Coffee and dough.
"We went into his kitchen, where he proudly displayed his brand new, Swiss-made, fully automatic espresso machine, for which he’d slapped down a cool $945 at an online store...
It must be nice to be able to afford a high-end, fully automatic espresso maker, I mused aloud. Dave’s response snapped me to attention.
“Actually, I can’t afford not to own one,” he said.
I thought he was joking, and asked what he meant.
“Think of it this way,” said Dave. “Do you and your wife drink at least one double latte each a day?”
That level of consumption is barely above survival threshold, I admitted.
“OK, consider this: One double latte costs three dollars at a coffee shop, so your outside coffee-drinking habit comes to six dollars a day for you and your wife. That’s $2,190 per year in after-tax dollars,” Dave extrapolated."
That's just one example. Of many people don't have a late every day, and are aware of the cumulative cost. But many do, and aren't.
One of my sisters live with her man and two kids in a large house with large rooms, in a pretty exposed landscape. Being a thin-blooded creature like many women, she likes to keep the house nice and toasty, . So I asked her what their heating bill is. She said she didn't know. I asked her husband. "No idea" was the answer.
They are both hard-working people with upper-middle class jobs, and paying the outrageous Danish taxes (50-68 percent). How can they not know about their heating bill!? Maybe it's a place where they could save lots of money and have more time for leisure and the kids? But this kind of thing is far from unusual.
Maybe it's just too scary to think about. This at least is what is suggested by sites such as the excellent Motley Fool. It's like a snake in the living room. If you walk real quiet and don't think about it, maybe it won't wake up.
That's a ridiculous amount of taxes! ¡ay caramba!
ReplyDeleteDon't I know it. It's the main reason I'm not living in Denmark.
ReplyDeletewhen you drink at a cafe you are paying for the people watching too, so maybe its worth it
ReplyDeleteYes, there is that, and I like going to cafes.
ReplyDeleteHowever it's my impression that many Starbucks type customers don't stick around for that, they just hurriedly get their habitual Grande to go.
There are two different cultures for cafés: the French one and the American one. And Americans, as we all know, screw up anything and everything related to culture.
ReplyDeleteScandinavian countries nowadays have embraced the American style café scene (adopted mainly from American movies). It won't last long, though. Mimicking anything coming from US will soon be seen so passé people won't even admit they at some time did it.
The café wars of the future will be between the Muslim and the Chinese persuasions. And the Chinese drink tea, not coffee.
"Scandinavian countries nowadays have embraced the American style café scene"
ReplyDeleteHave they? Last I was in Copenhagen it was like before, nice cafes with busy tables and ceramic cups, not long cues feeding tall paper cups to busy yuppies.
Aha, Copenhagen is different then. Props for you guys!
ReplyDeleteIn Stockholm and certainly in Helsinki when you enter a café, you feel like being in a Hollywood movie. Tall cups of that strange foamy material, and plastic furniture. Everything is in English. Often the waiters don't even speak Swedish/Finnish.
Trends in cafés can change very quickly though. And the next trend will be much nicer and warmer. You can see signs of it already. Who knows, maybe they'll even figure out the language.
Yeah, that sounds lame.
ReplyDeleteCopenhagen had a very well-established cafe culture even in the eighties. Part of the reason I like it so.
And Americans, as we all know, screw up anything and everything related to culture.
ReplyDeleteNot every country can aspire to the gold standard of Finnish culture. I'd like to know what that is, though. Has Finland produced any great scientists, artists, or musicians? No.