Quote Originally Posted by Eric C. View Post
Well, I wouldn't say, of course, it's totally impossible to find incomes less than $30 an hour among the Americans, but I think it's quite rare. You're talking about terrible things, could you at least specify the kind of job those people have? Where the salaries are so incredibly small that people can't even pay for their bills...
"44 million Americans on foodstamps". http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...s-incomes.html. "It’s A Cash-Flow Problem": The Ever Broker US Consumer Increasingly Relying On Credit Cards For Daily Staples | zero hedge
.$30/hr?? Under $30/hr is normal. Those $30-40/hr jobs ain't open. If you look at government stats, you see lots of people with $30-40/hr jobs. But there are no openings. The truth is, lots of people really are in difficulty, and have difficulty paying bills. The reality is, the incomes of ordinary citizens in real terms are dropping, purchasing power keeps dropping.
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Quote Originally Posted by Hanna View Post
...It happens to tie in with my political views, so I'd say it's pretty much right on the spot.
But is it painting a too gloomy picture of Latvia? I have no idea because I don't know how normal people live or whether they really have as much debt as the article suggests. ... I am beginning to wonder.... were these Eastern countries let into the EU so that they could be ripped off by businesses in Western Europe...? and so that their citizens can go to Germany, the UK etc and do crappy jobs that can't be filled by local people. So in the USSR built factories, schools and military bases..... The EU and USA are screwing the Balts for money. If I was Baltic I'd be pretty confused and fed up with the situation. They've been taken for a ride...
The IMF/World Bank have a track record. 40 years of austerity programs. They all end the same way. And now the EU is playing the same game.