America, a "3rd world nation"?

[mac2766]

I spoke with a Brazilian man this morning who stated that in his travels across the US building Dollar General stores, he has encountered areas in our country that resemble the devastating poverty that he grew up understanding from his country. He's now a citizen of the US and fears that we are fast becoming a nation of haves and have nots. Much like where he grew up.

He also spoke to me about the dancing women in Rio during Carnival. He wanted me to know that the dancing women dressed in, well, not much clothing, are actually professional dancers (not strippers) who are hired to dance during Carnival.

He also mentioned, when I told him how much I would like to go to Rio some day, that he's never been to Rio De Janero. He told me that he was a southern Brazilian, and laughed as he's now a southern American.

[abqtommy]

1. In many ways and for many people America is a "3rd world nation". We can do much better

if we put our hearts, minds and backs into it.

[brooklynite]

2. I'v lived in a third world nation...

As bad as our poverty situation is, we are in no way approaching “third world”.

[Wounded Bear]

4. I believe the point is that there are pockets of poverty in the US...

that resemble areas in 3d world countries.

[rownesheck]

6. I agree.

I moved from a small town in east Texas where huge swaths of it resemble a third world country. In fact, someone i went to high school with there moved off to attend BYU. Years later, she traveled back with her daughter to visit her mom who still lives there. As they were driving through town her daughter asked, "Mom, why are all the houses broken?"

Drive through that town and you will ask yourself the same question. Not shockingly, the town has a super racist past including being a major klan town.

When I was in high school, President Clinton was forcing the housing projects there to allow people of color to move in. Man, did that cause an uproar. There was an actual klan march down main street. The town was featured on the TV show Inside Edition as well as the Montell Williams show. It was quite the embarrassment.

But back to the point: the town is ugly as hell and yes, it resembles a third world country.

[area51]

3. 1st World nations

view healthcare as a basic human right; we don't.

[uponit7771]

5. Our voting laws are getting near 3rd world apartheid, we're need to be higher on democracy index