Indian kid describes America

[Colon™]

Income distribution doesn't mean anything if everyone is poor as balls.

Well, somebody forgot to tell the Indians.

[giblets]

Class distinctions in America are less than in India. Yep, that's really setting the bar high

[Imran Siddiqui]

If you say so. Mind you, when you talk about them living in virtual castles I can't help seeing some similarities....

When all the rich folk are gated off with guards and the like compared to a far more open concept of gated community, yes, they are completely different.

Heck, I live in a gated apartment complex.

[Felch]

You don't have a caste of untouchables but you do have the homeless and people living underground. Not the kind of thing a starstruck Indian college kid picks up on.

A lot of those people are mentally ill, and the rest are generally homeless for brief periods. And the homeless in America still benefit from the ridiculous wealth of everybody else. It's a lot easier getting by on American scraps than Indian scraps.

[Sava]

A lot of those people are mentally ill, and the rest are generally homeless for brief periods. And the homeless in America still benefit from the ridiculous wealth of everybody else. It's a lot easier getting by on American scraps than Indian scraps.

Yeah! Those homeless have it sooooo good.

I mean, fishing donuts out of a dumpster. They should count their blessings.

[giblets]

The donut I generously threw away instead of eating.

[Dinner]

this thread lead me to this classic poly thread.

From that thread Jon Miller posted:

I think indian (asian) are hot

Jon Miler

Which is approprate since he married a hot Indian chick.

[MRT144]

I'd be surprised if you even read the article, sweetie

It's hard to really use Silicon Valley as informative of the American Experience.

[molly bloom]

A lot of those people are mentally ill, and the rest are generally homeless for brief periods. And the homeless in America still benefit from the ridiculous wealth of everybody else. It's a lot easier getting by on American scraps than Indian scraps.

Wow, did you just discover that poverty is relative ? Well done you.

Yes, a lot of the homeless in the first world are mentally ill and that goes for many of those underground dwellers in New York- but a lot are that way because of economic reverses.

Panorama's Hilary Andersson comes face to face with the reality of poverty in America and finds that, for some, the last resort has become life in a tented encampment.

Just off the side of a motorway on the fringes of the picturesque town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a mismatched collection of 30 tents tucked in the woods has become home - home to those who are either unemployed, or whose wages are so low that they can no longer afford to pay rent.

Conditions are unhygienic. There are no toilets and electricity is only available in the one communal tent where the campers huddle around a wood stove for warmth in the heart of winter.

Ice weighs down the roofs of tents, and rain regularly drips onto the sleeping campers' faces.

Tent cities have sprung up in and around at least 55 American cities - they represent the bleak reality of America's poverty crisis.

Black mould

According to census data, 47 million Americans now live below the poverty line - the most in half a century - fuelled by several years of high unemployment.

One of the largest tented camps is in Florida and is now home to around 300 people. Others have sprung up in New Jersey and Portland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9694000/9694094.stm

Out of sight is out of mind.

When all the rich folk are gated off with guards and the like compared to a far more open concept of gated community, yes, they are completely different.

It just struck me as ironic when you mentioned the castle-like aspect of Indian gated communities and there happened to be this in the Atlantic Monthly last year:

Gated communities exploded in popularity in the United States during the end of the 20th century, but Schneider points out that they are an old phenomenon. “We used to call them castles,” he says.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/07/threat-gated-communities/6198/

[Felch]

"One of the largest tented camps is in Florida and is now home to around 300 people."

200,000 people live in Baiganwadi, Mumbai's garbage dump. Indian children are almost twice as likely to suffer from malnutrition as Sub-Saharan African children. Given that context, it makes perfect sense for an Indian to say, "Almost every single person in America has access to basic food, clothing, water and sanitation. I haven't been to states like Louisiana and cities like Detroit, but from what I can tell, nobody is scrambling for the basic necessities required for sustenance." The fact that you struggle so hard to prove him wrong just shows how infantile and petty you are.

[molly bloom]

200,000 people live in Baiganwadi, Mumbai's garbage dump. Indian children are almost twice as likely to suffer from malnutrition as Sub-Saharan African children. Given that context, it makes perfect sense for an Indian to say, "Almost every single person in America has access to basic food, clothing, water and sanitation. I haven't been to states like Louisiana and cities like Detroit, but from what I can tell, nobody is scrambling for the basic necessities required for sustenance." The fact that you struggle so hard to prove him wrong just shows how infantile and petty you are.

Wow, poverty is worse for Indian poor people than it is for the American poor. Who'd have thought. Perhaps the Indian student wouldn't have been so starstruck by a charity food bank, dumpster diving urban poor or the troglodytes of New York.

As I've said, you seem to have discovered that poverty is relative. Well done you.

[Felch]

What's your contribution to this discussion besides arrogance and sarcasm?

[Hauldren Collider]

A few observations:

1. Yes, we are more equal than india. I'm glad we have settled on that consensus.
2. Yes, maybe it would be worthwhile to compare our inequality to that of Europe or other first-world nations. However, note that there is some amount of inequality that is expected and in fact necessary for a prosperous economy. I argue that our level of inequality is in fact more efficient, and our people are better off than say Europe's. Sava touched on this very important fact here:

Income distribution doesn't mean anything if everyone is poor as balls.

Now, most of Europe isn't poor as balls. Greece is, but Greece is a **** show. Still, Europeans can be proud to be by and large as poor or poorer than Mississippi. That's what your equality is getting you. Congratulations!

As for class distinctions, people in the US by and large have a similar standard of living. The difference for most people is really a matter of financial security rather than material wealth. By the time the biggest difference between "classes" is financial security, you don't really have classes.

[Ben Kenobi]

The fact that you struggle so hard to prove him wrong just shows how infantile and petty you are.

He's just jealous because nobody says that about England anymore.

[Hauldren Collider]

Also, Felch