Where do they all get this notion from? I am an American, and I have to struggle just to pay my bills. Our country has more than it's share of poverty, homeless people, and slums. So why is it that that people that have never been here think that Americans are all rolling in money?
2007-03-22 23:49:29 · 12 answers · asked by Mr. Blue 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
they are rich in America..because these countries go by the US movies and TV shows.
Also like my life in the Philippines. When someone comes home from the United States the friends and relatives expect the people who lived and worked in the U.S to bring them gifts. And my husband and I sent a lot of packages to the Philippines over the years. (food=clothing-persona items__)
If you look at the number of professional workers (doctors-nurses-teacherss_) that have came over here from the Philippines and took domestic jobs in the US...but in the US a nurse pays a lot more then a Filipinos Doctor...maids in the US make more then Filipino school teachers..etc etc
When I was a nanny in the Philippines I was lucky to make one dollar a day, then I spent six years in Japan and my nanny salary went up to $ 75.00 a weel// as a nanny and then when I got a job in Washington DC as a nanny I got $350.00 a week plus room and board and overtime if I went on vacations with the baby...Palm Springs, Fla. Santa Fe, NM, etc etc..so you see the huge difference in the pay scale...Even minimum wage earners in the U.S. would rank high in the PI..but these same people do not see our taxes , insurances, and cost of food and clothing as we do and they only look at what they want to..
I told my husband I wish we were at Rich as these people overseas think we are... We are what he says are the working poor..lol
2007-03-23 00:15:26 · answer #1 · answered by Louella R 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Where do you think most non-Americans get a vision into American life? Through TV. Movies and TV series are what outsiders see and it just so happens that a huge majority of American entertaining material shows rather rich people. Everyone owns a big, nice house with a garden and several brand new cars. You don't often see the tiny apartments, the PJ's or the trailer parks. You don't often see people riding on stinky buses or lining up at social services for welfare. You don't see all kinds of Americans in this entertaining material, you mostly see the upper middle class and the upper class or rich thieves.
Then there is all the talk about how successful America is at this and that and how it's one of the richest countries in the world. America usually represents itself as the best there is and brags about its good sides while carefully not mentioning its bad sides. America has simply created a certain image of itself abroad.
It's maybe not strange that some people think everyone is rich and lives like this in America when this is all they get to see or hear about. Also, keep in mind that many of those who are considered poor in America are actually a lot better off than people in some other countries, so they may all seem rich and fortunate in the eyes of people who live under horrible circumstances in constant danger and not knowing when their next meal will be or where it will come from, if there will be one at all.
2007-03-23 01:40:21 · answer #2 · answered by undir 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Er. Because even the poorest Americans are significantly better off, in terms of housing, possessions, etc. than people in most other countries. Take a look here for comparisons:
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2006/MateNagy.shtml
There's a far more dramatic demonstration of this, in a book that's published fairly frequently that has pictures of "average" families in various countries standing in front of their homes, with their possessions piled up outside (to be included in the photo). I WISH I could remember what the name of the book is, because I'd like to get a copy of the most recent one.
(Does anyone else here know?)
When you say that you're struggling to pay your bills...I'll bet that some of those bills are for things that people in other countries only DREAM of being able to have. You probably don't spend 1/2 your income just on subsistence food. You probably don't spend 1/4 of your income on electricity and water.
2007-03-23 03:33:17 · answer #3 · answered by Praise Singer 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would say that people from other countries see the US as a whole and a wealthy country. Therefore the individuals that make up the country must be rich. Also because of the way of life. When people see what kind of money people are making here in the US to them it is a money but what they don't consider is the cost of living here in the US.
2007-03-22 23:58:35 · answer #4 · answered by mloinc 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The media and TV and commercials show us to be an affluent country. True! They are not shown the dark side of America: the projects all over. The starving children that Angelina Jolie could adopt and make OUR homeless children issue an international media play like she does for foreign orphans?? They don't see our inner city hospitals with sick lined up in the halls, or our state run nursing homes with its horrors. They are just naive about us, is all. It's not their fault. Films, movie stars, advertisers, show us to be RICH!
Did you know that in America there are more than 100,000 HOMELESS children!
Why didn't Jolie adopt an American Child if she's darn humanitarian!!!
And even our worst poverty, is not as horrible as many of theirs. In Russia, for example, college educated men and women, live 6-10 adults to one home, because they are so poor they cannot live independently! Russia's economy is very shaky. To them, if you live in your own apt. you're rich. Do you see how relative it is?
2007-03-22 23:57:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think it's the American tv shows they watch. Grammys academy awards etc. and the media. They project that there is no middle class anymore. And that the rich are getting richer. Well I'm middle class and i think there's a lot of us not in the 6 figures. And there are the homeless too.
Maybe our politicians and to the misconception too.
2007-03-23 00:09:17 · answer #6 · answered by Proud Nana 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not rich. I think Americans are materialists.. In our country America is viewed as a land of oppurtunities, where you can make money if you are willing to put in hard work, and are live the way you like without anyone bothering about you......
2007-03-22 23:55:54 · answer #7 · answered by P'quaint! 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
its a perception everyone has, America has all these big rich companies, America can afford to be in all these expensive wars and most importantly America is perceived to be the most powerful country and power = money, and lots of it.
Its terrible that a country that has this image has such a gap between its rich and poor and such a crappy welfare system
2007-03-22 23:56:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
because of what they see on tv and we are richer than the developing world. I have been to India on a study abroad trip and they think we are all well off. It is what is protrayed in the media. When i was there many of them also though that all African Americans were really funny because they saw UPN . They wanted me to crack jokes and make them laugh.
2007-03-22 23:57:17 · answer #9 · answered by Big Daddy R 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
because america is a united country with good governance which every year gives opportunities to foreigners to work and live in america to better their lives
2007-03-23 00:03:13 · answer #10 · answered by emilo003 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋