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Also, they have a lot more problems than people see. While someone traveling to Chile comes there and sees nice streets, palm trees and nice buildings... they don't see that most of the workers are working 45 hour weeks and making 400 dollars a MONTH.
People there are poor, very poor. There are a lot of problems in that country, and while it might be able to be considered "first world" there are a a lot more third world problems that will take more than a couple years to work out.
That being said, Chile is the best country in Latin America in terms of safety and overall best place to live. It is expensive though.
Living in Chile and having a Chilean wife opened my eyes to a lot more of Chile than just being a tourist. I can tell you that if I spent 2 weeks in Chile doing a tour of the country and going home I would have a complete different idea.
Don't get me wrong though, I love Chile.
Bus drivers (transantiago) earn 1200 usd/month, our (low grade) secretaries at OPS earned mm roughly 1100 usd. Santiago's AVERAGE income is 650 EUROS /month... what's that? 900usd? Still crappy but come on, that's far from your 400usd. Wages vs cost of living was important to understand for me before moving.
Regarding Socialism, I haven't been updating too much myself with that country since I got back to Sweden but last I heard, the socialist president ms Bachelet had an awful approval rate.
Bus drivers (transantiago) earn 1200 usd/month, our (low grade) secretaries at OPS earned mm roughly 1100 usd. Santiago's AVERAGE income is 650 EUROS /month... what's that? 900usd? Still crappy but come on, that's far from your 400usd. Wages vs cost of living was important to understand for me before moving.
Regarding Socialism, I haven't been updating too much myself with that country since I got back to Sweden but last I heard, the socialist president ms Bachelet had an awful approval rate.
The average wage in Chile is about 540,000 CLP which is little less than 1,000 USD
The Min. Wage in Chile is $2.25 an hour.
Again if you are an American or European tourist that comes with the American Dollars or Euro that is great. You live in a bubble while you are there. Just like any ELITES in any country but if you are part of the working class in those countries and have to deal with the wages and their big government bureaucracy then its a different story........its like Mexico, you have the nice Mexico where the Americans go and the Elites live because you have American Dollars to spend and you are in a bubble and then you have the REAL MEXICO.
I'm Middle Class in the U.S., if the MIN. WAGE is $2.25 an hour or less like the majority of the Latin countries and my wages multiplies because of the U.S. DOLLAR, I could afford a maid or 2 that cooks and cleans my house for me even have a chauffeur. Imagine if you are upper class going to those countries, you will leave like a King....meanwhile the common folks in those countries struggles badly.
Yet The central part of Chile, mainly Santiago reminds me mostly (infrastructure wise) of California. Parts looks like Spain. Other parts look French, but none look like far behind Portugal or Greece.
I spent in total six years in Chile working.
Aside from the lack of drinkable tap water and a sewer system, Mexican streets look a lot like California's. Now a great deal of California doesn't specifically match what you would think a first world place would looks like, and I live in California. Have you spent time in either Portugal or Greece though?
The average wage in Chile is about 540,000 CLP which is little less than 1,000 USD
Ah, I see where we both misunderstood each other.
You mixed up minimal wage with average wage. The people you said were making 400usd in Chile was not the MAJORITY of workers like you said, but instead were the MINIMUM WAGERS. So minimum wage in Chile is 5.5usd/h if 45h a week. (which is crap, but not too bad with current prices)
This chilean immigrant (prob 2nd gen) in Sweden is on some trippy stuff
Lol, no. Im actually swede. Am I biased a bit towards Chile? yes, I spent my best years there.
Now, Eastern part of Santiago (home to millions of Chileans) have an HDI score of 0.97-0.98, Which is higher than Norway's average. (I know comparing parts of a country vs the whole of another is silly, but still...)
None of the South American Countries have any potential to become First world countries.
I spent 20 years working in South America.
Peru is one of the worst. Ill use them because they were mentioned.
This is mainly because of their legal systems and Tax collection agencies
The Legal systems are the best systems money can buy. If you have money you can get away with ANYTHING you want.
The Tax collection agencies (IN Peru SUNAT) are simply arms of the elite class to collect monies for their projects and tools used to get rid of your competition.
I know many people who had their businesses seized when they did nothing wrong paid their taxes and generated profit. Mainly because they were competing with bigger business or well connected people who either didnt want their competition or just plain wanted their business and it was easy to just take it.
Everything YOU do in these countries is public information. Not the elites thou. They hide behind Testafaros and fake ID's while everything you purchase is used against you. It is all recorded because you must use your DNI (National ID) to buy almost anything. Their computer programs constantly compare what you bought with what you declare on your income taxes and one day you just find yourself locked out of your bank account and nice big stickers on your front door stating that you are under SUNAT investigation.
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