Yes, you put it rather well, and I agree that the U.S. is indeed underdeveloped in this way.

To piggyback on your comment: While I agree with the general sentiment of what Parenti, et al intend behind the phrase, at this point in time “underdeveloped” is often used to refer to nations/people/land that are actually “under-extracted” in the eyes of capital.

“Underdeveloped” acts as a euphemism by which capitalists can justify their presence by claiming to be contributing to so-called “human development” by way of industrial development, when in reality they mean “further resource extraction” and “wealth accumulation.”

To me almost all wars or”conflict” are simply the stealing of another place’s resources.

Which is made possible by using this lexicon of coded language.

Trump has merely said out loud what was formerly and typically cloaked in obfuscation and deceptive contextualizing (when they’re not outright lying), in order to justify our bringing “democracy” to “unstable” places ruled by “dictators.”

Of course it’s used here as well. They steal our resources by not taxing the rich, giving obscene funds to police and military, and “privatize” everything. Betting on sports and everything else, while having to be entertained 24/7 every single day, and access to cheap disposable goods (literally made by child slave labor in SE Asia) to attempt to assuage the deep emptiness part and parcel of being working class American keeps the proles distracted, isolated and eminently malleable. While they steal everything around us.