Quote: (05-09-2010 11:16 PM)lavinci Wrote:
OK - bad comparison with America. The US has arguably the biggest purchasing power in the world. What I was trying to say is, the per capita income is not a true equivalent of a society's wealth. You said that South America's GDP per capita is on average four times lower than the West's. That leads us to think that they must be 4 times poorer. But more often than not, if we're not talking about Rio od Sao Paulo, I thought the things are a few times cheaper than in the West so it doesn't turn out THAT BAD living on their average wage, no? It seems like imported goods such as Levi's or electronics are then however considered luxury goods. Cause why else would they be priced so insanely high?
Excluding living in touristy places and buying luxury goods (yeah, like ipods), do you think middle class in SA lives one fourth of the West's standard? I don't know. I know the standard of living has to be lower, but I've always been curious how much lower it actually is. That's why I asked where is the cost of living equal to US in South America. Like I said with Norway, the country has the 2nd biggest GDP per capita in the world, yet it does not tell us how much less you can buy with that money they make there, say comparing to US. But you guys are saying that prices in Brazil are comparable to US, so there's nothing to say except, how lucky we are to be living here I guess. I've seen Levi's being very pricey all over Europe as well. Electronics too. Bought a laptop in Ireland for 1000 euros, when I could have bought it here for 700$. Excluding Rio and Sao Paulo, I don't think all Brazil is that pricey though, huh? Maybe we take US for granted and underestimate the fact, that it's everything here that's so cheap. What about the rent prices? How long would you have to work there to rent an average-SA-apartment?
What do you mean when you say middle class in Brazil? If you are talking about middle class compared to our standards, then that is a very small percentage. It would be even harder for Brazilians to be middle class than it is for us if you are talking about personal possessions, since their electronics, clothing, etc. are much more expensive. But like I said man, food is basically the same price if you are eating out unless you are going somewhere that doesn't have that great of food. To live like a middle class american in brazil, you would need even more money than a middle class family would here, in the US, at least it definitely seemed that way to me. I was suprised at how my friends parents who made US$200000 a year had just the same, if not less possessions than my father, who makes US$100000 a year. Sure, if you want to live barely getting by, Brazil can be cheap, but that wouldn't make you middle class. I see what you are saying. I think you are basically saying that for example, in South Africa you may only make $15000 a year, but that is plenty of money in their currency (Rand) to live a middle class life. In Brazil this is not true. The average income is somewhere near $12000 a year. I spent $9000 in less than 4 months in Brazil, and I would have said I was living as a middle class citizen most of the time.