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No, groceries in the US are shockingly expensive indeed. I agree with the person you replied to, things that cost a euro or less in Europe may cost $5 or more in the US.
I suspect you have no clue what you're talking about.
There is no way in hell that groceries, on average are 5x the cost in the U.S. They cost around the same in Germany and the U.S.
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.
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.
I am not native German, only intending to move to Germany next year and make it to my homeland, so maybe my opinion does not count, but nevertheless... I for one do have a strong dislike of the USA and the reason is the following: it is the birthplace of most (if not all things) that are destructive for any healthy society, and particularly for European societies. Hollywood, gangsta rap subculture, trashy TV, political correctness, wars of aggression that create refugees we have to deal with, the nuclear threat and countless other things - all of it comes from the USA. The never ceasing hostility of the USA and Russia/USSR has almost put the whole world, not just Europe, at the brink of destruction.
Germany used to be the nation of poets and thinkers, the home of Bach, Beethoven, Wagner - the best music the world has ever seen. And now when I am there, I sometimes see things like a "Thug for life" graffiti scribbled on a wall, or the "minorities" (=blacks) banging on a drum and dancing around a bonfire of burning car tires. Both the graffiti/rap and the PC ideology that requires us to accept the above mentioned drum-banging minorities are American inventions, having been imposed on Germany during the last several decades the country has been under the US control. Can you see now why a German has reasons to dislike the USA?
Germany is responsible for the worst wars in human history, WWII(and WWI). Brink of destruction? What, are you 12? Go read some history and then say the US is destructive with wars of aggression. Of course if it wasn't for the US, you'd be speaking German now.
In general most don`t really dislike Americans on a personal level. I have never felt any animosity towards myself. Still many resents the US's constant meddling in world affairs, starting unnecessary wars, causing terrorism, moving the world towards a new cold war era and generally spreading evil even if spreading evil was not intended. I think a lot of the feelings are pretty justified.
Those on the far right and left dislike the presence of the US Military and see them as an occupying army.
Is there anywhere (outside maybe Israel?) where the US's politics are seen favorably?
A lot of Americans resent Germany for starting 2 world wars because of their Narcissism, over 100 million people lost their lives because of Germany. I'd say that's plenty of reason to resent them. But now Americans PITY them. Your country is very small and it has been taken over by refugees. Germans used to have German pride but now you have only 1 or 2 Generations and your extinct. You can thank your Angela Merkle.
Germany is responsible for the worst wars in human history, WWII(and WWI). Brink of destruction? What, are you 12? Go read some history and then say the US is destructive with wars of aggression. Of course if it wasn't for the US, you'd be speaking German now.
Germany is responsible for many things - reformation of Church, writers, musicians, philosophers, scientific inventions and yes - for most devastating wars in world history. It all stem from German "national character," that is quite powerful, controversial and potentially explosive. It creates poets and greedy, calculative, machine-like characters alike. While Americans on another hand do not posses such extreme qualities for the most part ( and neither does American "national character,") there is a catch 22 to it all. There are such things as "short term" and "long term" perspectives ( using American language) and judging Germans in "short term" perspective from the point of view of the last century - yes, they come across as rather dangerous bunch. But you get this picture only if you take in consideration the first part of the last century. However if you look further back and at last fifty-sixty years, Germans yet again present a picture of gifted and capable people, with deep insight into world's affairs, and a lot going on for them in terms of their national culture.
America on another hand, when you look at her in "short term" perspective and "long term" perspective presents an opposite picture. It was a bright start, a promising future, yet the more history progresses the more signs indicate the decay of the country in cultural, domestic and international terms. And that's what Norne is picking on - this side of a picture, being probably from a younger generation and looking more at current developments/perspectives than looking at the past.
P.S. When if comes to WWII, it was really not so much about Germany VS America, but Germany VS Russia - yet another very controversial country with yet another powerful and controversial character. It was all about them setting scores, and they did. America was sitting on the sidelines in this conflict for quite some time before it joined in, really.
I suspect you have no clue what you're talking about.
There is no way in hell that groceries, on average are 5x the cost in the U.S. They cost around the same in Germany and the U.S.
There was a list with grocery prices for Aldi, Walmart and Kroger in Columbus (OH). I was able to compare most of the products with the prices at Aldi in Germany.
At the current exchange rate 1 Euro = 1.14 USD, Aldi (US) would be about 23% more expensive, and Walmart about 51% more. That's an enormous difference.
Foodstuff from the list that was definitely cheaper in the U.S.:
- Chicken breast filets
- Bananas (the EU has an extra tariff on bananas)
- Ketchup
- Canned tuna
Foodstuff from that list that was way more expensive in the U.S. (at least 50% more):
- Processed cheese slices
- Yogurt
- Apples
- Ground beef
- Frozen Pizza
- Frozen Vegetables
- Spaghetti (that was the product with the biggest price difference)
- Rice
- Flour
- Sugar
- Cereals
Foodstuff that was slightly more expensive in the U.S.:
- Fluid Milk
- Eggs
- Salad dressing
- Lasagne (fresh)
- Ice Cream
- Spaghetti sauce
- Chicken noodle soup
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Store brand cola
- Orange juice
But overall it's very difficult to compare the prices. The most common products cost at all grocery stores in Germany practically the same. Whereas the price differences between different grocery stores in the U.S. are often huge. For example the prices for milk. A gallon of milk for less than $1.99 would be very good, but many grocery stores often sell them for $3.49 or more. Whereas the milk in Germany cost always $2.41 per gallon. Some grocery stores in the U.S. obviously use the milk as a loss leader. All other dairy products in the U.S. are extremely expensive compared to Germany. I guess it has to do with subsidies from the EU. The same seems to be the case for all cereal products (flour, spaghetti, bread, oatmeal, corn flakes, corn starch). It's all way more expensive in the U.S. It's absolutely strange. The U.S. is by far the largest producer of corn, and they produce it in a very industrialised way. All the more astonishing that corn starch or corn flakes are so much more expensive in the U.S. I guess it's heavily subsidized in the EU or American consumers subsidize cheap animal feeding stuff for livestock farming by paying high prices for corn products in supermarkets.
The prices for canned food products seem pretty reasonable in the U.S. They are maybe overall cheaper than in Germany. Whereas all kinds of frozen vegetables or frozen convenience food cost more in the U.S.
Prices for chips are also quite good in the U.S., whereas chocolate and candies seems to be expensive.
Really good are the prices for chicken breast filets. At the moment on sale at Aldi (US) for $1.59 per lb. Or $3.50 per kg. You never will find it so cheap in Germany. €4.99 per kg would be the cheapest price. But the prices for chicken drumsticks seems to be as good in Germany than in the U.S. €1.50 per kg at Edeka when on sale.
Most iconic American products are more expensive in Germany, that doesn't surprise. Coca-Cola, Pringles, Heinz ketchup, peanut butter, Ben & Jerry icecream. But that's also the case in the other direction, e.g. Nutella and all other products from Ferrero are extremely expensive in the U.S.
There is a list from the USDA about different food plans:
But of course it depends on the exchange rate. At the current exchange rate it's not surprising that food in Germany is cheaper. With the current exchange rate, the salaries are also lower.
Considering that energy costs in the U.S. are much lower, the wages in the grocery retail industry are somewhat lower, and agriculture in the U.S. is more industrialised, food in U.S. grocery stores seem surprisingly expensive. That's pretty strange.
Also astonishing, the prices for trash bags. I have googled a lot. The most common size in the U.S. (13 gallon / 50 liter) cost $0.12 per bag (without sales tax). The most common size in Germany is 25 liter. Price per bag €0.0183 or $0.02 (that already includes 19% VAT). Two of those bags would cost about $0.04. That's just one third of the price in the U.S. A very curious price difference.
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.
I'd agree with this, conditionally.
There are some parts of the USA with very cheap groceries. For instance, groceries are cheap in most of the west, including California but excluding Washington. Groceries in Utah, Idaho and California are priced similar to Germany.
However on the East Coast, groceries are relatively expensive. Surprisingly in Midwestern states like Minnesota they are also quite expensive. Some of the most expensive food is in places where it's also poor quality, like ND/SD and MT. The midatlantic states have shockingly high grocery prices. Grocery costs in DC/NoVA are the highest in the nation and are almost double that of NYC.
I found food costs quite a bargain in Germany. Also, the prices seemed uniform throughout the country. It was quite the sticker shock when I traveled to France and Switzerland and the food prices were 3-5 times as much.
I hope someone has said this before now, but your conclusions are erroneous.
First, a slight majority of Germans indicated a positive view of the US. Second, the reasons they held a negative opinion was because of specific non-peaceful actions by the US government--actions that probably remind them too much of their former selves.
Third, this particular poll does not show how the US ranks among other countries with Germans. Heck, they may not like too many other countries very much either.
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