U.S. Representative Darrell Issa of California was the target of much anger Friday for his CNN conversation on income inequality in America.

He admitted the problem but noted that “America is the richest country on Earth because we’ve been able to put capital together, and we’ve been able to make our poor, somewhat the envy of the world.”

Likely an exemplification of how the messenger is more important than the message -- combined with the wound-up nature of Americans -- the richest man in Congress speaking about the up side of being poor in America didn’t go over too well... despite the fact his words are true.

I’m in Thailand. I look around, and I realize that all the talk about inequality and privilege back home in the U.S. today is 100% accurate -- but it’s also zeroed in our relatively small corner of the world. The fact is, virtually everyone in America is privileged simply by being in America.

This isn’t just about the dirt-poor poverty I see here in the hills of Thailand. This is about what I see in the cities.

Just as the richest in the U.S. can stay atop their pedestal by leveraging the consumerism of the lower classes, so does the entire U.S. by leveraging their foothold of commerce in all the world: electronics, dotcoms, food, film and music as pictured below in a Thai department store.

Swaths of wealth are generated for the U.S., because the world uses what Americans create. This allows any able-bodied American to get a job -- white collar, blue collar -- that pays enough for them to own cars, a house, travel, and live a lifestyle that indeed most of the world could only dream of.

Things in the U.S. may not be what they once were, and I’d like to see things change for the better as much as anyone. But it’s also healthy to scale back and see how good Americans have it and why.