Inflation Outrage!

[mini]

1) No wages increase AFAIK.

My friends company give a 10% increase per year. But I guess that is not typical.

 

[tangobob]

Lies damn lies and statistics, we all see the figures and we all know the truth. In the eight months I was away I saw most thinngs have risen by 50%. But this hides another truth: while electronics remain expensive, and eating out is now almost on a par with Europe, I still find day to day living relatively cheap.
Prepare your own food at home and basics are ridiculously cheap, you can by fresh veg on every corner, and while there are supermarkets they do not have a strangle hold.
Some examples: monthly electricity bill 7 pesos, about a fiftieth of what I pay at home.
Subte 1.10 pesos, you would pay eighteen times as much in London.
Entrance to a milonga 15-20 pesos, minimum £5 about 30pesos.

It is still the cheapest place on the planet to buy shoes, shirts, wigs, I could go on, but this gets boring.

My advice, use public transport, eat in, use a locotorio to phone, and you will have loads of money left for Ice Cream.

 

[jp]

From my limited understanding, wages are supposed to increase in line with inflation, most unions and industry associations stipulate that their members pay inflationary increases.

Doesn't seem to work like that in reality though....

 

[erindanelle]

Lies damn lies and statistics, we all see the figures and we all know the truth. In the eight months I was away I saw most thinngs have risen by 50%. But this hides another truth: while electronics remain expensive, and eating out is now almost on a par with Europe, I still find day to day living relatively cheap.
Prepare your own food at home and basics are ridiculously cheap, you can by fresh veg on every corner, and while there are supermarkets they do not have a strangle hold.
Some examples: monthly electricity bill 7 pesos, about a fiftieth of what I pay at home.
Subte 1.10 pesos, you would pay eighteen times as much in London.
Entrance to a milonga 15-20 pesos, minimum £5 about 30pesos.

It is still the cheapest place on the planet to buy shoes, shirts, wigs, I could go on, but this gets boring.

My advice, use public transport, eat in, use a locotorio to phone, and you will have loads of money left for Ice Cream.

I agree with you Tangobob. Day to day living expenses are very cheap. Even in relation to salaries, I find that the public transport system and the supermarket are far cheaper here than they are in Australia. And again considering salaries, the electronics and other imported products are far cheaper in Australia. Utilities are probably cheaper here, although I always thought gas was very reasonable in Australia. I probably had too many electric appliances.

For what its worth, i've also been told by friends that riding the metro train line in Melbourne is not much better than riding it here these days. Not enough trains, dangerously overcrowded and always delayed. And they would pay AU$7 for the joy of doing so each day.

 

[mini]

From my limited understanding, wages are supposed to increase in line with inflation, most unions and industry associations stipulate that their members pay inflationary increases.

Doesn't seem to work like that in reality though....

I think it raises with the official inflation (as my post above notes that my friends company give 10% raise) and not with the real inflation.

 

[EvergreenGal]

7 pesos for monthly electric??? Sorry have a hard time with that amount...or you must live in a very small flat?? What is your gas??? We pay 45, on the average, per month for a average size home for electric.

Wait until the new rates go into effect this month...we just paid our bill so will be another 2 months before we know how high it is going to go....same with the gas!

 

[tangobob]

7 pesos for monthly electric??? Sorry have a hard time with that amount...or you must live in a very small flat?? What is your gas??? We pay 45, on the average, per month for a average size home for electric.

Wait until the new rates go into effect this month...we just paid our bill so will be another 2 months before we know how high it is going to go....same with the gas!

OK I lied. It was 14.40 for two months. One bed apartment 53 meters, I have no aircon just fans. I do not know what the gas is as my tenant always pays, but 45 pesos for an average size home?? That would be about £8 sterling, for my Uk home I pay £63 a month.

 

[syngirl]

Evergreen Gal -- don't worry, I just saw on the news today that in a shrewd move, the government is going to delay the arrival of the next round of bills with the 400% increases until AFTER the election so that they don't suffer from any negative ballot casting aftewards. what w&^kers. Sorry, but seriously, they play around with the dates of the election from october to june because they pretty much assume that by then they'll be even deeper in the sh$% and won't get the votes they need, and now they are delaying the whole mailout of the electric bills so that they arrive AFTER the elections? How desperate.

 

[Greg2231]

My Last Electric Bill was $745.83 Pesos, it used to be about 80 -100 pesos a month.

 

[KatharineAnn]

My electric just came yesterday - 28 pesos for 2 months. I don´t think that´s too bad considering my boyfriend is a freeze baby and has the electric heater blasting 24/7.

But to those of you who are translating cost of living into dollars, euros, or pounds...it really means absolutely nothing when you do this. Okay, so the absolute value of things is lower, but if you earn pesos, you earn pesos. Y punto. 100 pesos for a shirt is OUTRAGEOUS if you are one of the many, many, many poor slucks (myself included) who are making a modest peso salary. Just had to throw that out there. Buenos aires is expensive!!