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Poverty In America
Has the United States become a third-world country?
I recently read that 1 in 6 Americans have never left their home state and half of Americans don’t have a passport.
Given how much I’ve loved to travel and what a great way it educates you, broadens your perspective, and helps you appreciate and feel a kinship for people of all types, it surprised me that so many Americans didn’t travel even before the pandemic.
However, there is another statistic which might partially explain this.
As of 2019, the median income in the U.S. was a little over $31,000. Is that enough so someone in the bottom half of the workforce can afford a vacation? After all, when it comes to priorities — we can lament the fact that people don’t travel or buy art or any number of other things that would be make them happier but… if someone doesn’t have food, power and housing, it’s hard to see them allocating money for other stuff.
The median emergency fund value is only $2000. That means half of all Americans have this much or less.
Given how the pandemic has probably caused people to dip into savings and given how inflation has affected gas prices… who can afford to travel these days even if they felt safe doing so?
