>I disagree. Food is much cheaper in many countries. While in Central America I regularly bought food off the economy instead from the government stores because it was so much cheaper. A meal at a good restaurant cost less than half what it would cost in the U.S. Medicines were at least 4 times cheaper as well. A nice apartment cost less than half what it would cost here and there were many. The cost of living was not anything like it is here. Now Germany and the rest of Europe was a different story. Giving my U.S. salary, I was lucky because at the time the dollar was strong. I was paid in U.S. dollars and my apartment cost about the same in Germany as it would here but since the exchange rate at the time was 2.5 to 1, it cost me so much less.

You forgot about beer, wine and liquor in general, I remember in Argentina I used to buy 1 litre of beer for almost the same price I paid for 1 litre of pop