"Yeah, lets see what we got here
first of all, "You would need around 3,707.94$ in Atlanta, GA to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 2,700.00$ in Vilnius (assuming you rent in both cities). This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index."
That means that my 6000 dollar equivalent in purchasing power in US would be 8240 dollars. Your minimum wage is above that. In fact, almost 50% above that. "
This comment makes no sense. First of all, when you said you make $6000/year, you never said what country you were from. I figured out you were in Latvia, where they pay Litas, not dollars. So how did you get $6000? And if you DID make the equivalent of $6000 in Litas, then if you cashed in your Litas and came to Georgia, you'd still have only $6000, not $8240. You're using trickery here, because you make everyone think you are only making $6000 year, but when I challenge you to come to the US and live on that, suddenly you now have $8240. Where did that come from? How much money in Litas do you make/year in Latvia?
Second, the comment about how much you would need in Atlanta vs Vilnius is just a ratio, a concrete figure given to the ration 1.37: 1. It does not necessarily refer to monthly, and surely not yearly, fund requirements. It basically is a guideline that says my dollar can buy $1.37 worth of goods in Vilnius. It's the opposite for you. Your "dollar" actually buys 73 cents worth of goods in Atlanta.
Therefore, if you DID make $6000/year in Latvia, you'd only be able to afford $4380 worth of goods in the US, not $8240.
Third, the minimum wage in the US depends upon the state. In Georgia, it's $5.15/hour. This means $824 gross or $9,888/year (working 40 hrs week).
Taxed at about 20% (the minimum state and fed taxes)the worker only gets $7,910/year in Georgia. Divide that by 12 to get monthly expenses, and the worker only has about $660 month to pay for rent, food, health insurance, gas, transportation, car insurance, utilities, cable/internet, household supplies, entertainment, clothing, etc. Of course this is impossible, because AS YOU CAN SEE on the graph, the lowest rent in Atlanta is $688.89/month (1 BR apartment outside the city), and the minimum wage worker cannot even afford that!
And to top it off, the Georgia poverty threshold is $987/month, more than $300 more than this worker makes!
https://dch.georgia.gov/sites/dch.georgia.gov/files/related_files/document/2014_Federal_Poverty_Guidelines.pdf
But let's just say you make more than minimum wage. You rent a 1 BR apartment like this poor worker, and you can afford it. So you pay $688. A monthly bus pass costs $92.50 (much cheaper than a car). Groceries are $100 (modest). Household $40. Health insurance from the new Obamacare websites are about $250. Utilities and internet cost $85 (very modest). No restaurants. No dates/fun. So that's $1255/month, $269 over Georgia's own poverty-level, just to SURVIVE
on the outskirts of a mid-sized American city. Your $6000 would last only 5 months. You wouldn't last half a year here, you and your $6000 (or if you insist on $8240, you'd last 6.5 months).
So I repeat: you are not part of any American dream, and your inflationary idea of how much your $6000 can go in the US is a pipe dream. Stop making it sound
as if Americans are rich, spoiled and don't know how to use their money. Americans work hard, and they're just struggling due to outsourcing, offshoring, automation, and many other factors. Meanwhile, prices keep going up.
Stop talking about things you know nothing about.
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Strazdamonas
10 years ago
This comment makes no sense. First of all, when you said you make $6000/year, you never said what country you were from. I figured out you were in Latvia, where they pay Litas, not dollars. So how did you get $6000? And if you DID make the equivalent of $6000 in Litas, then if you cashed in your Litas and came to Georgia, you'd still have only $6000, not $8240. You're using trickery here, because you make everyone think you are only making $6000 year, but when I challenge you to come to the US and live on that, suddenly you now have $8240. Where did that come from? How much money in Litas do you make/year in Latvia?
Latvia has Euras. i live in Lithuania, where they pay Litas. I have estimated 6000 dollar based on the exchange rate approximation.
I made the 8240 dollar comment based on the value that website gave me when comparing the buying power in different countries. Meaning that for 8240 dollars i would be able to buy same amount of items in US as i do for 6000 in Lithuania. This was your main point - things being cheaper in Lithuania, so that website was useful in solving the equivalent buying power in US to 8240 dollars.
Second, the comment about how much you would need in Atlanta vs Vilnius is just a ratio, a concrete figure given to the ration 1.37: 1. It does not necessarily refer to monthly, and surely not yearly, fund requirements. It basically is a guideline that says my dollar can buy $1.37 worth of goods in Vilnius. It's the opposite for you. Your "dollar" actually buys 73 cents worth of goods in Atlanta.
Therefore, if you DID make $6000/year in Latvia, you'd only be able to afford $4380 worth of goods in the US, not $8240.
I believe i covered that in response to the first paragraph.
Third, the minimum wage in the US depends upon the state. In Georgia, it's $5.15/hour. This means $824 gross or $9,888/year (working 40 hrs week).
Taxed at about 20% (the minimum state and fed taxes)the worker only gets $7,910/year in Georgia. Divide that by 12 to get monthly expenses, and the worker only has about $660 month to pay for rent, food, health insurance, gas, transportation, car insurance, utilities, cable/internet, household supplies, entertainment, clothing, etc. Of course this is impossible, because AS YOU CAN SEE on the graph, the lowest rent in Atlanta is $688.89/month (1 BR apartment outside the city), and the minimum wage worker cannot even afford that!
And to top it off, the Georgia poverty threshold is $987/month, more than $300 more than this worker makes!
https://dch.georgia.gov/sites/dch.georgia.gov/files/related_files/document/2014_Federal_Poverty_Guidelines.pdf
Thanks for the information. i was under the impression the minimum wage was set at the federal level.
As far as the rest of your post, i already adressed that buying a house is cheaper than rent to ridiculous extent so either the cost of housing or the cost of rent numbers are false, else you wouldnt find a fool that is renting. You yourself pointed to a website that equated my 6000 with 8240 dollars in purchasing power. if i can buy enough to live for 6000 you should be as well in atlanta. Altrough such things like people having to pay for their own social security and other nonesense seems to be adding extra unnecessary costs.
Also you equating money to dates and fun only shows the materialistic lifestyle that you represent.
Americans work hard, and they are underpaid, but that wasnt the discussion at hand. the discussion was that 30.000 per year is not poor.
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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.
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targa9
10 years ago
Wow, you just don't get it. Whether you live in Latvia or Lithuania, you said you make 6,000/year. If that is dollars, then dollars is dollars--that does not magically turn into $8240. If you make 6,000 litas, then, since 1 dollar = 2.5 litas (as of Sept 2013), then you are actually making only $2400 US dollars/year!
In either case, you cannot come up with MORE US Dollars than $6000. You either already converted your litas, and you have $6000/yr, or you are making $2400/yr.
You must first understand this basic math before we can continue.
Secondly, I've already proven that living in a mid-sized US city would already cost over $1200/month, just to survive. So you'd need $14,400/year NET just to survive, or about $17,280 gross. Since the minimum wage in GA is $7900/yr, and all the McDonalds, Walmarts, Targets, Burger Kings etc. pay only that for entry-level employees, you'd need to make over twice that just to survive, or about $10.50/hour. If you made $30,000/year gross, this equals $24,000 after taxes, which is $12.50/hour. You could survive "OK" in Atlanta on that, but still you'd only have about $583/month extra. Most Americans would get a car, which is almost a necessity and can lead to higher-paying jobs, the payments/insurance/gas of which would eat up most of that, and have about $100 left over for "discretionary income" (what you like to call a "materialistic lifestyle").
You are not American, so of course you probably think $100/month extra is a lot of money. Bottom line, NOBODY in the US is "rolling in dough" if they're making $30,000/year, unless they don't have to pay rent or health insurance. At best, they are "scraping by". If you can't see that, then I give up.
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Strazdamonas
10 years ago
you seem to lack a grasp of meaning of "puchasing power". Untill you educate yourself on that i will not bother to respond to your false accusations.
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Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.
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targa9
10 years ago
For someone who says they work in "statistics", you should be embarrassed.
I'm the one who pointed you to a simple exchange/cost-of-living site. I'm the one who broke down costs, included tax and exchange rate issues, and pointed out
the minimum wage and poverty levels. I'm the one who's actually living in this country you claim to know the "purchasing power" of. You watch some movie about American economy, then create a misleading post saying you are doing fine on $6 grand a year, suggesting that US poverty figures are grossly inflated, neglecting to mention you live in LITHUANIA. You don't really provide any statistics at all for your case, and then claim that your $6 grand that you live on in Lithuania is magically worth 8 grand in the US, and yet I'm the one who needs to be educated and lack a grasp of basic economics? What a joke.
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ilykyu
9 years ago
it's not about absolute numbers, it's about relativity, and it's effects on the distribution of power. JP Morgan living over 100 years ago is technically poorer than an average American living today. He could never afford a TV, a smartphone or a computer, or to take trips to every country on Earth, or 90% of the medical treatments we enjoy now. But he was RELATIVELY many times richer than the average American living back then, and thus much much more influential and powerful, over his own destiny and the destiny of others. Every American living today is wealthier than pretty much anyone in recorded history (especially from over 100 years ago, but they are more powerless than ever.
"what is your major malfunction numbnuts?!!
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