Logically, it’s not about how much money you make, it’s about purchasing power. It is irrelevant if you earn only $400 a month when you can eat well for $1 and pay $100 for your housing, you have free health care and education.
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ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I genuinely think that in some third world countries, as part of the middle class, you can have a better life than in the USA.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Reginald_T_Biter@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Third world doesn’t mean poor, it just means not aligned with US or Russia
Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Espousing an old no longer relevant definition to sound smarter and be “right” is peak lemmy/reddit behavior. Third world does mean poor now.
ManOMorphos@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
No one really uses that word in its Cold War context anymore. It’s the common term for “developing countries” and the like.
Reginald_T_Biter@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
People believe that only because they haven’t learned what it actually means.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Spain isn’t third world, it already had shown the middle finger to Trump and also has few to do with Rusia. Third world countries don’t certainly mean people starving, the people there often have all what they need, but this, you’ll see few Ferraries there and chalets with swimming pool. Someone is rich, not necesarly because a lot of money, but because he need only few. We often enter in a rabbit hole of the consumism, spending a lot of money in things we really don’t need, we work like a dog to have enough money to pay a journey to Hawaii to recover us from the burnout, which we wouldn’t have working less, no needing this journey.
LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Have you been to Spain? I’m not saying it is not better than where the US is headed to, but it’s a “western” country in Europe, with all the issues that come with it. Somewhat social market economy, but still suffering from the usual issues, including people driving Ferraris while others sleep on the street.
Also, at least since Franco I don’t think anyone genuinely thinks of Spain as third world.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
If you can eat well for $1 then it is definitely a poor country relative to the US. Differences in purchasing power are a direct result of differences in wealth.
Zerush@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
I think that the US is a third world country, it’s rich but most money is used for weapons and to make richer the billonairs and big corporations, in the social and cultural sphere, it is one of the most backward in the world. Now with Trump the US is turning in a running gag for the most countries.
ebolapie@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
There’s a reason countries like Vietnam are so popular with digital nomads.
WALLACE@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
My dream would be to get a remote nightshift job and live on a house by the beaches of south Thailand
pressanykeynow@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s also much harder to become a middle class in those countries.
NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
Not really. Poverty rates are higher, yes, but many middle income third world countries do have sizeable and growing middle classes. They're called developing countries for a reason. The image of war-torn African countries where everyone works in mines isn't really representative.
MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 3 weeks ago
Something I’ve noticed is when untraveled people in the USA try to contextualize themselves with other countries they pick the worst examples they can think of. Favelas in Brazil or slums in South Africa for example. We do this to the point where our entire conception of countries (or in the case of Africa, continents) is the worst imagery we can think of. I think they genuinely don’t believe that, for all their troubles India, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, etc also have smartphones and big buildings and libraries and universities and laboratories, and educated people living decent lives.
They also can’t see how the overcrowded jails full of pretrial prisoners, the barefoot children carrying buckets for water in Appalachia, the rundown schools full of illiterate kids, the impunity of rich private interests, the corrupt sheriffs and judges, and on and on, puts us in the company of the “third world countries”. Yes we have nice places too, but SO DO THEY. A broken society in the 21st century isn’t people living in mud huts, it’s children shitting in the street next to a glass skyscraper with LEED Platinum certification.
SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
And it’s not just “overcrowded jails full of pretrial prisoners, the barefoot children carrying buckets for water in Appalachia” but the grad students in LA living out of their cars, or grandpa sleeping on a bus stop, or people in the Rockies surviving off roadkill and forage.
Seattle tent cities/tiny homes make some Favelas look real swanky.