At 4:15 PM -0800 3/1/00, Marcel Popescu wrote:
...
>This is a common misconception, even in my country (Romania, Eastern
>Europe). I argued with someone claiming that "$1,000 in Romania is
>equivalent to $4,000 in the US". I told him that it's the other way around:
>you need at least $4,000 (and I doubt even this will solve much) to buy the
>same services as $1,000 will buy in the US. Do you realize that I live in an
>area where we have hot water once every three days? And even the cold water
>can be stopped for a day? Do you know the level of medical services here?
>[Well, I understand you come from a communist country too, so you might know
>what I'm talking about.] Have you ever seen a Romanian road? [They look like
>someone tested explosives there. No, this is not a joke.]
>
>Conclusion: the $20 a month (or $50, or $100) usually buys survival. A good
>bread (I understand from my American friends that our bread is better than
>yours <g>), some meat, some vegetables. I am fortunate to work for an US
>company at $6.50 / hour, so I'm in the "rich" class in my town, and I don't
>yet own a car, or even an apartment. But there's no comparison between this
>and "what $2,000 would buy in the US".
Very interesting commentary. I hope all the socialists (and even
communists) who have somehow wandered onto this list read this very
carefully.
(Though their usual way out is to say something about how Ceausescu "wasn't
a real communist," or how "Romania perverted the goals of
Marxism-Leninism." Balderdash. Or, if Mark doesn't know this old word, an
equally old word: bullshit.)
The joke about sand in the Sahara applies to perfect communism just as well
as Soviet-style communism ("If the Soviets ever took over Egypt, in 20
years there would be a shortage of sand.")
The tragedy of communism in this century is that what had once been
thriving economies in Europe--Hungary, Poland, and to a lesser extent,
Romania, Bulgaria, etc.--became poor, command economy basket cases.
I expect, though, that some things need less money to buy in Romania than
in California, for example. And some things need more money. I pay $1.75
for a loaf of French-style bread (the good stuff, like real French bread,
not the supermarket version). I would guess that Romanians pay a lot less
than this in their local currency.
(Overall lower labor costs, lower prices paid for farm commodities, etc.)
Things they have to import will of course cost typically as much, or more,
than in Western or rich countries. A new Mercedes-Benz will not become
magically cheaper in Romania because the vehicle is fungible...it sells to
the highest bidder, before graft is taken into account. (And
graft/government taxes/regulations is why that new Mercedes-Benz 300SE
probably costs $150,000 in Bucharest and not the $80,000 it would sell for
in Stuttgart or Santa Cruz.)
An untraceable (payee, by the way, for obvious reasons--I hope Stefan
Brands is now reading this list) payment system for consulting work should
eventually allow Mark to receive an amount of pay commensurate with this
contributions. Regardless of local living costs. Modulo the costs of
dealing with employees in remote locations.
(There's a joke I like to tell: The high tech revolution has made it
possible for people to live in diverse locations. Which is why we have
hundreds of thousands of programmers and technical specialists scattered
all around, from Palo Alto to Berkeley to San Jose to San Francisco, with
even some people in such far-flung locations as Sonoma and Monterey.)
--Tim May
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
