Christmas gift to my wife

[jefflgarrison]

Gee, I got my wife a juicer/mixer.

Just hope she doesn't get mad in the future and try to juice my medals.

[willie777]

WOW, you paid less than what the civillian jacket was worth.

[January]

That was a major sale point for me. She loves leather jackets and I only paid a fraction of what a less interesting one would have cost.

Which raises the question--how far will US$30 go in the former USSR? If this was something that was made just to sell, they put a lot of work into it for what seems to me like a pretty small amount of money (about 150% the price of a bottle of good vodka, where I am). But I really have no idea what the cost of living is like over there right now.

[latinmajorac]

Originally Posted by January

That was a major sale point for me. She loves leather jackets and I only paid a fraction of what a less interesting one would have cost.

Which raises the question--how far will US$30 go in the former USSR? If this was something that was made just to sell, they put a lot of work into it for what seems to me like a pretty small amount of money (about 150% the price of a bottle of good vodka, where I am). But I really have no idea what the cost of living is like over there right now.

moscow is the world's most expensive city as of june 27 2006 replacing tokyo. what that means is that the basket of goods available here for 30$ (your bottle and a half of vodka) is actually More than can be purchased in russia (well, moscow anyways). what that means, if you can buy 1.5 bottles where ever you are, you are only able to buy 1 bottle in moscow. the reason for this is Purchasing Power parity inflation in certain countries. :-) hope that helps a little

[Lapa]

Originally Posted by January

...Which raises the question--how far will US$30 go in the former USSR? If this was something that was made just to sell, they put a lot of work into it for what seems to me like a pretty small amount of money (about 150% the price of a bottle of good vodka, where I am). But I really have no idea what the cost of living is like over there right now.

January,

My mother-in-law gets about twice that monthly as retirement pension. I simply can't figure out how anyone can live on that :confused:

Marc

[Lapa]

Originally Posted by latinmajorac

...what that means, if you can buy 1.5 bottles where ever you are, you are only able to buy 1 bottle in moscow. the reason for this is Purchasing Power parity inflation in certain countries. :-) hope that helps a little

Marc,

Be careful in your economic comparisons. I agree with the first part of your statement; however, it is not as simple as that to extrapolate the cost of every item, and you simply missed the vodka bit. In Moscow, vodka is still far cheaper than in most other countries (although more expensive than in the countryside); even for you, it will only cost a fraction (taking into account the Purchasing Power parity inflation) of what it costs you in your neck of the woods.

Marc

[latinmajorac]

Originally Posted by Lapa

Marc,

Be careful in your economic comparisons. I agree with the first part of your statement; however, it is not as simple as that to extrapolate the cost of every item, and you simply missed the vodka bit. In Moscow, vodka is still far cheaper than in most other countries (although more expensive than in the countryside); even for you, it will only cost a fraction (taking into account the Purchasing Power parity inflation) of what it costs you in your neck of the woods.

Marc

the only reason i did that is because it was the only good here in question. i.e. it was the only good inthe comparative basket. but moscow is the most expensive, and i was using the vodka as an example as to what that means only because it was brought up by someone else.

and yeah, i agree, vodka in the eastern european countries was cheaper. but i noticed that housing was ridiculously expensive... at least where i looked

[DougD]

The costs are up all over the country. I was planning a trip over there this Summer to Moscow, Petrograd, and Volgograd...I have done the exact same trip back in 1998 and 2002 (wanted to take some friends this year) and after calculating it all the costs will have near doubled in the last 9 years. It would cost me close to twice what it did in 1998. Hotels, inside Russia flights, food, etc, have all gone up (and the dollar down!). So, I'll put that on hold. For that money I'd like to go somewhere I have not been 6 times already...Bora Bora looks nice.

DD

[Nack]

Originally Posted by DougD

The costs are up all over the country. I was planning a trip over there this Summer to Moscow, Petrograd, and Volgograd...I have done the exact same trip back in 1998 and 2002 (wanted to take some friends this year) and after calculating it all the costs will have near doubled in the last 9 years. It would cost me close to twice what it did in 1998. Hotels, inside Russia flights, food, etc, have all gone up (and the dollar down!). So, I'll put that on hold. For that money I'd like to go somewhere I have not been 6 times already...Bora Bora looks nice.

DD

Out of curiousity, what can you expect to spend out the door for say a 1.5 to 2 week vacay in Russia? Say, seeing just Moscow and St. Pete, and staying sort of average hotels?

[DougD]

When would you go? July is the most expensive month, so try to avoid it.

dd