Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Middle class in China is much much better than poor in the US.
Poor neighborhoods in the US have horrible schools, horrible safety, and horrible drug and alcohol problems. Your children will repeat your life by 95% chance.
Per Capita income in China: $12,000. That is very poor in the US. I bet that a poor guy in the US has a much better chance of making $30,000 than a guy in China. $30,000 in China is wayyy above average, in the US it is well below average.
I know you want to make Mexico sound great but I've been there many times and a middle class Mexican guy does not own a house and a car and has no chance to ever visit Europe. That is like the top 15% you are describing. The per capita GDP of Mexico is $18,000 American dollars which is kind of poor. No one can hope to visit Europe on an $18,000 salary.
If you ever bother to read my posts, you'd notice that I'm not one of those I love my country blindly no matter what. And I'm not saying Mexico is Scandinavia 2.0 no. But I live here, and I know poor people, rich people and middle class people as well. I've been to their houses, drive in their cars and saw their pictures from Cancun, Vegas and Paris. I myself -a middle class Mexican- been to Europe three times already. Was it expensive? Of course it was? Did I ended up broke because of that? Nope. You see, it's all about picking the right time, fares and places to go in order not to end up selling your kidney for a trip. I want to believe you really know Mexico, not just what you see in Fox News. Poverty in Mexico is a big problem, but we are over 115 millions of us, and a big chunk of us are what you'd call middle class. Of course our houses aren't McMansions, nor our cars as new or fancy, nor we go to Vegas just for the weekend. But we exist and we are certainly what you'd consider middle class.
Luckily is not my job to convince you of anything, nor I consider myself the truth owner. Feel free to think/believe as you wish.
Regarding salaries, I do hope that you'd know the cost of living in Mexico is much lower than the U.S. therefore, even if you earn less, you also spent less.
Saludos
Last edited by Aztecgoddess; 04-18-2015 at 08:15 PM..
Reason: Misspelling issues
Per Capita income in China: $12,000. That is very poor in the US. I bet that a poor guy in the US has a much better chance of making $30,000 than a guy in China. $30,000 in China is wayyy above average, in the US it is well below average.
You forget purchasing power genius.
You can rent a decent apartment for $300 in shanghai, for $150 in a mid sized city. You can hire someone to fix your toilet for $10. Last time I had my shirt altered in shanghai, it cost $1. Would cost $10 in a big US city, wouldn't it? I also hired two guys to use their truck to move all my furniture across town (45 minutes drive) for $30. Try that in the US?
I know you want to make Mexico sound great but I've been there many times and a middle class Mexican guy does not own a house and a car and has no chance to ever visit Europe. That is like the top 15% you are describing. The per capita GDP of Mexico is $18,000 American dollars which is kind of poor. No one can hope to visit Europe on an $18,000 salary.
Mexico has a decent sized middle class, sure it could be bigger but they are working on it. Mexico actually has a pretty high rate of car and homeowenrship. 18,000 is not a lot in America, but it does go a bit further in Mexico.
Depends on the situation.
I would never feel good if I need help of the government, in any place of the world. It means that people work for sustaining me and I'm not doing my contribution for the society. On the other hand, at least in Latin America the governments in general does everything for harming the middle class.
It depends on which country actually. Being poor in Sweden or Denmark is very different from being poor in the US; being middle class in Congo or Yemen is also very different from being middle class in Brazil or Argentina.
Middle class in a developing nation. Maybe I'm selfish, but if I'm living a good life I shouldn't worry about other people too much living "below" me.
Being poor in a developed nation will have people immensely looking down on me. Because in developed nations (or at least here in AUS), poor people are seen as drug users and trash. Also, I will be very envious of a lot of people in this scenario.
Middle class in a developing nation. Maybe I'm selfish, but if I'm living a good life I shouldn't worry about other people too much living "below" me.
Being poor in a developed nation will have people immensely looking down on me. Because in developed nations (or at least here in AUS), poor people are seen as drug users and trash. Also, I will be very envious of a lot of people in this scenario.
What do you mean with poor people? All people below the poverty line (about the poorest 10% of the population) or only those homeless people that hang around?
Here in Germany other people normally don't would perceive if someone is poor or not. At least not in bigger cities (pop>100k). Most people here live a more modest live and there is normally no social constraint to consume a lot of goods. It's also not uncommon that middle class people don't have a car in bigger cities. For example I don't know whether my neighbours have a car or not. That sounds strange for most Americans or Aussies, but in front of our row houses there is only a sidewalk, the garages for our houses are somewhat hidden. We are 7 households in 7 attached row houses, and I live here now for 7 years and of course I know my neighbours very good, but I don't know whether all of my neighbours have a car. Are they rich? are they poor? I don't know, probably all middle class. There is an elderly turkish couple, they live half the year in Turkey and the rest of the year here in Düsseldorf. There is a rumour that they are somewhat richer and own several houses in Turkey, but I don't know and I really would never care. Normally no one ever talks about his salary or other financial affairs here in Germany.
Being poor in more rural, conservative regions in Germany is different from that. There people would easier notice if you are poor or not. Without a car in a more rural area can be very inconvenient. That would likely a hint for poverty.
It's not uncommon that elderly people live in a small apartment a very modest live, although they have several 100k Euros in their bank account. On the other side there are people that buy a lot of consumer goods and seems to be rich, but are constantly in the red.
In my opinion it's not a big deal to live on a tight budget in Germany. The problem is that most poor people are stupid and badly educated and often unable to manage their lives. They have big problems to economize with their funds, no matter how much money they have.
I want never live in a dictatorship or in an unsafe country. No matter how much I can earn.
The per capita GDP of Mexico is $18,000 American dollars which is kind of poor. No one can hope to visit Europe on an $18,000 salary.
There are huge purchasing power differences. Maybe 18,000$ aren't that much from an American point of view. But I guess it's a lot for Mexicans.
In Germany a monthly net salary of 1,200€ (1,300$) per month is really not that much, but if you spare the car ownership it isn't a big deal to save 300€ per month. And with 3,600€ you can easily spend one week in the U.S. and additionally two weeks in Greece and additionally a few days in Paris for example. And that every year.
I don't know what a journey from Mexico to Europe cost or from the U.S. to Europe, but it's probably the same like in the other direction, or not?
I know quite a few Mexicans,and I bet Aztecgoddeess does too, who emigrated to the USA, and then returned voluntarily to Mexico to raise their family, because they felt they had better prospects in Mexico, than in the USA. Not just in terms of their level of earning power, but with the social and cultural advantages of their families growing up attached to their Mexican roots. The latter being a salient factor in terms of the "would you rather live" part of the OP's question.
There is a widespread misconception among Amricans, that everybody in the world hankers to live in America, and only a lucky few are anointed. Far from the truth. A great majority of the people in the third world are proud of their own country and are contented to live there. It is only a few, a loud, brash, aggressive, adventurous few, who aspire to emigrate to America. Which is why you don't really like immigrants very much -- because they are a pushy, selfish subclass among their people (and the ancestors of all of us, just as the ancestors of Australians are were criminals). And you judge all their countrymen by what you see in immigrants, thus displaying a discriminatory ignorance and unwarranted fear and hatred of what the rest of the world is like.
Last edited by jtur88; 04-19-2015 at 07:22 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
