America like 3rd world country..

If someone has been to a 3rd world country, they might notice that there are very rich people, while the majority of the population is very poor.

That is the way I see America becoming.

In the 1950s, a man would work and it would be enough to take care of his family. Now, a husband and wife both work, yet they are still in debt struggling. Many suburban families today are struggling, basically becoming poor, yet the rich are still rich.

There are still filthy rich people in America, while the middle-class is falling, struggling, and becoming poor. This country is becoming a 3rd world country.

I could use a lot of major cities as an example, where there are filthy rich alongside dirt poor, and the gap is widening.

reply to post by bettermakings


I've travelled across most of the USA, and the America portrayed in Hollywood movies is nothing like the real America.
I've seen shanty towns, poverty, depressing trailer parks, run down places that seem to lie scattered from East to West coast

The poor in America sure are poor

But despite this, there seems to be a patriotism that we are sadly lacking here in the UK........
Despite the poverty and bleak outlook, I sensed communities still cared for each other.
No amount of money or material gain can be a substitute for love and compassion.

Peace xx

Originally posted by uk today

No amount of money or material gain can be a substitute for love and compassion.

Best line I have read in a while here, and so true, especially at this time of year.

It's too bad that there are so many that believe the exact opposite. Makes the world a much harder place to live in.

Unfortunately most people could in fact live debt free if they used a shred of common sense, but most don't. They get caught up trying to keep up with the Jonses', or impressing people with the new car every two years, the current fashionable clothes, on and on and on and on it goes. Nobody forces anybody to get a credit card or take out a loan for the stupid things they buy, but people give in to the nonsense and wind up in debt up to their eyeballs because they can't manage their money to save their lives

As for a gap between rich and poor you are always going to have it, basically as long as people are allowed to make as much money as they are capable of making you will have those ultra rich few who make the rest of the world look poor, even when they sometimes aren't.

These days it seems its become the hip thing to hate on those with more money, as if they are somehow evil and bad because they made more profit plying the skills they have. Honestly if it weren't for most of these super rich people that are being slagged here in the US you wouldn't have your affordable internet connections to post here, the cheap cell phone plans that let you yack to your friends, the store that provide you goods at reasonable prices, or any of the other various things that people today seem to take for granted. Sad part is that nothing will change, its always easier for folks to point the finger at people with more than they have and blame them for having more, as if there is some magical hand that forces those without to make poor financial decisions, take out loans, not make payments on time or any other excuse that people come up with to shift the blame somewhere rather than their own shoulders.

Simply put people need to quit bitching and moaning about how bad they have it and go out and MAKE their situation better. Last time I checked there was no mystical force keeping people poor, just their own poor choices.

reply to post by Helig


I blame the system not the people for the brainwashing that has taken place to make the "have nots" feel like second class citizens

Advertising rammed down adult and childrens throats so to speak !!

I mean, everybody has to die and you can't take any of it with you and most of the stuff we buy is completely non-essential.......

Capitalism is destructive IMHO

Peace

uk today: i have many English friends and many are crying for their country. i suppose America is good in some ways, such as patriotism & tight-knit communities, even if it does turn into a 3rd world country.

Helig: i disagree with you in some ways, and here is why.

First, i'll say that i don't hate or blame the wealthy-class. Many of my close friends are in the American wealthy-class, and most are good people, but they're wealthy because their parents were wealthy, and they simply were responsible enough not to ruin their family fortune.

On the other hand, for someone in the poor-class to move up, they would need to either start a successful business, or get a high education, both of which would include getting MASSIVE loans, which would take a whole generation to pay off. . . . But it does work, sometimes, it's just extremely difficult and rare.

I agree that some people waste money in stuff they don't need, but sometimes that's not the case. Many people struggle just to have the basic necessities.

My main point was that the middle-class is shrinking in America. That's why I mentioned "3rd world country" because that's how it is in such places: a small wealthy class, a small middle class, and a large poor-class.

To be honest, it took this recent Recession to really put things in perspective for us.
My wife was laid off for about 10 months, and I was laid off for about 5 months (and about 4 of those months we were BOTH laid off), and from decent paying jobs (Middle Class, close to upper Middle).

Now, we didn't have much debt (other than car and old debts from when we were young and stupid), but two unemployment checks didn't exactly pay the bills while we feverishly looked for work.

Luckily, she's now back to work (for about 3 months now), and I'm now back to work (for about two months now), so we're steadily getting caught up, and back on solid ground, (luckily, we were saving for a house instead of renting forever, but we ended up using that money to live on)...

I can certainly appreciate some of the frivolous things we used to do though. I mean before, if we wanted something, we could generally afford it. If we wanted to eat out, we didn't have to check the bank account, etc. Man, what a difference since that whole crap.....

Oh, and both of us had gone back to school. I've got one class left for my Masters, and she just started her Masters program, so hopefully, much brighter days are ahead...

(had we not gone back for our Bachelor's degrees though, we'd have REALLY been in a bind...as we wouldn't have obtained jobs paying the same rate without those degrees)...

Yes America does have a rich class and a poor working class but it does have a substantial middle class if you look around.

It is called government employees. I live in a county in Calif. where the #1 employer is the DOD because of the two bases here.

The #2 employer is the county itself.

If it wasn't for those two money wasting rackets this place would be screwed.

I hear that Americans don't want a socialist government but they don't even realize they already have one.

Add up in your area how many of the residents depend on a government entity for a paycheck or retirement check and then add up those receiving entitlements from the government.

Capitalism is long dead in America.

[edit on 18-12-2009 by calcoastseeker]