Expensive Cites

Here is a surprise for you about the cost of living in selected cities world wide. It seems things are changing and what used to be cheap is now most expensive. That's right. There have been significant shifts in the cost-of-living rankings the past few years to the extent that, for example, it's now more expensive to work or vacation in Russia or Korea than in once most expensive Switzerland.
According to the Mercer 206 survey of 144 cities in six continents of 200 items in each location (these would include housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment) the following five cities are now the most expensive in the world.
1) Moscow- number one mostly because of housing costs which have exploded
2) Seoul- I remember when vacationing in Korea was considered an inexpensive trip.
3) Tokyo- It slipped from number one a couple of years ago to third. Three of the top ten most expensive cities in the world are now in Asia.
4) Hong Kong- Well, it's probably worth the expense.
5) London- The second most expensive European city after Moscow.
And what is the cheapest of the 144 cities to live or visit? It's Asuncion, Paraguay. But who goes there? It's a small military dictatorship without distinction. According to the Mercer survey, here are some trends in city costs.
- the price of fuel, consumer goods and currency appreciation is making the U.S. more expensive - South American cities are cheap places for companies to base employees and a possible growth area as a result
- Canadian cities are still relatively inexpensive when compared to Americans cities
- One of my favorite spots to visit, New Zealand, has gotten much cheaper because the New Zealand currency has been significantly devalued against the U.S. dollar.
- Chinese cities are still inexpensive but on the rise as the Yuan has been up valued against other currencies.
- The weak Euro has made those always outrageously expensive European cities more of a bargain. Eastern Europe is now the place for bargain hunters to be.
- New York City is the most expensive city in North America. There you have it. pack your bags, grab your visa's and head for the cheapies...
You are probably welcome to travel or immigrate anywhere, but I have the feeling that three Argentinean World Cup fans might not even be allowed on a plan again after the stunt they pulled during the recent World Cup tournament. The three football fanatics were thrown out of their team's World Cup clash with Holland for pretending to be disabled.
Yep! The three bozos bought wheelchairs and then bought special cheap tickets reserved for disabled fans to get into the match. But their ruse was discovered when one of the trio got carried away by the game and started jumping up and down. One of the three, who gave his name as only Gustavo, said: "Our friend couldn't stop jumping and a person near us thought there was a miracle happening."
Another of the group, Claudio, in the best example of moral relativism added: "We are embarrassed by what we did, but we had no alternative. We did not have the money to pay for a ticket." The "I don't have money so I can perpetrate fraud" belief."
How would you like those three to move to your neighborhood?