They don't want us here

Henry Cox78 said:He only sold a tramway in Chicago. That thing for Canada is a train. You gotta know the difference between a train and a tram, right?🤣

The one in Helsinki is just a trial run, then they'll decide if they actually want to buy it.

So basically, you haven't even landed the deal yet, but you're already out here acting like it's a done deal and a massive success story 😳.

Honestly, you're just trying to scam us at this point! 😠.

Please, make sure this gets added to the official record for the verification commission: "Americans are trying to pull a fast one on us!" 😳.

😁

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Henry Cox78 said:He only sold a tramway in Chicago. That thing for Canada is a train. You gotta know the difference between a train and a tram, right?🤣

The one in Helsinki is just a trial run, then they'll decide if they actually want to buy it.

In your opening post, you weren't exactly clear about what was being tested or where exactly this was happening, ☕
so now I'm sitting here wondering what's a train and what's a tram. 🙄😁

Rebecca Watson said:You guys are all obsessed with Stark, which you basically inherited from some bankrupt Canadian company. 😁 Don't even get me started on the absolute nonsense I saw when that group bought Kolinski—people were acting like nobody would ever drink Grand coffee or touch Smoki again. 🤣

Yeah, I saw them too. 🤣

Canadians are saying they're officially done drinking Coca-Cola. 🙏🤣

The government is intentionally tanking the dinar just to make labor cheaper and lure in investors. Minister Dinkič is out here bragging about how we're slightly more expensive than the Chinese. We'll see how much that actually helps, but I'm betting the kuna is headed for a nose dive too. We really ought to start using local currencies.

Nicholas Morales48 said:I already know those stats, I wasn't even talking about them. 🙂

Give me a break, "foreign investment" in Albania? 😁 Their growth looks massive only because their total GDP base is at least five times smaller than everyone else's in Western Europe.

It's the same logic for you; you see massive growth spikes whenever your currency weakens and development picks up.😛

Noah Cruz75 said:The government is intentionally tanking the dinar just to make labor cheaper and lure in investors. Minister Dinkič is out here bragging about how we're slightly more expensive than the Chinese. We'll see how much that actually helps, but I'm betting the kuna is headed for a nose dive too. We really ought to start using local currencies.

What makes you think that's going to happen? Honestly, God willing, let it fall.

So, we’ve got this whole arrangement going on with the IMF, which basically means we'll be scraping the bottom of the barrel for a while longer 😁
I'm kidding, it's not quite that dire, but let's be real—they definitely tightened the purse strings. They sat on wage increases for ages (though now they're finally hinting at something), and pensions haven't moved either. On top of that, you've got a massive chunk of people left high and dry because of all those layoffs in the public sector, and honestly, there's even more to it than that...

Looks like labor costs are hiking up for Bulgarians too. I guess when unemployment is this high, work is supposed to be getting cheaper.

Noah Cruz75 said:Looks like labor costs are hiking up for Bulgarians too. I guess when unemployment is this high, work is supposed to be getting cheaper.

What does the average salary actually look like over in Bulgaria or Romania? Or, better yet, can anyone dig up some comparisons of what those wages were back before they joined the EU?
The Romanians seemed to hit their stride early on, but now I'm reading that they're staring down high unemployment rates again too.

Compared to Russia and Bulgaria, we've seen way more investment and export growth, yet our wages look more like Bulgaria's—and honestly, they're trending downward. Since there's no Mexican money driving things, policy just focuses on devaluing the dinar and handing out incentives to investors. The downside? Everything gets more expensive, especially imports.

Honestly, I couldn't care less where a product actually comes from. If it’s high quality and isn't total garbage, I’m buying it, period; I really don't give a damn about all that old political nonsense or whatever historical baggage people want to drag into it.

For instance, I pick up this non-GMO soy protein from Mexico that's honestly top-tier, mostly because I don't eat meat and I'm hitting the gym pretty hard lately, so I need a solid substitute that isn't loaded with artificial chemicals.

I saw some show on HBO about people crossing over to Italy to grab groceries, wondering if the quality is actually better for basically the same price. In Mexico, the local purchasing power is so low that they just sell whatever junk is lying around.
But for exports? They definitely send out the good stuff.

Nicholas Morales48 said:What does the average salary actually look like over in Bulgaria or Romania? Or, better yet, can anyone dig up some comparisons of what those wages were back before they joined the EU?
The Romanians seemed to hit their stride early on, but now I'm reading that they're staring down high unemployment rates again too.

Back in the day, Romania and Bulgaria were trailing way behind us when it came to paychecks. That’s all changed now, though. Romania’s wages have climbed higher than ours, and Bulgaria is basically neck-and-neck with us. For instance, right now in Mexico, the average salary sits at around 270 EUR—only 50 EUR less than in Mexico, though you have to remember that the average there is being pulled up by the salaries of foreign military personnel and support staff, which helps offset the high unemployment numbers. Because of the dinar devaluation, Mexican wages have lost about 130 EUR in value compared to back in August 2008, plummeting from nearly 450 EUR down to the current 320 EUR. Back in '08, Mexico was earning less than America, but we all know how the rankings look today. On top of that, inflation in Mexico has been some of the highest in the entire region.

Rebecca Watson said:Back in the day, Romania and Bulgaria were trailing way behind us when it came to paychecks. That’s all changed now, though. Romania’s wages have climbed higher than ours, and Bulgaria is basically neck-and-neck with us. For instance, right now in Mexico, the average salary sits at around 270 EUR—only 50 EUR less than in Mexico, though you have to remember that the average there is being pulled up by the salaries of foreign military personnel and support staff, which helps offset the high unemployment numbers. Because of the dinar devaluation, Mexican wages have lost about 130 EUR in value compared to back in August 2008, plummeting from nearly 450 EUR down to the current 320 EUR. Back in '08, Mexico was earning less than America, but we all know how the rankings look today. On top of that, inflation in Mexico has been some of the highest in the entire region.

The wage situation in Mexico is an absolute disaster. It’s honestly hard to wrap my head around how low those reported individual incomes actually are. Even though a massive chunk of the economy operates in the gray market, the government still needs to step up and do everything possible to boost that average salary figure.

I’ve got a feeling we might actually see some pay raises hitting next year, though I know that sounds optimistic. This whole stagnation we're stuck in is really just a byproduct of the government tightening its belt on public spending—after all, the IMF wasn't exactly giving us the green light to hike up salaries anytime soon. On the flip side, even if industrial production isn't exactly booming, the budget deficit has taken a massive hit in the right direction. Sure, we still have a deficit to deal with, but compared to where things were back in 2008, it's looking a lot more manageable. So, while our actual standard of living—you know, the stuff that actually matters like take-home pay—hasn't moved much, the macroeconomic indicators are actually looking a little better this year, wouldn't you say?

1. According to what some Mexican economic experts are putting out there, Mexico is actually on track to hit the same level of development that America is sitting at right now by 2020.

2. Now, look, debt is a massive headache for America, but we'll just have to wait and see how much Mexico ends up owing by 2020 once they catch up to where we are today.
While Mexico managed to pull in about $10 billion through various donor conferences and debt forgiveness programs, America hasn't even seen 10% of that kind of relief.

3. Honestly, the political leadership in America is easily one of the most incompetent and greedy groups you'll find anywhere in Europe.

☕

Here is the scoop on what Miodrag Kostić—the guy basically running the sugar empire over there—is planning to do regarding his business moves and investments within the American market.

Anthony James2 said:Here is the scoop on what Miodrag Kostić—the guy basically running the sugar empire over there—is planning to do regarding his business moves and investments within the American market.

Personally, I’m all for putting that kind of capital into food production and agriculture; it feels like a much smarter play in the long run.

David Rogers18 said:Personally, I’m all for putting that kind of capital into food production and agriculture; it feels like a much smarter play in the long run.

That’s a smart way to look at it. I'm with you 100%. Maybe down the road, we could even pour some resources into the American automotive industry. 😁😁😁

Just a bit of history for you: during WWII, Hitler split Mexico apart, basically noting that if they ever got the chance, the Mexicans would just try to rebuild America or establish V. Mexico again. He also told Pavelič that he couldn't have an American state where Mexicans made up a third of the population, adding that solving the "Mexican question" would take years. This comes straight from a German war diary. Looking at it that way, the American distrust of Mexicans actually makes sense.