")

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> [@Superhal](#):
>
> Being poor in Somalia is a lot different than being poor in New York. In New York, you can go somewhere for help: the welfare office, a church, a hospital, etc. In Africa, there’s nowhere to go. It’s possible that the only way to starve to death in the US is by choice, the same goes for medical help, psychiatric help, or even clothes.
> 
> In my city, the poorest people live in housing projects, getting government aid in the form of free housing, food stamps, and social services. Homeless people are abundant, but there’s no reason they can’t live in the projects as well.
> 
> There’s a big difference between not having help vs refusing help.

No. Being poor in Somalia today, is not a bit different than being poor in New York 400 years ago. People do not need help, they need to develop themselves as New YOrk did. All of America was an undeveloped poor third world nation full of poor people who had no welfare, no churches, and no one to give them medical or psychiatric help once upon a time. If 400 years ago all Americans just sat around and waited for welfare, the entire US would be a thrid world country and it would still look just like Somalia.

There is absolutely no reason at all why the people of Somalia today, cannot do exactly what the United STates has been doing in every state we have for the last 400 years.

YOu are right that it is a choice. It is a choice to starve or not, it is a choice to develop or not. It is a choice when the people of Detroit forces business and factores to leave, it is a choice when indian reservations do not allow developers to come into the reservation and build it up, it is a choice for the people of Somalia to not develop.

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**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\
**Post date:** [December 6, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/third-world-areas-in-the-united-states/519424/62 "2009-12-06T20:20:24Z")

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> [@Susanann](#):
>
> No. Being poor in Somalia today, is not a bit different than being poor in New York 400 years ago. People do not need help, they need to develop themselves as New YOrk did. All of America was an undeveloped poor third world nation full of poor people who had no welfare, no churches, and no one to give them medical or psychiatric help once upon a time. If 400 years ago all Americans just sat around and waited for welfare, the entire US would be a thrid world country and it would still look just like Somalia.

This is such a wildly inaccurate statement that I just…I don’t even know where to start. And I really have to work on a paper right now, so I’m kind of bumping this so that someone else will take the time to address it.

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