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THE WORLD's ten most expensive cities are all found in Australia, Asia and Western Europe, according to the bi-annual cost of living index from the Economist Intelligence Unit, our corporate sibling. Singapore retains the top spot, while weak inflation and the yen's devaluation have pushed Tokyo and Osaka to 11th and 16th place respectively. Seoul has risen from 50th place five years ago to joint ninth at the end of 2014. Asia is also home to many of the world's cheapest cities: Karachi and Bangalore are the joint cheapest locations among the 133 cities in the survey, and five of the six cheapest cities surveyed are in Pakistan and India. Caracas’s descent from top ten to bottom five is due to the survey’s use of an alternative exchange rate. The cost of living in New York has risen by about 23% over the past five years.
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Singapore retains the dubious honour of being the world's most expensive city for the second year runningSource: Bloomberg -
Paris is ranked 2nd, although it is favourable for those with a few vices. Alcohol is relatively cheap, while cigarettes are more reasonably priced than other locationsSource: Reuters -
Oslo's transport costs cement its place as third most expensive city. Alcohol and tobacco cost 30% and 46% more than in New York respectivelySource: Getty Images -
Karachi offers value for money in a bottom three dominated by cities in South Asia. The cost of living in Karachi is around one-third of that of SingaporeSource: Eyevine -
Bangalore is new to the survey and is the joint cheapest city. Known for textiles, it is unsurprising that clothing is less than one-third the price in New YorkSource: AFP -
Mumbai is the world's third cheapest city. Groceries cost just over one-third as much as in New YorkSource: Reuters
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Astonished that San Francisco didn't make the top 10
Solution to housing problems in large dense expensive cities:
Capsule hotels, apartments and condominiums.
They are pre-fabricated modules living room pods that have self contained Lighting, Heating/Air conditioning, Music, Video Entertainment, flat screen Video Wall, Wi-fi, computer, and sleeping quarters.
They are stacked like bunk beds and constructed like modular Legos.
You climb the integrated ladders to get to your cube.
They are quickly assembled on site.
Density living may be 5-8 times of a typical high density apartment block.
There usually to be separate community provided community restrooms, showers, kitchens, gaming, group theater area, central dining area, and central group social and entertainment area.
But we all need a separate private area that is warm, safe and secure to retreat to.
It does not have to be a penthouse 500 sq m studio with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and gas fireplace.
They are cheaper than any standard hotel, motel, or student hostel.
And they can be hygienic with impermeable plastic materials and sterilized for the next guest.
They are safe: it is too small for two people to exist together for too long.
And there is no room to jab elbows, swing a fist or have a kickboxing ultimate fighting competition.
It is just solitary peace.
A warehouse can be reconfigured to house stacked units that are as space efficient for human architecture.
Utilitarian but cheap.
And good enough for city living short visits.
We eat and celebrate elsewhere in vast public spaces. Go to sleep in our cubicle for the night.
If you need the space to swing a cat, go outside.
It is as livable as submariners who have have to hot bunk yet can go a year without surfacing.
It is small real estate that offers the whole city as your living room.
And it is affordable real estate that even minimal wage earners could afford.
A permanent pied-à-terre in a big world class city that you can afford: London-NYC-Tokyo-Paris.
It is as futuristic as space travel or orbiting space cities.
Your own personal pod that leads to the future.
And just a good place to have a good sleep.
And when you dream you will have infinite space.
http://explow.com/capsule_hotel
Consider it as a 'starter home' for a young person.
Or a solution to homelessness.
Or really cheap overnight hotel/hostel lodging.
===
Mega cities need some entry level, inexpensive flexible housing.
And with a great electronic media suite:
a good place for entertainment
to game, surf, or watch movies and music; or even work .
San Francisco is not even on the list?!?
A house for rent in SF is $24,900USD a month!!!!
http://www.sfdreamrentalsales.com/property/2611-divisadero-st.html
Located on Divisadero!! It is not even located
on Camino Del Mar!
http://photos3.zillowstatic.com/p_h/IS52570mx1hyyx1000000000.jpg
A house for sale in Singapore for 43 million USD
seems to be a bargain.
http://www.propertyguru.com.sg/listing/18041032/for-sale-braddell-park
Nearly 10 years ago (before SF current housing
crisis), the most expensive house was priced
at 65 million USD. You can imagine now....
London is not in the top ten. If you want to know where it is in the list then you'll need to follow the link and purchase the full report.
Tokyo is not in the top ten. Ditto. The article does indicate the reasons Tokyo would have dropped below the top ten.
Personally I thought the chart was very easy to understand...
How come London and Tokyo are not even on the list?
heavy currency devaluation.
How come Angola is not on the list, that's also an incredibly expensive city to live in.
You are both right and wrong. Angola is a country not a city. Luanda, its capital city, is indeed the most expensive city in the world.
I stand corrected.
London is not even there ! That's very hard to understand
Where is São Paulo?
Brazil
Karachi and Bangalore are still very expensive when measure in purchasing power parity measure. Standard middle class "utilities" basket like a Multiplex ticket, gym membership, private school fees or Pizza costs at par with first World level. Average white collar salary would require about 20 years to pay mortgage before owning an apartment.
Bulk of people living in "Cattle class" condition in these cities that makes them cheaper.
I live in NYC. An outer part of Brooklyn to be exact. I'm an hour subway ride to anywhere. I pay $1275 per month for a 1 bedroom in an old, old building... and that's not including the brokers fees and all the bullshit it took to get this apartment.
Food is alright if a little higher than it should be... It's MUCH more expensive than where I used to live in Louisiana, Illinois, and Iowa, but i could offset a little of that cost by shopping in the Chinese grocery store 5 blocks away, I just don't.
Um.... cabs, who cares? Nobody but rich people take cabs.
My subway ticket is $115 for 30 day unlimited, which isn't terrible I guess.
Plan tickets are much more expensive here than in the places in asia that I've been to... but I guess our planes don't get lost (kiddiiiiiiing).
Eletricity is expensive as hell compared to a one room apartment in louisiana. My fucking electric bill is almost $100 for a one room apartment! We don't even have central air! B.S.!!! Back in Louisiana is was like $40, and MAYBE up to $70 with the A.C. trying to keep me in eskimo mode.
Cell phone: T-Mobile is $85... I do have unlimited data, so I guess that's cool, and once out of every 3 months I use that... perhaps I should get a smaller plan though.
I can't think of anything else. How does everyone else compare???
When I used to live near Central Tokyo (Less than 10 mins. by train from the nearest staion to Tokyo station, and 10 mins. walk from that station), the rent for my 2 bedroom flat (550 sq.ft. approx.) was about 100,000 yen ($1,200 at the going exchange rate back then), the electricity bill was on average about 12,000 yen per month ($150) with an all-electric (electric kitchen and hot water) plan.
Today, I pay about 20,000 yen now ($165 at today's exchange rate) for a family plan with 5G data for the two Cell phones for both me and my wife, and both of us nearly max out on data use on most months.
You make Tokyo seem cheap.
SF rents are retarded, even if you've been in place well before the housing crises. Phone and broadband are much more expensive, and slower than in Asia.
Well I know a Californian who sold his 50% share of a flat in Oakland to buy a 22nd Floor Condo in Hamamatsucho (3 stops from Tokyo Station, right in Central Tokyo) of roughly same size, so I agree that Bay Area property prices must be pretty crazy right now.
According to the EIU, the survey compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services. These include food, drink, clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs.
Karachi is one of the cheapest?
Matter of supply and demand.
Most people are dead before they buy any food
Bravo! One of the wittiest comments I've read in a long time.
winter spring summer and fall,
all you gotta do is call,
and i'll be there.
...
Only meant as a jester
I did mean to say - thank you !
winter spring summer and fall,
all you gotta do is call,
and i'll be there.
...
Only meant as a jester
Witty perhaps, but ignorant definitely. 3,000 murders in Karachi last year out of a city population of almost 20 million. Even if you factor in underreporting, it doesn't even rate in the top 50 most dangerous cities in the world by violent crime rate - but Detroit and New Orleans do.
Dear Bazooo Karachi is still second most populous city in the world after Shanghai.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_proper_by_population
Its a big city with strategic importance and weak govt . So what city can do in it . This city has more than 20 million people.
Wait, how come London is not even in the list? Am I missing something?
"Am I missing something?"
Yes, the falling Pound Sterling.
Singapore most expensive?
Accommodation is 20% cheaper than London, food is half the price, taxis and public transport is 1/3 of the price.
I won't even talk about Zurich or Oslo, which are a league of their own.
This ranking is absolutely garbage. For more accurate information visit here: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp
Having lived in New York and Singapore (and other world cities) I have to agree.
I pay less in Singapore for a room in a centrally located condo then I did for a shitty room in an unsafe neighborhood in Brooklyn. Lunch sets me back 3 USD every day. (Of course, there's plenty of ways to spend a lot of money also.)
I have to get this off m chest: EIU is off, has been always off, no matter the exchange rates is way off. I don't know where to begin. I live in NYC. First of all; you need to adjust rents in your index weight since in most of these world capitals its 40% of people's disposable incomes. You always underestimates the cost of NYC and the US in general. Not to give anecdotal evidence but I was just in Scandinavia (sto, cph) I was also in paris, zurich Milano etc over the course of last year and I found them all to be much cheaper than Manhattan. And rent is maybe 35% of Manhattan level on avg in Europe except for Zurich and London which are 60% and 70%. I live in a shoebox 1 bedroom apt in manhattan and its $4400 a month. I don't have a doorman its not a luxury building. My electricity is $180, my mobile is $180, my cable/internet is $220 my total monthly rent+utilities is about $5,500 for a 1 bedroom human filing cabinet. An OJ at my supermarket is $6, milk is $5, an apple is $1.25 I don't know what to tell you but you are WRONG. Its infuriating actually. I've been to London 5 times in last 5 years, my siblings live there and I find myself thinking everything is cheap- rents, food, dining out, drinks in bars you name it. IN NYC whenever I go to dinner a glass of wine is $20 at below-normal places, maybe you forget to add tax (10%) and tip (20%) to the list price, which yes, it is mandatory here to add at the end but always included in Europe. And that's the price in crappy winebar on LES. Workdinners in midtown and its $30+ all in price for glass of wine. Only thing cheaper in NYC is dry cleaner and taxis (but that has now been equalized by uber). Get your facts straight, this is not even economic illiteracy its statistical incompetence. Oh and EIU is way off base and an outlier compared to all other cost of living rankings ive seen.
I have lived in both London and NYC for 5 years on and off. London, in my experience, is more expensive. Perhaps that has changed over the last year with the appreciating dollar. Rent certainly reaches higher highs in New York but account for all five boroughs and the median is probably similar to London's. The tube costs at least twice as much as the subway, Taxis– including Uber –are way more expensive and I don't know how you think food and drink is cheaper in London (it is always at least £4 for a pint).
I have been in New York the last couple years and you are getting screwed on rent, electricity, mobile, cable/internet and groceries. You need to get a new broker, switch from AT&T unlimited, drop the adult package from your cable and stop doing your grocery shopping at Dean & Deluca.
Things always feel cheaper on holiday.
I have lived in both London and NYC for 5 years on and off. London, in my experience, is more expensive. Perhaps that has changed over the last year with the appreciating dollar. Rent certainly reaches higher highs in New York but account for all five boroughs and the median is probably similar to London's. The tube costs at least twice as much as the subway, Taxis– including Uber –are way more expensive and I don't know how you think food and drink is cheaper in London (it is always at least £4 for a pint).
I have been in New York the last couple years and you are getting screwed on rent, electricity, mobile, cable/internet and groceries. You need to get a new broker, switch from AT&T unlimited, drop the adult package from your cable and stop doing your grocery shopping at Dean & Deluca.
Things always feel cheaper on holiday.
I love New Yorkers' insistence that NYC is Manhattan, as if crossing into Long Island on 7th line (for example) is some sort of a crime.
You are clearly delusional. I have lived in both America and UK and I think you have no idea what you are talking about.
London rents are easily 20% more expensive than NYC. The underground is 2$ while in London is 2-5£. A black cab in London would set you back 20£, in NYC $10. You can buy hot dog in NYC for 2$ in the streets, in London it would be £3, in Zurich it would be 5 francs.
You are just another whiny American that can't appreciate the greatness of your own country and city.
Do you want to exchange passports?
Alright dude you are very wrong and here is why: first off your example of something expensive in London is you pay GBP4 for a beer??? That’s $6.25 have you actually been to NY? I have no idea where you frequent in NYC but I go out 5 times a week and beers (WITH tip and tax) the cheapest is $8-9 but I often pay $10-12. And beers are relatively cheap, cocktails I pay $16-20 on avg wine is $18-20.
And no you cannot compare median rent in all 5 boroughs. I get that the outer boroughs are part of the political delimitation of the NYC but what does that have to do with anything? When Paris statistics are drawn up its the 16 arrondissiment of the inner city not Banlieues outside. Population of Manhattan is 1.8MM and Paris is 2.1MM. So compare apples to apples manhattan and London zone 1&2 which is where global international people cluster. So no, guy, rents are much higher in NYC (manhattan) than in London (zone 1 and 2). and yes you are right, the tube is more expensive, GBP120 for monthly pass zone 1&2 vs NY subway pass at $110. So yes, you nailed it that extra 60 pounds a month will really make a difference in a cost of living comparison to my $5500 a month rent and utilities.
I have normal time-warner package, normal AT&T unlimited and I shop in a normal supermarket down the street from my apt (which is not nice at all and pretty crappy). So do pray tell, where in the city do you get these deals? I looked at 60+ apts before settling for mine, where in Manhattan do you live that you think its a bad deal? My lease just came up and 20 of my friends and colleagues and two real estate brokers agreed I should renew my lease which I just did because net-net, its not a bad deal. If you do not live in Manhattan then you are not qualified to speak whether my rent is out of market or not. FYI I lived in London as well, but i was younger so different lifestyle (thus price points) so i use my more frequent visits as comparison. plus my two siblings live there and their lifestyles which are better comparisons. I can list 50 different goods and services: names of places and their equivalent. I genuinely think London isn't that expensive, even Stockholm, Zurich and Copenhagen are more expensive than london (except rent). But all cheaper than Manhattan.
And yes for all intents and purposes of international comparisons, cultural relevance, NYC is Manhattan. like Paris is 16 arriondissiments in center and when people go to London they are not visiting Croydon or wherever. I love how people not from Manhattan love to pile in like the New York being referenced has anything to do with the Bronx or Staten island or queens. Only claim to glory is that you get to tag along Manhattan coat-tails and fall under one political delimitation. Politically Greenland is part of Denmark, Guadeloupe is part of France but it doesn’t make it so.
London rents are not more expensive. My two siblings own several apts in London and they are rented out for far less than my own in nyc and they have more bedrooms. For example a three bedroom in angel is 2600gbp. even if you think its a deal, that's USD4k or about 50% of price in NYC where a three bedroom is $8,000. I challenge you to find a 3 bedroom for less. CHALLENGE.
But yeah it all makes up for hot dogs on street being $2. I stand corrected. (ps ive never eaten one, that's for homeless people and dumb tourists that seen it in movies). besides in a 'local' NYC dish genius, how much is fish and chip in dingy shop in London vs nyc?
I admit I don't know the facts here, and I'm not advocating a position in this debate. I just need to ask: could this disagreement be a consequence of the EIU talking about ALL of New York City and not just Manhattan? I assume that would adjust the numbers, no?
I don't know from where all this passion in you comes from. If you want to get an accurate picture you need to visit
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp
and check for yourself the data for rent, transportation etc.
Now, even though I lived there before, I had a look at http://www.zillow.com/homes/Upper-East-Side-Manhattan-New-York-NY_rb/
to look for prices of apartments at the upper east side of manhattan, which is one of the most expensive areas in NYC.
I can see 600 sqfoot 1 bed apartments from $2000 = 1300£.
Not only you can't find 600 sqfoot 1 bed apartments in London since they normally squeeze another 1-2 bedrooms in that area but it will set you back at least £2000 in the prime areas.
You can check for yourself at rightmove.co.uk (put down Kensington and chelsea).
Check the facts and stop whining like a little girl.
I. Checked my facts clown I live here!!!! I've seen over 100apts for rent, 60 alone this past few months before renewing my lease. First off upper east side, east of second Av is the single cheapest area in all of manhattan! And I ran a search on your link there are no 1 bedrooms for 2k. Studios and tiny 1 beds (likely converted studios) are $2500 and above in the cheapest area of upper east (80s on 1st ave called Yorktown not even part of upper east). Even Murray hill, Lower east side, east village all more expensive even financial district is more expensive than UES east of second ave. So that's comparing the single cheapest area in zones 1 and 2. It's for recent grands and students. I would never live there and don't know anyone that does anymore. Take a stroll and you'll notice avg quality of restaurants and stores etc from 58th til rio grande (96th st) along 2nd and especially 1st ave. A cookie cutter low ceilings crap shtbox 600 sq ft 1 bedroom in a red brick building from the 70s is $2600-3500. And unless you are a 24 y/o recent grad on your first job out of college you wouldn't live there.
Sorry but I don't know which New York you live in. I have not lived in Europe but I have lived in Manhattan and cannot resist calling out BS on many of those numbers.
Your prices are inflated to the point of being unbelievable.
$4400 for a shoe-box 1 bedroom, no doorman, old building? Seriously?
You're being taken for a ride, that's all I can say.
I did live 2 years ago in a fine Manhattan neighborhood (at the cusp of Kips Bay and Gramercy) in what one could truly call a shoe-box 1 bedroom (around 300-400 square feet, stand-in kitchen). And I paid $2400/month. A hefty price alright but nothing close to the $4400 you quote.
Let me try put it in another way - For a monthly mortgage payment of $4,400, you would be able to afford a loan of between $600-$700K, when you consider that interest payments are tax free (which rental payments are not) and assuming a housing loan interest rate of say 5-6%.
Now for $600-$700K, you could easily buy your own 1 bedroom apartment in several good Manhattan neighborhoods (though not the top ones like Tribeca/Gramercy/Chelsea/facing the park) or at the very least get a fine studio is a great neighborhood.
I won't go into the ridiculous quotes on the mobile, cable electricity, and internet bills. Obviously going by the amounts you have there, you're getting the best A-1 video packages, unlimited data, craziest-fast internet packages and leave all the lights on when going to sleep - because its hard to hit close to $200/month for electricity in a "shoe-box"
So if you're reading this, and are indeed paying $4,400 rent for a shoe-box 1 bed in an old building...
Stop reading, call your property manager/house owner and terminate your lease. Because you're being taken for a fool.
"Stop reading, call your property manager/house owner and terminate your lease. Because you're being taken for a fool."
There is an alternative possibility, but it would be rude (and probably against house rules) to spell it out explicitly.
I have lived in Manhattan for the last 10yrs. All YOUR prices are way off. And I'm a banker. I don't go to crappy places. Clearly you want to feel NYC is the "biggest", but you're wrong in cost of living.
New York can be reasonably affordable for a comfortable top-tier city with if you do not have to live right on the Wall Street or have the Central Park view from all of you windows.
A year ago, I signed a contract to purchase a very nice, large, top-floor 1-bedroom coop apt in Briarwood, NY. My monthly mortgage payment is around $850, the monthly maintenance fee is around $550. All together is $1,400 a month. I will pay the mortgage off in 14 years and will pay maintenance only afterwards. Plus the usual benefits of owning your home – stability, independence, etc. The only catch is that you need to put 20% down ($30,000 in my case plus the closing costs – still less than a lot of people pay for their cars) and endure a lot of paperwork.
The neighborhood is nice, green, and quiet. My commute to Midtown (by the E or F trains) takes about 35-40 min. The food shopping choices here are not as great as those in Brooklyn (where I used to live) but still decent and affordable.
I do not have cable. An antenna gives me several public channels (ABC, CBS, WNBC, WWOR, WPIX, PBS, etc.) I pay $8 a month for Netflix and about as much for Amazon Prime. My Roku box has some great free channels as well.
I pay $50 a months for Cricket Wireless (uses AT&T network) unlimited talk, text and 5GB of 4G LTE data. I believe T-Mobile has similar pans as well. Again, the catch is that you need to pay a full price for the phone or bring your own device. Still, saves you a ton of money.
Considering that I live in a great city with a lot of culture, entertainment options, and many high-paying jobs – I call these prices reasonable.
What do the X axis values stand for?
Index value, which in this case means percentage of the average cost of living for NYC in 2014. For example, the cost of living in Paris 5 years ago (2009) appears to be roughly 122% of what it cost to living in NYC in 2014
"The cost of living in New York has risen by about 23% over the past five years."
How can that be true when we are plagued by (alleged) 'deflation'; unless ...?
"compares more than 400 individual prices across 160 products and services. These include food, drink, clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs."
This is a consumption basket built for corporate expats.
One would imagine especially high weights on apartment rental and private education - perhaps those are two points in which New York's costs are rising (above and beyond the expected contribution of 10% over 5 years from on-target inflation)?
The worst parts of New York are gentrifying and poor people are being driven out. We should expect the relative price level in New York to be rising viz-a-viz America.
Is gentrification of prices (at the rate indicated) across an entire city the size of NYC to be expected when the rest of the society is allegedly suffering deflation? Particularly when serious QE has been happening the entire time?
Is it even theoretically possible to experience genuine 'deflation' when QE is practiced?
It is of little concern what may or may not be "possible" within theoretical models.
In reality:
(1) there has been QE
(2) there is deflation across the US economy
(3) according to the price basket used by the Economist, over the past 5 years, New York has experienced a higher inflation rate than the US as a whole.
None of these three points strike me as surprising. The most recent deflation is driven overwhelmingly by oil, fuel and commodity prices, but also by the impact of an appreciating US dollar. Against that, the pressure towards rising prices is driven by rent seeking, building/ land rents, credit availability, labour scarcity and supply constraints - all far more prominent in New York (and in Silicon Valley) than across America as a whole.
It might have to do with the new construction of expensive high-rise apartments.
Developers are turning Central Park into Central Dark with mega-thin towers
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/real-estate/central-park-central-d...
NSFTL
Regards
Not every decline in a particular basket of prices signifies 'deflation', which conceptually can't occur when QE is practiced. Citizens are choosing to place money (which is abundant, not scarce, thanks to QE) in asset-classes not accurately measured by CPI. All money has to be somewhere all the time.
"Money" is just one side of a balance sheet. More money means a bigger balance sheet (or, banks could offload other non-money liabilities). QE is only an expansion of the central bank balance sheet - it doesn't necessarily result in any net creation of money. And where it does, what of it?
Why would you expect inflationary pressure? Inflation is caused by demand growth running ahead of supply growth. Money sitting in the bank accounts of rich people (or businesses) is essentially irrelevant to demand conditions. It isn't the size of balance sheets that matters for demand conditions and inflationary pressure in the real world. Wage levels, investment activity and terms of trade are what matter most.
Case in point: terms of trade. For recent data on deflationary pressures, look at industrial producer prices (EU data; this should be even more pronounced in the US thanks to the dollar's appreciation).
Energy dominates with double digit price reduction. Thereafter, there is a massive deflationary pressure from outsourcing activity (intermediate good producer prices falling 1.4% in the year to January - this suggests rapid supply growth, ahead of demand growth, driving down price levels) and from consumer durables (intensifying global competition, productivity growth - cheaper cars, IT equipment and white goods).
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/6719964/4-03032015-AP-EN....
(2) there is deflation across the US economy
.
Yes, sticker prices at auto dealers are down.
.
Cable TV prices are down.
.
The Big Mac Index shows deflation.
.
Food prices soar as incomes stand still
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/food-prices-soar-as-incomes-stand-still/
.
Disney just raised prices, other theme parks will probably follow suit.
.
Are you still paying the fuel surcharge on airline tickets, ground shipping?
.
Notice how the size of packaged food keeps getting smaller?
Lay's reduces sizes by 4.76%
http://www.mouseprint.org/2013/04/08/when-the-chips-are-downsized/
.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-coke-and-pepsi-smaller-sodas-could-pay-m...
.
Please, keep up the "There is deflation" mantra.
.
NSFTL
Regards
New fuel sipping cars available for €7,301 ($8,157).
http://www.meinauto.de/volkswagen/neuwagen/up/angebote/up/konfigurator
It might be a bit of a hairdryer on the Autobahn, but cruising at 110 mph is ok for most countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ25k7D3rhs
Decent warranty; 68.9 mpg is nice fuel economy. Not a chick magnet, but safe and cheap mobility.
In many respects life is getting cheaper (cars, flights, phones, communications, laptops, cameras, clothing, yachts, titanium bicycles, carbon fibre skis...). The realm in which prices are rising, pertains overwhelmingly to housing (hurts lower income people hardest), and also hits services (especially those services, such as childcare, provided by the low income workers suffering most from the real-wage-depressing impact of rising housing rents).
Energy and commodities are a volatile element - for most of the past 15 years they have driven up the cost of living (impacting lower income households), but that now seems to be operating in reverse.
Money can go to paying off debts, which might result in less money in circulation if banks want to be less leveraged.
"How can that be true when we are plagued by (alleged) 'deflation'; unless ...?"
Think about how much the US Dollar appeciated agaist other currencies over the last 5 years. For example, $1 was 80 yen in 2010, now it's at 120 yen (50% increase!), and the Dollar appreciated across the board agaist the Pound, the Euro as well, though not by THAT margin.
Ah but inflation doesn't include housing, schooling or medical costs.
Or stock market.
Cheetos might be cheaper.
Crunchy or regular?
Depends on the speculators? :)