To be a millionaire in the United States is to still be poor

[KonstantinosM]

Just look at what a million dollars can get you. A 76 square meter apartment at the capital.

I'm sorry but that doesn't sound like being rich to me. That sounds like massive inflation has happened and we just haven't adjusted yet.


I have more faith in my worthless crypto-tokens over their worthless monopoly money they can print for themselves and their friends.


Fractional reserve masturbation economics don't reach me anymore.

[1714600651]

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[1714600651]

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[webtricks]

 
I personally always consider fiat system backed by minimum reserve requirement prevailing in most of the federal economy to be the most failed one. How can public create trust in currency whose supply can be alter anytime through 'deficit financing'. As a result, country may hardly show deflation rate.
Cryptocurrencies have much more advantages over the system written above. Even if nations are non-comfortable with cryptocurrencies, they should at least adopt principles of cryptocurrency like limited supply and free play of market value so money value don't depreciate with time and recession don't hit more often.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Uh, if your plan is to buy an apartment in Washington D.C., yeah.  A million dollars won't get you far. But you could live pretty well in many other states, even the richest ones.  What you did is cherry picked the housing data and used a single data point that fits your very skewed argument.  Bottom line is that you're not poor at all if you have a million.   Super rich? No. Poor?  Absolutely not.  It's out of reach of most hardworking Americans.

[pedrog]

I could retire with a million dollars, well at least don't work for others ever again in my life, unless very well paid.

And the USA doesn't even have a city in the top 10 most expensive cities in the world...

http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-19-most-expensive-cities-in-the-world-2016-6/

[Mometaskers]

I heard it's expensive there, especially in cities like New York. I find it weird how economics work. I mean, the  most expensive city is Luanda, in Angola!

And it's not just the prices that have not adjusted. Wages basically stagnated and is unlikely to budge any time soon.

[lanyounanhai]

I do not care about that very much. If I have about 1 million dollar, I will be extremely rich in my country and I will not worry about anything. USA is a high standard country, that is why the price of almost everything is higher than other countries. I live in a third world country, so I believe that 1 million dollar is enough for me to retire my job and live a happy life till the day I die

[randythered]

'Rich' is always subjective and depends on living costs to a large extent. For me if I had 1m dollars I would consider myself rich and I think I could quite easily retire, however I have no desires to live in a major city or have extravagant things.

[Don Pedro Dinero]

The concept of “millionaire” uses the same word overtime but at the same time it changes as fiat currencies get devaluated overtime. So, people who achieved a million of net worth 20 years ago were wealthier than people who have one million net worth today.

However, I think the example you are giving is a bit exaggerated. I am sure there are much cheaper placer in the US where you can buy a decent house in a good place for half that at most.

[goldade]

Just look at what a million dollars can get you. A 76 square meter apartment at the capital.

I'm sorry but that doesn't sound like being rich to me. That sounds like massive inflation has happened and we just haven't adjusted yet.


I have more faith in my worthless crypto-tokens over their worthless monopoly money they can print for themselves and their friends.


Fractional reserve masturbation economics don't reach me anymore.

That same 1million dollars would liberate the entire generation of someone in far away Africa that will not have to fast poverty or its like again. The fiat world has been polarised that what the makers and shapers of the economy have done is consistently what I referred to a cosmetic approach and they do nothing to abate the capitalist whose quest to make more money have rendered the nations legal tender worthless. Those tokens might mean a lot to you, but it can't surely get you what a dollar bill would do.

[shursight]

Here in my country, you can make a good living with $300 dollars a month.. And i traveled to united states a few years ago, and i had to spend $100 dollars a day (aproximately) to buy the same things that i boughted in my country, buying food, stuff, etc. But minimun wage in USA is aprox $3000 - $4000 a month, so that is why it is so expensive to live in there.

[KonstantinosM]

Here in my country, you can make a good living with $300 dollars a month.. And i traveled to united states a few years ago, and i had to spend $100 dollars a day (aproximately) to buy the same things that i boughted in my country, buying food, stuff, etc. But minimun wage in USA is aprox $3000 - $4000 a month, so that is why it is so expensive to live in there.

I live and work in the united states. I work part time. I don't make nearly anywhere near $3,000 and I work above minimum wage.

I make (before taxes $9.00) Minimum in my state is $8.25 I think.

After taxes weekly earnings for 5 days a week and 30 something hours comes out to about $200 something dollars.

So about $800-$1000 a month, above minimum wage with about 30 hours per week.

You won't be able to rent a house for under $600 ANYWHERE in the states
 
There are other basic expensives. Let's ballpark food at $300 a month, and let's ballpark gasoline at $60 and car insurance at $185... Let's ballpark health insurance at $100

All are basic costs....

Let's add them up.

(600+300+60+185+100) = $1245.....

So you can't afford the basics and to live anywhere in the United states at 30 hours a week.
Not in 2017 at least....



Bet your 30 hours could get you a nice apartment in New York in the 50s though....

And notice the stuff I left out... Cellphones, Internet Access, Water, Electricity....

Life in the US is rigged by the rich to the point of being nearly unlivable for the working class.



I'll let George Carlin explain that one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUaqFzZLxU

[audaciousbeing]

Here in my country, you can make a good living with $300 dollars a month.. And i traveled to united states a few years ago, and i had to spend $100 dollars a day (aproximately) to buy the same things that i boughted in my country, buying food, stuff, etc. But minimun wage in USA is aprox $3000 - $4000 a month, so that is why it is so expensive to live in there.

I live and work in the united states. I work part time. I don't make nearly anywhere near $3,000 and I work above minimum wage.

I make (before taxes $9.00) Minimum in my state is $8.25 I think.

After taxes weekly earnings for 5 days a week and 30 something hours comes out to about $200 something dollars.

So about $800-$1000 a month, above minimum wage with about 30 hours per week.

You won't be able to rent a house for under $600 ANYWHERE in the states
 
There are other basic expensives. Let's ballpark food at $300 a month, and let's ballpark gasoline at $60 and car insurance at $185... Let's ballpark health insurance at $100

All are basic costs....

Let's add them up.

(600+300+60+185+100) = $1245.....

So you can't afford the basics and to live anywhere in the United states at 30 hours a week.
Not in 2017 at least....



Bet your 30 hours could get you a nice apartment in New York in the 50s though....

And notice the stuff I left out... Cellphones, Internet Access, Water, Electricity....

Life in the US is rigged by the rich to the point of being nearly unlivable for the working class.



I'll let George Carlin explain that one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUaqFzZLxU

If this is what is obtainable in a country like the United States, then every other country is something else. But truth be told the minimum wage is a farce which should not stand. Over here too, minimum wage is just a some amount of money that you are given not to die and its for the least educational qualification.

However, I don't believe the cost of living in US across the states is the same thing as over here, in some states, the minimum wage can sustain you to a large extent and even be comfortable. If not, it would have been reviewed upwards.

The part of the rich making life expensive for the working class to live in is everywhere and the worst case scenario is to live the major city for them and move to the suburb or developing cities where cost of living is relatively low and affordable.

[xaxistech]

Wow,  i thought that having a living in United States was cheap, i was wrong. A lot of my friends that are living in USA told me that they were earning a lot of money, and that everybody could easily live in there and afford spending some money everyday. But i see that there is still necessity in all the countries, but i didnt imagine that it happened on usa.

[bitcoindusts]

Wow,  i thought that having a living in United States was cheap, i was wrong. A lot of my friends that are living in USA told me that they were earning a lot of money, and that everybody could easily live in there and afford spending some money everyday. But i see that there is still necessity in all the countries, but i didnt imagine that it happened on usa.

Definitely you are wrong   in my place where a dollar is 51x higher than my countries currency means I have to earn 51x my current earning to live a decent life in US.  But well why do I have to problem it when I am happy living in my tropical country besides Bitcoin and cryptocurrency can be use by everyone.  Let's just be happy about that  .

[Yuhee]

Wow,  i thought that having a living in United States was cheap, i was wrong. A lot of my friends that are living in USA told me that they were earning a lot of money, and that everybody could easily live in there and afford spending some money everyday. But i see that there is still necessity in all the countries, but i didnt imagine that it happened on usa.

Not all would agree to that but if you really are not from there its hard to have a decent job for earning. But the educational system is much better from other countries so its looks like they are not poor. But off course upon graduation you are filled with lot of loans. You would really experience American hardship when you are just on the job.

[orions.belt19]

I heard it's expensive there, especially in cities like New York. I find it weird how economics work. I mean, the  most expensive city is Luanda, in Angola!

And it's not just the prices that have not adjusted. Wages basically stagnated and is unlikely to budge any time soon.

The cost of living is pretty high there. I haven't been to New York but from what I heard, the prices their are crazy that even their freakin' coffee costs so much. Perhaps that's what OP wanted to point out.

America used to be land of milk and honey, everyone wanted to migrate their back then with the hopes for a better future. Right now, everyone's working really hard and sometimes forced to have double jobs just fend off for themselves. I personally think that a million dollars could go a long way but if the cost of living is too high, then I guess in a way it would still make you poor.

[KonstantinosM]

Wow,  i thought that having a living in United States was cheap, i was wrong. A lot of my friends that are living in USA told me that they were earning a lot of money, and that everybody could easily live in there and afford spending some money everyday. But i see that there is still necessity in all the countries, but i didnt imagine that it happened on usa.

Not all would agree to that but if you really are not from there its hard to have a decent job for earning. But the educational system is much better from other countries so its looks like they are not poor. But off course upon graduation you are filled with lot of loans. You would really experience American hardship when you are just on the job.

The truth is that if you have to get into debt, have to, regardless of where you're from, than you have to question whether the country you're living is fair.

You shouldn't have to take a loan to survive. Plain and simple.

or am I wrong?


I've lived in Greece and I never felt poor even when I had no money at all.
Here in the states I've felt poor no matter how much money I had.

It seems like there is always some made up, mandatory expense that I have to pay.

I believe the system is predatory and not built for our benefit but to keep certain middle-men earning money from the middle and working classes to be redistributed among the already rich.

Laws like making it illegal to sleep in your car or to live in public property only make my point for me. It shouldn't be illegal for a person just to stay over at a national park, nor do I believe that national parks or any parks run by a decent government should charge admission fees to the public.

In some places in the United States, homeless people have managed to gain certain rights, in order to survive, but these rights can easily be trampled by police officers and the authorities.


It seems like money and power are carefully regulated so that society's "undesirables" can be easily controlled.

Bitcoin may change that.

I'm just pointing out that, even if you were a millionaire, if you (sic!1)leave in today's system you're poor.

The fact I used to illustrate that is almost irrelevant.

edit: Typo

1. I meant live, not leave

[WatchMaker]

I could retire with a million dollars, well at least don't work for others ever again in my life, unless very well paid.

And the USA doesn't even have a city in the top 10 most expensive cities in the world...

http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-19-most-expensive-cities-in-the-world-2016-6/

A million dollars is a huge amount of money that you can live with it for the rest of your life.
No matter how inflation destroyed the current economy, a million dollar is still a huge amount of money.

[Indrawan77]

I know that living in US is a harsh but I never thought that it is that bad, I think it is better to moved to other states or country where you can have a better life, where the spending is not too high and I agree that the struggle of earning money is keep on increasing and in my country the government just dont really care, they just keep on adding tax and not take care of the inflation
Hopefully bitcoin can become the answer for the people in my country and I prefer to keep my investment in bitcoin where the government cant put inflation in my investment

[Sled]

Aw that is a sad thing because a 76 square meter is too small for a rich person who will spend around 1 million dollars to get a new home but for that 76 square meters then i can say that it is not worth it and it is better to move out and go to other countries where you can live like one of the richest because there is a lot of small countries that has a huge rate per dollar.