Life in a Third World Country

I am living in a third world country.

No, I don't live in Africa or South America or some small country most people have never heard of. I live in what once was the greatest country on the planet -- the United States of America. 

Here is one definition of third world country: "Third world countries can be defined by high poverty rates, economic instability, and lack of basic human resources compared to the rest of the world." If the US isn't yet a third world country, it certainly is moving in that direction.

I have visited third world countries. I have visited countries where wealth is held by a handful of oligarchs. 

Does this definition fit the US in 2020? Let's see. Poverty rates have increased dramatically since the federal government's bungled response to the coronavirus pandemic. The economy is certainly unstable. The stock market (not a measure of the economy at large) has been all over the place, with dramatic swings up and down. A successful stock market benefits only a small portion of the US population.

In the United States (which is anything but united) in 2020,

• The federal government is confiscating and hiding critical medical equipment and personal protective supplies ordered and paid for by various states as they confront the coronavirus pandemic
• The president pledges to approve no more aid to American citizens and small businesses struggling to survive in the face of massive closures unless Congress includes provisions to gut Social Security
• Medical personnel are forced to wear plastic trash bags over their scrubs as there aren't enough protective gowns for them
• The president refuses to let members of the coronavirus task force testify before Congress
• The government appears to be downplaying the number of estimated deaths from the pandemic
• Rather than buying food from struggling farmers to provide to food banks facing huge demands for food, the USDA allowed millions of pounds of produce to rot in the fields. Farmers have dumped millions of gallons of raw milk.
• With restaurants closed, the market for fresh produce, meat and milk dried up. The USDA could have bought much of this surplus food. Instead, it did nothing.
• The president ordered meat packing plants to reopen despite several deadly outbreaks of coronavirus among workers.
• Our infrastructure is crumbling. Bridges collapse, roads are full of potholes.
• Financial assistance for small businesses was instead given to multi-million dollar corporations.
• Billionaires are getting even richer, while the poor and middle classes struggle to survive. This is typical of third world countries, where nearly all the wealth is concentrated in the hands of only a few.
• In Florida, the governor has ordered the state's medical examiners not to release statistics about the number of coronavirus deaths.
• After receiving billions of dollars from the US government (i.e., American taxpayers), major corporations such as United Airlines are now laying off tens of thousands of employees. And the money these companies received to help them through the lean times? It's going to stockholders.

If America is to survive, much less thrive in the future, we must fundamentally change the way business is done, and the way employees -- you know, the low-paid people who actually do the work -- are paid and rewarded. Our economy and our society must change, as must the human view of the world at large.

I am fearful that after the pandemic nothing will change. The rich will continue to hoard money. The working classes will continue to scrape by. The political system will continue to be in the pockets of corporations and lobbyists.

I'm glad I won't be around to watch more of the destruction of this country, its way of life, and the decimation of the planet. Sometimes it's not so bad to be old.