Montrovant
Fuzzy bears!
But we can really know.
It's not hard to find out how living and economic conditions are in Botswana or any other African country without ever going there. So given that we can now see how average people live in other countries it's relatively easy to compare to them to us in America.
Per capita income in Botswana is $7,238.00, in the US it's $51,729.00. Income is primarily used to determine standard of living so it's safe to say our standard of living is much better than the country of Botswana and very possibly any other country in Africa.
In this age of technology there's no excuse for ignorance.
Let me try one more time.
I do not consider the phrase better off to mean financially. I've heard it used in many different contexts, certainly not all financial in nature.
What does "better off" mean to you?
Just what it says. I don't think of it as a specific phrase but a very general one. You can be better off choosing one style of clothing over another. You can be better off dead. And the poor can be better off than the rich if the poor live happy, fulfilling lives and the rich lead miserable ones.
Well off is the phrase I connect to money.
So when Foxy said better off, it sounded to me as though all descendents of slaves in the US have happier lives than all peoples living in the various African countries that slaves were taken from.
I forgot to read her comments in the context of the OP, my bad!