Sunday, October 14, 2007
Back in Singapore we had chicken rice for $3, phone bills not more than $40, taxi cost $2.50 starting fee, the cabbies always have their meter on, buses wait for people running to catch the bus, train comes every 5 minutes, shops open till 9pm, EPL matches at reasonable late night times on a affordable SCV, and the list can just go on and on.
Here in Melbourne we have chicken rice for $7.90, phone bills that cost $30 or 50 recharge each time, taxi starting fee is definitely higher than $2.50, and some cheater cabbies don't on their meter and try to charge you more, trams rather stick to their time schedule and not wait for running people, trains take forever arrive, shops close at 5pm, and chase you out at 4.45pm, EPL matches are screened at insane early morning times on an expensive Foxtel, and they play a crazy game called footy which, from what I see, is a mix of rugby, soccer, basketball, and American football. I'll never get that game.
My point? If that is not yet obvious is that different countries have different ways of life, different standards of living and I can go into a whole econs thing which I won't, but everything is relative. Why is it then, that people exclaim $400!! for a bike when most bikes cost that much? I can't be the only person who understand CPI, inflation, standard of living, economic growth, market competition right? Otherwise why would the government announce to the public GDP growth per quarter, unless it is assumed that people have a general idea of that those figures mean??
Dan
3:47 pm
