How is America a first world country while...?

Question

1 We own debt to China and other countries that our children and grandchildren won't be able to pay off,

2 Many people are living in the streets that are hungry, poor, and homeless,

3 Some people can't afford medicine and treatments when sick,

4 A shockingly decreasing economy,

5 A high rate of illiteracy,

6 Terrible healthcare and education system,

So explain to me. Are we a first world country? This all came from a 13 year old so I just want to express my opinions.

Answer 1

7 nobody cares



welcome to the most uncivilized country of the world

Answer 2

1 We can't solely depend on taxes to keep the government running. Taxes are as low as they've ever been. The US Government is too large and needs to shrink, but that will only add to our already high unemployment. Ok, so let's stop foreign countries from buying our debt and see what happens. We'll have to shutdown before to long.



2 Many homeless people choose to be homeless, there are soup kitchens and other programs to help them, but they need to want that help. Most are afraid to stay in homeless shelters because of crime.

You need an address to apply for welfare / food stamps / SSI.



3 Thanks to President Reagan, emergency room care is free to anyone who needs it. Unfortunately, us taxpayers foot the bill.



4 Agreed



5 Agreed, but some people just don't want to bother with an education.



6 Please refer to #'s 3 and 5 above.



We are still a first world country. Our economy is considered by many to be the strongest in the world. Although we are facing very tough times right now, once the debt ceiling is raised things will improve, although that will put us further into debt. Since all of the world's financial markets are tied together these days, if we do default the world will follow suit and we will eventually all become third world countries.

Answer 3

Even though we are not that well off as a country, other countries r doing even worse. Like in india child traficking is HUGE. And in china child labor is gigantic.libya is eating itself alive, and you can't walk on the streets in peru without being pick pocketed or even kidnapped. We are a whole lot better off than many countries. And even though we have hungry people, numerous people die every day in africa from starvation. And yes, some people can't afford medication, but at least its against the law to reject a dying person in the ER even if they can't pay for any of the treatment. And our high rate of illiteracy is nothing compared to mexico and other countries. Hope this helped! =] and I didn't mean to offend anyone. These r all unique countries and all great in different ways.

Answer 4

First World countries are defined in many different ways....

See the website below...

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/first_world.htm





The USA has one of the biggest economies, but for freedom of press it doesn't even enter the list. They are 8th on the human development index etc etc...



In short, the USA is still a 1st world country, but it's not most advanced country in terms of the health and well being of the people. However, due to lack of freedom for the press, the media rarely report these facts and people believe that the USA is number 1 for everything...

Answer 5

The USA is not a "country"..but a union of many countries which agreed to form a Republic and create one government to act on behalf of all the member states in limited defined ways.



We did 235 years ago what Europe has been trying to do for the last couple of decades...unite in what they call the European Union. Those countries could have chosen to call it the USE (United States of Europe)



State/Country = same thing

Answer 6

Too many kids growing on video games, televison and processed food and poor education systems in a lot of states and people popping pills because they see it advertised on television. This country is literally eating out of the palms of the pharmaceutical industry, people just pop pills instead of learn to deal with their problems.

Answer 7

Are you too sure about the facts that 'the US has a high rate of illiteracy', and 'it has a terrible educational and health care system?'

Answer 8

we're not yet yet our usual of living is going down drastically very quickly. i do no longer see any thank you to end it now. it style of feels to be what the intellectuals have desperate is superb for the the remainder of the international who would be experiencing the comparable destiny. i'm placing out to think of that each and each century sees a era the place the inhabitants might desire to be decreased and a sparkling plan is desperate forth for the winners and the losers on the worldwide scene. or perhaps it merely happens contained in the organic direction of issues. i do no longer likely be responsive to the answer to that.

Answer 9

"First world" meant just the starting count in the cold war. The soviet block was "second world." The rest of the (uninvolved) world was "third world." Pile-of-crap neo-Marxist propagandists exploited that to pretend it implied some social standing.



Regardless, we were "on top" for a while after WW II when we had crushed what remained of industrial nations who once again slaughtered each other over dwindling resources their ceaseless overpopulating had pressed beyond contemporary technology to supply. Since then only the Euro-cultures have stopped overpopulating, but floods of excess labor from or in the still-overpopulating cultures are ruining their economies anyway.



Now that a recent technology, cheap container shipping, has taken our industries to horrendously overpopulating, desperate, dirt cheap excess labor in Asia, we have lost the edge. Making things worse are floods of overpopulating excess labor from Latin America coming in here and further depressing wages, like my overpopulating Irish cousins did in the 19th century.

Answer 10

Ther term first second and third world came from the ww1 ww2 era. allied countries like the usa, england etc were dubbed first world, germany and axis were second world and third world was pretty much just about every other country too small to influence the outcome or not developed enough.



So the terminology originally had very little to do with economic conditions but rather their position in the world stage regarding the war going on.

Answer 11

technically, level of development related to #world concept is incorrect, it just colloquially grew to mean that.



1st world- NATO ally

2nd world-communist country

3rd world-non alighned movement member

Answer 12

And yet we will kick the living crap out of anyone

Answer 13

america isn't a first world country anymore. it used to be, though.