Why it's great to live in the USA

[dizietsma]

Check out this

http://www.behardware.com/articles/686-1/review-of-the-dell-2407wfp-hc.html

" On the phone, representatives are very courteous and yes they are aware of the difference in price. By the way, this is also valid for all accessories for sale on Dell’s website. However, she explained that this was due to the differences in living standards (?!?). The US has somehow been relegated to developing country status without any one telling us."

Yep, coz you guys make no money whatsoever over there things are sold dirt cheap. Another instance, this is taken from this months Evo car mag

"M3 Prices

The new M3 will cost in the low $60 000s range when it goes on sale in the USA next spring. That's barely more than £30 000 at the current exchange rate. In the UK, if you need reminding, the M3 costs £50 000 ($100 000). Something does not quite add up"

I guess you could say at least we get it first over here. Well true but my final example is :-

I got the Valve Orange box today one day before the official release in Europe. How long have you been playing it? How much did you pay ? I paid $50 equivalent.

So before people in the USA go on about the price of gas or taxes or pork barrels then maybe you should count your blessings !

It's great to live in the USA.

Can someone send me a green card ?

 

[Mize]

You neglect to mention that a very high % of jobs in the UK include a car - not so in the US - hence we need subsidized M3s and M5s thank you.

 

[dizietsma]

You neglect to mention that a very high % of jobs in the UK include a car - not so in the US - hence we need subsidized M3s and M5s thank you.

There ain't many jobs that include an M3 I'll tell you. No it will be a 1.9 diesel Vauxhall Vectra you are actually talking about

 

[Captain Chickenpants]

Pah that is nothing. The one that really ticks me off is the pricing policy that Adobe has adopted.
Here in the uk we are being charged 106% more that the US. Yes we pay more than double! The reason? Apparently regionalization costs!

http://www.amanwithapencil.com/adobe.html

CC

 

[Davros]

we are ripped off by everyone in the u.k especially on software
are americans under the impression us brits are all stinking rich or something ?

 

[Mize]

Actually, quite the contrary. I used to work for a UK company and all my counterparts were paid substantially less than we in the states. Go figure. It always killed management that my US field sales engineers made $60k+ when similar jobs in the UK were paying $35-40k. Never mind that each of my guys covered a landmass 10x the UK and each of there's covered 1/10th the UK

 

[nutball]

The reason? Apparently regionalization costs!

Yes, that language barrier truly sucks. I've been saying for a while we should adopt English as our first language over here, it just makes sense on so many levels.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Prices here (the U.S.) on luxury consumer goods are great. The price of gas, utilities, and groceries are horrible, however. At least compared to what we're used to.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Prices here (the U.S.) on luxury consumer goods are great. The price of gas, utilities, and groceries are horrible, however. At least compared to what we're used to.

You don't want to go to Europe if the price of gas in the US angers you.

 

[Davros]

Prices here (the U.S.) on luxury consumer goods are great. The price of gas, utilities, and groceries are horrible,

you certainly have lived a sheltered life if you think petrol in the u.s is expensive its $9.92 per gallon in the u.k
I beleive you pay about $3 a gallon

 

[Simon F]

you certainly have lived a sheltered life if you think petrol in the u.s is expensive its $9.92 per gallon in the u.k
I beleive you pay about $3 a gallon

But the US gallon is slightly smaller than a real gallon but still....

 

[Mize]

Dang...my post disappeared. Must have used the non numerical site address.

As it said (honestly): never whine about US gas prices to anyone outside the middle east.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

You don't want to go to Europe if the price of gas in the US angers you.

you certainly have lived a sheltered life if you think petrol in the u.s is expensive its $9.92 per gallon in the u.k
I beleive you pay about $3 a gallon

Let me ask you two something:
how far do you drive on a daily basis, and what MPG do you get?

I drive at least 50 miles 5x weekly (home->work->home) and get ~30MPG on a 13 gallon tank. Purely business, no pleasure. If I have to go run errands, or decide to actually go somewhere for fun you can add another 20-100 miles per week. That's 270-350 miles per week, which basically adds up to about a tank of gas weekly. @ ~$3/gal that's near $40 every week just to go to work and get home, with a trip to a friend's house thrown in on occasion.

You were saying?

Given that gas prices before 9/11 were < half what they are now, I have every right to complain.

 

[Mize]

LOL.

I know guys who work in Manchester but live in Birmingham (don't ask me why).
UK'ers are far less likely to relocate for a job (AFAIK) and drive gobs of miles to and from work. Yes, they have much better mass transit, but a smaller country doesn't = less driving. Oh, and most Europeans don't measure miles/gallon but liters/mile.

Anyway, $3 is cheap and those across the pond are also paying substantially more since the invasion of Iraq. Fortunately that's offset by the gobs of profit being generated for friends of the president.

 

[nutball]

Let me ask you two something:
how far do you drive on a daily basis, and what MPG do you get?

Average mileage for a second-hand car in the UK is 12,000 miles per year, ie ~250 miles per week. Average MPG will probably be ~40 with a good driver, but our gallons are bigger.

and get ~30MPG on a 13 gallon tank.

Buy a better car.

Given that gas prices before 9/11 were < half what they are now, I have every right to complain.

... and US foreign policy since 9/11 has just done soooo much to dampen down the jitters in the oil market...

 

[AlphaWolf]

Let me ask you two something:
how far do you drive on a daily basis, and what MPG do you get?

I don't live in Europe, I was just relating that their gasoline cost is likely going to be much much higher than yours. I live in Canada, I currently pay what would be about $4US/gallon, most of what I pay extra over the US is federal and provincial tax. We get off really easy compared to Europe in terms of fuel costs.

I drive at least 50 miles 5x weekly (home->work->home) and get ~30MPG on a 13 gallon tank. Purely business, no pleasure. If I have to go run errands, or decide to actually go somewhere for fun you can add another 20-100 miles per week. That's 270-350 miles per week, which basically adds up to about a tank of gas weekly. @ ~$3/gal that's near $40 every week just to go to work and get home, with a trip to a friend's house thrown in on occasion.

You were saying?

A lot of that is your own choices, you could certainly get a more fuel efficient vehicle if you wanted, but in any event I doubt you're going to exceed the fuel cost of an average driver in Europe.

Given that gas prices before 9/11 were < half what they are now, I have every right to complain.

You can complain all you want, its just that a lot of people are going to laugh at you. I know I bitch at $1 a litre, when I distinctly remember paying 30 cents not that long ago, but all things being relative its really not that significant. Just buy some oil stock you'll feel better when you fuel up.

 

[Verge]

Check out this

http://www.behardware.com/articles/686-1/review-of-the-dell-2407wfp-hc.html

" On the phone, representatives are very courteous and yes they are aware of the difference in price. By the way, this is also valid for all accessories for sale on Dell’s website. However, she explained that this was due to the differences in living standards (?!?). The US has somehow been relegated to developing country status without any one telling us."

Yep, coz you guys make no money whatsoever over there things are sold dirt cheap. Another instance, this is taken from this months Evo car mag

"M3 Prices

The new M3 will cost in the low $60 000s range when it goes on sale in the USA next spring. That's barely more than £30 000 at the current exchange rate. In the UK, if you need reminding, the M3 costs £50 000 ($100 000). Something does not quite add up"

I guess you could say at least we get it first over here. Well true but my final example is :-

I got the Valve Orange box today one day before the official release in Europe. How long have you been playing it? How much did you pay ? I paid $50 equivalent.

So before people in the USA go on about the price of gas or taxes or pork barrels then maybe you should count your blessings !

It's great to live in the USA.

Can someone send me a green card ?

this is all the sign of a weakening dollar... it isn't a good sign. American imports for you should be cheaper, but everything we import is more expensive. European companies are now forced with a difficult decision. If they charged us what they are charging in europe, they would cost 100,000 dollars... and they aren't going to sell a single car. Nobody is gonna spend 100g's on an M3. So you either sell the car for next to nothing, or just don't sell any cars to the richest country in the world with 370 million consumers. Most companies choose the first, so they can keep their brand loyalty for when the dollar isn't so weak(which could be a while, and that really isn't a good sign)

The rest of life over here is a boring web of random illogical laws and regulations, governed by threatened conservative christians who love money. I'd hold off on a green card.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Average mileage for a second-hand car in the UK is 12,000 miles per year, ie ~250 miles per week. Average MPG will probably be ~40 with a good driver, but our gallons are bigger.

Link? I don't buy that for a second.

Buy a better car.

Why, thank you for your cost-effective and reasonable solution. I'll go right out and do that as soon as I pay this one off and my 10 grand or so of remaining student loans. That's only 20 grand or so...

... and US foreign policy since 9/11 has just done soooo much to dampen down the jitters in the oil market...

It's not my fault the President and his cronies are fucking the entire world over so they can pad the pockets of their corporate masters. I hate it as much as anyone.

 

[Mize]

A lot of that is your own choices, you could certainly get a more fuel efficient vehicle if you wanted, but in any event I doubt you're going to exceed the fuel cost of an average driver in Europe.

This is a common misconception amongst Europeans. For example we have a grand smacking total of about 2 TDI diesels on the US market (all VWs). To get anywhere close to 40 mpg you have to go tiny = unsafe and no luggage. It drives me crazy that Chrysler has a fast, fuel efficient 300M turbo diesel in Europe but the fast one here is a 14 mpg petrol car (just sold mine a few weeks back so don't argue with me on EPA mileage, it gets 14).

 

[AlphaWolf]

This is a common misconception amongst Europeans. For example we have a grand smacking total of about 2 TDI diesels on the US market (all VWs). To get anywhere close to 40 mpg you have to go tiny = unsafe and no luggage. It drives me crazy that Chrysler has a fast, fuel efficient 300M turbo diesel in Europe but the fast one here is a 14 mpg petrol car (just sold mine a few weeks back so don't argue with me on EPA mileage, it gets 14).

Part of the issue there is the price of gas. If gasoline was $9 a gallon in the US, you'd have more fuel efficient vehicles because you would demand them. Even at 14mpg you're actually doing better at $3 bucks a gallon in terms of fuel costs than the guy in Britain who is getting 40mpg but paying closer to $10 (which is really about 33 once you convert to US gallons).

There certainly is an issue with the US market getting fuel efficient vehicles, but there's a number of vehicles that are decent size and still do decently in gas mileage (ie ~35mpg).