The irony of a rich country having people who can barely eat and a poor country....

I was born in brazil, and there i lived with my godparents and a adopted child they had. My godfather made 250 "reais" which right now is about 150 dollars. As you probably know, Brasil is neck deep in poverty, but we managed just fine, we never went hungry, always had food every day, were always with a full stomach. but the advantage that we had was that things there are simple, as a kid i just went on the streets to play with my friends (we lived beside a small street that was a dead end road so not many cars at all went by there), we use to talk, play soccer, hide and seek and that was my "fun time". Our house was small, but we didnt have "mortgages", we just payed people to build the house and they built it, that's how it works in Brasil. To be honest our only "bills" were food and eletricity, and often we went out to the bar (my godparents drank some and me and my considered brother just ate food and drank juice).

Things were simple, we never struggled, things were always good and i was always happy, to be honest, i was never "depressed" or worried.

I lived in Brasil until i was 11, then i moved to Canada and i stayed there until i was 14 and now i live in Norway (i moved because my mom found guys living outside brasil and got married, and i am truly lucky for that, i have chances id never have in brasil)

But here is the thing, in the US, the richest country in the world, i was reading here about people struggling to make ends meet and just to put food on the table, and with the money they make there in the US, they would be considered rich in Brasil.

How is it that in a poor country, the money can go so much further than in a rich country. It's truly sad and i am really curious.

It's one of the marvels of economics, you may have lots of money and not be able to buy half of a bread.

Money is only worth what people accept to trade for it.

That is why some people emigrate to other countries but do not get rich as they thought they would be, because although the salary may be three times what that person earned on his original country, the housing, food, transportation, etc. is much higher, so what looked like an excellent opportunity turns out to be just slightly better than if he had staid in is own country.

And the problem, sometimes, is just that people have more money, so they can spend more, and that makes people raise the price of the goods, trying to get a bigger share of all the money that is circulating.

That brings the prices up without making the salaries higher, so people still get a lot of money at the end of the month (here in Portugal we get paid monthly) but they can buy less and less things with it.

This is visible in the countries that use the Euro; here in Portugal we may have much smaller wages, but when we compare the prices of the goods we need everyday we see that only some things are really more expensive here (like gasoline, for example).

PS: your description of your way of passing the time in Brasil reminded me of how we do it here in Portugal, it's exactly the same (or at least it was, where I live there are now not that many children).

I know what y ou mean. I too lived the simple life growing up but it was the happiest phase of my existence. My country is also neck deep in poverty (or so we think.) here in the Philippines millions scavenge mountains of garbage while just a few kilometers away glittering malls bigger than Central Park would rival Italy with their number of high end designer shops (think LV, Prada, etc.) There's actually a running joke here: We are a country pretending to be poor. (And paying billions to Jews! )

[edit on 2-7-2008 by homo_borg]

Here in the US our ecomony is being depressed for many reasons, but one big reason is illegal immigration from Mexico. This, despite the fact that Mexico is actually a very wealthy country, though admittedly with a very poor distribution of that wealth. If it weren't for the US, Mexico would have plunged into revolution by now.

reply to post by linuxer


I honestly think it's two things.

One, it sounds like you were either pretty wealthy to have a house built and no loan (relatively - not compared to U.S. salaries), or that land prices are substantially cheaper in Brazil. Probably that.

But mainly two - that people in Brazil know better how to live on less. The greatest...well, most horrible thing, is people spending food stamps on McDonald's. "Poverty" wages are actually more than enough to live on if you don't live in an expensive area, but today people need TV, cell phones, cars, internet... And buy TV dinners, eat meat once a day or more...

Condensed... people in poorer areas can do more with less.

The answer is Cost of Living.

In Brazil how much could the food you ate cost? Or the house you lived in? Or the liquor your family drank? It's all about the cost of living.

I live in Toronto now and things are ridiculously expensive compared with where I grewe up, in South Carolina, USA.

For example:

24 pack of Budweiser - SC: $15 or less Toronto: $50
Drug store cosmetics - SC: $2-$15 Toronto: $12-$50
Magazines - SC: $2.50-$5 Toronto: $5-$8
Auto parts - suffice it to say that in Toronto they cost between 30%-60% more
Homes - a starter home in SC: $80-110k in Toronto: $300-400k

The list goes on and on. With the amount of money my family makes in Toronto we would be living like kings back in SC. But here we're lower middle class...saving and saving. Of course, back in SC wages are brutally low and that's why things are so cheap. Up here jobs pay more but things are more expensive.

So to use your example, if someone in the US gets paid a few hundred dollars a week (a lot compared with the average Brazilian worker), but they only have $50 per week for food and milk is $5, bread is $4, etc. it's not hard to see how someone who makes a lot of money can't make ends meet.

well I personally think it is cause they won't get a job
there is always work just depends on how bad you want to find it
there are a million excuses that will keep you from getting a job but only one way to go get one,, that is the reason..

This is exactly how charities rope you into giving your money to the "poor" in Africa or somewhere. Usually, they'll start they're advert with;

"Mbeki lives on less than $5 a day..how disgraceful..give your money to us or he'll die"

What they don't mention is that $5 a day in Angola or the Sudan is actually quite a lot and will buy them all the bread, milk, cheese and meat they need, pay for they're phone, heating and electricity and still give them enough left over to run a car.

That's not including the fact that they will have land to grow food and rear animals, plus the scenery is gorgeous! Sometimes I wonder who has it better...

It's all relative, really. Your more you earn, the more things cost.

PS: As a disclaimer, I know there are other factors that make these places less hospitable, such as war and famine. Corruption also drains any money put into local services, so infrastructure and schooling for example suffer.

But that doesn't detract from the fact that cost of living is a major component to consider when comparing "wealth" of countries.

reply to post by geocom

well I personally think it is cause they won't get a job

"They" as in who? The Hatians who are so poor they have to eat mud? Or the Mexicans who "won't" get a job in Mexico becaue they would "rather" come to the US? :shk:



[edit on 7/2/0808 by jackinthebox]

Brazil is laid back. I know what its like to live well, very well, on little money and not many food choices!
I also grew up like that- this is the land of opportunity, and you have a chance to make your dreams come true, but you have to work very hard in order to accomplish wealth.
In my country of origin, i never heard of anyone dying of a heart attack, because it was simple there.

We have food,plenty of it here. The way of life here calls for quick meals, such as fast food restaurants- lets face it, nobody wants to go home and make home made beans and make a roast. They want to eat, spend some time with family then sleep in order to get ready for the next busy day.
I'm assuming in Brazil you still have a spouse staying home taking care of things. Its not that way here. If you're the regular American, you both work.

The quality of life is certainly much better in other countries. But if you want that dream to make something of yourself, this is the place to be.

You cant fool me, i know how long it takes to cook them Black Beans
!!

Originally posted by linuxer
I was born in brazil, and there i lived with my godparents and a adopted child they had. My godfather made 250 "reais" which right now is about 150 dollars. As you probably know, Brasil is neck deep in poverty, but we managed just fine, we never went hungry, always had food every day, were always with a full stomach. but the advantage that we had was that things there are simple, as a kid i just went on the streets to play with my friends (we lived beside a small street that was a dead end road so not many cars at all went by there), we use to talk, play soccer, hide and seek and that was my "fun time". Our house was small, but we didnt have "mortgages", we just payed people to build the house and they built it, that's how it works in Brasil. To be honest our only "bills" were food and eletricity, and often we went out to the bar (my godparents drank some and me and my considered brother just ate food and drank juice).

Things were simple, we never struggled, things were always good and i was always happy, to be honest, i was never "depressed" or worried.

I lived in Brasil until i was 11, then i moved to Canada and i stayed there until i was 14 and now i live in Norway (i moved because my mom found guys living outside brasil and got married, and i am truly lucky for that, i have chances id never have in brasil)

But here is the thing, in the US, the richest country in the world, i was reading here about people struggling to make ends meet and just to put food on the table, and with the money they make there in the US, they would be considered rich in Brasil.

How is it that in a poor country, the money can go so much further than in a rich country. It's truly sad and i am really curious.

Most people who are struggling to put food on the table, are in that situation because they aren't willing to let go of something else, like Cable Television and other luxuries, or they bit off more than they could chew and bought a new house with an adjustable interest rate. In America if you need food, you can get it, so many people are doom and gloom when they are enjoying so many luxuries themselves, it's tiring. There are people who are struggling to make ends meet, but it's usually by their own doing.

I'm not sure what part of the U.S. you're in, but there's nobody going hungry where I'm at .

Yesterday I was standing in line behind a woman using her public food stamp credit card in the grocery store. She must have weighed in at over 200 pounds, and her cart was filled with chips and cases of coke, ice cream, and salsa for the chips.

And she got to pay for the entire cart of junk food with our tax money.

Trust me, she never went hungry for a day by the looks of her.

Originally posted by jamie83
I'm not sure what part of the U.S. you're in, but there's nobody going hungry where I'm at .

Most of the people that go hungry everyday are almost invisible to the "common people", either because they do not live in the exact same area, because they are ignored or because they look like "common people" but hide the fact that they have to go hungry.

Hunger is not something you show with pride (usually).

Originally posted by dgtempe
Brazil is laid back. I know what its like to live well, very well, on little money and not many food choices!
I also grew up like that- this is the land of opportunity, and you have a chance to make your dreams come true, but you have to work very hard in order to accomplish wealth.
In my country of origin, i never heard of anyone dying of a heart attack, because it was simple there.

We have food,plenty of it here. The way of life here calls for quick meals, such as fast food restaurants- lets face it, nobody wants to go home and make home made beans and make a roast. They want to eat, spend some time with family then sleep in order to get ready for the next busy day.
I'm assuming in Brazil you still have a spouse staying home taking care of things. Its not that way here. If you're the regular American, you both work.

The quality of life is certainly much better in other countries. But if you want that dream to make something of yourself, this is the place to be.

You cant fool me, i know how long it takes to cook them Black Beans

!!

with all due respect to you, DG...there are plenty of people that work their -ss off here in america and never become wealthy, let alone rich. you have to be in the right place at the right time, know the right people, AND if you are working hard at the same time, you can become wealthy. i cringe when people say, that you ONLY have to work hard and you'll become rich. this is taken right out of the employees handbook, put out by management to inspire their workers. how do i know? i worked in management for 16 years. worked 60 to 70 hours a week, and you had to always watch your back. i had to have the answers BEFORE the questions were even asked, and failure was not an option. i suffered 2 heart attacks at the age of 41 and got the hell out.

Yeah. You get rich by managing your money wisely and living frugally, not by getting an eight figure salary.

reply to post by jamie83

I'm not sure what part of the U.S. you're in, but there's nobody going hungry where I'm at .

Well, what part of the country are YOU from so I can come over?

Food Prices Rise, Send NYC Food Bank Into Crisis

I think its a part of a lot of things. I think part of it is people who do not live within their means and spend money on dumb things that they shouldnt. I also do feel the pay scale is not fair at all in this country. I make it a point to pay my employees well to the tune where I only make around 5 times what my average employee makes. Heck anymore some of my employees have a nicer car than me. But you cant say the same in the fortune 500 companies where the executives make 500 times their average employee. To me this is disgusting. The Bush lower taxes was supposed to remedy this in the trickle down theory.

It didnt work. The fact is real income has gone no where for the middle class in fact its even a loss of $500 to $1000. Henry Ford understood that you need to pay your employees well so they could come back and buy his products. I think corporate America these days have lost that train of thought and its all about me me me me me and what I can get in the shortest amount of time. Also there is a constant bombardment of propaganda telling people that good citizens dont save their money they spend it on those nice flat screen TVs and new cars. I think its a lot of things and yes people NEED to start living within their means but with prices going higher and higher and the wages not matching it is getting hard even for me and I make good money.

reply to post by mybigunit


I think a lot of Americans are pressured, and even brainwashed into living beyond their means, and often don't even realize it until it's too late. At which point, they realize what a joke the welfare system is, and that there really is no help when you fall down.

Star for you post BTW, fully agree with everything you wrote there.



[edit on 7/5/0808 by jackinthebox]

Originally posted by ArMaP

Originally posted by jamie83
I'm not sure what part of the U.S. you're in, but there's nobody going hungry where I'm at .

Most of the people that go hungry everyday are almost invisible to the "common people", either because they do not live in the exact same area, because they are ignored or because they look like "common people" but hide the fact that they have to go hungry.

Hunger is not something you show with pride (usually).

What? Do they hide behind all the obese people in this country? If people are going hungry it's either because of their own doing, or because of their pride in not asking for help. Pretty much any church or homeless shelter will give you food if you are struggling. I've been to a small community church with enough food in their pantry (and it was for the people struggling) to feed a family for months, and that was a really really small community church.

[edit on 5-7-2008 by yellowcard]

reply to post by yellowcard

Obesity is an epidemic of malnutrition, starvation. Yes, fat people are starving to death, as I have clearly shown here...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Pretty much any church or homeless shelter will give you food if you are struggling.

If they have it to give. I have fallen on hard times myself in the last year. One soup kitchen that I was going to closed down. Several of the food pantries would give me food once a month, but now will only allow we "rations" once every three months. There is also the problem of getting to them.