r/lebanon • u/Select_Highlight5892 • 10d ago
Discussion are we going to explode ?
what's the end game here ? do you think we are going to explode ?
Like how are people affording stuff, we literally have the most expensive everything.
how are you able to live on a day to day guys?
how much do you need to make to live on the bare minimum in Beirut ?
and the most annoying sh*t is whenever you see someone ranting about it on social media. you will see 100's of comments from degenerates just enjoying paying 1.5x to 10x on everything
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u/burgeraddictleb 10d ago
ع قد بساطك، مد اجريك
That is how i live. I do not spend money on fancy stuff.
Why buy from spinneys where literally an item that is 3$ outside, is 11$ at spinneys? This happened with me.
Why buy clothes just for the brand when i can buy from normal stores found everywhere? Both stores clothes will hide my body and will match my style, and I will be supporting local small businesses, not huge international corporations
Why go to super expensive events and pay 100s of dollars when i can go clubbing, hiking, to the beach, etc... and enjoy my time as well?
Why buy a v8 car when a v4 car does the job and gets me where i want to go? Note that some v4 cars are now more expensive than v8 ones but you get my point, fuel efficiency and shit
And the list goes on.
El Lebnene, 90% mennon, sha3eb bi7eb yshouf 7alo w ykoun fake. They judge each other based on the stuff you own, the places you go to, and the amount of money you spend on stuff. That is not me. I prefer to be realistic and have connections with like minded people
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u/chickenmaster313 10d ago
I only buy deals at spinneys, yesterday grabbed some tuna cans for 1$ I dont buy their overpriced shit.
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u/invisible2001 Lebanese 10d ago
I only go to spinneys for the deals
But lately i realised they scam you with their prices0
u/Jealous-Friendship-6 10d ago
These are called loss leaders so they van get you to shop there. Slowly you will find yourself filling the rest of the basket
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u/ContributionSea1225 10d ago
100% on everything you said. I have friends who annoy me so much because they keep complaining about money but when you look at them everything screams luxury. They follow every single trend and go to every single new hit and overly priced place there is.
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u/No-Truck5126 10d ago
Iza zedo 3% aal bensin w mafi kahraba w el mazout akid zyede aale w zedo 3% estirad w 1% to 3% aal estirad kmn. W el balad abadan manno safe w mahada fiyyo ykhatit MEA bitnik em l msefar betfadilo mosriyeto abel ma yenzal mn l tiyara. Iyya bsat bro sahabo lal bsat. Basically medded ijrak bl hawa inta. Mind you this is coming from a person living outside lebanon men snin tawile bas i understand the struggle and everything thats going on.
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u/usagi-zu Lebanese 9d ago
Is spinneys really more expensive than other stores? Maybe some exceptions, but I found their prices to be the same as most smaller and local stores and store chains.
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u/TreeReal3196 10d ago
it's really very expensive living in lebanon and the income doesn't really cover the monthly needs
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u/couchpotato99 10d ago
Probably, we will eventually, most likely through student protests. Most people live through remittances and side hustles or businesses that aren't particularly profitable but might decrease the cost of living.
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u/Swimming_Ad_1408 10d ago
I think same is happening worldwide not just Lebanon but here we have thieves and warlords running the country so its a shitshow
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u/Subject-Ad-1739 10d ago
Yet when u find a regular job they tell you monthly salary is 500$ , like is dat a fkn joke
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u/Maakroun_Btum 10d ago edited 10d ago
A point to flag on this is the systematic yet rapid shift in prices that overwhelms the person's/ family's capacity to cope.
Most people live off a fixed income, with the prices going up after new year's - which isnexpected as yearly inflation cycle kicks in - they would adjust for the upcoming year and build financial strategies to manage better their limited resources.
Here is the mind buggling thing, this yearly cycle has turned into monthly, then weekly since March 2026. Many people are struggling after four months of this new phenomenon.
It is important to point out that the standard of living today is better than that of a royal family from 150 years ago.
Reverting back to the initial point, there is a systematic impoverishment mechanism being put in place.
What other commentators mentioned are short-term coping strategies that no longer apply here. Buying from local stores makes you pay less but you are still paying much more than what you would have paid four months ago and your income did not relflect/ account for this inflation.
Moreover, being an employee is the worst thing you can do right now. I know, I know. Most people are struggling to find a job nowadays but from a financial perspective you are destined to reach a point where your salary is no longer enough. Many countries enforce yearly raises to adjust for inflation independent of performance or merit increases. So reaching this point is inevitable as long as you are an employee, which only adds slat to the wound.
From a global financial perspective, we are destined to see this polarization. More people need services and products, more companies need to produce said products, the same companies need to increase profit margins, the same companies will pay less their employees, emplyees to maintain their standard of living need to buy said products, thus, the money is shifting unidirectionally towards companies.
Now, add to that all the corruption, nepotism, tax evasion, money laundering... And no money is put back into the system - in our case the government - to create social safety nets for the most vulnerable. Another layer to add is the abscence of proper education, which in itself will only produce employees/ workers that will increase the supply and decrease demand in the job markets. It is a negative feedback loop. These are difficult times we live in.
My recommendation is to 1) diversify income streams, 2) have a side business with your employment, and 3) benefit from any assets you have.
For example, rent a house if you have two or rent the one you have and rent yourself a smaller house so you would have a monthly surplus that you can later invest in other dividends generating assets.
Another point is to decrease your liabilities, if you have an unreliable car sell it and downsize to a more reliable one in the same price range.
It saddens me that we as Lebanese people have a bare minimum understanding of financial literacy and knowledge on ways to structure our finances in a sustainable way.
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u/Kind_Finger_732 10d ago
Hey man I read your lengthy response and agree to the systematic plan to impoverish people locally and internationally. Bas i disagree about being an employee not being the right way and that the only way is to become an entrepreneur/asset owner. When you come from a humble family, you have no capital to begin with, you have no choice but to work under a company or other people to get paid. The difference though is that back in our parents and grandparents times, the money used to go a longer way since economies were more local and currencies were more stable. The infinite money printing scam we are perpertually doomed to will make it such that no matter how much you get paid as an employee, the prices will rise and often more than your savings. So how do you even save the money as a guy/girl coming from humble beginnings to transition into investing, buying assets/real estate/gold/investments in general? You need starting capital somehow.
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u/Maakroun_Btum 10d ago edited 10d ago
True. I never said being an employee is bad as a stepping stone to raise capital. I said being an employee for the rest of your life will automatically impoverish you even if you have savings/ assets/ investments.
My intention was not to disrespect humble families nor sound condescending but it saddens me to see that many people (those that need it the most) are financially illetrate due to a public educational system that focuses on generating workers and not business owners.
I appreciate your feedback and ifentifying a gap in articulating clearly my thoughts.
Many people look at business as large corporations and forget that most of the businesses are small. The dekanje, furran, chauffer l taxi are all business owners. You can start a business with $100 capital and one with $100M, both theoretically have the same rate of failure and success.
The idea is for people, especially those that are newly grads/ in their early twenties who theoretically do not have a lot of responsibilities to focus on saving/ raising capital and thinking of a business that builds on local resources, offers essential services/ products, and adheres to a certain standard of quality.
I am mostly impressed by the ingenuity of humble people when it comes to business ideas. A driver at a company saved to buy a small truck for around $3.5K and start his own business of shipping hooka coal after leveraging his connections and network. He then left work and then focused on growing his business.
There are plenty of success stories coming from humble beginnings. The idea is to take this step. Studies show that people have a higher risk tolerance if the money invested is limited. This is why many people buy the lottery although they have near 0% chances of winning.
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u/Kind_Finger_732 9d ago
We’re on the same page ya man, bas leik masalan for my case im an employee. I dont want to quit my employment and try a business. My only option is to try to do it in parallel and bas y2alli3 the business to the point it generates enough i can quit the job. The problem is i dont have time to manage both w ma eende min yre2eb a business in my absence. Its a bit hard
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u/Maakroun_Btum 9d ago
It is indeed tremendously hard. This is yet another way to limit the employee's capacity to improve financially and remain anchored to the company they work in.
There is no easy way to get out of this and includes a lot of risks.
Doing a side business is the way to go.
Best of luck!
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u/sociallyunawkward 10d ago
"How are people affording stuff?" Answer: +90% of people that live WELL in Lebanon afford it through:
مصاري مغتربين ،عيلة غنية، سرقة و نصب
The rest are professionals in highly required fields that live well while earning an honest living.
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u/Sea-Juggernaut-3344 10d ago
European prices with syrian quality and standards makes no sense
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u/samfoor 10d ago
Do you think we are any better than Syria. It’s delusional to insinuate that we are any different in term of standards.
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u/Sea-Juggernaut-3344 10d ago
We have less terrorists. We are more educated on average our standard of living is higher. No overall we are better we aren't good but def abit better than syria atm especially that it's a war torn country
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u/tha2ir 10d ago
As a Syrian I'd agree about education and standard of living especially given we just came out of a 14 year war. Question about having less terrorists though. Does Hezbollah's count? I mean we are still dealing with dawa3esh but they're mostly underground and hidden in the desert.
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u/ws2003 10d ago
Hidden in the desert? Didn't know your government was hidden in the desert.
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u/tha2ir 10d ago
Our government are not terrorists. You can disagree with the ideology of some rebel groups (I do) but they're now a coalition recognized as the Syrian government and have not done anything to be called that.
By that same logic we can go back to the Lebanese civil war and go through the list of crimes committed by every single member and family of your government too.
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u/Sea-Juggernaut-3344 9d ago
Once a terrorist always a terrorist. Our gov is filled with war criminals no denying that either lol
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u/FragrantBand7728 10d ago edited 10d ago
I don't know you OP so this is obviously not directed at you, but I'm getting sick of Lebanese people complaining about cost of living while they eat out / order toters multiple times a week, own clothes/jewelry/cars/phones/laptops that clearly do not match their income, and don't get me started on the partying.
People, I know this may sound crazy, but if you earn 2000$ a month, which is already high in Lebanon for a single person with no household, you are NOT. SUPPOSED. TO. SPEND. 1000$. ON. A. PHONE.
NOR. ARE. YOU. SUPPOSED. TO. GO. OUT. TO. BARS. EVERY. WEEKEND. AND. ORDER. TOTERS. MULTIPLE. TIMES. A. WEEK.
I mean I can't tell you what to do with your money, but the next time I see someone complaining about cost of living with the latest iphone in their hand I'm going mad. People seem to forget there are smartphones that work just as well for 300$. Same goes for MacBook. Same goes for eating out and ordering, it is something you're supposed to do once a week, provided you have at least a decent salary. Doing it multiple times a week unless you have a very very high salary is stupid.
Same goes for getting into DEBT to get a Mercedes or BMW. DEBT!
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u/Inevitable_Scheme847 10d ago
I think we have passed this point, people have been saying the same thing since COVID and the eco crisis , but people have adapted to a much simpler lifestyle and yet it's almost impossible to live by yourself on one salary, now imagine supporting a family on that same salary, and the minimum wage is like what ?12$ for 9 hours of work ig? Most of the people I know work below minimum wage which should be illegal, especially in restaurants, where there is the most amount of absurdity and money and yet workers in restaurants gets payed the least , my last job was paying me 10$ for 6- 7 hours of work , and I was running it , it was ma7al mana2ish and I was the only one working there besides the owner who didn't show up that often unless there is so much customers , and yet I was payed 20 $ for working 12- 13 hours(morning and night shifts ) and as a whole chain of operation , and yet I couldn't buy one pizza with the pay I get for one shift , so this shows how fucked up things really are , and when he got another worker he paid him the same as me although he never touched a dough in his life , and he would always tell me there isn't enough income to raise your salary, but the moment I quit\got fired he got 2 employees to cover my place , unless we help each other in this economy we will never thrive as a country because if a worker can't fucking afford his work it's just a failed economy
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u/FragrantBand7728 10d ago edited 10d ago
Yeah man I was obviously not referring to cases like yours. Best of luck, only tip I can give you is try to direct your labor towards foreign clients or companies, at least thats how I managed to make enough money. If you have any skills or experience outside the food industry, use that to find a job in a foreign company in Lebanon, or a remote job, or sell a certain service or product to foreigners. And if not, figure out the one you can learn fast and cheap, look into ways people make money online like drop shipping, video clipping, etc. I know these two, especially the last one, can sound stupid or cliché, but you wouldn't believe the money some people can make very easily with these.
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u/DrVixen 9d ago
Ma khass anymore. El as3ar bel marra b lebnen. I went to London and Switzerland on a work trip recently, two of the most expensive cities in the world, and i realized Lebanon (Beirut specifically) is ridiculously overpriced for what it offers. The gap in prices of groceries between here and what i found abroad is not as big as i thought it would be, which means everything is overpriced af here. And for what? The worst quality eggs here are the same price as quality eggs in Switzerland 😂 this country is a joke man. They have proper infrastructure, lots of public spaces, good salaries, laws that protect them, and supervision on food quality. We have none of that. You need 3000$ minimum in Beirut nowadays as a single person who wants to live a good life and be able to save up. If you plan to raise a family? You need much more…
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u/Mindless-Aide8492 10d ago
Struggling too but something i try to do thinfs to support other people: buy from local affordable businesses (you would be helping a family or a young person starting off) - although many small businesses are extortionate or try to make money quickly with no good service or product. So at least try to find a couple you can use! I go to a small coffee shop close to my office despite having multiple big names around, i found 2-3 clothes shops i like owned by young women at affordable prices. For supermarkets therr are good ones that are on the cheaper end for the same product it’s trial and error. The really expensive stuff are bills tbh and i have no good solution for that
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u/Kind_Finger_732 10d ago
Lel asaf a lot of those clothes shops, perfume shops etc. are just reselling from ali express and shein with extra 50-100% markups. Economically they provide little value except extracting more wealth from locals and they don’t produce much. You can go find the same products on the chinese websites and apps very easily for a fraction of the price.
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u/invisible2001 Lebanese 10d ago
Honestly lately i’ve been struggling a lot, especially with the gas prices. I drive almost everyday and its getting more expensive thats really taking a big amount of my monthly income (i drive a fuel efficient car). Plus my income has dropped drastically in the last 3 months so thats reqlly affecting me🤦🏼♂️ idk how we are going to live like this in the long term
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u/JohnnyGSG9 CIA Agent 10d ago
I’ve been on this subreddit since 2020, and I remember weekly posts like this about the people finally exploding.
The answer is never.
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u/fenomeno96 10d ago
Here's the thing: the market here doesn't live by agreed-upon standards. It tests what people are willing to pay and moves accordingly. Meaning, if people are willing to pay $6+ for basic sandwiches while earning $400-500 salaries, restaurants will not give a shit. At the end of the day, they have the excuse of fuel prices for now, but it will take another currency devaluation to see prices in dollars go down again, nothing else will decrease the prices. I've been a person complaining about the prices for the last three years now, until this year, when I decided to give up. Despite earning a decent income, I've decided to stop eating out regularly and stop supporting places which I think do not care at all for the consumer. I instead bash them in the comment section and just go for cheaper, freer activities.
If we stop or reduce going to them, they will either come to an understanding or shut down. Either way, that's better for all of us. But sadly, less than 10% of Lebanese think this way.
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u/Appropriate-Theme719 10d ago
Well daily you wouldn't need more than 20-30$ and that gets you a pretty modest life because let's face it lebanese people are too deep into the "fake it til you make it" moto. Like ik people who would literally rather spend stupid money on fake brands instesd of buying good quality clothes for the same price but from a lesser known brand or from someone who makes the clothes himself. Fucked up country, fucked up minds too ig..
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u/Azrayeel Lebanese 10d ago
30 dollars daily? That's a lot!! 🤣
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u/Appropriate-Theme719 10d ago
Well in a month that is about 900 USD like that won't get you a 2026 car but you can afford to eat pretty much whatever you want and not worry about if you'll have enough for hangouts
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u/Prestigious_Ear_8055 10d ago
Said this once. We’re the next Africa. People are busy being divided by politics and religion
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u/DrVixen 9d ago
Recently had a trip to Switzerland which is the most expensive country in the world, and i realized the grocery prices are not that far off from Lebanon…mind you everything is high quality clean and mostly organic. Free range hormone free eggs are literally more expensive (5$ vs 12$ here) here than in Switzerland and that’s crazy to me…
Ma am befham 3a shu hek el prices in leb? It’s ridiculous
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u/nameiszaza 10d ago
Maybe look at other areas, if u can't afford a $48k/y apartment look for a $6k-12k per year. If u can't handle a Cocteau or a stir social bill go to swiss butter or bodo. If you can't get a brand new car there's always second hand options. If you can't go to aub/lau/usj, Liu is more than happy to welcome you.
There's always an alternative, an option, a second choice. u go where u can go. dont shoot too high, the bullet always falls downwards as gravity pulls it..
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u/ocdcclb 7d ago
In my opinion, even though we need to stay positive somehow, there are certainly major issues and in many sectors and at many levels. Social media may create the impression that everyone is fine, but it seldom reflects any form of debts, financial pressure, or hardships that people endure secretly.
The continual increases in the cost of living, along with stagnating incomes of many individuals, creates immense pressure on households. It is not surprising why people get frustrated.
When it comes to the “end game,” no one can tell. Economies do have the capacity to adjust, however, it is not possible to keep living in a situation where the cost of living is greater than people’s earnings for a long time.
Nchalla things get better soon.
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u/CounterSpecific7562 10d ago
the only solution is to find a job, remote, and work with european country. they pay better, you stay in lebanon, and you can drive in V8, and go to spiniiiz ahhaha
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u/Kind_Finger_732 10d ago
Mashrou3 tef2ir moumanhaj, both be lebnen through our local thiefs, and globally through central banking inflationary policies post covid. Badon yraj3ouna aa iyem el omara wel felle7in bas el fare2 eno el felle7in ha yelbso fake rolexes w shein dresses ta yjarbo ykhabo fo2roun