[extropy-chat] Being alive timing [was: Stardust at Home]

[Jack Parkinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dirk Bruere

$18 a day is a meaningless figure.
It needs to be corrected for Purchasing Power Parity.
$18 goes a *lot* further in Chad than in Japan.

Dirk

The observation above is correct. $18 daily is meaningless in itself. It is 
(for instance) around double the rate an average university graduate in 
China might expect to earn if employed (in China) by a US multi-national 
operation. It is also more than an average doctor or lawyer in  China would 
get in their first few years of practice. In addition, $18 would be a 
reasonable weeks income for many Chinese farming families (excellent for 
some) and a good weeks income for building workers and other unskilled 
labor.

But then again, living standards are also significantly lower. The graduates 
working for the US multinationals are typically housed in small apartments 
in high-rise blocks - or live offsite with their parents until married. 
Minimal facilities are offered, 1 hot tap, two gas rings, shared kitchens 
and toilets. Clothes are hand-washed and dried on the balcony, and there are 
no lifts in buildings under 8 floors. Often there is no heating or cooling 
and very basic wooden furniture. The laborers will be expected to 'camp' on 
the job, sleeping in half-built/half demolished buildings or temporary 
shacks on site that they build themselves from whatever rubbish is handy. 
Bosses will provide basic rations, (rice/vegetables) but toilets are the 
nearest quiet place and showers the nearest tap.

Relative purchasing power is a good indicator - but it is unreasonable to 
believe that western style comforts are available to substantial numbers of 
people in developing countries on whatever dollar income they might receive.
Jack Parkinson