Space Goat

Feeling poor? Enter your income into the Global Rich List calculator to see how your salary compares to others around the world.

I'm not starting this thread to share results. But I think they can put our "woes" into perspective.

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iamspenagain

I don't read too much into it and here's why. If I lived in, say, Namibia, my yearly income could buy me whatever I want. Mansions, luxury sports cars, the like. Back here in the States, however, I struggle to make ends meat at times. That's not to say I don't recognize that I have luxuries relative to the vast majority of the world (computers, the internet, an XBox, electricity to run those devices, clean water, etc.), but I doubt this particular website compensates for the vast cost-of-living differences from country to country.

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If I could, I would marry a Magnum bar.

Cymro

It doesn't. In fact it shows them off:

I may be the 737,781,773rd richest person in the world in terms of income, but that gap in costs of basic commodities means that it's an exaggeration in real terms. The gaps are only really widened to their fullest extent when you're talking about things like cars and electronics.

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"Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working.

"But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

Space Goat

Except, if you lived in Namibia, odds are you'd be making a yearly income that would scarcely allow you to buy enough food, let alone the luxuries you mention. And many people wouldn't even be making that much. That's the point.

Many Westerners appear to feel the same way: They complain about how hard "making ends meet" can be... in Internet posts composed on their computers, after having sat last night on their soft couches in their comfortable, climate-controlled homes watching Survivor (Americans are so decadent they make a game show about "roughing it") on their televisions and chatting with their friends about it afterward on their cell phones.

These people are not "struggling to make ends meet." They might occasionally have to do without a few luxuries out of the many to which they've become accustomed as comparatively wealthy Westerners, but they're not starving or wanting for shelter.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem whatsoever with wealth. I just think people who have it should recognize it and be grateful instead of complaining about how "little guys" like them have trouble making it.

In America, most people make enough to buy not only food and shelter, but also luxuries such as televisions, computers, Internet, phone service, gaming consoles, etc.

In many Third World countries, nutritious food is so expensive, many people could consider themselves lucky if they could buy enough of it so they don't starve to death or suffer from malnutrition.

So I'd say the real cost of living, in terms of the average purchasing power, is much higher in Third World countries than the US.

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iamspenagain

And I'm not arguing any of your points. However, to tell me I'm in the 95th percentile or whatever I was is intellectually dishonest simply because my income current in other countries would make me insanely wealthy. That doesn't mean the median income in Namibia is heartbreakingly low or that I don't enjoy luxuries most simply cannot. It simply means that an unadjusted wealth percentile means nothing.

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If I could, I would marry a Magnum bar.

Space Goat

Fair enough.

I wouldn't go so far as to say a currency-adjusted income comparison means nothing, but purchasing power would be a far better metric for comparison.

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iamspenagain

We'll agree on that point.

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If I could, I would marry a Magnum bar.

Cymro

Yup.

The $8 for 15 apples vs $8 for an orchard kind of shows that.

Plus this kind of disparity becomes more evident if you visit places like Poland, which aren't a million miles behind us in terms of living standards, but their incomes are vastly lower. When I was there I was getting something like 6 PLN to 1 GBP, but generally if I were to expect to pay 1 GBP for something here, it'd cost 2 PLN in Poland.

The biggest factor, I think, is property/housing prices, which in turn push up (or down) the price of labour and food.

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"Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working.

"But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."