Let's check out how cheap / expensive the USA is:
We went to a club yesterday: Myst in Scottsdale
Entrance: $10
Red Bull: $5
Vodka Red Bull: $11
Tequila: $6
all taxes but no tips included.
Prices of other items: (except where mentioned, prices do NOT include 8% tax, ordering through internet website is no tax)
2l Orange Juice: $3.5
2l (normal)milk: $2
2l (organic/bio)milk: $3
24 bottles of 0.5l water: $4-5
1l Gatorade: $1
Bread: $2.3 - $4
French Bread: $1.5
4l of gas for car: $3.5 (incl tax)
4l of diesel for car: $3.8 (incl tax)
Oil change (small car): $20
Oil change (luxury vehicle, cadillac): $31
Nutella: $4.29
Senseo (standard version): $60
Senseo pads (original ones): $5.9
Apple iPod touch (2nd generation, is no phone): $220
Apple iPod touch (2nd generation, is no phone): $290
Apple iPod touch (2nd generation, is no phone): $380
Apple iPod Nano (4th generation, 8GB): $ 150
Apple iPod Nano (4th generation, 16GB): $ 195
Tuna (regular can): $0.88
500 Print paper: $4
High Speed Internet: $40
Movie ticket: $7
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Price comparison
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6 comments:
This is a NIGHT CLUB for heavens sake!!!!
What do you expect?
I get the feeling you really HATE it here.
GP
I know, I thought it was cheap as well.
I never said that was expensive. Everything is very inexpensive here in the USA... for now.
Let there be no misunderstanding.
I LOVE it here. I LIKE (in order) the very kind people, the weather, the purchasing power(for now), my job, our home.
BUT for some odd reason I don't like the fact that the (Bush)government is destroying this country. And I like to report that to our friends and family back home. Nothing wrong with that.
It looks to me that the 6 billion people that don't live in the US feel the same way about the US government. But the ones who are going to be/are affected (job loss, home price decline, loss of purchasing power, no health care, 4000 soldiers killed thousand of miles away, stock market crash, imploding dollar,...) don't seem to care. There will be a day that they too will see that this country is the laughing stock of the entire world and that the USA has been destroyed beyond repair. TOO BAD for them that they don't have that insight now. I try to do my part to get the word out :-)
Hard to compare purchasing power without knowing the availabe budget, but prices are low for sure, even in night clubs where DJ's are good. Still having a hard time though to interpret your comments on the kindness of the American people, are you serious on just very sarcastic, it never was easy but it is much more difficult to 'understand' your written vs. spoken words...:)
Whoeha haha lol, so funny. What a funny comment (not sarcastic), I really meant what I stated there.
The people in the US are a lot more generous than the "cocoon'ers" in Belgium. However they have their flaws (electing government), but hey that's the media's fault not theirs :-)
Regarding purchasing power:
I am pretty sure UPS pays nice salaries in Europe, but on the next meeting ask a co-worker what he earns in the US and you'll see what I mean.
When are you coming to check things out over here?
Any 'European' American would say that I make a lot more than him/her because they compare dollars to euros but that is not a fair comparison offcourse, if I would have made that comparaison a couple of years ago I would have been very depressed.
On the gross versus net topic they tell me that their tax and social security withholding is much lower (20% vs. 50%), but at the same time they tell me that they have to spend the extra net on their insurances and pension schemes?
But they ALL say that prices in Europe are REALLY outrageous, so I guess the real difference is consumption tax (sales tax, if any, vs. VAT), in US there is barely any consumption tax so customers are not discouraged to consume, whereas in Europe the governments try to create some saving behaviour while at the same time funding the treasuries. I believe that on the long run it is really that lack of saving behaviour that is gonna hurt the US....
As far as quality of live is concerned it depends on personal preferences: those that like the hot weather prefer US, the die-hard consumers prefer Europe because they say the offer is much more diversified here? Food is a difficult one, there the bigger diversity appears to be in the US, but most of the Americans say that good restaurants are better and much more affordable over here?
Anyhow, I guess that some things are better over here and some things are better over there, and it all comes down to personal preferences where you want to be...
We wanted to come over next spring to admire the Big House!-) Any news on that side, is 'your' tailor-made house for sale now? If yes, for what price?
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