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I am well aware that the standard of living in this country is pretty darn high, and that while my salary is modest enough - realistically my husband and I are doing very well for ourselves in the global sense.
The annual income that I live on (in the USA) is approximately equal to the per capita GDP of Poland, Malaysia, Chile and Trinidad. And of that, I can save some. My actual month to month cost of living is pretty close to the per capital GDP of the whole world, which I think is a little over $9000 a year.
According to the calculation, that puts me in the top 13%. But my living costs (food, transport, housing, etc) is also in the top 13% in the world. I could live much better on the same income in Chile, Trinidad, Malaysia or Poland.
Quote:
Originally Posted by yuritoad
That site is an eye opener. Living in the US, I think sometimes we lose our perspective on how much we really have compared to the rest of the world.
No, it gives us a perspective on how much America is ripping us off compared to the rest of the world. Where in any developing country would it cost $3-4 a day to commute to work on public transit? Where in the rest of the world would basic medical and health care cost 3/4-million dollars during an average person's lifetime? Where in the developing world are onions nearly a dollar a pound, or local fruit $2-3 a pound?
"You're in the TOP 0.82% richest people in the world!"....cool. now, how come everyone in Haiti has a cell phone, and my cell phone bill is about $200 a month? I am just trying to figure that one out...
Tell that to the Occupy Wall Streeters who don't seem to be ok with the relative wealth that some have.
Do you even have any comprehension of what "relative" means?
It means that its a complete fallacy to compare US citizens, who are churning out nearly 50k for every US citizen in production, to the Chinese who are churning out 8k.
The Chinese SHOULD be making less, they are producing far less. The argument that right wingers like to make, to deodorize the fact that they are making dozens of times the income of the average American, is that the average American is making more than the average Chinese worker.
So what? Comparing Chinese workers to American workers is comparing Apples to Oranges.
The Occupy Wallstreeters are completely justified in protesting the relative wealth of the 1%.
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