Indeed. 10USD is about R$20, which in Brazil is about:
- 6 bus fares, or
- 2 bigmacs (Im guessing I dont eat glicerine laced foods), or
- 4/5 cans of beer
Is not that much, but considering the wages vs prices, it can indeed be that much for some people. You can't compare that and mention Internet prices. My 10MB link costs me 25 bucks (USD). Prices in Brazil can be REALLY weird.
One thing is for sure, I trust people like hellpotato when he say what he does. Many US citizens dont realize this, but they do live in one of the cheapest countries in the globe. Apart from services, things ARE REALLY cheap in the US. In contrast in Brazil, services is the most devalued thing ever. Why? Cuz the unemployment rate is very high, so if you don't agree to work for that miserable rate, someone in the humongous line behind you will rapidly do it.
An example everyone can easily compare is, how much do you pay for an iPhone? US prices are 99 or 199 for those signing new plans, and about 800 for those without it. Here it costs about 700 with discount and around 1.3k without discount. How about gas? Here it costs about twice as it does in the US. So in third world countries things tend to be much more expensive, and wages tend to be way way smaller.
From this scenario comes the tendency of one giving that much value to 20 bucks. Cuz this IS 3rd world! It means we have mainly 2 classes. The mega rich, and the mega poor. Some people buy shoes that cost about 3k, while other people are making shoes out of plastic coke bottles. Some people drive 800k mercedes (oh yeah cars are waaaaay more expensive) and some people have trouble to pay for the bus fare. This is quite common here.
Unfortunately, is something to look forward to it if nothing is done to remove the scorge, sack of crap, rotten pus dripping "elite" that has been controlling and demolishing the country. So sad.
PS: English is piece of cake to learn. A quite simple and easy language. Compared to portuguese which was considered by many to be the second most difficult language to learn after mandarin. Plus people down here are being americanized (as all the west). Everywhere you look, you'll see english words and even frases. It is common...