So Called Wealthy Nations

Alvin McDaniel

SOC/120 - Sociology

October 17, 2010

Delfred Rodgers
 So Called Wealthy Nations

Macionis (2006) stated, “Modernization theorists urge the world’s rich nations to help

poor countries grow economically” (p. 470). Is it fair during these tough economical times for a

government to allocate money to third world countries when these so called wealthy nations are

now struggling themselves? The United States of America, the United Kingdom, and many

other nations are regularly expected by other countries to pick up the pieces of other’s destroyed

or non-existent economies. These so called wealthy nations are not necessarily financially able

to do this for them now and let us face the facts, these countries are not always appreciated for

the assistance they give.

The United States; like many other so called wealthy nations; for many years has stepped

in to help during many atrocities like war, famine, and disease; whether born of man or mother

nature; yet this country suffers from many of the same tragedies and has yet to drag itself out of

the proverbial hole it is in. The United States has now taken to printing more money in the hope

to survive the economical backlash caused by modernization. Speedy modernization has led to

many of our industrial sectors shutting down so we can buy cheaply from other countries; our

customer services and help lines have moved to India and other countries to save paying higher

wages to American citizens. It is this type of modernization that has caused the demise of the

American way of living, this is not what the Declaration of Independence was created for; the

name alone states “Independence.” America’s corporations need to stop hunting for the Big

Buck and allow its citizens to start bringing home the bacon again.
 In order for modernization to continue in the United States; America must rely on its own

people’s initiative to making our society work together. The US citizen has allowed the

government and other policy making bodies to make decisions that are not right for their own

people. Is it right that the US tax dollar goes to a flood victim in another country when the same

damage occurred here and some Katrina victims still have no success? Is it right that the United

States tax dollar goes to 27 other countries to build mosques for prayer, when Americans are

losing their homes daily? Approximately 2,759 homes in the metro area of Tulsa, Oklahoma

entered into foreclosure from July to September of this year, which represents one in every 146

households in Tulsa (McClatchy - Tribune Business News); Americans are struggling to keep a

roof over their own heads.

Modernization cannot continue in the United States at the rate it has been happening yet

it must resume again assisting in overcoming the damage caused by the collapse of the economy.

The economic growth this country has maintained over the years was bound to have a turn-a-

round; as with everything that goes up too fast, gravity sooner or later will take effect and pull it

back down with a bang. The United States corporations need to be forced to undo the damage by

bringing back services that were sent to other countries; we cannot stimulate other countries’

economies without being able to stimulate our own. The banks that the American government to

kindly loaned the US citizens tax money to bail them need to be forced to pay a penalty for not

helping out now they are straight. Americans have always be entrepreneurial minded; this is the

land of the free; so thinking out of the box should come easily. Americans have become service

orientated instead of product minded.

 The same can be said of the other so called wealthy nations, however with the world wide

spread of modernization, they too have succumbed to economic brick wall. Greece was the start

of an economic down fall of the European Union and the belief according to Theil (2010)

“Europe's bankers know that the European Union and the International Monetary Fund will open

their pocketbooks when trouble hits, financiers could be more likely to let problems fester in

Spain, Portugal, and other heavily indebted countries until they've reached massive proportions.

More seriously, saddling Europe's dwindling number of financially solid countries with ever

more debt and guarantees at a time when worries over governments' abilities to pay back loans

are already rising could in the end lead to a crisis that goes far beyond Greece”; it is an ever

growing snow ball.

All the above said, modernization is not a bad thing; it just needs to be treated carefully

and responsibly. In order for all of the nations to get ahead some self-reliance is going to have to

take place, most of the so called wealthy nations are considered wealthy because they once had

not just the resources but the skill set to do jobs that we now as a collective farm out to the

underprivileged nations. The so called wealthy nations too easily see the trauma in other

countries but do not notice the family sleeping under a bridge in their own. Consequences of

modernization have led to poverty on our own door steps that could have been prevented by

keeping the work where it belongs.

The United States of America was once a nation that had it all; manufacturing, industries,

natural resources, and the skilled people to handle it all. Guess what; we still do. In order for the

United States and other countries with the same issues to help other countries is to remember that
charity begins at home. Once these so called wealthy countries become wealthy nations again,

let us then talk about helping out our earthly neighbors.

Citations

Macionis, J. J. (2006). Society: The Basics (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall.

Anonymous. (n.d). EDITORIAL: Foreclosures. McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Retrieved

from ProQuest: ABI/INFORM Complete database.

Theil, S. (2010). GREECE MAY NOT BE THE END OF IT. Newsweek, 155(19), 7. Retrieved
from MasterFILE Premier database.