I spent a very short time in India about 45 years ago as a kid...my dad walked us around New Delhi most of the night because we didn’t have a hotel room (to save money, we were coming home from an overseas posting).
I had lived in the Philippines and seen some degree of poverty, but nothing even remotely like what I saw that night.
And even back then, there was not that level of poverty ANYWHERE in this country.
As Americans, most of us have no idea what real poverty is. That is good, but it makes dishonest people (like liberals) attempt to drum up poverty any way they can...and they do.
I too have spent a lot of time overseas, China, Vietnam, India, SE Asia.
I agree with you 100% - Americans don't have a clue. I will only add the point - true poverty (as you saw in India) also is a result of extreme social, economic and political oppression, which Americans also can not fathom.
when I hear that a parent has to make the decision on whether to feed themselves so they have the strength to work or to feed there kids and not have the strength to work and not be able to feed there kids at all then I will believe someone is living in poverty. I am the poor in this country but I have never lived in what I call true poverty and I doubt most people in this country that are poor have lived in poverty.
I can remember when I was "poor." That is, I was just out of the military and working as a rental agent. I could only get 30 hours a week, I didn't qualify for any aid because I had no children, and it was difficult to get another job because I had no car and few skills. So I just worked and went without car, without phone, without insurance, without ever, ever dining out, without anything other than basic cable (I had to be able to watch the news.) Lived on ramen, and rice and beans, and a few veggies and tuna and peanut butter.
But even then, I knew I was lucky. I was living in a nice little one bedroom apartment in a safe part of town. There were a few thrift stores on the bus line. I was comfortable enough. And I knew that by American standards, I was poor. But by India standards... I was doing pretty good! LOL!
the caste system is wonderful.