American Economics Thread

[FairAndUnbiased]

When do you think you can enjoy the same lifestyle and living standards if you decide to move to Chongqing or Chengdu?

I get it the US is sinking anytime thanks to the rising tide of Chinese superpower economic expansion and unprecendent, glorious demonstration of socialism with Chinese characteristics. I would hope that leading US cities in the East and West coast would be playing catch up to Chengdu, Chongqing and Tianjing in the next 3 decades.

lol OK let's go with your thought experiment. How WOULD living costs compare in Chongqing vs Dallas?

Rent.

Chongqing:

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More data:

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900 sq ft = 80 sq m. So 2200 RMB is pretty close to a 900 sq ft apartment. 2200 RMB = ~340 USD.

Dallas:

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I capped it at 3100 USD, a reasonable rent level, because there were literally hundreds of super luxury 5000+ USD/month apartments for rent. Let's just call it 2500 USD per month.

Commute.

Chongqing: subways everywhere, no need to drive. Time on commute belongs to you as you get to engage in leisure activities while commuting.

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Let's say you take taxi once a week for your time.

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So 25 work days worth of commutes + 5 taxi trips per month puts you at 250 RMB per month.

Dallas: must drive. Time on commute does not belong to you as it is dangerous and illegal to engage in leisure activities while driving.

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, so that's ~200 hours worth of labor stolen from you by the commute time alone. Vehicle costs include gas, depreciation, registration and maintenance.

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So total commute cost is 200 hours of labor + 8643 USD fixed cost per year or 17 hours unpaid labor + 720 USD car.

OK that is the highest costs.

Average salary Chongqing:

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.

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and get

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. With the spend on necessities above (rent + commute which is the bare minimum to get to work), you'll have 1553 RMB left over per month.

Average salary Dallas:

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. But wait you need to pay taxes and medical insurance.

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. After 2500 USD rent and 720 USD car you're left with 497 USD per month + working 17 hours longer unpaid minimum.

Time for food and fun.

Average food spend Chongqing:

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or 723 RMB/month. Couldn't find direct data.
Average food spend Dallas:

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Average phone and internet spend Chongqing:

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+

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Average phone and internet spend Dallas:

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Remaining money:

Chongqing: 502 RMB
Dallas: you ran out of money and can't pay your electricity bills which I haven't calculated yet. Oops.

Hmm looks to me like it's not that different... except you wouldn't run out of money in Chongqing.

 

[9dashline]

lol OK let's go with your thought experiment. How WOULD living costs compare in Chongqing vs Dallas?

Rent.

Chongqing:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

More data:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

900 sq ft = 80 sq m. So 2200 RMB is pretty close to a 900 sq ft apartment. 2200 RMB = ~340 USD.

Dallas:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

I capped it at 3100 USD, a reasonable rent level, because there were literally hundreds of super luxury 5000+ USD/month apartments for rent. Let's just call it 2500 USD per month.

Commute.

Chongqing: subways everywhere, no need to drive. Time on commute belongs to you as you get to engage in leisure activities while commuting.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Let's say you take taxi once a week for your time.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

So 25 work days worth of commutes + 5 taxi trips per month puts you at 250 RMB per month.

Dallas: must drive. Time on commute does not belong to you as it is dangerous and illegal to engage in leisure activities while driving.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, so that's ~200 hours worth of labor stolen from you by the commute time alone. Vehicle costs include gas, depreciation, registration and maintenance.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

So total commute cost is 200 hours of labor + 8643 USD fixed cost per year or 17 hours unpaid labor + 720 USD car.

OK that is the highest costs.

Average salary Chongqing:

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.

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and get

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. With the spend on necessities above (rent + commute which is the bare minimum to get to work), you'll have 1553 RMB left over per month.

Average salary Dallas:

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. But wait you need to pay taxes and medical insurance.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

. After 2500 USD rent and 720 USD car you're left with 497 USD per month + working 17 hours longer unpaid minimum.

Time for food and fun.

Average food spend Chongqing:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

or 723 RMB/month. Couldn't find direct data.
Average food spend Dallas:

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Average phone and internet spend Chongqing:

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+

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Average phone and internet spend Dallas:

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Remaining money:

Chongqing: 502 RMB
Dallas: you ran out of money and can't pay your electricity bills which I haven't calculated yet. Oops.

Hmm looks to me like it's not that different... except you wouldn't run out of money in Chongqing.

Also, say you are a worker in your mid 30s with roughly 30 years left until retirement age (which might be even higher than 67.5 in 3 decades from now), no doubt most employers encourage you to put away a certain percentage as "investment" in 401k since hardly no one does pensions anymore. A lot of companies do "matching" up to 6% and typically employees put aside say 10%, as tax deferred but you still have to pay taxes when you get the money out to use it after retirement. If you borrow from your own 401k savings you have to pay a hefty fee, which negates the matching benefit. Odds are 30 years from now the tax rate will be astronomically higher than what it is now, especially once USD no longer enjoys reserve currency status, plus the hyperinflation that incurs in those 30 years will wipe out any percieved benefit of the initial "match" or the current "growth" in the stock markets/mutual funds etc .... So people are conned into basically propping up the stonk markets by hodling that paper wealth and depriving themselves from actually enjoying that money while they are still young and the money is still worth something...

Most of my coworkers are stashing away at least 10% of their net income.... They are never gonna see that money again... effectively its lost into a blackhole

 

[FairAndUnbiased]

Also, say you are a worker in your mid 30s with roughly 30 years left until retirement age (which might be even higher than 67.5 in 3 decades from now), no doubt most employers encourage you to put away a certain percentage as "investment" in 401k since hardly no one does pensions anymore. A lot of companies do "matching" up to 6% and typically employees put aside say 10%, as tax deferred but you still have to pay taxes when you get the money out to use it after retirement. If you borrow from your own 401k savings you have to pay a hefty fee, which negates the matching benefit. Odds are 30 years from now the tax rate will be astronomically higher than what it is now, especially once USD no longer enjoys reserve currency status, plus the hyperinflation that incurs in those 30 years will wipe out any percieved benefit of the initial "match" or the current "growth" in the stock markets/mutual funds etc .... So people are conned into basically propping up the stonk markets by hodling that paper wealth and depriving themselves from actually enjoying that money while they are still young and the money is still worth something...

Most of my coworkers are stashing away at least 10% of their net income.... They are never gonna see that money again... effectively its lost into a blackhole

ALL retirement is not looking good. nobody working today is going to be able to use it either because they'll outright run out of money or because they'll simply inflate it away.

 

[9dashline]

eALL retirement is not looking good. nobody working today is going to be able to use it either because they'll outright run out of money or because they'll simply inflate it away.

The solution is to not save for retirement at all, I choose to "frontload" life, quality than quantity... the way I look at it if I cant experience all that I want in the first 65 years of my life then what the heck good is another marginal 20 years or so additional years going to do for me esp. considering the human body rapidly ages starting at 50 to 55 etc.... In another 3 decades it will be socially and legally normal to voluntarily pass away at a certain age... heck before Covid who would have predicted America would let millions of their old folks die for the sake of the economy?

 

[xypher]

The American trailer trash SleepyStudent gets more and more unhinged with time. He is like Murica itself - scared and in terminal decline, panicking as he sees the dismantlement of global white supremacy which is the lifeblood for LBHs like him. Therefore, he starts lashing out irrationally more and more.

 

[Overbom]

The solution is to not save for retirement at all, I choose to "frontload" life, quality than quantity... the way I look at it if I cant experience all that I want in the first 65 years of my life then what the heck good is another marginal 20 years or so additional years going to do for me esp. considering the human body rapidly ages starting at 50 to 55 etc.... In another 3 decades it will be socially and legally normal to voluntarily pass away at a certain age... heck before Covid who would have predicted America would let millions of their old folks die for the sake of the economy?

+1. If you are young and you think that by the time you retire the retirement age will remain at 65 then I got a bridge to sell to you.

I fully expect that retirement age will hit 75 in 2+ decades

 

[NiuBiDaRen]

Actually this is what the book I'm writing about is basically.

 

[Strangelove]

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[9dashline]

Its getting much more expensive to eat healthy now, Chipotle increased prices 10% across the board compared to a year ago and now is thinking of hiking up prices soon again

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We have a salad place here called Snappy Salads and their signature grilled avacado salad plus a drink, soup comes out to around $25 USD for lunch...

Back in my elementary school days my dad wrote me a check every week for $6.25... lunches costs only $1.25 a day back then.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Salads aren’t that good for you if you use ranch dressing. Best way to eat healthy is to cook for yourself and cut down on carbs. Fat isn’t as bad as you think it is in comparison.