JUST IN | Inflation hits new 13-year high

[rvZA]

Cute, show that your original statement is complete and utter horseshyte so try change the goal posts.

Because you are earning a big income or pension and from various investments and sideline businesses, does not mean all South Africans earn the same. The majority of this country, by at least 80% cannot afford to put food on the table every day. These rising prices are simply making it worse and they should expect to eat a lot less.

 

[Harold_Crick]

well, looks like the relevant authorities are NOW starting to do their job....


https://www.news24.com/fin24/econom...-cost-cuts-for-bread-on-to-consumers-20220825

Why am I not surprised.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Because you are earning a big income or pension and from various investments and sideline businesses, does not mean all South Africans earn the same. The majority of this country, by at least 80% cannot afford to put food on the table every day. These rising prices are simply making it worse and they should expect to eat a lot less.

No buttercup.. you made a statement that was irrelevant of what I earn or anyone else for that matter, and that statement was complete and utter bollocks as usual.

 

[MuterOfWorlds]

Converting Rands to Dollars and vice versa should never be done as this skews the statistics.

Let's rather determine real living costs. There is only one way to do this.

You take 2 people in each country with the exact same job and take a look what one can buy with his money and what the other can.

So, let's start with a Sergeant in the police in SA and a Sergeant in the police in New York. In SA the Sergeant earns around R17k a month and a Sergeant in New York US$7,500.

So, the Sergeant in SA does not have R20k to do this to start with. The Sergeant in New York, on the other hand can afford this 5 times a month.

You can do this test with rent, buying a house, buying a car, buying groceries, filling a tank of gas, Internet access, buying computers, and see how much more a person in New York will get vs what a person in SA will get. The US has a living cost of at least 1000 times lower compared to SA.

This is living costs.

Ah, but then you discounting the other costs such as property costs etc. Alot more to the basket. Also, New York salary as the 'avg' is a bit of a misrepresentation for comparison. If you going to go for the 'highest' in US, you need skew your assessment of local salary review the same.

Do agree a straight exchange rate isn't a fair comparison, I was however simply responding to the comment of R20k not being enough. You would need a heck of lot less than R20k here in South Africa. I doubt you'd need even a 3rd of that tbh considering what I spend a month to feed my family of 6.

 

[rvZA]

No buttercup.. you made a statement that was irrelevant of what I earn or anyone else for that matter, and that statement was complete and utter bollocks as usual.

Well, you are totally free to go tell that to those who cannot afford to eat a meal every day. See if they agree with you or care. I don't.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Well, you are totally free to go tell that to those who cannot afford to eat a meal every day. See if they agree with you or care. I don't.

Its not even Friday and you're already smoking the good stuff.

 

[rvZA]

Ah, but then you discounting the other costs such as property costs etc. Alot more to the basket.

Do agree a straight exchange rate isn't a fair comparison, I was however simply responding to the comment of R20k not being enough. You would need a heck of lot less than R20k here in South Africa. I doubt you'd need even a 3rd of that tbh considering what I spend a month to feed my family of 6.

You cannot compare property costs of the West with that in SA. They are extremely cheap if you live and work there. Getting a bond is super easy and repayments are minimal compared to the amount of your salary, in any profession, you spend locally. The same with vehicles. They are extremely cheap if you live and work in the US. So, all that is factored in.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Converting Rands to Dollars and vice versa should never be done as this skews the statistics.

Let's rather determine real living costs. There is only one way to do this.

But that's what you did in you OP...I even commented on it.

The Big Mac Index is the only way to determine purchasing power parity.

 

[LCBXX]

Hey, at least Lockdowns & Covid mandates to save lives and the US printing money whilst sending billions in to Ukraine, was for a good cause, right?

 

[rvZA]

But that's what you did in you OP...I even commented on it.

The Big Mac Index is the only way to determine purchasing power parity.

No, all I did was to convert the US$ to about R20k. Because, at R20k she won't even get half in SA of what she bought there. Not even mentioning spending R1200 locally, which is basically a MacDonalds meal for 9 people.

Then again, Macdonalds is expensive across the globe and not a reliable index.

Take a trolley and buy things the average middle-class user would. Cold Drinks, meat, cigarettes, etc. Then you can determine if a country is expensive or cheap.

 

[MuterOfWorlds]

You cannot compare property costs of the West with that in SA. They are extremely cheap if you live and work there. Getting a bond is super easy and repayments are minimal compared to the amount of your salary, in any profession, you spend locally. The same with vehicles. They are extremely cheap if you live and work in the US. So, all that is factored in.

You been following the trends wrt views of expat US citizens who moved here and their views on the subject?

 

[rvZA]

You been following the trends wrt views of expat US citizens who moved here and their views on the subject?

I have had quite a few Americans visiting me in SA. Each and every one of them says that SA is expensive. I have family living in London. Even they say the living costs are much cheaper there than in SA. I travel once a year to the US, I know the living costs are cheaper there than in SA. I can do much, much more with US$5,000 in the US than what I can with it here in SA.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

No, all I did was to convert the US$ to about R20k. Because, at R20k she won't even get half in SA of what she bought there. Not even mentioning spending R1200 locally, which is basically a MacDonalds meal for 9 people.

Then again, Macdonalds is expensive across the globe and not a reliable index.

Take a trolley and buy things the average middle-class user would. Cold Drinks, meat, cigarettes, etc. Then you can determine if a country is expensive or cheap.

An average McD meal is R133 ?

And the Big Mac Index is not reliable?? Jirre you sure are doubling down aren't you...

 

[MuterOfWorlds]

I have had quite a few Americans visiting me in SA. Each and every one of them says that SA is expensive. I have family living in London. Even they say the living costs are much cheaper there than in SA. I travel once a year to the US, I know the living costs are cheaper there than in SA.

Interesting how opposite our experiences are then. There's actually US expats living in SA vlogging about the experience of moving here.

 

[rvZA]

Interesting how opposite our experiences are then.

Maybe our lifestyles.

 

[rvZA]

An average McD meal is R133 ?

And the Big Mac Index is not reliable?? Jirre you sure are doubling down aren't you...

Just saying.... the lower end of the middle class, also the biggest part of the population, in most states in the US lives on US$2000 and less a month. Most of them would not even touch MacDonalds. So, not always a reasonable measurement.

The Big Mac index is pretty much the same way the ANC measures inflation. They look at the typical basket the grant recipient would buy and then tell the public inflation is low and the economy is doing well. They do not include average goods us average middle class would buy, but is out of reach of the poor.

 

[MuterOfWorlds]

Maybe our lifestyles.

How would that account for it? You live a cadre lifestyle vs my basic way of life?

 

[rvZA]

How would that account for it? You live a cadre lifestyle vs my basic way of life?

Not at all. But, do you have 4 children? Do you run your own business abroad? Do you have any specific medical reasons why you can eat certain food and others not and need to work this into your budget?

Believe me, if I lived a Cadre's life, my business would have been in SA and I would have lived the high life in the West.

 

[MuterOfWorlds]

Actually, as luck would have it, its a "Yes" for all those questions except running my own business abroad, which, probably puts you better off than me...

 

[Wut]

Just saying.... the lower end of the middle class, also the biggest part of the population, in most states in the US lives on US$2000 and less a month. Most of them would not even touch MacDonalds. So, not always a reasonable measurement.

The Big Mac index is pretty much the same way the ANC measures inflation. They look at the typical basket the grant recipient would buy and then tell the public inflation is low and the economy is doing well. They do not include average goods us average middle class would buy, but is out of reach of the poor.

Yeah Nah, dude! McDs and KFC are mostly situated in the poorer income neighborhoods in US cities and it's heading the same way in the UK. They wouldn't be there if that wasn't where most of their sales were.