tagged w/ Cost of Living
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The Western world has become chastened and frugal. The reasons are many: corporations crouched in fear of another, much worse recession; penniless governments a-toppling; and Europe, for the foreseeable future, mired in a debt debacle. But you wouldn’t know it from life in Toronto, where a luxury condo opens its doors every week and we queue for hunks of exotic chocolate at the new Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws. We’re bouncing along in a prosperity bubble.
Full Story: http://www.torontolife.com/daily/informer/from-print-edition-informer/2012/02/15/almost-rich/The Western world has become chastened and frugal. The reasons are many: corporations... more
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In a very frank admission, VP Biden discusses how the well intentioned govt intervention has actually backfired and caused the opposite to occur.In a very frank admission, VP Biden discusses how the well intentioned govt... more
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2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum had harsh words for a woman who approached him complaining that she pays $200 a month for prescription drugs alone. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss.
"What an out of touch individual, Shame on Santorum!!!"2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum had harsh words for a woman who... more
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HR consultants Mercer published the result of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2011. According these results, Luanda, Angola's capital is the world’s most expensive city for living. Tokyo is the next most expensive and N'Djamena, in Chad, the third-most expensive city for expats.
For example two-bedroom furnished apartment in Luanda costs in average$7,000 per month, “compared to $4,300 in New York, $3,345 in Shanghai, $2,456 in Rome and $1,800 in Buenos Aires.”
If we are talking about food, a club sandwich and soda costs $20.38 in Luanda. When fast-food meal in New York costs $6.29 and $3.57 in Shanghai.
Read more here: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/07/14/luanda.expensive.city/index.htmlHR consultants Mercer published the result of the Worldwide Cost of Living Survey... more
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But Democrats are hitting back. This morning, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, said he will try to introduce a bill granting additional funds to Social Security recipients during the lame duck session.
“Millions of seniors rely on Social Security to make ends meet, especially in today’s troubled economy,” he said in a statement. “While the Social Security Administration has announced that no COLA will be provided next year, it’s a decision I don’t agree with. Too many seniors are struggling to pay rising costs for basic necessities, even while their retirement savings and home values have taken real hits. Earlier this year I voted to provide seniors a $250 Social Security raise. While Republicans blocked our efforts to help seniors the last time, we cannot give up. That is why when the Senate reconvenes, we will give seniors in Nevada and across the country this badly-needed raise.”
The statement comes after White House and House leaders called for Congress to provide additional payments. Last week, Robert Gibbs said the President supports a $250 “economic recovery payment” for seniors, veterans and people with disabilities. And Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed for the relevant legislation.
Increasing Social Security is popular. But it won’t be an easy thing to do — particularly not in the Senate. First of all, a $250 bump would cost something like $14 billion, and Republicans would demand offsets. Second, the calendar is awfully crowded during the session, with an unemployment insurance extension, a tax proposal and numerous other contentious issues needing a vote.But Democrats are hitting back. This morning, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority... more
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France is the winner of the annual Living International ranking on countries where the living is, simply put, great. French think that every day is a unique pleasure to be savored slowly, while Italy makes the tenth place thanks only to the usual stereotype of "dolce vita".
http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/travels/classificalivinginternational080110.htmlFrance is the winner of the annual Living International ranking on countries where the... more
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As the consumer pricing index continues to fall, the State of Colorado will become the first state since 1938 to lower it's minimum wage.As the consumer pricing index continues to fall, the State of Colorado will become the... more
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The elder Americans who have been active in the protests at the Town Halls may have another reason to feel uneasy about ObamaAmerica. It could become another rallying point to oust Democrats in the coming 2010 elections and even carry over to 2012.
For the first time since 1975, elderly Americans will not receive a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. Meanwhile Medicare premiums are scheduled to rise.The elder Americans who have been active in the protests at the Town Halls may have... more
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Does playing Martha Stewart really save you money? While packaged food is mostly lousy, some of it can be spectacularly inexpensive. Out of work and increasingly obsessed with our grocery budget, I decided to test my intuition and run a cost-benefit analysis on how much I'd save—if anything—by making from scratch six everyday foods that I usually purchase from Safeway and my local bakery.
Except where noted, I chose the most affordable products and ingredients available (i.e., the 10-pound sack of generic sugar instead of a tiny pouch of organic cane sugar from Whole Foods) and priced everything down to the last grain of salt. Based on an estimate from my utility company, it costs around 32 cents per hour to run an electric oven. To melt butter slowly over a gas burner: 9 cents per hour. To boil water, more like 14 cents per hour. I take it as a given that everyone knows better than to quit their job—any job—to take up cracker-baking, so I attached no value to time. I happen to love messing around in the kitchen. Here's what I found:
Bagels
There's so much mystique surrounding bagels (water vs. egg? How should you shape them? etc.), I doubted my attempts to bake them would amount to much. But aside from shaping the dough into tidy rings, which I find unaccountably impossible, bagels are one of the quickest, easiest breads you can make. I tried five different recipes, from Jewish cooking guru Joan Nathan's to the fabled Montreal bagels, which are heavier and sweeter. But the one I fell for, and have now baked a half-dozen times, is from Bernard Clayton's New Book of Breads. These are "Jo Goldenberg's bagels," named for a restaurant-deli in Paris (figures) where they were once sold. You can start these chewy, flavorful bagels at 8 on a Sunday morning and serve them to brunch guests at 11. They will be awestruck.
Cheaper than store-bought? Dramatically. If you break down the cost of Clayton's recipe, it works out to 23 cents per bagel. Moreover, if you use bulk yeast, which you should if you do much baking, the price drops to 15 cents. By comparison, one of Thomas' so-called "bagels" is 45 cents. A fresh bagel from Noah's in San Francisco: 75 cents. At H&H Bagels in New York City: $1.20!
Better than store-bought? These are by far the best bagels I've ever eaten.
Make or buy? Make.
Cream Cheese
I had the bagels. I needed some cream cheese. I turned to Anne Mendelson's authoritative and invaluable 2008 book, Milk, for a recipe that takes about 24 hours, start to finish, most of which you can spend lying on the sofa. The only hitch is tracking down Junket—the once-ubiquitous brand of rennet. A pantry staple back when everyone was making those jiggly Jell-O-like desserts, rennet's not the supermarket standby it once was. (You can order it here, though the shipping will cost you more than the Junket itself. A better idea: Check the back of your grandmother's pantry. Seriously.) Like yogurt, cream cheese is quite simple, in theory—give some milk the proper conditions, and it will do what it needs to do.
Cheaper than store-bought? No. Homemade costs more than Philadelphia brand and almost twice as much as Safeway generic.
Better than store-bought? Not better, not worse, but not cream cheese—mild, spreadable, neatly wrapped in foil—as we have come to understand it and therefore confusing. No one knew quite what to do with this rich and tangy dairy product, and after a week, I sheepishly threw it away.
Make or buy? Buy.Does playing Martha Stewart really save you money? While packaged food is mostly... more
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In New York, you're either rich, or you're poor. That's what it seems like, anyway. It took me a while to realize it, after growing up in the city and living there my whole life, but by the time I hit 30, I realized that it's damn near impossible to live somewhat comfortably (ie - in a decent sized living space without 3 roomates) in NYC without
a) making six figures, or
b) living in that magical universe where you don't have to earn a living to pay a rent or mortgage (ie - you live in your parent's house, your lover pays your rent for you, your rich grandma bought you an apartment, you inherited something along the way, etc...)
Well, I don't fall into either of those categories. I'm just a normal college-graduate who consistently earned what should have been a living wage in NYC, yet somehow still found myself living hand-to-mouth. I rarely went out drinking or partying (I hate hipster bars, and it seems like thats all that was left in my neighborhood) I just paid my rent and bills, and bought groceries, and couldn't ever afford anything luxurious like cable, high speed internet, or health insurance.
Anyway. The Daily News just confirmed what I've always suspected. In NYC, there really is no middle class anymore. A salary of $40,000 in NYC is practically equivalent to minimum wage nowadays. Its depressing, but the rich have taken over the city, and there ain't nothing anyone can do about it.
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A new report shows just how ugly — and expensive — New York City can be, especially for the middle class, squeezed by skyrocketing living costs and stagnant wages.
The study, released Thursday by the Center for an Urban Future, shows that New York City is hands-down the most expensive place to live in the country.
Among the findings:
A New Yorker would have to make $123,322 a year to have the same standard of living as someone making $50,000 in Houston.
In Manhattan, a $60,000 salary is equivalent to someone making $26,092 in Atlanta.
You knew it was expensive to live in Manhattan, but Queens? The report tagged Queens the fifth most expensive urban area in the country.
The average monthly rent in New York is $2,801, 53% higher than San Francisco, the second most expensive city in the country.
“Income levels that would enable a very comfortable lifestyle in other locales barely suffice to provide the basics in New York City,” the report concludes.
Other belt-tightening details include:
New Yorkers paid about $34 a month for phone service in 2006. In San Francisco, similar service cost $17 a month.
Home heating costs have jumped 125% in the past five years and are up 243% since 1998.
Full-time day care costs can run up to $25,000 a year for one child, depending on the neighborhood, or about as much as some college tuitions.
Meanwhile, wages in the city have remained mostly flat in all boroughs but Manhattan — even during the boom years from 2003 to 2007In New York, you're either rich, or you're poor. That's what it seems... more
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From the head chef at MomoFuko:
You've seen the articles, right there on the front page next to equally uplifting stories about oil, the economy, and the war: The cost of food--of producing and procuring it--is soaring. In the restaurant world, it's all anyone can talk about. And the thing is, this is no temporary spike; it's actually a massive correction.
The machinery that's pumped so much meat into our lives over the last half century was never built to last, and now it's breaking down big-time. Feed is more expensive. Gasoline is more expensive. Milk, rice, butter, corn--it's all going through the roof. And for the foreseeable future, it's not coming back down.
Farmer Michael's feed costs have risen 400 percent in the last twelve months. To make a profit on the beautiful turkeys his family is raising in time for Thanksgiving, he'll have to charge a hundred bucks a bird. At Momofuku, I'm paying 150 percent more for humanely raised pork belly than I was paying at this time last year. And at the hyperglobal megachains that feed most of America, the only way they'll be able to keep selling one-dollar hamburgers is to grow their "protein units" in petri dishes, add even more filler to their products, and outright enslave the workers whose backs they're already breaking to keep costs artificially low.
It's depressing, this state of affairs, and sometimes I let myself wallow in it. But then I think about the opportunity this situation presents. Let's allow these harsh new realities to force us to do something that Alice Waters has been advocating for decades: Let's finally embrace the truth that food is not something to be taken for granted. As a culture, we need to be more curious about where our food comes from. We need to buy from farmers who are trying to do things the right way. We need to think before we eat.
If we do, we'll find that our cuisine and eating habits will more closely resemble those of the nineteenth century than the late twentieth. Hunting will be less about the buck points and more about the meat. Nose-to-tail eating will make a comeback--not because of fashion or Fergus Henderson (whom I love), but because of scarcity and price. And small-scale farming--little vegetable gardens in the backyards of homes in cities, suburbs, and the countryside alike--will become not just economically sensible but cool. Hell, maybe foraging for mushrooms and wild fruits will become a seminormal skill again.
At the table, this means our plates will be heavier on grains and greens, and meat will shift from the center of the dish to a supporting role--the role it's played throughout history in most of the world's cuisines.
At Momofuku, we've made a name for ourselves selling lots of pig and not accommodating vegetarians. So, yeah, I recognize the hypocrisy of me telling you to eat more veggies and less meat. Guilty as charged. But don't get me wrong: My restaurants still won't kowtow to vegetarians. We will, however, focus more on vegetable and grain dishes in which meat adds flavor, not heft.From the head chef at MomoFuko:
You've seen the articles, right there on the... more
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"Compared to other chronic conditions like heart disease or diabetes, treating allergies may be relatively inexpensive. But for those without health insurance, personal circumstances and medical costs can quickly add up to a price that is simply out of reach. ""Compared to other chronic conditions like heart disease or diabetes, treating... more
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The cost of living in Norway is so high, and police salaries so low, that increasing numbers of police officers are quitting. They say they can't afford to stay in their chosen profession.
"We can't live off our police salaries any more," one experienced police officer in Bergen told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Wednesday. He noted that he has three children and his wife is a school teacher. When he received an offer from the private sector, at much higher pay, he felt compelled to take it.
It's a familiar story in other parts of the world as well, where low pay for important jobs in the police and fire departments and schools, for example, make it difficult for police officers, firefighters and teachers to live in the cities where they work. In Norway, the situation can be especially difficult because prices in the country are among the most expensive in the world.
The starting salary for a police officer fresh out of the academy now lies around NOK 320,000 (about USD 53,000). After-tax income amounts to around NOK 200,000.
The union representing police officers in Norway is running ads in local newspapers this week, demanding at least extra pay for risks taken on the job. The union is also encouraging its members to send postcards to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg with the following question: "Why do you think I'm worth so little?"
Norway has a state police force, with the justice minister primarily responsible for it. The police already seem to have some support from the director of the Norwegian police, Ingelin Killengreen.
"It's a major challenge for us, that we have a salary level in the police that is so low that very many accept offers for new jobs outside the police force," Killengreen told NRK. "We believe it's necessary to examine this problem now, to counter a negative trend that we can't afford."The cost of living in Norway is so high, and police salaries so low, that increasing... more
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Newly released data by the United States Census Bureau continues to show how much President George W. Bush has ravaged the American economic landscape.
Since 2000, median income has decreased 1 percent. That decline is magnified by the higher costs for energy, food and other items during that period; what families could buy for a dollar in 2000 now costs $1.25.Newly released data by the United States Census Bureau continues to show how much... more
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South Korea is striving to become more foreigner-friendly, offering expatriates a range of services aimed at making life easier and more pleasant.
But that first trip to the supermarket or real estate agency can still come as a shock.
Seoul is the world's fifth most expensive city for expatriates, according to a survey last month by international consultancy Mercer -- ahead of Hong Kong (sixth), Paris (12th) and New York (22nd).
The cost of food, services and rent -- with landlords frequently expecting two years' advance payment -- is an eye-opener for new arrivals.
Apart from distribution problems analysts also blame high rents and production costs, tariff and non-tariff barriers to imports and the lack of an aggressive consumer culture.
Song Joon-Hyuk of the Korea Development Institute said high rents, which usually take up 30 percent of the cost of living in South Korea, push up costs for many products and services.
South Korea is striving to become more foreigner-friendly, offering expatriates a... more
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Ha! Asking someone to change their ways of getting hard, blooded and cold cash it is never been easy. The fact is that this is sooo late. These guys should have been acting on this issue back in 1980's and they should have something better to offer by now to the American People. What I mean, they are sucking from the economy for so long and seating in their comfortable chairs for so long and have not come up with an alternative to their blooded worldwide mess. You got to read the whole article and see how these big fat cats gets away with murder.Ha! Asking someone to change their ways of getting hard, blooded and cold cash it is... more
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Time
During a commuting day of 10 miles traveled, a bicycle saves 3 hours.
* Walking â 2.5 miles per hour
* Bicycling â 10 miles per hour
Capacity
Riding a bicycle increases oneâs capacity by 5 times.
Effort
As time increases, effort to travel increases. Riding a bicycle requires less effort, allowing one to travel farther in less time.
Distance
Over equal units of time, one can ride a bicycle 4 times the distance as one walking.
Time
During a commuting day of 10 miles traveled, a bicycle saves 3 hours.
*... more
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I think these people have just as much of a right to own a car as anyone else - the question is, will this positively impact their lives? I doubt it, and definitely not in the long term. But on a brighter note, it may be just the thing to force changes that we need all over the globe - forcing governments to make public transportation more appealing, functional and expedient than cars. Right now governments just aren't motivated enough to make the kind of deep changes that are required, and the powerful voters that really make a difference (especially in the US) have no vested interest in public transportation because they can afford to drive and its still relatively comfortable. We won't see a tipping point towards a positive outcome until things turn really ugly - and the Tato Nano might just help us run to the finish line with global motoring.
I think these people have just as much of a right to own a car as anyone else - the... more
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We all know we're living a little high on the hog these days - but here's why we should stop justifying it in the name of the economy/consumerism/or the ever vicious circle of "I want, therefore I am".We all know we're living a little high on the hog these days - but here's... more
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