Parts of the US = Third World

[welsh]

Apparently, the US has an underdeveloped core.

A little while ago I asked if the United States was becoming a third world country. The purpose of that post was to point out that the US had rates of income inequality that were totally out of line with other developed countries, but would have been typical for countries in the developing world.

But there's a much more direct measure of the actual level of development of a country: the human development index. The HDI combines measures of various social indicators, including life expectancy, literacy, education, and per capita GDP, to measure overall human development, which "refers to the process of widening the options of persons, giving them greater opportunities for education, health care, income, employment, etc." By this measure, the United States ranks rather high - 15th out of all countries, with an HDI of .950, according to this table, which is based on 2006 data.

http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/05/human-development-index-by-state.html

Bosnia beats Louisianna!

 

[Ah-Teen]

By some parts you mean the south... Check out where all the light green is. It's all in one big splat across the dumbest part of our country. The next darkest is where no body lives! And the few that do in fact live there, usually live there to get away from what would raise their HDI(and the government)

Well, at least we beat Turkey!

The problem with trying to determine quality of life is that it's very abstract. Even misleading.

 

[Wooz]

The problem with trying to determine quality of life is that it's very abstract. Even misleading.

HDI is there for a reason.

 

[victor]

This is news? I've always claimed, to much excitement and hatred in response, that the US was a third world country, as a whole.

 

[UniversalWolf]

We also have millions of third-world immigrants streaming across our borders every year, so this is not really a surprise. Nor do I think it's a bad thing, necessarily. The poor immigrants work their butts off, for the most part.

HDI is just some arbitrary method of measurement cooked up by some university egghead with too much time on his hands. True though, parts of the South are perpetually backward.

 

[Arr0nax]

I prefer the map about incarcerated population. I wonder if it's on any influence in calculating the HDI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prisoner_population_rate_UN_HDR_2007_2008.PNG

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

You think it's bad now, wait until Puerto Rico gets statehood. Ay Maria.


Personally, I never thought anything south of the Mason-Dixon or west of the Mississippi is America anyway.

I'm sick of us NE states subsidizing the rest of these backwater, hick havens.

Time to cull the herd my friends.

I'm looking at you Mississippi.

 

[Sander]

We also have millions of third-world immigrants streaming across our borders every year, so this is not really a surprise. Nor do I think it's a bad thing, necessarily. The poor immigrants work their butts off, for the most part.

HDI is just some arbitrary method of measurement cooked up by some university egghead with too much time on his hands.

Is it? Measuring purchasing power, literacy, life expectancy and education seems like a solid measure of how developed a country is. Maybe crime levels should be incorporated, though I doubt that'd be favorable for the US. Happiness can't be measured, no, but development can.

The problem the US has is one of distribution of wealth, dragging it down. From middle class on, everyone has it great. But lower class citizens truly means lower class citizens.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Is it? Measuring purchasing power, literacy, life expectancy and education seems like a solid measure of how developed a country is.

Not arguing against it's arbitrariness, but U-Dub has a point, in that, when you open your doors to the most poor, illiterate, uneducated (Hello Haiti!) nations, it's going to take a few generations for them to catch up to the 10th generation WASPs who've been pulling the strings.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Geez, "third world" is such an outdated term. I wonder when we finally get rid of it, but I guess everyone's just gotten too accustomed to using it...

Still, not surprising, given the size of the country. Also, the disclaimer on top makes me wonder how that'd look with the actual AHDP data.

 

[Ratty Sr.]

...
5. Ireland - .962
Connecticut - .962
Massachusetts - .961
New Jersey - .961
District of Columbia - .960
Maryland - .960
Hawaii - .959
New York - .959
6. Netherlands - .958
...
75. Bosnia and Herzegovina - .802
Louisiana - .801
West Virginia - .800
Mississippi - .799
76. Turkey - .798
...

This is the key to understanding America.

 

[Silencer]

I prefer the map about incarcerated population. I wonder if it's on any influence in calculating the HDI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prisoner_population_rate_UN_HDR_2007_2008.PNG

Heh. 2,5 mil Americans in prison is mildly appaling. It's like you went and incarcerated Latvia whole.

"Escape from New York" suddenly doesn't seem so sci-fi to me.

 

[OakTable]

At least Indiana's average. Like it always is...

 

[Crni Vuk]

For the case anyone has some doubts about it

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WKMNmFsxM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Also:

The US rust belt

 

[Professor Danger!]

For the case anyone has some doubts about it

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WKMNmFsxM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Also:

The US rust belt

WOO! Go Cleveland.

I love when I go to the occasional concert in Cleveland, after rush hour...it's totally empty. Except for some very seedy individuals, homeless people, and fellow concert or sports fans quickly moving to their respective parking garage.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

...
5. Ireland - .962
Connecticut - .962
Massachusetts - .961
New Jersey - .961
District of Columbia - .960
Maryland - .960
Hawaii - .959
New York - .959
6. Netherlands - .958
...
75. Bosnia and Herzegovina - .802
Louisiana - .801
West Virginia - .800
Mississippi - .799
76. Turkey - .798
...

This is the key to understanding America.

It certainly is. I happen to live in Connecticut which is first among states on that list, 5th among nations (a paltry .008 from #1).

Not only do I have to bear the tremendous indignity of being lumped in with the rest of these non-performing, bible-thumping, neo-con, evolution denying, NASCAR hilbilly states. The ultimate indignity, my Federal tax dollars stream south to subsidize them like the migration of Canada Geese every year.


And I'm no liberal by any means, but you could almost superimpose the red state/blue state map on top of this HDI map and see a stark correlation.

There's your answer right there.

That, and this undeveloped core in the south, there's a reason for that and it's the same reason we put the South to the torch after they unsucessfully tried to secede. [/elitist New Englander mode]

 

[Silencer]

And I'm no liberal by any means, but you could almost superimpose the red state/blue state map on top of this HDI map and see a stark correlation.
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/electoralmap1.png
There's your answer right there.

A small wonder, you can find that in a lot of countries. E.g. Poland's better economically developed western half votes predominantly liberal (Civic Party), while underpriviledged south-eastern portion votes Conservative (Law and Justice Party) bar the largest cities (Warsaw, Cracow and Lodz). I reckon that it is typical for well-off citizens not wanting to trade off their perceived liberties for promises of security.

Also, Hajnówka County are fukken commies

 

[CloudlessDruid]

well, in brazil, same things happen, but while there is no "conservative party state" (because since the military dictatorship was over, people really thought it would be a better idea staying far away from conservative people), division here is made by "very poor northern states left-wing supporting people" and the "quite good and in some parts rich center-right wing people". Thats probably because here in Latin America left parties are still popular in poor areas. Cant blame them.

Funny is while your 'high hdi states' compare to iceland, denmark and stuff, our good states, like são paulo, the one where I live, compares to Romania. And the highest HDI in Brazil, the South Sate of Santa Catarina compares to Bulgaria lol.

 

[Pablosdog]

its nice to see canada on that list, but i'm also pretty sure that there are some territories in canada that are pretty comparable to some third world nations.

 

[UniversalWolf]

The problem the US has is one of distribution of wealth, dragging it down. From middle class on, everyone has it great. But lower class citizens truly means lower class citizens.

No. Once you start using "class" to describe the U.S. you've already failed. The society is incredibly fluid. People move here from Guatemala or Laos with nothing, work as housekeepers or in a factory, maybe open a business, and their children end up going to Stanford or Harvard. It happens all the time. The parts of the country that are perpetually backward are that way because of culture, not class. In short, if you're good at something, you succeed.