About the dollar cost of living, crime, etcetera

[mcaffa]

Argentinians don`t "put it on the credit cards", this is too American.
Inflation is not a big deal for argentinians.

Totally disagree. Many, many Argentines use credit cards for major purchases. It's all about the cuotas.


Edit: Ok, I see you edited your comment to includes big purchases like TVs and A/Cs. And you're right, most people don't have nearly as many credit cards as Americans. Usually 2 or 3 here - tops.

 

[darmanad]

Lunch at the neighborhood restaurant, housekeeper wages, gardener, and ADT alarm monitoring have all gone up 100% since 2007.

That calculates to almost exact 27% per year for each of the 3 years.
1.27 x 1.27 x 1.27 = 2.04 or about 104% in 3 years.

 

[MizzMarr]

This is a bad country to be an employed but if you are an entrepreneur, it is a paradise. For example, the chinese supermarket, these guys comes to Argentina because they have 12% profit in china and 45% in Argentina.

One point about this... from what I can tell the Chinese who run the supermarkets here work ALL THE TIME. The people who run the shop next door to my house work literally 7 days a week, from 8 in the morning until 10 at night. If (when) China takes over the world economic powers, they'll have earned it by putting leisure on the sacrificial altar.

 

[MikeB12]

Most of this thread seems to be about how you can no longer get lunch in an upper class neighborhood for $3 anymore. 2002-06 or so was an unique time due to deflation in Argentina, strength of the dollar, etc..it wasn't going to last forever. If those prices lasted this country would be going backwards. Inflation is inevitable with economic growth, maybe not 30% a year, but something. The capitals of Chile, Brazil, Uruguay are all more expensive than here.

I also disagree with the notion that all these people "living it up" are tourists on vacation. The economy is booming here for certain groups of people, sure it isn't benefiting everyone, but economic growth never does.

 

[gusgutier]

I doubt school teachers earn more than that.
The salary for a beginning primary teacher (21 y o) is about ar$ 2000 for a 4.5 hours job. My wife, high school professor, 25 years on labour and part time administrative position at school, earns about (she doesn´t tell me the accurate amount) ar$ 9000 (US$ 2260).
I´m local and let me give some comments. I don´t think people is spending before the end of the world (in that case they would be having sex). I´m not doing that, neither the people I know (having sex ? too bad). In fact, there is more money in the pockets, and it is because there is international commerce superavit, that´s to say some sectors in argentine economy are doing good business.
In the other hand, taking yesterday´s data, September tax income was us$ 7,960,000 and government spending for us$ 7,150,000 . Regarding to spending, two major issues takes the big part of the amount (respectfully, not war machine and supporting banks) : 1) Infrastructure (roads construction, Atucha II, water treatment plant and pipes, etc) 2) Pensions and Children Universal assignment. Think that after including 2.000.000 more pensioners in the last 2 years, plus those who receives the subsidy, there is between 5 and 10 million low income people with us$ 250 more in the pocket..You can think it is not much money, but consider that Chilean minimum wage is us$123.
All that money presses internal demand ( and prices), and it is closer to Keynesian perspective than a Marxist one ("In a sense the current populist, leftist government encourages crime. The president seems to believe the old Marxist adage that 'property is theft.' By definition, then, if you have something or own something, you stole it. Criminals are considered victims of social injustice.” What ??).
I think that what most expats sees is the problem to live with dollars outside USA. AR peso revaluation via price or inflation is kind a natural process ( as another post , sorry I forgot your name, correctly pointed out) after the 2002 brutal devaluation.
In this point, it is needed not a provincial perspective (so frequent in my country fellow men) to (partly) understand the kind of currency war that´s happening right now with dollar decreasing its value after the HUGE, HUGE, HUGE amount of bills Federal Reserve printed.
Those earning dollars have problems not only in Argentina.

P:S: Excuse my English.

 

[citygirl]

This is a bad country to be an employed but if you are an entrepreneur, it is a paradise. For example, the chinese supermarket, these guys comes to Argentina because they have 12% profit in china and 45% in Argentina. On the other hand, soy is produced by big companies, farmers and pooles de siembra. The last means that 10 or more people unite and produce soy and share profits, this is one of the ways argentinians invest money instead of playing casino at the stock market.

I'm guessing you're not a business owner. We have a business here. Trust me when I say that starting a business is not the path to easy riches here.

As I said, bad country to be an employed. However, I pay 385 for Hospital Aleman, you should review your medical insurance, seems they are charging too much.

That's going rate for OSDE. The plan is a standard one.

Argentinians don`t "put it on the credit cards", this is too American. People don`t have 15 credits cards in this country. People don`t take credit or mortage his asset and spend this money in gucci as happend in the US.
Argentinians buy using credit cards but esencially for TV, air conditioner, etc. Inflation is not a big deal for argentinians.

Well, according to my employees, it's a pretty big f'in deal and the reason they need such large raises

About the rise of prices in dollars, don`t forget that the dollars is falling down too.

Have no idea what this means? The dollar is pretty stable and rising against the peso.

 

[sesamosinsal]

"In a sense the current populist, leftist government encourages crime. The president seems to believe the old Marxist adage that 'property is theft.' By definition, then, if you have something or own something, you stole it. Criminals are considered victims of social injustice.

"With this view, the perps become the victims (of social injustice), the victims the crooks (they had the property). Simple.

Please. Cristina Fernández would never classify herself as a "crook."

The writer of this article seems to forget that CFK -- with her 20% APY (nice bank she has!) on her millions of dollars in CDs -- is clearly a member of bourgeoisie class, aka the class that "has something."

 

[tkm]

]
Have no idea what this means? The dollar is pretty stable and rising against the peso.[/COLOR]

Maybe he means it's weakened compared with other currencies, not pesos.

I can totally see that with USD vs SGD ( Singapore Dollar) but guess it's not relevant.

 

[mini]

I've been here since 2007. Quality of life for me is much higher than it was back home, and I earn pesos. I can afford to eat out more, take taxis more, see my friends more, live in a nicer part of town, buy better meat, wine and produce - there are loads of ways living here is more comfortable.

We've been here since 2008 and I can say the opposite is true for us. Our "standard of living" is much lower here than it was at home and my husband got promoted 2 grade levels (which is why we came). With a job higher up in the company we assumed we would have the same or similar QOL. It's not so.

I certainly can't complain about my life. I'm enjoying my time here. But it's not sustainable and we certainly can't plan ahead and as was said many times, there is no point in saving our money. So we spend what we make here and go home with nothing to start all over again.

 

[sergio]

Health insurance: I am paying around USD $270. It's one of the better plans, not the best though. You get what you pay for. I can use the best private clinics. The German Hospital is mediocre and fortunately is not one of them.

Crime: I don't believe I know ANYONE who has not been a victim at some point or other over the last 5 years or so. Mr Terhorst is 100% right about this.

COL: Argentines earn pesos, not USD. It has never been cheap here for the masses. During the crisis people started opening places where you TRADED goods. They had no cash. It was a case of desperation. Yes, expats started coming with their dollars and for THEM it was cheap. It wasn't cheap for the peso earners.

So many expats live in a bubble with little to no sense of what the REAL Argentina is like or how people struggle to survive. And everyone doesn't live in Barrio Norte, Recoleta and Palermo!