The Poverty of the Rest of the World

Article by Frosty Wooldridge

June 29, 2004

Grinding poverty exists in Africa, China, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, South America, Indonesia, Russia and many other parts of the world. It chokes its victims in a vice-like grip of futility. It features disease, an uneducated populace, corruption and starvation. It’s called the Third World. Most of us have no clue how much suffering exists outside America while we spend $9.2 billion on weight loss programs every year.

Nonetheless, hundreds of letters arrive in my email box weekly from around America. But several times a month, letters arrive from foreign countries. One angry writer from Madras, India, a Mr. Singh, expressed his dim view of a piece I wrote concerning H-1B visas that displaced jobs from American citizens.

“I suppose you think I’m the enemy,” he said, “because I have taken one of your out-sourced jobs as well as an entire factory of workers here in India. However, we can make the product cheaper than you Americans. Your artificially high wages cannot compete with our labor market. Besides, it’s time Americans drop their artificially high standard of living to the poverty levels of the rest of the world.”

I wrote back, “Is it possible that you maintain an artificially low standard of living by sustaining an artificially high overpopulation level of 1.1 billion people? Wouldn’t India be better off with only 292 million like America? Wouldn’t China be better off with 300 million instead of 1.3 billion? Wouldn’t Bangladesh with 129 million people in a landmass the size of Ohio be better off with only a million? Wouldn’t your standard of living rise to the level of a First World country if you had a smaller population?”

Singh wrote back, “I never thought of it that way,” he said. “You make an interesting point.”

Nonetheless, he made an cogent point. America IS dropping its standard of living for all its citizens as this country suffers an invasion by millions of immigrants annually. Most people don’t realize the world population grows by 80 million annually which creates an endless line awaiting entry into the portals of America. Since 1965 when the Immigration Reform Act opened the floodgates to one million immigrants annually, we have been inundated with over 60 million. Still the world grows out of control with no end in sight. It now totals 2.3 million annually.

How are we becoming impoverished like the Third World? For starters, the USA stands neck deep in $7 trillion debt. Consumer debt adds up to $2 trillion. Credit cards average a $7,000.00 balance according to Tom Brokaw. We pay $600 million of our tax dollars daily for interest on the debt.

Every state is in financial crisis. California runs a $38 billion debt. Texas stands at $10 billion according to the Dallas Morning News. But more frightening is the city and county debt across Texas that stands at $86.6 billion.

According to an Associated Press piece “Black Children in Deepest Poverty Up 50%” by Genaro C. Armas, May 1, 2003. The number of black children in extreme poverty rose sharply last year. From 622,000, the numbers stand at 932,000 and rising.

The United States runs a $400 billion a year trade deficit. Last month, we ran a $48 billion trade deficit. Why? Simple. H-1B and L-1 visas removed one million U.S. jobs in the past 10 years. In-sourcing, out-sourcing and off-shoring of American jobs have left millions of us in unemployment lines. To top that off, legal and illegal immigrants sent $56 billion to their home countries last year. That’s $15 billion to Mexico, $25 billion to South America and $16 billion to Asia. Finally the drug trade annually siphons $100 billion in hard currency out of the United States. And the coup de Gras from last year was the cost of the Iraq War at a $544 billion budget spending deficit.

Notwithstanding, high school and college kids can’t find jobs because 9 to 13 million illegal aliens already work them.

Is America dropping down to Third World wages, standards of living and quality of life?

As we import 2.3 million legal and illegal immigrants annually, yes, we diminish our own work force into the lowest standards of living. “Overpopulation can be avoided only if borders are secure; otherwise poor and overpopulated nations will export their excess to richer and less populated nations. It is time to turn our attention to this problem.” Garret Hardin.

Are we complying with Singh’s idea that it’s about time we drop to the rest of the world’s poverty levels? If the aforementioned items and Hardin’s thoughts are any indication, the answer is “Yes,” we’re well on our way.

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