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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wyätt Gwyön who wrote (14110)	10/2/2003 9:54:14 AM
From: Amy J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Hi Darfot, It's actually more than 10X's (which is what you said in the first place.) Here's the point: RE: "based on that article, a US programmer making 80K, or $40 an hour, makes just twice the national average hourly rate of $20. whereas an Indian programmer, making 5K, or $2.50 an hour, makes more than 10 times the national average of $0.24. quite incredible, that the Indian programmer could make just 1/16 of what the American makes, and yet be comparatively richer by a factor of five." The Indian developer makes more than $5k. The figures are more like 50% for an engineer. So, it's not 1/16 of what the American makes, but more like 1/2 (for the tangible costs, excluding intangible costs.) As far as being richer by a factor of five - your comparison incorrectly assumes India has min wage. They don't, we do. Thus, your comparison about the Indian engineer being "richer" than avg worker by a factor of five, is not a normalized comparison, so statistically is invalid. Keep in mind, poor people are actually starving there. And the middle class can barely afford a place to live - property costs around $400k (USA dollars) for a middle-class lifestyle in a large city in India in a good area. (Prices vary wildly, depending upon safety & location.) There really should be a global min wage. But countries aren't yet rich enough to do this. RE: "one wonders how long the first world as we know it can persist." The more India and China grow, the more customers we have. The more revenue we get. The better it is for the USA. Sort of like what transpired with Taiwan years ago. But yes, the delta is shrinking - and it's concerning that our government isn't geared towards making society more educated, more innovative. Staying ahead means working to get ahead, at all stages. There is no such thing as sitting on our laurels. Regards, Amy J