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Comment by randysalami | Hacker News Reader

I was born and grew up in the states and am living outside the country (near Europe) and the smallest things made me realize how truly rich Americans are compared to the rest of the world, in real terms. Even things like fast food or Walmart are a testament to the abundance the US has (not saying it is right or wrong). And these systems are supported by the simple fact you just have a lot of rich people walking around relative to the global population.

To put it more succinctly, I know engineers/lawyers/doctors in this country I’ve been living in that make 2k a month and it’s good. They work hard, it’s stressful. A fast food worker in the US can make $15/hr and bring in 2.4k a month.

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And for that 2k/mo they barely make rent, can't save and are one health issue away from $100k debt. Not really a shining example of either wealth or freedom.

Housing is expensive in our prestige cities, but that's true in much of the world.

And if you are away from the city, where the rent is less, the incmme is also less. The income:expense ratio is still steep.

That's not really true. Rent to income ratio varies quite a lot

Can you tell me where?

Data from US gov since 2000 show this (BLS, SSA), as do multiple university studies (MN, KY). And the ratio for rural areas is getting worse, more pressure, than urban.

That it varies is not interesting, lots of things have variance. The data shows its generally true.

I think you are mixing up a couple of things.

Income to rent ratio, which is what this thread is about, varies geographically. Rent eats 30-40% of income in prestige cities like NYC or SF or LA. It's only 25% in Kansas City or Columbus.

You seem to be thinking about overall cost burden over time.

The US does not lead in broad markers of "social good" like life expectancy, happiness index or social mobility, so what exactly is this KPI useful for?

The issue for Americans is that living a pretty "normal" lifestyle is way more expensive compared to living very similar "normal" lifestyle in most other developed cities.

Easiest example would be groceries. If you live in a crazy expensive place like Manhattan, you could easily spend 4-5x more on groceries compared to a city like Warsaw. But it's not like you are getting better produce or products in Manhattan, you are getting same stuff, just paying way more.

And this is true for other day to day stuff too like Housing, Healthcare, Schools, etc.

Are you also comparing benefits and cost of living? That fast food worker cannot afford an apartment, groceries, or healthcare after taxes. God help them if they have children. Further, what little safety nets that exist in the United States are being gutted by the current administration and the likes of DOGE, which was run by a billionaire who paid a massive sum of money to the current administration to be put in a position to cut government benefits.

    Even things like fast food or Walmart are a testament to the abundance the US has

You can get similarly fatty foods in most corners of the world. Doesn't matter if you're deep in central Asia or Africa, any urban settlement will have a restaurant that sells them and most of the roadside stations too.

Supermarkets are pretty American, but that's not true for the same reason it might have been in Yeltsin's day. I think you'd have trouble making a serious argument that communities with Tesco are fundamentally poorer or worse off than those with Walmart.

American megastores with 60,000+ SKUs are just a cultural preference in North America, and not even a universal one at that. Costco is very successful both domestically and internationally by rejecting that model. Trader joes (Aldi) is extremely competitive in the US despite a blatantly European business model. Americans are far more excited for either one of those to move in than a Walmart.

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