Is America a third world country?

[oslooskar]

"... human nature is much the same everywhere, and, of course, one has opportunities of observing it at closer quarters in a village." --Agatha Christie

You're sidestepping my point about geographic insularity among Americans abroad by pivoting to a general truism about "human nature", which is a polite literary deflection, but doesn’t really engage my observation. What struck me in the 1960s wasn’t sameness of character, but the very uneven geography of who traveled and who didn't. Out of the hundreds of Americans I met on the road, over 95% were Californians, with a smaller sprinkling from Oregon and New York. Only two were from the Midwest, and just one from the Deep South. That imbalance speaks volumes about which regions produced the most inclined to venture beyond America’s borders.

 

[MoBeans]

The US is a union of states (US=United States). True the federal govt has a lot to say about it but the state governments decide the quality of life of the people living under them. There are some states that the standard of living is pretty low, while others it is pretty high. Not sure where the third world country bar is set at but some states are closer to it than others. As a whole the US is not. Yet.

 

[gruntlabor]

You're sidestepping my point about geographic insularity among Americans abroad by pivoting to a general truism about "human nature", which is a polite literary deflection, but doesn’t really engage my observation. What struck me in the 1960s wasn’t sameness of character, but the very uneven geography of who traveled and who didn't. Out of the hundreds of Americans I met on the road, over 95% were Californians, with a smaller sprinkling from Oregon and New York. Only two were from the Midwest, and just one from the Deep South. That imbalance speaks volumes about which regions produced the most inclined to venture beyond America’s borders.

So your point is not what you said: that certain geographically grouped people are NOT curious about the world.
Your point is that they are NOT inclined to travel.
But it's not a question of what is NOT true
It IS true that the uber wealthy and the elite and the privileged are globe trotters.