I’d immigrate to Turkey, would love to live in Istanbul! woop!

back to sub, Khalid please la tefti, i was born and raised here (dubai) and even I find its rediculous here, its overmarketed and overrated as hala said. very few segments of this society are living well, and yes, they r either the locals or the foreigners! the majority r struck by inflation, paying 60 sometimes 70% of their salaries on rent/mortgage, and sit in horrible traffic for over 2 hours a day! A DAY ppl!!

the american dream is a dream, the arab dream of dubai, is just a mirage.

-S

PS: If you can cook, I will fly to Jordan and meet your parents and marry you like a good boy.

If you cannot cook, I will still come to Jordan, but you might have to elope with me. hahaha.

hmm ,,, try europe, its alot more expensive than here, but food and basics are ordinary, and life is more human! at least when it comes to working hours!

I finish their weekly working hours in a couple of days here!

In a recession or depression, prices tend to go down, because people are earning less, so demand goes down. Traders have to reduce prices to stay in business. Growth is low or negative.

There can also be Stagflation, where growth stops but inflation keeps going.

Here is the thing, if you get educated then you will definitely be doing great. Even if you are not doing as good as you want to, it still is better than Jordan and UAE and you will not be complaining as much ;)

And seriously Khalid, UAE? Man UAE is overrated!

The U.S. has federal minimum wage requirements. Your employer cannot, legally, pay you less than your state’s minimum wage. The average minimum wage in a U.S. state is $6.75/hour (although some states have it closer to $8 now). For a regular 40-hour week, that’s $270 a week (already more than some Jordanian teachers’ monthly salaries). That is $1080/month as a legal minimum.

Corporate jobs are usually triple that minimum wage if your company is pretty crappy, or 5 times minimum wage is it’s a good company. I’m a recent college graduate and I make $4200/month in my first job.

BUT expenses here are different too. The big word in the U.S. is credit. We run on credit. Houses are mortgages, big electronics can be swiped on your store cards or credit cards, and cars are auto loans in repayment. That makes the average American have less expenses for one-time purchases (as opposed to a Jordanian cutting a check or paying cash for a car once), and much more in recurring monthly expenses (mortgage or rent, car/boat/motorcycle loans/store cards/credit cards).

So you talk to an American and they’re complaining about their $400 car payment, $300 credit card payment, and $2000 mortgage payment out of their higher salary. You talk to a Jordanian and they’re complaining about water being 30 JDs more out of theit 400 JD salary. Either way, you can’t say I make more than you do because with that, I OWE more than you do.

Standards-wise, I do agree. In the States we believe that a new car every 2 years is normal, having a condo and a house is normal, having 3 big-screen TVs on credit is normal, and purchasing something priced at $5000 for $10/month is normal. In Jordan, half of that is outrageous.

If Americans thought and lived the way Jordanians do, yes, I agree, they would have $3000 left over every month to splurge, but they don’t live the same, so both situations have complaints.