to those of you in the usa...
 

in the uk, the economy is going belly up, due to increase in costs (petrol, fel, food).

also house prices are dropping like mad. to be honest people went silly over the last few years and house price costs went realy silly.

but how are things in the usa?

Not a hell of a lot different. Milk, which I recall being $2.89/gal is now over $4.00/gal.

Lots of places up for sale, but some of that is still due to the fucking mortgage companies doing as they do..

i went to this thai restaurant, haven't been there for about 1 year. Ordered the same stuff I always got. EVERYTHING was half the size ...

I overheard some contractors talking about not being able to find work lately

"Staycation" instead of Vacation is now pretty popular ..

etc. etc. etc.

i thought that as costs of fuel in the usa is far cheaper, that tends to keep costs down more.

in the uk they heavily tax fuel, and this means everything else is expensive.

we also have charges for parking everywhere now.

I was a UK resident 4 years ago, silly house prices, expensive fuel etc. The states were much better in 2004, now though, much the same - silly fuel, groceries up, house prices on the drop, mortgage rates high. Saving rates are almost non existent.

Its actually more expensive living here than many people think.

That sounds exactly like the US. Since I don't own a house but I'm looking I'm not as pissed off as everyone else but times suck.

harder time to come :(

Yea gas was about 1/6 as much here as it was for you guys but now we are up to about 1/2 of what it is in the UK. Because we never had to be efficient (it was so cheap no one cared) we have cars that are very fuel inefficient and we don't live near the places we work. Also, no one ever wanted to take public transportation unless you were in on the 5 biggest cities in the country so that means of transportation isn't developed in 99% of the country.

You seem to forget the tremendous distances that our trucks and such travel in the US to get food and other stuff places. The UK is barely the size of a few states. Our fuel is also heavily taxed but we only pay about half of what you pay for gas. We do pay parking here in most every city, not so in rural or small cities (well everywhere in small cities). However our train systems suck ass, public transportation sucks ass in comparison. Will not even touch in on what you get out of your taxes and and surcharges and what we get.

Here in the USA i've noticed a few things

Home Prices: Up but selling your home is near impossible because no one is buying.

Grocery: Prices are up 25% from a year ago on basics like meat, milk and veggies. Also, the weekly sales are down.

Gas: While still nowhere near UK prices, gas is up about 60% from 2 years ago. But, when you include the fact that Americans drive 3 to 4 times longer distances than UK people we are paying waay more on the whole.

Utilities: About the same as in the UK. I recently paid some bills for a friend in the UK which is how I know! haha

All in all, the price of living in the US is more expensive than it is in the UK if you are in the UK, you make your money in pounds and you take the tube everywhere.

Just makes you have to work that much harder to have the things you want .. Live is always going to go up and down ..

I love that dog in your avatar. What kind is it?