Tracy,

>Yes I have been to poor 3rd world countries. I suggest you visit some more because I know from personal experience that your image of 3rd world poverty is not realistic. I lived in Panama for a year and spent a lot of time in other latin american countries. Not all living in poverty in 3rd world countries have refrigerators and electricity.

Sure, On inland places where there is no electricity to find in the near area, you won't have a choice. However if there is you'll see the electrical devices show up real quick. Electricity is tapped illegally. The electrical devices often are dumped by the rich and repaired by the poor for their own usage.

>If they did they would sell them for food. Look at Panama.

If there is hunger, you sure can sell your TV, but to whom? Anyways, food is only the first requirement. Healthcare is second or third. Selling your 30 year old fridge and TV is not going to buy you healthcare in your or any country. Have you seen the statistics of US americans without any health plan coverage? I can tell you that in Holland there is zero: You either have a private insurance or a public one.

>I personally visited many living in real poverty there and they have four walls and a roof but a dirt floor, no electricity, and no fridge, ice, or radio, let alone color t.v. Medical care is only a dream to most of them. Their health was scary from lack of nutrition on a regular basis as well as bacterial infections and infections from bug bites. Some did not even have shoes. That goes for Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras. Believe me the living conditions of the poor in those countries were NOTHING compared to the poor I saw living in the U.S., West Germany,
>Spain, France, Switzerland, Netherlands (I was in Den Haag in 1984 and then I drove around the country for 2 weeks), or Denmark. The closest to the Latin American countries' poorest conditions was East Berlin but even there everyone had a roof over their head, heat (albeit coal), t.v., a radio, a refrigerator, a stove, adequate (if ugly) clothing, and most of them even a vehicle. No comparison at all....

Sure. But look at your poor and how well they are off compared to western europe. At least they have health care here insured by the government. Look at the statistics you gave yourself in another message. Though outdated, it should point out the thing I'm trying to get at.

>>>I'd be interested in seeing the same scales for European countries. Do you have a link by any chance?

I'm glad you found them at http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/8Comparison.htm. Thanks.

Walter,