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You must have been eating a lot of fast food in the US then, that's the only food which is about equally priced or slightly cheaper in the US. There are plenty of things which are much more expensive than in Europe, most things are about 2 - 3 times as expensive but there are certainly things which are 5 times or more expensive than in Europe.
It hardly worth debating with someone who continually makes abstract claims and provides zero evidence in support........but........
So what exactly is the price per Kg of Blueberries, the specific item you referenced in EU/Germany these days?
But if they were, you wouldn't realize it or you wouldn't tell anyone. All we now know from what you've said is that you've been handled by the KGB.
Apparently not. Otherwise I wouldn't have ended up... well on the other side of the ocean.
Or do you think I type my heart away here still sitting in Moscow?
Apparently not. Otherwise I wouldn't have ended up... well on the other side of the ocean.
Or do you think I type my heart away here still sitting in Moscow?
Hmmm.
Aldrich Ames. Robert Hanssen.
I'm an old Cold Warrior...and you tell me you've been handled by the KGB.
I just said that it's difficult to find a represenative cross section of the population in those countries. It's even difficult in well developed countries where polling institutes have several years of experience. When two polling institutes makes a survey about the same topic, they often get rather different results.
I just don't know how they have translated the term. Maybe they have used the English term. But when Germans hear the term "global" they most likely think of "Globalization". [COLOR="rgb(255, 0, 255)"]This term is seen very negative in Germany.[/color]
70% are in my opinion a overwhelmingly majority.
The vast majority of the population is surely not smart. That's the case in all countries. The majority just don't care. If you ask people whether it's ok that large multinational corporations try everything to avoid paying taxes, almost all people would answer, that it's not ok. But almost no one would change their consumer behaviour and avoid buying products from those companies. Such a company just send a few employees to revamp a playground and the vast majority of the people think "ohh, that's a good company, they take care of the public welfare". Cost of revamping the playground maybe €10,000. Saved tax payments about €150,000,000. The state could revamp many playgrounds if this company would pay their fair share of taxes. And this is just one company.
People that pay with credit cards don't perceive that their behaviour will make the products more expensive. Much fewer people would pay with credit cards if the costs wouldn't be concealed.
1: So, it's difficult.....
2: [COLOR="rgb(255, 0, 255)"]That's just a reflection of Germany's inability/unwillingness to adapt to changing circumstances. It's the EU disease.[/color]
3: Makes perfect sense to me, because as the Chinese middle class expands they too want to travel, just like the Germans. Remember, the question was not: Are you a global citizen? but instead do you feel more or less like a global citizen.
4: People understand quite well that credit is not free. They see any interest charges on their statements, and know that merchants pay a fee to the CC companies.
You're right about the trend toward a cashless society. When that happens Germans will just have to emigrate to a different planet. As you say some economists are bullish on it, but the real driver is the emergence of the Financial Technology (FinTech) sector.
A few years ago a 21 year old told me she had recently got a text from a friend that simply said:
Can you venmo me for uber?
See if you can translate that?
Many FinTech companies have begun eating into the lunch once enjoyed only by traditional financial institutions, in much the same way that the auto companies all over the world are now scared to death that they will simply become makers of hardware to house software controlled by Silicon Valley.
It's Americans who elect the US government,...........I think.
And that's what I've been thinking more and more lately too.
See, I live in the state notorious for its right-wing policies lately.
So I live in a nice quite town for long time now, and for the last couple of years I've noticed a lot of nice-looking buildings catering to wealthy, going up at a steady rate in one part of town. But then yesterday I made it to the *other* part of town, that I don't make to all that often. I stopped by the laundromat to grab some coffee or whatever, and there I've discovered the picture of advancing poverty - the blacks with kids, some unsavory "white types," and the gauging prices for the washing machines/dryers, that were far more expensive than in area where I reside. And it all of a sudden downed on me, everything what my son was talking about for the last two years about the "rising crime on the South side," the shooting, the deaths from drug overdose (obviously he knew more about those things being out and about with his friends.) It's like deja vu all over again, the same process that I've witnessed many years ago in Seattle - the creeping picture of deterioration of what once was a decent city to live. The growing gap between "the have and have nots" with rising crime and "money landing enterprises" with gauging policies springing like mushrooms in the districts where the poor live. ( The banks love to gorge on the poor in this country and have their "fair cut" I've noticed.)
And this is what I've been thinking all along; I love my friends and co-workers here - I just love them.
And I used to think that well... Americans don't like their governments, it's all the wrong government policies, be that local or whatever. But now it's more and more often comes to my mind lately, that - well, but someone obviously VOTES for this government, and someone obviously VOTES for these policies, and this "someone" obviously exists in sufficient numbers for these policies to prevail.
And that finally makes me to re-evaluate my whole approach to population here. I guess I used to see it too much with the rosy glasses.
Last edited by erasure; 05-04-2016 at 09:44 AM..
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