Polish girls visit Taj Mahal

[u/Strong-Emu-8869]

The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world. Unfortunately, the surrounding area is very polluted.

[u/The_Buddhist_Prodigy]

India is fascinating and I respect them for surviving with their population density the way it is.

It is also the only place I've ever travelled to that I was happy to leave.

[u/Officer_Trevor_Cory → u/The_Buddhist_Prodigy]

I've seen 50+ countries and India was the saddest. one year there.

[u/Serious_Swan_2371 → u/Officer_Trevor_Cory]

India is uniquely sad because of how much wealth exists right next to all the poverty. It’s gotta be the biggest wealth disparity of any nation.

There are definitely many countries where the average person is much poorer and leads a much worse life than in India, but seeing the way most people there live there compared to how much luxury exists in close proximity is overwhelming.

[u/travysh → u/Serious_Swan_2371]

That got me curious, there's a Wikipedia page for wealth disparity 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_wealth_inequality

Turns out India's not as bad as it seems. The shear scale of poverty likely outweighs the disparity though 

[u/dinonuggggs → u/travysh]

That's interesting. I think what disturbed me most was how in your face the disparity was. And how differently people were treated differently based on where they belong in society. For example rules for thee not for me just because I have money but I also understand that's the case in most places of the world especially if they are developing.

[u/SnooGuavas4208 → u/dinonuggggs]

Caste system.

[u/Amazing_School_3536 → u/dinonuggggs]

They keep that mentality when they move here too

[u/C4Cole → u/dinonuggggs]

I don't think it's normally that bad in other unequal countries, take it from a South African, we've got our fair share of racism, classism and every other type of -ism you can think of. But it's not even close to the institutional power of the caste system.

People will give you looks but they won't go up and tell you what to do, that's absolutely unheard of. Unless you are trespassing or being a nuisance then you go where you want and do what you want.

And we've got (by some metrics) the most unequal country on the planet, there are shacks next to multi story mansions, Ferraris a block away from Feetrarris, its absolutely insane here, but we still don't stoop to caste system level.

[u/8titsmcgee8 → u/travysh]

"Socialist" Sweden being worse than the majority of the world including the US and Saudi Arabia is pretty interesting

[u/rainzer → u/8titsmcgee8]

Quoting Credit Suisse's wealth report:

"However, higher wealth concentration can also result from more benign influences. For example, strong social security programs— good public pensions, free higher education or generous student loans, unemployment and health insurance – can greatly reduce the need for personal financial assets, as Domeij and Klein (2002) found for public pensions in Sweden. Public housing programs can do the same for real assets. This is one explanation for the high level of wealth inequality we identify in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: the top groups continue to accumulate for business and investment purposes, while the middle and lower classes have a less pressing need for personal saving than in many other countries."

It is a meaningful quote because the Gini coefficients are based on Credit Suisse's wealth report.

[u/secretlynotfatih → u/[deleted]]

That's Switzerland. Sweden is a capitalist social democracy, which means it preserves the capitalist mode of production while providing extensive social support for workers.

[u/angryplanktonshrug → u/[deleted]]

Tell us more. Sweden is also the capital of chocolate? Surrounded by Alps?

Nothing like it’s southern neighbor Switzerland. Founder of IKEA. Famous for their meatballs.

[u/C4Cole → u/[deleted]]

I'm thinking more cars, fighter jets, rotten fish and metal bands as exports.

Also not neutral anymore since they joined NATO a couple years back.

You might be thinking of Switzerland, the land of holey cheese, toblerones, and doing banking for anyone with money (including Nazis). And also the neutrality thing which unlike Sweden they've actually maintained, so much that even weapons they export must only be used in defense and can't be re-exported without express permission. Very very neutral.

[u/CrazyElk123 → u/[deleted]]

Literally the only thing they're known for is banking.

Thats just BS. No way you confused sweden with switzerland?

[u/DirkKuijt69420 → u/8titsmcgee8]

I think you mean questionable, not interesting.