Plan B Forum

A South African financial professional in his early 30s, whose girlfriend had just broken up with him, doused himself in ice-cold water when he realised he had just won R60m . . . He said he had recently been dumped, but his luck had since changed.

“My live-in girlfriend had just broken up with me, and I was not in the best of moods. By the time I checked the results on Friday night, I was by myself as she had already moved out,” he said, speaking through Ithuba.

“When I realised that I had won, I thought I was dreaming. I immediately went to take a cold shower and then came back to check again. It was real — lady luck was on my side, but clearly not so much for her!”

60 million Rand equals only about $4.03 million US.
I mean, it's enough to live on, but I never realized that a Rand was worth so little — about six and a half cents — compared to the American dollar.

-"BB"-

The average worker is paid R21,432 per month

That's the equivalent of $1434.43 US

The good workers get more.

And if they are paid in Krugerrands, it is worth a lot more.

According to an asshole, I once knew that lived lives in South Africa they live as well as anyone else on six and a half cents on the dollar. Their stores, even the little ones, are filled with razor blades, shampoo, soap, milk, wheat bread, and cheese. So what is all this crap about South Africa being poor?

lib's post deserves a reasonable response, if only for the sake of good example.

1. In South Africa there are places that sell petrol. Why then do so many black South Africans cram into Toyota Quantum taxis, walk for miles and use bicycles when they obviously should be buying McClaren Supercars which are available here for as little as R5,5 million?

2. South Africa is not poor, although the ANC is working hard on that. South Africans are poor. Blacks especially, then coloreds not so much, then Indians a bit less so, and whites quite bigly not, although not insignificantly so.

3.

4. What the hell is your experience of South Africa, you ignoramus? Oops bit of a giveaway

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:18 am

According to an asshole I once knew who lived in South Africa, they live as well as anyone else on six and a half cents on the dollar. Their stores, even the little ones, are filled with razor blades, shampoo, soap, milk, wheat bread, and cheese. So what is all this crap about South Africa being poor?

OK I have corrected the grammar and punctuation so I can understand your post. What does the fact that the Rand trades at around $0.065 apiece have to do with anything? ($0.0663 yesterday but it was as low as $0.0524 back in April.)

South Africa is one of the saddest stories. I supported ANC during the apartheid years with my wallet and my feet. But a kleptocracy has risen to the top - don't laugh: it happened here too - it's just that they are a little more subtle about it - and I don't know if the country will ever recover.

I just calculated that I spend about 2.5% of my income on "razor blades, shampoo, soap, milk, wheat bread, and cheese" (I'm partial to cheese which is why it's so high). I'm not sure what that means.

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:50 pm

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:18 am

According to an asshole I once knew who lived in South Africa, they live as well as anyone else on six and a half cents on the dollar. Their stores, even the little ones, are filled with razor blades, shampoo, soap, milk, wheat bread, and cheese. So what is all this crap about South Africa being poor?

OK I have corrected the grammar and punctuation so I can understand your post. I'm not sure what that means.

Your analytical ability is crap.

I was in the Philippines in the 1980s. In their small stores, one didn’t find wheat bread. I asked a friend about it and was told they couldn’t afford bread; they ate rice instead. I have never been to Africa except in books, but I understand that wheat bread is not very common in Africa they are more likely to have something like millet bread. Baking powder is used rather than yeast to make the bread making it more like cornbread, I would think.

MajGenl.Meade wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 8:46 am

lib's post deserves a reasonable response, if only for the sake of good example.

1. In South Africa there are places that sell petrol. Why then do so many black South Africans cram into Toyota Quantum taxis, walk for miles and use bicycles when they obviously should be buying McClaren Supercars which are available here for as little as R5,5 million?

2. South Africa is not poor, although the ANC is working hard on that. South Africans are poor. Blacks especially, then coloreds not so much, then Indians a bit less so, and whites quite bigly not, although not insignificantly so.

3.

4. What the hell is your experience of South Africa, you ignoramus? Oops bit of a giveaway

Asshole

Unlike you, lib, both Meade and I have lived in Africa. So it's just possible that he and I know a little more about it than you do.

But we all know, courtesy of the last four years, that uninformed opinions are worth the same as those based on experience, reason, logic and comprehension. So there's that . . .

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:18 am

According to an asshole, I once knew

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:36 pm

MajGenl.Meade wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 8:46 am

lib's post deserves a reasonable response

Asshole

Some people are never satisfied.

Sue U wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:02 pm

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:18 am

According to an asshole, I once knew

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:36 pm

MajGenl.Meade wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 8:46 am

lib's post deserves a reasonable response

Asshole

Some sub-humans are never satisfied.

Fixed that for you.

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:53 pm

Unlike you, lib, both Meade and I have lived in Africa. So it's just possible that he and I know a little more about it than you do.

But we all know, courtesy of the last four years, that uninformed opinions are worth the same as those based on experience, reason, logic and comprehension. So there's that . . .

I have lived in Okinawa, the Philippines, Korea, and Iceland, but I don’t consider myself an expert in any of those countries. Do you consider yourself an expert on Africa? However, one can’t live everywhere; that is why God invented books. Try them. They are those bond paper thingies one finds in libraries.

liberty wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:12 pm

Sue U wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 5:02 pm

* * *

Some sub-humans are never satisfied.

Fixed that for you.

Okay who's gonna tell him?

ex-khobar Andy wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 23, 2021 2:50 pm

I just calculated that I spend about 2.5% of my income on "razor blades, shampoo, soap, milk, wheat bread, and cheese" (I'm partial to cheese which is why it's so high). I'm not sure what that means.

It means that you're a clean-shaven, freshly-bathed, well-fed rat.

-"BB"-

The exchange rate for most people is not a big deal. If the local economy is reasonably stable (not Venezuela) it only matters if one has cash from country A and want to purchase goods or services from country B. The best way is to compare the cost of a common commodity in both countries. I have read the economist today find McDonalds' Big Mac useful for such purposes.

So what does a Big Mac cost in Jo Burg? I can't tell you what it costs in Bear, Delaware because I have not bought one for years. I do buy their coffee because it is cheap. $0.75 with senior discount for a small 6oz cup. It is about average quality for American take out brew. A dollar will get any size, from the small to the largest--20 oz.

snailgate

A quarter pounder with cheese in Ohio (I find on-line) is $2.96. In Johannesburg (I find on-line) it is R42 or (at today's rate 15.15) $2.77. Just before Christmas, that would have been $3.17

To expand snail's comment - exchange rate has nothing to do with the ability of the local folk to buy a burger. That is, until the cost of imported materials increase due to local currency e.r. loss, which probably doesn't impact yer local burger.

I understand that wheat bread is not very common in Africa

"I understand" is hyperbole.
"Africa" is a bait-and-switch, substituting a continent for lib's specified country of South Africa
"wheat bread is not very common" is false in context. There is abundant wheat bread and flour in South Africa.

The 30.3 million people living below the official poverty line (R1,268 or US$81/month) are unlikely to purchase much bread. They purchase mealie-meal/flour which is made into the staple porridge or baked as breadstuff. Mealies or corn (maize) are a major agricultural product on huge commercial farms and in people's gardens/yards*. If they do purchase bread, the black folks tend to choose white bread, regarded as more luxurious than wheat. Their purchasing of exotic sourdough, rye, health seed/nut bread at Woolworths is statistically zero.

*Corn is grown by all kinds of people regardless of color, class or income. By middle class white people not so much and hardly at all in large urban centres.

Andy: your translation of inept language skills was very good except that "According to an asshole I once knew who lived in South Africa" should have been in the present tense. You chose the wrong one from "lived lives"

I still don’t understand why any of you still give our resident racist any air. It’s not like he’s going to learn from your comments or understand your wit.

Something to do with not allowing falsehood and ignorance to pass without wiping?