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PLATO
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Of the occupied South
Dec 2002
time: 23:30
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Wow! I never would have guessed.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/956079.asp?0dm=C19LB
quote:
OSLO, Norway, Aug. 22 — Nothing here is free — even a trip to a public toilet costs $1.32. No surprise, then, that a new survey gives Oslo the dubious distinction of being the world’s most expensive city.
THE LIST OF high-priced places by Swiss banking giant UBS says Oslo has overtaken Tokyo as the costliest place to live. Tokyo is now third on the list — dropping from first place in 2000, when the survey was last done. Hong Kong was second on the list and New York fourth.
UBS cited deflation and the depreciation of the Japanese yen as part of the reason that prices in Tokyo have come down. Meanwhile, the Norwegian kroner has appreciated — and many people here feel the effects.
A three-minute bus ride costs $2.64 when buying tickets in advance — but $3.97 to hop on at the last minute. The price of gasoline is $4.89 per gallon. A no-frills hamburger averages $5.95. The kebab, usually a little cheaper, has become the fast food of choice for many.
fact file
Most expensive cities
The costliest places to live around the world
1. Oslo, Norway
2. Hong Kong
3. Tokyo
4. New York
5. Zurich, Switzerland
6. Copenhagen, Denmark
7. London
8. Basel, Switzerland
9. Chicago
10. Geneva
Source: UBS Survey
A pint of domestic beer at a downtown bar can cost $6.88. Expensive, but worth it, to some.
“I drink beer to forget what it costs me to pick up and deliver appliances,” said Jan Berg, a 38-year-old appliance repairman from Oslo. He earns $43,630 a year — just above the average yearly salary of $40,986. Relatively high salaries here lessen the sting of the cost of living — but not by much. Berg said he lives in a modest apartment atop a pizzeria.
“I don’t live well, believe me,” he said.
Tor Steig, chief economist for the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry, said Oslo was riding a five-year wage boom, one of a number of factors making the city expensive. The Norwegian minimum wage is $8.59 an hour. The hourly federal minimum wage in the United States is $5.15.
Advertisement
After New York, the UBS survey said the most expensive cities were Zurich, Switzerland; Copenhagen, Denmark; London; Basel, Switzerland; Chicago; and Geneva. The cheapest of the 70 ranked cities were Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Mumbai, India.
The bank’s “Prices and Earnings” analysis compares incomes and the cost of living based on the cost of a basket of 111 goods and services. It said that the Swiss cities of Zurich, Geneva and Basel had the highest purchasing power, followed by Los Angeles and Luxembourg.
The survey said people in Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago needed to work just 10 minutes to earn enough to buy a Big Mac from a McDonald’s restaurant. That compared to three hours, five minutes for a worker in Nairobi, Kenya
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Lord_Davinator
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Kathmandu
Nov 2000
time: 11:00
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why is it expensive though?
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Rogan Josh
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I would like to see what they put in their 'basket' for different places. Obviously the goods you can buy in Geneva will be different from the goods you buy in Tokyo.
I live in Geneva, and I really don't find it that expensive - certainly not No 10 in the world. I suspect UBS may be filling their Geneve basket with foie gras, scottish salmon and oysters.
A word of warning: UBS are crap (I know - I bank there).
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Monk
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I don't think we're in Brønshøj anymore
Jan 1970
time: 06:30
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I live in the most expensive city in the EU. Zoinks. I'm moving to Sweden - no, wait -
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C0ckney
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Big Up The Macedonian Massive
Apr 2000
time: 05:30
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i'm not at all surprised that london was in there :/
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Spiffor
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CPA - Evil Clone brigade
Nov 2001
time: 06:30
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quote:
Originally posted by PLATO
Do you believe that we are creating a different economic class to simply support our large cities? What impact does having huge metro areas have on things like wages and inflation in a country as a whole? Is their growing seperation, in terms of distance, with the working class(surely the lower waged workers would need to be housed away from the pricey housing)? What do you think? |
Well, O don't know if I got all your questiosn right, but I don't think there is anything new in geographic / urban segregation (i.e putting the poor away from the rich). The trend is extremely clear today in the light of the American suburbian sprawl, or if you see Paris region's social geography, but I think such an obviousness comes mainly from modern transportation systems.
Indeed, thanks to cars or far-reaching mass transit systems, it is now possible to have cities much more spread than before. As such, people from different classes can live far away from one another, while still working in the same urban pole where they need each other.
I think technology has only made the distance between rich and poor residential zones greater. But it hasn't created the separation between rich and poor areas. I'm pretty sure even the ancient Egyptians had their rich and poor quarters...
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24-08-2003 09:17
Except if you are living in the suburbs that is.
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