Not to mention - continuing on Colibri’s comments - waiting lists and bribes. I mean, you want to buy the latest technology, say, and you’re middle-classed, which is a growing portion of India’s people now.
So you order it and get put on a waiting list.
Meanwhile, the rich people down the street slipped the guy who works for the company a little bribe. You know, several thousand rupees or whatever.
Then he bribes the guy on the truck, to make a few units “accidentally” fall off the truck.
The guy on the truck uses some of his bribe money to bribe the inventory guy.
And so it goes and so the world turns. Again, Americans have no idea how shitty the rest of the world can be. I truly love India but I would never move there.
TheLoadedDog makes another good point. SE Asia hasn’t forgotten the arrogance of the British. India only achieved independence less than 60 years ago. We haven’t forgotten being referred to as less than human and the brown monkeys, etc…in that way we are like the Japanese, we smile to your face but never forget. At the same time 300 years of being polite to our rules has taught us the value of foreigners. So just be polite and generous with your money and you’ll go a long way. They can pick furriners out of a crowd, even Indians.
If I started telling you about the police in India you all would go out and hug an American cop, even the police-haters around here.
I went to Mexico for a month, many years ago. Not with a lot of $$, by the way. Down in Bahia de Los Angeles, even though we were “poor” by US standards, they considered us “rich”. However, the fishermen there did not live what I’d consider a horrible life. By and large-no flush toilets, no cars, no TV- but there were lots of fish so no one was starving, everyone appeared healthly and there were no beggars. Homes were small and crude, but clean. Although we usually bought the beer, the local resident fishermen could usually afford a round, too. Although spartan, I could live like that, if I had to (in fact, for most of the month, we did). OTOH, I was shocked at the shantytown behind Tijuana. No human should live like that. :eek:
We met and talked with some of the American expatriates in Baja. SocSec plus a small pension allowed one to live- well, not like a King- but with a PT servant and such. I expect $100,000 a year there would really allow one to “live like a King” with a full staff, a mansion, and so forth. Here, $100K barely allows you to buy a house and live with a crushing mortgage.
My girlfriend is from Mexico and when she goes back to visit she packs loads of bags and cloths bought from Goodwill, Salvation Army and yard sales. She always comes back with nothing but cash and the cloths on her back. Example: she bought a 10 year old wheeled bag for $3 at a yard sale (in decent shape) and sold the bag for $25 just by going down to the corner and setting up a table. She typically pays for most of her trip by doing this kind of stuff and knowing her as I do I believe that she probably does lord it over people down there sometimes.
Now I’m cutting and running out of here and if anyone repeats this I will deny it under pain of torture.
Mmm, well I suppose you’re right about certain parts of the Philippines. I have traveled fairly extensively, and have never not seen basic clothing for sale. In fact, in a lot of places in SE Asia, there seem to be markets everywhere, so I would argue that in many place people can actually walk down the street and buy stuff. However, this assumption would no doubt break down in more rural and remote areas.
Colobri has a valid point, however. In a country with a small middle class, you are less likely to find “middle quality” goods. In my experience, often times the cheap stuff is cheaper and the expensive stuff is more expensive in many countries. I guess I just assumed you were talking about “cheap stuff” if your friend was purchasing things at yard sales and thrift stores, which, to my discredit, I don’t know what kind of wares thrift stores and yard sales offer.
I have two graduate degrees in economics and I have traveled to 34 countries, including some first rate third world hell holes. Might I suggest, “dude,” that you go easy with the condescending attitude. Quite frankly, you don’t know anything about what I may or may not realize.
What the Op is asking is pretty simple. Because labour is cheaper in poor countries, one can live with many labour intensive amenities (maids, etc) that would be quite expensive (and thus, a sign of considerable wealth) in a developed country where you have to pay people $5/hr, a considerable sum by world standards. Actually this also exists to some extent in the US due to the abundance of cheap illegal labour.
At the other end of the scale are pure commodities or capital goods without much labour content, which will be more expensive in poor countries. A barrel of oil or a Mercedes will be considerably more expensive in the third world than in the first.
I have a maid here (actually more of a cleaning lady) who comes in once every two weeks for $16, which is actually a bit more than the going rate. My apartment has “maid’s quarters” for a live-in maid (with a cold-water shower, unlike the other two bathrooms) which I use as a laundry room; quite a few of the other people in my building (which would be considered middle class in the US) have live-in help.
When I worked in Madagascar we threw our used cans in a trash pit out back of where we were staying. They were always scavenged by the next morning. I think they were flattened out and used for "siding"on houses in the village down the road.
I don’t have a degrees in Economics but I do realize (and so do several other people here) that sending people in third world countries cash is not always 10 times better that sending goods.
