Text 8597, 49 rader
Skriven 2007-12-21 21:38:03 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
     Kommentar till en text av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Euro values
===================
Hello Robert,

On Friday December 21 2007 09:22, you wrote to me:

 RB>>> However, another matter is the comparison - in Germany - of DM to
 RB>>> Euro. The original exchange rate was roughly two DM to one Euro,
 RB>>> but if you look at the Euro prices nowadays, you find that the
 RB>>> actual rate is closer to 1:1 - what used to cost a Mark now costs
 RB>>> a Euro.

 MV>> That is called inflation.

 RB> In five years? Aside from which, some of this occurred in 2002, when
 RB> the switchover occurred.

Yes, but the 1:1 percieved ratio is just that: perception. There has not been a
100% inflation. Maybe in certain areas. At flea markets f.e. the price of
trinkets that used to be one Guilder are now often  one euro. And the cart at
some supermarkets now takes a Euro instead of a Guilder. A chicken however used
to cost 12 Guilders and now cost 6 Euro. A mere 10% increase.

 MV>> I remember the day when patrol pumps had to be replaced because
 MV>> the price of petrol went over the Guilder/litre. Now petrol is
 MV>> over 6 Guilders a litre...

 RB> Taxes, not inflation.

Fuel was already taxed over 60% in the sixties.

 RB> Inflation is the fact that gasoline in Germany now _only_ costs
 RB> around double what it did in 1969, when I first had a
 RB> car here. Naturally I mean the price of gas (then DM 0.48 a liter -
 RB> taxes included - now around EUR 0.50 a liter without taxes),

Then you are comparing apples and oranges.

 MV>> Only us old farts that remember the days when you could buy a
 MV>> handful of candy for five cents. The younger generation does not
 MV>> worry about these things...

 RB> I wasn't talking about things that happen over generations, Michiel.

I was. As I said, inflation is a thing of all times. As are taxes.


Cheers, Michiel

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