Why on earth is this country so expensive?

Vancouver is an amazing city.. doesnt take The Economist to know that! id move there if someone gave me a job

fuck Canada.

USA has no NHS and although university education is no longer free over here it is still cheaper than in the US. Just two things to consider, I am sure there are others. The cost of life in total is more than just what you pay at the tills. Insurance e.t.c mean you end up paying for other things in differently ways. Not saying one is better than the other but it can be a bit more complicated to compare cost of living. Plus the grass is always seems greener. It's human nature. No doubt I am sure there are some things that are truly a rip off over here.

yeah the US has no solid equivalent to the NHS,so there you've def got a point, but as for the education system/prices, most american students pay much less than the up front rates, most good schools (BU, Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, UVA, UChicago, etc) make so much money from their endowments and donations that they give out loads of money to students, so the student ends up with lots of living allowances, grants and scholarships (not necessarily merit based) which drastically reduces the price. there is also the 'in-state' system, where if you gain residency to the state in which the university is in, the tuition fees are reduced by at least a fifth, if not more (though this only applies to state run schools, but there are some really good ones, UPenn, UChicago, etc.).

and yes, cost of living is more than what you pay at the till, but as far as i can tell, it's still WAY more over here than it is in the states. in boston, which has one of the highest costs of living in the US, next to NY and SF, you can get a good sized one bedroom flat (living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom), relatively central, for around £4-500 per month plus bills. here your much more likely to around £7-900 per month plus council tax and bills.

and so while everything here costs effectively twice as much (cigarettes, booze, milk, bikes, cds, etc), one's wages are often the same as what you would get in the states. at my shop in boston i made $14 an hour. here i get £6-ish? my wife (working in architecture) made twice over there what she is making here, and she had LESS qualifications.

but all that said, i'm still trying to get on a visa that will lead to residency :)

I can't believe Mr Smith reads Money Week. I thought he was a socialist :s

fuck Canada.

as one of the most polluting countries per capita i agree, Fuck Canada

The subway(the underground system NOT the sandwich) is way cheaper too, as are taxi's

yeah the US has no solid equivalent to the NHS,so there you've def got a point, but as for the education system/prices, most american students pay much less than the up front rates, most good schools (BU, Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, UVA, UChicago, etc) make so much money from their endowments and donations that they give out loads of money to students, so the student ends up with lots of living allowances, grants and scholarships (not necessarily merit based) which drastically reduces the price. there is also the 'in-state' system, where if you gain residency to the state in which the university is in, the tuition fees are reduced by at least a fifth, if not more (though this only applies to state run schools, but there are some really good ones, UPenn, UChicago, etc.).

and yes, cost of living is more than what you pay at the till, but as far as i can tell, it's still WAY more over here than it is in the states. in boston, which has one of the highest costs of living in the US, next to NY and SF, you can get a good sized one bedroom flat (living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom), relatively central, for around £4-500 per month plus bills. here your much more likely to around £7-900 per month plus council tax and bills.

and so while everything here costs effectively twice as much (cigarettes, booze, milk, bikes, cds, etc), one's wages are often the same as what you would get in the states. at my shop in boston i made $14 an hour. here i get £6-ish? my wife (working in architecture) made twice over there what she is making here, and she had LESS qualifications.

but all that said, i'm still trying to get on a visa that will lead to residency :)

I am sure everything you are saying is true as you clearly have more experience and knowledge about this that me but although housing is a big part of living costs I don't think it is fair to compare house prices in the UK with the USA as we are a small island with a large population so house prices and rents will always be high here.

bollerks. there's plenty of green belt to build on.

I've lived and worked there. I wouldn't want to go back.
There is enormous pressure to conform to a norm set out by the Christian right. You will see this subtly in all sorts of ways once you know what to spot.

also, there are huge anomalies in the food prices, breakfast cereal is hugely expensie due to a cartel created by the major cereal processing firms.
Try buying fresh herbs or even dried herbs ($3-4 a tub for dried herbs). It's usually cheaper to eat out than to cook from scratch.
Supermarket food at the low end is incredibly poor quality (American cheese anyone), bread is horrible. To eat well you have to pay about what you'd pay for food from Waitrose.

Yes, you earn well, but there is no safety net for the poor and coming from liberal Europe the way that the poor are not on anyone's political agenda (because they don't, and often can't, vote) is shocking.

I'll leave it there. I love the countryside, some of the towns are spectacular, but the lifestyle and the attitude to the rest of the world leaves a lot to be desired. don't even get me started on TV, or the general level of ignorance you encounter, or the fact that the equivalent of my parents would have grown up with racial segregation...

Today I felt like I'd just got out of prison after a long stretch, I'm stuck in the past, the world has moved on and I did'nt even notice.

I went into a corner shop in Pimlico to buy a single 1st class stamp. Admittedly its been a while since I bought my last one, I think it cost 29p last time, today it was 80p. 80p! But where have you hidden your horse Mr Turpin?

Ever felt you've been legally mugged?

I got a BB fitted and it was fifteen pounds!

Errrr that actually sounds quite reasonable, isn't repairing a punture £10

I've clearly got much catching up to do, how much are fruit salads, black jacks an refreshers these days?

I got a BB fitted and it was fifteen pounds!

Jeez they saw you coming!

Space raiders Read further down

My parents sent me a package, quite small, 0.5kg from Oz.
$40AUD postage WHAT THE FUCK?

^ that's wild.

I feel like a packet of crisps was 25p when I was at the age when one thinks mostly about buying crisps.

Do McDonald's even do toys with their Happy Meals any more?

Ever felt you've been legally mugged?

Every time I order a round in London

...and when you've spent three months' pocket money on a mars bar, you start slicing it up for the family and realise it's about half the size they used to be.

If you find my horse, do let me know. Bicycles are no good for business. I need my horse.

Lolz at you lot. I just 3 comics for the kids.

£26

Cant wait to visit bargin Britain for xmas.

Post office is a right piss take now

And remember when Yorkie bars used to spell Y-O-R-K-I-E ? Well now they just print 'Yorkie' on 5 pieces instead. Yes we did notice you tossers!

Space raiders Read further down

Space Raiders remained at a retail price of 10 pence from their introduction in the late 1970s until late October 2007

Impressive!

Called my mum the other day. Had her number in a discounted "calling circle".
Unfortunately it was a forrin mobile number, not a landline.
£16 for a 20 minutes conversation. Sixteen fucking pound?!
Thank you, Talk Talk. You're as shit as the late Bulldog was.

get yourself a job in the city and you'll be lighting your cigarettes with £50 quid notes in next to no time !!

Thanks for the double dip recession, Jay. Thanks very much.
Next time you have an idea, keep it to yourself.

...and when you've spent three months' pocket money on a mars bar, you start slicing it up for the family and realise it's about half the size they used to be.

USA, yesterday.

Things are occasionally slightly cheaper here, but there's often good reason. They're either made here, or an inferior version of a better product that's exported from here. Take Coca-Cola for example - US coke is made with High Fructose Corn Syrup instead of natural cane sugar, and as a result it's 99 cents for a 2-litre bottle. However, go out somewhere decent for lunch and you'll find MexiCoke (Coca-Cola made from cane sugar) on the drinks menu, priced about $3 for a 355ml bottle.

Petrol prices are, of course, ridiculous.
Healthcare prices are ridiculous in the other direction. For example, an ambulance ride 5 miles across town costs about $1200.