A nice news story for a change . I hope this will not trigger another change in US Strategic Planning and signal an imminent invasion by the Fat People . Modern shoppers pay one 13th as much for their groceries as those who lived 150 years ago, according to new research. ( UK or Western Paradise Island ,as we prefer ! ) A shopper would have needed £1,254.17 in real terms to fill their weekly basket with food, drink and household items in 1862 - compared to just £93.95 today. The analysis, published by The Grocer magazine, took 33 items such as a dozen eggs, hot chocolate, a loaf of bread, a toothbrush and a litre of sherry, and applied an average earnings measure of inflation to their 1862 prices. The biggest percentage changes were seen in fruit with the cost of a pineapple, which cost £1.72 this week and sold for 5s in 1862, estimated to cost £149 in real terms to the 1862 shopper, according to The Grocer. That means today's price is a fall of 8,553%, the magazine said. The price of 1kg of grapes had dropped 7,419% while a melon fell by 5,971%, according to the calculations. Elinor Zuke, a senior reporter at the magazine, wrote: "The reason food is so much cheaper in real terms today is that wages have gone up 10-fold over the last 150 years, while technological changes have made food from around the world readily available. "In 1862 the average shopper would have spent about a third of their earnings on groceries, whereas now it is around 7% or 12% if you include eating out. "Twenty years later, in 1882, butter was shipped to the UK from New Zealand for the first time. "Butter and lamb from New Zealand are a good example of how bringing food from different places has made it more available and hence cheaper." The report, which uses an original "Grocer 33" list of products and their prices from 1862, was carried out to celebrate The Grocer's 150th anniversary.
Yes, but the price of the most expensive thing— housing — has increased by 2 to 4 times since 1960 (even adjusted for inflation). Globalisation might decrease the cost of manufactured goods, but decreases wages and is increasing the cost of land and rent. All sorts of business services are more expensive than they used to be because the businesses must pay such high rents. As for cheaper food; What is the real cost of the cheap labor used to give such low prices? When workers do not get paid enough to survive on, the taxpayer is forced to pay the difference. (health care, school for their children, financial assistance) I say globalization makes most of the people (at least those in the developed countries) worse off. Many of the poor in Latin America are very much against globalization: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Peasants-Against-Globalization-Social-Movements/dp/0804736936"]Amazon.com: Peasants Against Globalization: Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica (9780804736930): Marc Edelman: Books[/ame] http://www.ftamalaysia.org/article.php?aid=66
Anders , you have become so bitter and angry since our Home Secretary decided we did not want you here . Your Posts become wilder and wilder as you desperately look for graphs to prove that two plus two makes ninety two . The only thing that bothers me , is that like so many of the dullards here , you totally lack a sense of the light hearted . Let alone a real sense of humour . Why would a normal and sane individual think that he had to map housing prices over the last few decades , when someone shows that Food prices have fallen in the last 100 or 150 years ? The British hosting the most welcoming and successful Olympics in modern times will literally give you a simultaneous stroke and heart attack . Anders will then recover and show that in real terms the Greeks did better in 1896 .
Hopefully this will bring some international attention to the increasing Islamification of the city. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLNI9Wzt0iU&feature=related"]The Unseen Side Of London's Slums! Gun/Knife Crime, Poverty. The Streets To The Deen. (ISLAM) 720p - YouTube[/ame] There simply are not enough decent paying jobs or adequate places to live for all these people.
