Maastricht Treaty revisions needed?

[Jester]

We don't buy an iPod every week. But, we do buy dairy products, bread, meat, and gasoline.

No. But electronics are large purchases. People buy not just iPods, but equivalent things - cell phones, televisions, DVDs, computers, home appliances. So, they are a factor - specifically, they should be a factor weighted by the quantity people spend on them. And it's not just electronics, but other things with relatively equal prices. Like, say, coffee. I buy that every day, and I'm sure lots of Danes do as well. That's why you need a weighted index - which, funnily enough, we have.

If you look at look at popular COLA guides, you'll see that Denmark in general ranks very high with Copenhagen vying amoungst the top ten most expensive places to live in the world.

Correct. So? Nobody is disputing that Copenhagen is expensive. I'm disputing that it's *three times* as expensive, or even somewhere in that ballpark.

I know that not everything in Denmark is double to triple in price, but my impression is that the things that matter are much, much higher by factors of 2 or 3.

For example, housing in Denmark - rental homes were between $4000 and $8000 per month. Here in the MSP Metro area - $1000 to $3000

Well, at least we've made progress from "most everything" to "not everything", from "double to triple" rather than "triple", and now we're apparently talking about your neighbourhood, rather than the USA.

As for housing, I have absolutely no idea if you're comparing apples to apples here, or not. From what I read scanning a few sites, the cost of rental is maybe 90% of the US median. Forbes sez: "Housing and cost of living are both affordable, but aren't dramatically below national means." Okay, fine. Is Copenhagen housing 270% of the US median? I really doubt it, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise, but by something other than you just pulling numbers off the top of your head.

No doubt the standard of living in Minneapolis is enviable, though remember we are comparing it to one of the most liveable cities in the entire world. You get a hell of a lot of intangibles from living in Copenhagen - low crime, high equality, great public transport, etc...

-Jester