Graynomad:
We discussed money the other day, I asked how much an EE would expect to get in Brazil and the answer was $2000, "A week?" I asked, no that was a month. Of course it's cheaper to live there so it's not a fair comparison but it's still a lot less than in the west.We decided that things were back to front, I should move to Brazil and do work for companies in Oz/US/EU.
By truckloads of money I mean over US$ 300K / year.
A good EE with a solid background and experience can earn up to US$ 10K in Brazil, working for multinational or mining companies. My cousin is an EE, with a masters degree, and hìs monthly income is > US$ 15K, and he works for a mining company.
Brazil is a very expensive country to live in. I was just in Argentina and Paraguay last week and food there is 1/4 of what it costs here. Everything else is less expensive there as well. I can't believe other people actually want to come live in Brazil, when most people just want to get out. Since our government is extremely corrupt and extremely badly managed, our tax money goes down the drain, and taxes increase everyday. We are in 20-year high inflation rate, and the inflation for the first 4 months of 2013 has already surpassed the entire inflation for 2012.
We have the most expensive gasoline in the world, yet we don't import any oil. Gasoline in Argentina is half the price of what it costs here, and they buy oil from us! Can you believe that?
A simple indicator is tourism: it is cheaper for a Brazilian to go sightseeing in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Miami and NYC than to go to places in Brazil. For example: a place round-trip ticket from my city (Belo Horizonte, Brazil's 4th largest city with almost 3 million inhabitants) to Miami costs about US$ 700. From my city to Joao Pessoa, a city in northeastern Brazil, it is over US$ 1,200. Since I`ve been to Miami a few times, I can tell for sure everything there is less expensive than in Joao Pessoa. Not to mention Miami is a lot safer.
My sister in law has invited my and my wife to move to Australia a few times. Once my wife finishes here post-doctorate, we might just accept her offer.