[RealityNow]

I think Jamie Dimon said it best, it's almost embarrassing to be an American these days. Homeless people everywhere, mentally insane people screaming on the streets, rude classless people (in the ghetto), failing infrastructure, a narcissistic demagogue trust fund kid as president. Every single major city in America has a ghetto not unlike a third world country - NYC, LA, Chicago, SF, etc. I've never understood why we tolerate this poverty in our own backyards.

There was a period when we were the model nation for the world, and that period is long gone. As long as America is ruled by the mindset of "everyone for themselves" and free market fundamentalism, nothing is going to improve - and in fact things are only going to get worse as the job market tightens due to technological automation.

[jly]

Jame Dimon did say this recently, but the context of his frustration with government regulation of the banking industry. He is lobbying hard to get oversight removed that was put in place after that industry tanked the global economy only a decade ago.

[skybrian]

If you think ghettos are new you're not paying attention. And generally speaking, crime rates are way down.

[cromulent]

Good comment. I think you mean "developing country" rather than "third world country". Switzerland and Finland are third world countries, for example.

[gone35]

Yes and no[1]:

Due to the complex history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition of the Third World. Some countries in the Communist Bloc, such as Cuba, were often regarded as "Third World". Because many Third World countries were extremely poor, and non-industrialized, it became a stereotype to refer to poor countries as "third world countries", yet the "Third World" term is also often taken to include newly industrialized countries like Brazil, India and China now more commonly referred to as part of BRIC. Historically, some European countries were non-aligned and a few of these were and are very prosperous, including Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland.

The term Third World is still largely used interchangeably with the least developed countries, the Global South and developing countries.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World

[cromulent]

Just yes, I think. If you want to be clear, say "developing nations". If you want to be unclear, say "third world".

there is no clear or agreed-upon definition of the Third World

[sillypog]

Although you don't seem to like the president, you have made a lot of the same points as he did in his campaign. Maybe he will fix these issues and make America great again.

[RealityNow]

So far he's basically just (unsuccessfully) attempted to roll back Obama's progress on healthcare, ban Muslims, build a wall to keep out the Mexicans, and give legitimacy to white supremacists. He's surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs executives.

I'm not really seeing the progress, but I hope he does make America great again.

[ppeetteerr]

Not to get political, but the president doesn't have the power to change things at this level. It's up to congress and state and municipal governments to institute the kind of change you are thinking about.

[thephyber]

Over the past month, I've started to consider that the people that support the president know this. They want him to champion the identity that they have and the policies don't matter nearly as much -- they just want to hear someone "defending" them.

I think it's far more about identity than it is any faith they have in him being able to actually change anything via policy or legislation.