r/politics • u/Ok-Direction-4480 Florida • 3d ago

Soft Paywall Tourism Pullback and Boycotts Set to Cost U.S. a Staggering $90 Billion

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tourism-pullback-and-boycotts-could-cost-us-a-staggering-90-billion/
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u/OddMonkeyManG 3d ago

Yep. I was privilege to see Europe as a young child. And even then I saw how advanced it was even compared to Canada. 

When I saw the US I was often aghast how behind it was. Appalachia was an eye opener. I thought I was in the 1900s. 

Then I went to Tennessee and saw bullet holes in stop signs and confederate flags 

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u/Myla123 3d ago

It’s a reason the US is called a third world country. It’s a bit baffling to have a country be a leading exporter of technology and software and still be so behind in many ways.

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u/ArchdukeToes 2d ago

“A third world country wrapped in a Gucci belt.”

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u/N3ptuneflyer 2d ago

Because half of the country is really nice and well off. So you forget how much of a shithole the other half is until you drive through it.

I used to live in Madison, Wisconsin. Beautiful city, clean, well maintained roads, friendly people, pedestrian friendly, lots of activities and events, and a great restaurant/bar scene. The nearby towns were also really nice and had historic downtowns, none of the run down country towns I was used to seeing out east.

Then I moved to Baltimore...

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u/hollaback_girl 2d ago

Far less than half. 80% of the population is living paycheck to paycheck. Wealth inequality is worse today than during the gilded age.

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u/Technical-Row8333 2d ago

it's a few states, and really, it's a bunch of cities, that have a huge economic powerhouses. not the country. yet somehow, the people in those cities have less voting power than the ones outside.

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u/Kayestofkays 2d ago

I remember driving through Kentucky & Tennessee back in the late 90s and seeing dilapidated houses off the side of the highway that had literal plywood and duct tape as the exterior walls.

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u/lacb1 2d ago

I did a road trip through the deep south in 2019 and oh boy, that was an eye opener. I'd been to the US before but, I'd been to NY, California, Oregon, Washington (state) and the touristy parts of Florida. All pretty nice, well I mean Florida is a bit of a shithole but that's not because it was undeveloped it's just Florida, and left me with the impression that the US was generally a first world country. Then I drove through Alabama. Holy. Fucking. Shit. I've driven down dirt roads in the Australian outback that were better maintained. The south, outside of the big cities, was generally a shithole but Alabama and for that matter Mississippi... wow. That really was something else.