I am just amused by the "2nd world country" thing. I really fail to see how life in Central Europe is somehow of "lower quality"(e.g. Czech, Poland, Germany) compared to USA. I'd actually prefer living in Central Europe or especially Southern Europe over USA any day.

Well since you just bulked Czechia, Poland and Germany into one group, I can understand how you fail to see it.

Since you mentioned Germany, I'll use that. A Czech earns about a third of what a German earns. But everything costs more or less the same (except for housing, but the difference certainly isn't multiples). Gasoline costs the same (and much more than in US), vast majority of consumer goods costs the same, food seems to be cheaper, but that's because it's of lower quality.

Yeah, education is "free". As is government free to take more than half of what people earn.

By "2nd world" I mean "1st world prices, 3rd world wages" (yes I know 3rd world is something incomperable).

Oh, I did it intentionally. I live in Bulgaria and the situation is similar. However my definition of 2nd world is just different, that's all.

Well, of course, I consider it more of a tongue-in-cheek term, heh.

It's really Old World, New World and Other, which was labelled "The Third World". It's not supposed to be ordinal.

Media is advertising supported ( mostly still ) and it's therefore targeted at the New World, which breeds this curious resentment. But if one of these Worlds is to be the Second, I'd think it would be the New World.

Actually the term "Third World" was used to refer to the non-aligned countries (as opposed to NATO on one side and the communist bloc on the other).

Yeah, it's can have many meanings (including "non-EU, non-EEC and non-EFTA countries". I just used the one that's the most popular. ^^

You're ignoring that $10k/yr is well below the poverty rate in the US. That's abysmally poor.

I'm sure you'd like the $10k/yr + working option better if rice and dog food don't sound like appealing staples.

Do you think an average person can afford a steak but for very rare of occasions here or something? No. The average person buys "on deal" cheap food from "discount store" - quality on par with average dog food. Fruit (except for apples) is almost luxury.

It always amuses me when I hear something like "10k USD is below the poverty rate". Do you think the living expenses are notably different?

> Do you think an average person can afford a steak but for very rare of occasions here or something? No. The average person buys "on deal" cheap food from "discount store" - quality on par with average dog food. Fruit (except for apples) is almost luxury.

It is the same for the poor here. I know, I grew up experiencing it.

Would you be happy with that life knowing that the opportunity for more was available and within your reach?

Not many would be content with such stagnation when they could (relatively) flourish.

>It is the same for the poor here.

Well...yeah. That's the point. American "poor" is the average here. Or a little below average, to be precise.

Prices would be much higher here. I imagine your $10k goes much further in Czech

Rent is a bit higher and restaurants are tad more expensive. Otherwise no.