Pardon me for bringing up an old thread....I'd like to fast forward this discussion to 2015..
I've been here full time since 2007 and recently my wife and I have been thinking about returning to the United States...
As far as comparisons, it's kind of difficult. I mean both the USA and Argentina have some advantages and disadvantages and vice versa. I think if your someone who's living off of a decent retirement income, or working for a foreign company here, you can do very well and advance quite nicely...or at least you could at one time.
Both my wife and I work full time and even though our rent is quite expensive ( we live in a nice two story bungalow, 2 bedroom ) it's near impossible here to own a home working and living off of the local economy. I make more than "sueldo minimal" but I think what argentina lacks is good "credits" and incentives for working middle class people, especially starting out, they just don't exist. Now, if your extremely impoverished their are credits and programs ( which politicans use to exploit low income people ) but I think the gov't and economy by and large ignores and squeezes the argentine middle class. Inflation? Don't get me started....it's totally insane!!!
I do like the rather "spontaneous" and less organized lifestyle and approach that argentines have, but it also has it's downside as well. Here there is no concept of "convenience" or "customer service" really...like we think in the US or Europe, it just doesn't exist. So, that takes some time getting used too for someone from the US or Europe for example. Also, you have to learn "street smarts" and also how to be more confrontational and less "passive" in dealings with people here. If not, life will roll right over top of you here. This was difficult for me, being from the south and midwest. If you're a person that places a premium on "privacy" and "personal space" you'll also have a hard time in Argentina as well. Also, argentines, at least in the cities have an ability to tolerate insane amounts of noise pollution. Besides, personally I find the general pace of life on the street or being out in public more stressful personally. City life here is noisy and very VERY crowded...which has been a bit difficult for me at times. Although the smaller towns and rural Argentina, quite the opposite. Although, I'm somewhat used to it now but the first couple of years was VERY difficult for me, yet exciting at the same time. I can definately understand for many americans the affection of argentines and the family closeness. But my family is from the rural south and midwest so to be honest, alot of that is still prevelent in rural communities in the US like where I come from....it's very similar to here in some ways.
With the wild fluctuations and up and down times economically, budgeting is challenging here as well if you make a living based on the peso and by a typical monthly salary. There's the iseue of owning property, their are credits for that, but then trying to build a home and the amount of bureaocracy, insane taxes, just general corruption kinda destroys the whole idea honestly. I have some friends here that have been trying to build a house here for the past 8 years and are no closer to getting it done for a myriad of different reasons. They say it's been a complete nightmare without getting into details...LOL. Owning a home in Argentina? forget it..
For my wife and I personally, the big change in the equation about living here is the rapid erosion of security and the rising crime. We've really seen it get bad here the past 3 years. I mean it's always been dicey....this sin't southern Indiana or eastern Kansas were talking about. But we've really seen the violence spike in Argentina, and it's gotten everyones attention here. It seems everyone knows someone that's been affected, many in multiple situations. We've experienced a robbery and a few close calls ourselves. A few of our friends have been much less fortunate, one was almost paralyzed and killed in a very violent home invasion. Several friends have had attempted robberies or multiple robberies, car jackings. It's getting bad and now they say that some new drug cartels are beginning to set up shop here in Argentina and are starting to compete. They also say it involved local provincial police and seems to be getting worse. The drugs are getting bad, the thieves seem to be emboldened also by the fear. We had the situations regarding lynchings and everyone knows it's bad, alot of crime here goes unreported anbd even involves police. Our friends who were violently robbed twice in 2 weeks has lived here for 14 years. The robberies involved local police and they became so afraid and jaded by the whole thing have left Argentina and vowed never to return....and they are argentines!!
We have a 2 year old and are thinking about our family so we aqre beginning to lean towards the possibility of going to the US for a fresh start. Just some of thoughts...
