Well since you just bulked Czechia, Poland and Germany into one group, I can understand how you fail to see it.
Since you mentioned Germany, I'll use that. A Czech earns about a third of what a German earns. But everything costs more or less the same (except for housing, but the difference certainly isn't multiples). Gasoline costs the same (and much more than in US), vast majority of consumer goods costs the same, food seems to be cheaper, but that's because it's of lower quality.
Yeah, education is "free". As is government free to take more than half of what people earn.
By "2nd world" I mean "1st world prices, 3rd world wages" (yes I know 3rd world is something incomperable).
Since you mentioned Germany, I'll use that. A Czech earns about a third of what a German earns. But everything costs more or less the same (except for housing, but the difference certainly isn't multiples). Gasoline costs the same (and much more than in US), vast majority of consumer goods costs the same, food seems to be cheaper, but that's because it's of lower quality.
Yeah, education is "free". As is government free to take more than half of what people earn.
By "2nd world" I mean "1st world prices, 3rd world wages" (yes I know 3rd world is something incomperable).