In Sweden a 0,5 liter from the tap will run you about 7,5 USD.
In Norway do not be surprised if its north of 10 USD.
Whats the approx price in the US, in a big city?
I don’t drink beer and have no idea whether that half-liter from a tap is available, but a half-liter can of Mahou Cinco Estrellas is 0.79€ in Carrefour’s buy-by-internet’s Spanish webpage.
Prices for 1L bottles: Pilsen Carrefour, 0.72€; Águila, 1.29€; Cruzcampo, 1.26€; Mahou, 1.24€; San Miguel, 1.15€
I know that I saw tanques (5L glasses) announced for 4-6€ during my hometown’s fiestas; those are tap and that’s the time of year when the bars make most money.
Yes. I’d prefer leaders to have some practical competence first, but in the Ghost Hunters scenario, none of them start off with practical competence but they do need leaders.
In Brussels (Jupilar) I would say about 3 Euro, same in Amsterdam. (Heineken)
In Berlin (Berliner Kindl) or Barcelona (Estrella Damm), maybe 2 Euros
In Lisbon (Sagres) and Prague (Staropramen or Pilsner Urquell) less than 2 Euros. Prague it would be priced in Krouna, not in Euros.
No tip is really expected on top of this, but after 5 or 6 brews, I usually leave a Euro and change as I leave.
Here in SLC, a liter of Bud, Coors or Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap is about three bucks (or maybe four, depending on where and when I am out for beers) but there is a buck tip expected after each round…
Well, let’s see. I’ve never been to Spain but I do kind of like the music. They say the ladies are insane there and they sure know how to use it. Oh, no … they don’t abuse it. But, sure as shit, they’re never gonna lose it.
Personally, I can’t refuse it.
While there are exceptions, you will normally get shortchanged on the female exchange rate. Less hot chicks over there.
Okay, here’s my take of Sweden (as seen by a 28 year old, upper middle class professional living in Stockholm):
Legal minimum is five weeks vacation, which is what I have. I know a lot of people who have foregone higher salary in exchange for more vacation, as well as people who prefer to take out overtime pay in days off instead (though this is also affected by the high taxation). Lunch is usually one hour, though many white collar jobs let you flex your days (meaning that you just need to work eight hours, but you can use them any way you like).
Without a doubt. I can imagine moving to the states for a few years to earn some cash (I’d earn more than twice what I earn here), but I can’t imagine raising a family here. Besides the vacation, we have very strict job security (very difficult to fire without cause, a general last in-last out-rule for layoffs, generally 1-2 months salary severance). We also get a year’s worth of parent leave, which can be split between the parents as you like.
So add to that generally low crime, lots of clean air, a society obsessed with nature and keeping the place tidy and a fantastic education system, and you have a pretty darn dandy place to raise kids.
No guaranteed housing, but on the other hand no shortage either. There’s a good mixture of for-rent apartments and co-op in Stockholm, with a rent cap on the rentals to keep the rents down in the city (which also drives the rents up slightly in the suburbs). Most apartments in Stockholm are co-ops which are rather expensive, but on the other hand sharing an apartment with a stranger in Sweden is largely unheard of unless it’s by choice.
Absolutely, none of those much more than they do in the states. I believe that cable rates and internet are far cheaper here than in the US, while bandwidth is generally higher (due to government investment in internet infrastructure).
Yes, no (very restricted), yes.
Utilities aren’t free, though we have so much water that it’s generally barely noticed in the rent. Coffee and books are in no way double the price. The quality of coffee here is generally very high, in fact Stockholm is chock full of excellent coffee shops.
Housing is way cheaper than SF or NY (which is what I know about the US) and from what I’ve heard better quality (but on the other hand the salaries are lower).
Medical care here makes the US look like a joke. We’ve barely heard of medical insurance, and not being covered is a foreign concept. The last time I needed to see a doctor (for tonsillitis), the exam cost me $20 and the penicillin another $10. My local clinic is five blocks away (twostops with the excellent public transportation), and they saw me at the drop-in-clinic the day after I got a fever.
I’m in no way a social democrat, but socialized medicine works.
And yes, I’m waxing lyrical about Sweden. I happen to like it here. =)
The prices I have mentioned are based on personal recollection from the past few years, and they are not what you would typically find at trendy, upscale, tourist-oriented places, but instead in bars that cater to locals and random drifters. I really enjoy walking around and popping into nondescript dives, often places that I would bet that I am the only weirdo-Utah-Indian-jackMormon-Deadhead to darken the door in years.
BTW, I don’t drink beer, so I can’t say for sure, but I can guarantee it’s a lot cheaper in Bulgaria than it would be in any Western European locale.
I didn’t work in a corporate environment when I lived in Europe, so it’s hard to give an idea of how people value leadership. People definitely do view work and coworker relationships differently from Americans, at least, which I figure is a lingering effect of communism. People are absolutely shit at being decisive or taking the initiative. They can talk all day about how everything is fucked up, but ask them what they would do to fix it, and they’ll look at you like you’re crazy. Like, if American parents thought their kid’s school needed a playground, they’d go talk to the teachers, get a plan together, do some fundraisers, and build a playground. Bulgarian parents would be all “too bad our playground sucks. Sure would be nice if we had a new one. But now we have democracy and nothing works! Oh, during communism we would have had a nice playground!”
…okay that was a tangent. never mind.
Here in the States I’ve generally had one hour for lunch in professional office jobs.
But…
When I had to start working support, and daily conference calls had to be scheduled to accommodate
(a) the early birds with small kids at home who worked 5am - 2pm (to shave a few minutes off their monster commute), and
(b) the offshore people, and
(c) my own involuntary 9-6pm schedule,
it meant pretty much a meeting every single lunch. It was the beginning of my eventual total burnout.
It’s hardly surprising we didn’t have lunch rooms in our building. Nobody ever had time for a proper lunch break.
BTW I hate my life.
Not surprising at all. A stable population and non-suburbanized lifestyle will do wonders for housing prices. When the economy picks up in the U.S., housing goes out of sight, not so much because of our population growth per se, but because of our inability to deal with it effectively. In other words, there’s still only one SF, NY, L.A., etc., only twice as many people either want to live there now, or need to live close enough to commute to their jobs there.
I’m really anxious about the future of this country.
Today it’s reported that at least 300000 people turned up for the Glenn Beck/Teaparty rally at the Lincoln Memorial. One of their goals is to undo our recent minimal HCR. As it is my wife has no insurance at all, and we’re just keeping our fingers crossed that she doesn’t get seriously ill before she turns 65.
Did I mention I am anxious for the future, and I hate my life?
ETA: to the person who said we turned away from a philosophy of social support post WWII wasn’t quite right, IMO. People keep forgetting that even the likes of Nixon advocated NHC in his day; it was really around 1980 that things changed big time.
That varies hugely in Europe. Cultural attitudes vary as much between countries as much as they might between the US (and even within the US). The French concept of dumping tons of manure and rotting fruit in front of official buildings is weird to us Swedes (though we secretly admire it), while here the government, the unions and private industry have a standing agreement not to let the workers strike too much. Swedish companies have extremely flat hierarchies (a factory worker will often be on a first name basis with the VP of the company, and never call him “Mr. Jonsson”), which for example Germans find very disturbing.
I think you’re a bit low on the Amsterdam prices, they will probably be over 4 euros. If you go to eastern Europe beer will be a lot cheaper, in prague I’don’t think I’ve ever paid more than the equivalent of a Euro (I remember you used to be able to get them for less than a Dutch guilder. Also in Supermarkets everywhere you can get beers for (0.5 liter) for around half a euro (the supermarkt prices in the US and Canada felt really high to me).
[quote=“footballisplayedwithyourfeet, post:32, topic:551570”]
I’ve heard this about European food stores generally, and recall that a lot of things did seem cheaper in Germany than America, when I was there. I wonder if it has something to do with transporting the food long distances in this country. Amazingly, L.A. is about 120 miles from the Coachella Valley, otherwise known as The Salad Bowl Of The World. Yet, IIRC, my stepdaughter says a head of lettuce is cheaper in Germany today, and when I was there, in the pre-Euro days, it was only 50pf. Today we’re lucky to find one in L.A. for less than $1.50
Another food-related item that was a lot cheaper IME was restaurant meals. A decent meal with a red meat entree, sides, beer and wine, full service, and no tip, could be had for DM25 or DM30; my weekly treat of spaghetti vongole (with mussels) and wine was only about DM7, again with full service and no tipping. I think this was partly because the small restaurants I found in Europe weren’t really the norm in the States. A lot of the European restaurants seemed to be small bistros and similar establishments, and this type of restaurant was (is) largely absent from this country. In America, full service restaurants IME are either more upscale and a lot more expensive, or else they’re like Denny’s and rather bland, but still about as expensive as the places I went to in Europe.
Surprisingly enough, though, things are looking a lot better in much of Europe these days. This just in from Bayerischem Rundfunk (sorry, German language broadcast, but I’m happy to translate).
In other news, they’re so short of workers that they’re seriously considering loosening their immigration laws.
So what’s that again, about how managed economies with meaningful labor regulations and a generous social safety net are so much worse than what we have in the U.S? For most citizens, I mean, not just the proprietor class.
[quote=“footballisplayedwithyourfeet, post:52, topic:551570”]
I think you’re a bit low on the Amsterdam prices, they will probably be over 4 euros. QUOTE]
While I certainly realise that there are many places in A’Dam where you CAN spend 4 Euro (about 5 dollars) for a draught 0.5 liter (about a US pint) Heineken or some other domestic pilsner, in general, I don’t think that the average price is that high.
Maybe right in Dam Square, or at a club like Melk Weg, yes, but an average brown cafe in Jordaan, not so much.
A pint of Bud or Coors is not 5 dollars in San Francisco or NYC, except for the most high end establishments, and Amsterdam is a less expensive city than either one of those places.
[quote=“MPB_in_Salt_Lake, post:55, topic:551570”]
Uh, in San Francisco and the greater SF Bay Area, $4.00 is average for cheap beer by the pint- although you can get it for much cheaper if you look for specials or promotions, happy hours, etc.
Now a 12oz bottle will run you $3.00 or so as an average…
[quote=“gurujulp, post:56, topic:551570”]
When I am in San Francisco I can always find a pint of Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam or some import (Stella, Pilsner Urquell) for 4 bucks, even around the tourist areas like the Haight or Fishermans Wharf.
I don’t drink Bud or Coors when I am on vacation (like San Francisco) but will drink it when here at home in one of my local hang-outs.
ETA—On vacation, when walking around, I do take notice of places that have signs with happy hour specials posted, though in Europe this is not common like it is here in the US
[quote=“MPB_in_Salt_Lake, post:57, topic:551570”]
Anchor Steam is really only more expensive at extremely tourist oriented places like Fisherman’s Wharf- and I don’t recall it being as cheap as $4.00, but I haven’t spent a lot of time there, and not *usually *drinking beer…
The prices are equivalent in the majority of the scummy little bars which I have frequented- something like a $0.25 difference or something, but hovering around that $4.00 mark, and in the good restaurants/bars, usually they won’t have bud or the cheap rice equivalent on tap- there the bottles are more in the $4.00 range
Next time you are in the Bay, we should go test this info! 
[QUOTE=gurujulp;12863261Next time you are in the Bay, we should go test this info! :)[/QUOTE]
I am flying down for Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, so I will be all for a bit of “research” 
That is WAAAAAAY too much music- how do you choose?
I don’t think I could cope with that sort of multi-option music festival- but yeah, PM me if you are interested in meeting- Where are you staying?
Or I guess this should have been a PM in the first place- Hijacking my own thread!