4 ms·

"However the cost of many things is much higher in New Zealand so the hourly rates are not comparable (a Big Mac Combo meal is ≈USD9 in NZ, a Big Mac Meal is ≈U

"However the cost of many things is much higher in New Zealand so the hourly rates are not comparable (a Big Mac Combo meal is ≈USD9 in NZ, a Big Mac Meal is ≈USD6 in the US?). The standard of living is fairly good in NZ." Not sure McDonald's is a good way to compare. Crappy food is very cheap in the US but good food can be quite expensive. When I visit family in Germany I often feel it's the other way there. Good, but basic food is quite cheap but stuff like Mcdonalds costs more.

elvis10ten 5y ago
As someone that have lived in both Boston (USA) and Berlin (Germany), I don’t agree. What places in Germany are you comparing to US Macdonalds?
- spaetzleesser 5y ago
  I guess I wasn’t so much about restaurants but general shopping. For example I can get good bread in Germany for a decent price where in the US most cheap bread is full of sugar and other stuff and only very expensive ones are better. I find the same is true for a lot of staple foods.
  - xnyan 5y ago
    Good bread is both available and cheaper in the US than Germany. I think Germany is a better place to live, but essentially everything is more expensive there.
  - mbg721 5y ago
    Germany is a world of its own where bread is concerned. I'm not sure an American in the flyover suburbs can get what Germans would consider "very good bread" at any price.
robocat 5y ago
McDonalds is merely a canonical concrete example due to [1]. You are implying that good food is not expensive in NZ? The cost of living is slightly higher here [2], although like everywhere, ones standard of living really really depends on ones location and wealth. Of course, part of the reason for high costs in NZ could be due to minimum wages being high (higher than the truck driver mentioned in article I think). The US minimum wage in plenty of states is half the minimum wage in NZ. No US state exceeds our minimum wage[3], even though we are a poorer country per capita. Oh, and healthcare is free in NZ (although the system is far from perfect), and after retirement (currently 65 years) every single person in NZ gets ≈USD$1300 per month (I couldn’t find the US comparison but elderly poverty could be worse over there?[4]). [1] https://www.economist.com/big-mac-index https://www.economist.com/big-mac-index [2] https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php [3] https://www.laborlawcenter.com/state-minimum-wage-rates https://www.laborlawcenter.com/state-minimum-wage-rates [4] https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/03/03/does-social-security-still-have-a-minimum-benefit.aspx https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/03/03/does-social-secur...
- worik 5y ago
  > part of the reason for high costs in NZ could be due to minimum wages being high Ouch! The minimum wage in Aotearoa was much lower not that long ago. The main problem for living costs in New Zealand is that the economic climate is tuned to be good for investors and not labour. Even a Labour government has continued this trend. We have forgotten that the purpose of the economy is to serve the people not to serve business. The shortage of labour is making things better, slowly...
  - robocat 5y ago
    > the economic climate is tuned to be good for investors and not labour LOL - have you have tried being a business investor in NZ? If you are talking about property investment, then perhaps, but that problem is a Gordian knot and we don’t have our Alexander.
    - worik 5y ago
      > have you have tried being a business investor in NZ? Yes. Wages are artificially low. Employments rights low, often not enforced. The state has made it its business to keep it that way. For example a computer programmer working in the games industry, and all workers in the feature film industry, has no employment rights, at all. The lack of any capital gains tax is a particularly galling blow to labour as opposed to investors. Still the investors and business class whinge (as we see on Hacker News) constantly that the workers are given too many rights.
    - worik 5y ago
      Yes and: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018828257/the-cost-of-the-pandemic-the-financial-winners-and-losers https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2... “The scale of it is enormous. We're talking a trillion dollars of wealth in less than two years landed in the hands of people who were already wealthy. At the same time as the government last Christmas refused to increase the benefits by $50 because they were worried that it would increase the government debt.”

elvis10ten 5y ago

As someone that have lived in both Boston (USA) and Berlin (Germany), I don’t agree. What places in Germany are you comparing to US Macdonalds?

spaetzleesser 5y ago
I guess I wasn’t so much about restaurants but general shopping. For example I can get good bread in Germany for a decent price where in the US most cheap bread is full of sugar and other stuff and only very expensive ones are better. I find the same is true for a lot of staple foods.
- xnyan 5y ago
  Good bread is both available and cheaper in the US than Germany. I think Germany is a better place to live, but essentially everything is more expensive there.
- mbg721 5y ago
  Germany is a world of its own where bread is concerned. I'm not sure an American in the flyover suburbs can get what Germans would consider "very good bread" at any price.

robocat 5y ago

McDonalds is merely a canonical concrete example due to [1]. You are implying that good food is not expensive in NZ? The cost of living is slightly higher here [2], although like everywhere, ones standard of living really really depends on ones location and wealth. Of course, part of the reason for high costs in NZ could be due to minimum wages being high (higher than the truck driver mentioned in article I think). The US minimum wage in plenty of states is half the minimum wage in NZ. No US state exceeds our minimum wage[3], even though we are a poorer country per capita. Oh, and healthcare is free in NZ (although the system is far from perfect), and after retirement (currently 65 years) every single person in NZ gets ≈USD$1300 per month (I couldn’t find the US comparison but elderly poverty could be worse over there?[4]). [1] https://www.economist.com/big-mac-index https://www.economist.com/big-mac-index [2] https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php https://www.worlddata.info/cost-of-living.php [3] https://www.laborlawcenter.com/state-minimum-wage-rates https://www.laborlawcenter.com/state-minimum-wage-rates [4] https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/03/03/does-social-security-still-have-a-minimum-benefit.aspx https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/03/03/does-social-secur...

worik 5y ago
> part of the reason for high costs in NZ could be due to minimum wages being high Ouch! The minimum wage in Aotearoa was much lower not that long ago. The main problem for living costs in New Zealand is that the economic climate is tuned to be good for investors and not labour. Even a Labour government has continued this trend. We have forgotten that the purpose of the economy is to serve the people not to serve business. The shortage of labour is making things better, slowly...
- robocat 5y ago
  > the economic climate is tuned to be good for investors and not labour LOL - have you have tried being a business investor in NZ? If you are talking about property investment, then perhaps, but that problem is a Gordian knot and we don’t have our Alexander.
  - worik 5y ago
    > have you have tried being a business investor in NZ? Yes. Wages are artificially low. Employments rights low, often not enforced. The state has made it its business to keep it that way. For example a computer programmer working in the games industry, and all workers in the feature film industry, has no employment rights, at all. The lack of any capital gains tax is a particularly galling blow to labour as opposed to investors. Still the investors and business class whinge (as we see on Hacker News) constantly that the workers are given too many rights.
  - worik 5y ago
    Yes and: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018828257/the-cost-of-the-pandemic-the-financial-winners-and-losers https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2... “The scale of it is enormous. We're talking a trillion dollars of wealth in less than two years landed in the hands of people who were already wealthy. At the same time as the government last Christmas refused to increase the benefits by $50 because they were worried that it would increase the government debt.”