Flare Sci-Fi Forums: The cost of life.

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Posted by Curry Monster (Member # 12) on :

Thinking on the relative material well being of members of so called advanced nations I've check out some stats, but I need your help. Here's a list of things as they stand in Australia, I was wondering how they were in your part of the world.

Average Australian Household income: USD $22,200 (AUS $35 990)
Average US household income: USD $33,900

A$1 = USA 60c (approx)
= UK 39p approx.

Big Mac: $3 Aus (US $1.80)
Loaf of Bread: $2.20 (US 1.32)
1 litre milk: $1.40 (US 84 c)
Petrol: 93.7 cpl (US 57 cpl) cpl = cents per litre
Family Car: $35 000 (US $21000)
House 3bdrm double garage, study, lounge dining / kitchen rumpus, middle class area, suburbs: $250 000 (US $150 000)

So, how much do they above things cost where you live? (in you terms, and relative USD if you can convert).

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"More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer! ARSE!"
- Ode to God.

Posted by Jay the Obscure (Member # 19) on :

Who the heck uses litres.

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Oh, fiddle faddle, everyone knows that our mutants have flippers. Oops, I've said too much.....
~C. Montgomery Burns

Posted by Michael Dracon (Member # 4) on :

Can you convert that to Euro's?
Just kiddin'

Lets see:
Big Mac: about twice that price.
Loaf of bread: half that price.
Petrol: twice that price.

The rest is about the same.

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Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. *And*, if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!

- Commander Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5

[This message has been edited by Altair (edited September 04, 2000).]

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

I'm still trying to find someone that sells a "Family Car". Who makes THE family car?

Jay: Does Germany, France and all of Scandinavia count? >( And that's not all.

Well, let's see here.

Big Mac: 29kr (3,1USD, 3,45EUR)

1 litre milk: 8kr (0,96USD, 1,07EUR)

98oct-leadfree: 9,20kr/litre (98cpl)

And Sweden is one of the few countries that can use commas instead of dots in decimals, so there.

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Ready for the action now, Dangerboy
Ready if I'm ready for you, Dangerboy
Ready if I want it now, Dangerboy?
How dare you, dare you, Dangerboy?
How dare you, Dangerboy?
I dare you, dare you, Dangerboy...

�on Flux, "Thanatophobia"

[This message has been edited by Nimrod (edited September 04, 2000).]

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

57 cents per liter? That's $2.16 per gallon! Does it really cost that much over here in any place other than, say, Florida or California? Where I live, I think it's around $1.43/gallon (38 cents/liter) right now.

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"It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing."
-Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Despite the rather loud complaints heard from some (including me!), the U.S. pays the lowest prices for gasoline of any industrialized nation, I believe.

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Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
--
Ambrose Bierce
****
Read chapter one of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! It's useless to struggle.

Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :

I bet gas prices in Saudi Arabia are pretty cheap.

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It doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing as long as you look good doing it.

Posted by Diane (Member # 53) on :

Doesn't the entire world use the metric system except the US?

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"Poetic souls delight in prose insane."
--Lord Byron

Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :

There are a few nations that do not use the metric system...

And the US does use the metric system... Scientists, scholars, soda pop purchasers...etc.

The common man in the US is quite happy using miles, gallons, and pounds...

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Intelligence, Integrity, Responsibility.
Vote Bush/Cheney 2000

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Which would be because the common man never took a physics course...

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Ouch! Omega, you made me bite my tounge.

Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :

The problem in Australia is... that we have enough oil in the ground here to last Australia for something like the next 4000 years! I think its just easier to buy it from elsewhere... anyway its just a big conspiracy... The oil companies buy up any new energy producing technology and the ideas and the scientists are never heard from again... "Hydrogen Fuel" and "Cold Fusion"

Did you know that instead of Bitumen that solar cells could be used... the amount of energy produced would be phenomenal!

Andrew

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"I threw bitter tears at the ocean
But all that came back was the tide..." 'I Will Not Forget You' Sarah McLachlan

Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :

The problem with solar energy is that it is expensive to set up. Same with Hydrogen fuel. Very efficient, yes, but at the moment it costs a great deal to use.

And as far as I know, Cold Fusion hasn't even existed yet.

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Intelligence, Integrity, Responsibility.
Vote Bush/Cheney 2000

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Wasn't it proven that cold fusion is impossible, or something?

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"It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing."
-Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

The problem with solar power is that, as of now, it is rather horribly inefficient.

Cold fusion, as championed by those two guys in the '80's, has never been replicated in the laboratory. As the physics behind such a phenomenon are as of yet nonexistant, it seems safe, at this juncture, to say that cold fusion is exceedingly improbable.

Posted by Curry Monster (Member # 12) on :

Actually, Andrew, I get the distinct impression that Australia's biggest problem was buying in to the free trade bollocks. I wonder when the US is going to lower their trade restrictions for us, the way we did for them. Still, Howard will always be a twat.

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"More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer! ARSE!"
- Ode to God.

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

In the lovely college town of Towson, nestled just north of the lovely slums of Baltimore, Maryland, costs are (in U.S. dollars):

$1.57 per gallon of gas (price is average, and varies slightly by the station ... this is also low compared to what is was a few months ago, BTW)

$43 dollars for a ticket to a Live/Counting Crows concert (and worth every penny)
--$5 for rent of a lawnchair at above concert
--$5 for a small, plastic bottle of cheap beer
--$10 for a small pizza from domino's with no toppings
--(priceless) having drunk girls jump around flashing you ...

$780 per month rent for a 2-bedroom apartment, utilities extra

$6.29 for a 10" plain pizza from Papa Johns

$1.04 for a bottle of (bottled, duh) water

$2.35 for a gallon of skim milk

$4.99 for a 5-pack of replacement blades for my razor

$11.95 for a paperback edition of any of the Horatio Hornblower novels

$.98 for a Sharpie

$7.33 for a 6-pack of Raspberry Cider Jack

$180 - 250 to get your Jeep back after the towing idiots tow it out of YOUR reserved spot because they got called to tow the car in #58 but decided to tow the one in #57 ... !$%#%^$#&!!!!!!!!

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This guy drinks poison, lights himself on fire, ties a noose around his neck, jumps off a cliff and shoots a gun at himself. Bullet misses him, hits rope, he falls into water, extinguishing the fire and vomiting the poison. He's saved by a fisherman and rushed to a hospital ... where he dies of pneumonia ...

Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :

Sol, if I remember correctly, what those two guys came up with turned out to be some sort of exothermic chemical reaction, and not a nuclear one.

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Intelligence, Integrity, Responsibility.
Vote Bush/Cheney 2000

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Quite possible, Jeff.

Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :

*lol* You sound like a thoughtful newsanchor there, Sol.

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

So I do, Nimrod. And now to Daryus with the weather.

Posted by Mikey T (Member # 144) on :

Well, here's the cost of living in Los Angeles...

$ 1.67 for a gallon of gas in my "hood"
$ 2.25 for a gallon of milk
$ 7.95 for the Star Trek: The Magazine at Barnes and Nobles
$ 760.00 a month for an appartment in the San Fernando Valley
$ 1.00 for a Coca Cola 1 liter bottle
$ 180.00 to fix the transmision of a 1991 Toyota Camry that a certain mother ruined by going from drive to reverse while on the freeway
$ 253.98 for a cell phone bill with AT&T
$ 19.95 a month for internet access
$ 135.56 for electricity
$ 165.02 for groceries
$ 24.00 to take the SAT I test during October
$ 2432.72 annually for car insurance

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So why don't we make a little room in my BMW babe
Searching for some peace of mind
Hey I'll help you find it
I do believe that we are practicing the same religion
- from the song "Fastlove"

[This message has been edited by Michael_T (edited September 08, 2000).]

Posted by Curry Monster (Member # 12) on :

I am predicting a drying up, of petrolium & other resources that will destroy the consumption based economy. But hey, that's just me.

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"More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer! ARSE!"
- Ode to God.

Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :

Pah, petrol (sorry, gasoline, sheesh) in England (Scotland and the others might be different) is almost 4 pouund per galleon. 4 quid. That's almost 6 dollars.

And to make things even more fun, there's now a strike going on. Which means that when I was driving home, their were petrol stations where cars were spilled out onto the road, queuing up. Some petrol stations around here have already shut. Ho boy...

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"Why do you want to spend time with a deer? They're so stupid, they get hypnotized by headlights!" - Guido Anchovy

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Wow. Six dollars for a galleon. That's a cheap ship... :-)

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"It's like the Star of David or something. But without the whole Judaism thing."
-Frank Gerratana, 17-Aug-2000

Posted by Coddman (Member # 10) on :

Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Regular octane fuel on a bad day, city $0.79/liter ($2.13USD/gallon)

Regular octane fuel on a bad day, rural (GRR!) $0.71/liter ($1.92USD/gallon)

Rent for smallish 1bdrm apt (East Van) $520/mo ($351USD/mo)

1 yr. basic Auto insurance, w/max discounts ~$750 (~$507USD)

Unlimited 56K dial-up internet access $19.95/mo ($13.50USD/mo)

avg priced 2L bottle of Coca Cola $1.75 ($1.18USD)

cost of avg grocery-store session $40-60 ($27-40USD)

1.5mbps DSL internet access $39.95/mo ($27USD/mo)

Medium-sized cable TV package from Rogers $25/mo ($16USD/mo)

1 hour of cellular airtime with Cantel AT&T $25 ($16USD)

Loaf of bread ~$2.00 (~$1.35USD)

McDonald's McChicken sandwich on Mondays $1.49 ($1.00USD)

Kraft Delissio pizza (Dijiorno[sp?] in U.S.) $8 ($5.41USD)

[This message has been edited by Coddman (edited September 12, 2000).]

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

waitaminnit.... everything for you costs LESS in US dollars except GAS?? There must be a miscalculation there somewhere...

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :

No, First...it works. 71� a LITER....& $2.13 a GALLON.

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"What if, the next time someone tried to pull up a dandelion, it pulled back? What if the dandelion ducked under the blades of the lawnmower?" --Del

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

*Homerspeak*
D'OH!

Yeah. A liter/litre is less. Guess I didn't get enough sleep last night...

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master

Regular octane fuel on a bad day, city	$0.79/liter ($2.13USD/gallon)
Regular octane fuel on a bad day, rural (GRR!)	$0.71/liter ($1.92USD/gallon)
Rent for smallish 1bdrm apt (East Van)	$520/mo ($351USD/mo)
1 yr. basic Auto insurance, w/max discounts	~$750 (~$507USD)
Unlimited 56K dial-up internet access	$19.95/mo ($13.50USD/mo)
avg priced 2L bottle of Coca Cola	$1.75 ($1.18USD)
cost of avg grocery-store session	$40-60 ($27-40USD)
1.5mbps DSL internet access	$39.95/mo ($27USD/mo)
Medium-sized cable TV package from Rogers	$25/mo ($16USD/mo)
1 hour of cellular airtime with Cantel AT&T	$25 ($16USD)
Loaf of bread	~$2.00 (~$1.35USD)
McDonald's McChicken sandwich on Mondays	$1.49 ($1.00USD)
Kraft Delissio pizza (Dijiorno[sp?] in U.S.)	$8 ($5.41USD)