Grocery prices in Melbourne

last SG · 2008-08-19T14:27:53+00:00

I surived on $400 when i was in adelaide Uni$300 for rent$200 for other expensesdo they have math requirements at adelaide U ? ...

honeymouse SG

Alot of Singaporeans like to make the mistake of comparing Singapore salary with Australian prices.

They should be comparing Australian salary with Australian prices and Singapore salary with Singapore prices.

I totally agree with you.... otherwise it will be like comparing apple with orange...

Anyway... time to go home. Ciao!

SPLIT SECOND SG

All of these come from the taxpayer money.... we paid for it anyway...

hello, in fact if u calculate your education cost and old age cost, u actually are using more than what u paid for in taxes.

maurizio13 SG

In Australia the MRT system has a monthly farecard system for the working class, where fares are charged at a reduced rate because of their frequency.

In Singapore the MRT has not implemented such a system to help the working class commuters, they figure that they will lose supernormal profits if they start such a system. There is a similar system in Hong Kong.

maurizio13 SG

I totally agree with you.... otherwise it will be like comparing apple with orange...

Anyway... time to go home. Ciao!

hasta luego.

SPLIT SECOND SG

In Australia the MRT system has a monthly farecard system for the working class, where fares are charged at a reduced rate because of their frequency.

Do u know that Aus MRT is running at a loss?

nullifi3d SG

Do u know that Aus MRT is running at a loss?

Its usually the case for most countries. Only our country's operators mission is to make profits.

maurizio13 SG

sg earns its keep from services, goods ect, the reason is why tax not much. But in Aust, tax come back to u when u are old or handicapped, need education ect.

I like the way they show the revenue & expenditure for the budget.

The health ministry has an expenditure of afew billions but no corresponding revenue.

What happened to the operations and medication citizens paid for with medisave and cash?

Fatum SG

2) Ermmmm....obviously you don't understand the meaning of "dirty float" and managed foreign exchange intervention.

Who sets the monetary policy? Me or You?

I guess to you it's nobody's fault that our currency is undervalued against major currencies.

Maybe it's a force majeur aka an act of god that our currency is undervalued?

Maybe it's an act of god that GST is 7%?

Maybe it's an act of god that ERP is the way it is?

I might be right, afterall they are known as the holy trinity (the father, the son and the holy goh).

don't run away from simple mathematics now ....

take out the calculator and work it out yourself ....

if SGD is undervalued, as you claimed, then there is pressure to appreciate against other currencies ....

say the exchange rate to USD is 1.4 now .... when the SGD appreciates, it goes to say, 1.3 ....

now take the S$318 ipod, and convert it to USD at 1.4, then 1.3 ....

still want to argue that they can't cover the cost back in USD terms ? even at CURRENT exchange rates, apple is clearing a bigger profit in USD terms, as you yourself has shown .... or you're going to turn economist now and say that the SGD is going to be squeezed even lower, or that we play around with the money market like what malaysia did ? Don't start sounding like andrewPKYap now ......

remember that the USD has been falling steadily in recent days, not the other way around .....

differential pricing, pure and simple ... but then again, I suppose you'll even blame the death of your pet hamster on the goverment ? ....

if you're pissed off that you can't afford an ipod now, go call up apple and complain, don't go whine to your MP ... but I think you should really just work harder ...

maurizio13 SG

Do u know that Aus MRT is running at a loss?

They should just increase the price of fares like SMRT, then they will make profits.

Afterall ALL businesses make profits, in the history of the world no businesses has ever made losses and no companies has ever gone bankrupt.

No?

maurizio13 SG

don't run away from simple mathematics now ....

take out the calculator and work it out yourself ....

if SGD is undervalued, as you claimed, then there is pressure to appreciate against other currencies ....

say the exchange rate to USD is 1.4 now .... when the SGD appreciates, it goes to say, 1.3 ....

now take the S$318 ipod, and convert it to USD at 1.4, then 1.3 ....

remember that the USD has been falling steadily in recent days, not the other way around .....

differential pricing, pure and simple ... but then again, I suppose you'll even blame the death of your pet hamster on the goverment ? ....

if you're pissed off that you can't afford an ipod now, go call up apple and complain, don't go whine to your MP ... but I think you should really just work harder ...

Ok.

Take for instance that the previous few weeks.

few weeks ago USD 1 = SGD 1.36

currently USD 1 = SGD 1.42

Cost of production iPod = USD 100

Afew weeks back, if they sold 1 iPod in Singapore at SGD 318.

If they convert back to USD they will only get USD 223.94.

If they had converted back then it would be USD 233.82.

A loss of USD 10.

You obviously don't know what is "dirty float" or managed foreign exchange intervention.

FYI, the exchange rate is not determined by the free market, it's determined by the central bank (MAS).

Yes. I agree differential pricing. By why differential pricing?

Differential pricing is to cushion the currency risk.

I don't really use ipods (don't like them), I was just making comparisons with a widely available commodity which is tangible.

Master -_- SG

Isnt the exchange rate is derived by the foreign-exchange market through supply and demand for that particular currency relative to other currencies? Thats why the floats change freely and determined by the trading in the forex market.

maurizio13 SG

Some currencies are freely floating, some are managed floating ("dirty float"), while others are pegged to a currency.

Master -_- SG

yeah i know..im speaking in generics..

maurizio13 SG

yeah i know..im speaking in generics..

freely floating: determined by markets

managed floating ("dirty float"): trading band determined by the central bank

pegged: fixed by central bank

http://money.howstuffworks.com/exchange-rate.htm/printable

Fatum SG

Ok.

Take for instance that the previous few weeks.

few weeks ago USD 1 = SGD 1.36

currently USD 1 = SGD 1.42

Cost of production iPod = USD 100

Afew weeks back, if they sold 1 iPod in Singapore at SGD 318.

If they convert back to USD they will only get USD 223.94.

If they had converted back then it would be USD 233.82.

A loss of USD 10.

You obviously don't know what is "dirty float" or managed foreign exchange intervention.

FYI, the exchange rate is not determined by the free market, it's determined by the central bank (MAS).

Yes. I agree differential pricing. By why differential pricing?

Differential pricing is to cushion the currency risk.

I don't really use ipods (don't like them), I was just making comparisons with a widely available commodity which is tangible.

okie, since your premise is that the goverment's monetary policies and tinkering with the exchange rates, as you've alleged, is to be blamed for you having to pay more for an ipod over here ....

would you like to explain to me why the ipod is still more expensive in other countries, like the UK, New Zealand, Australia, than in the US ....

or that it's much more expensive in Europe than in the US ... and indeed, even in Singapore too ? ....

go check it out ....

are they practising bad governance, bad monetary policy ? should i ask our goverment, you the economist, or apple corporation ? ...

maurizio13 SG

sg earns its keep from services, goods ect, the reason is why tax not much. But in Aust, tax come back to u when u are old or handicapped, need education ect.

In Australia, basic food items are excluded to GST, perhaps the Australian government was less inclined to help the poor.

maurizio13 SG

okie, since your premise is that the goverment's monetary policies and tinkering with the exchange rates, as you've alleged, is to be blamed for you having to pay more for an ipod over here ....

would you like to explain to me why the ipod is still more expensive in other countries, like the UK, New Zealand, Australia, than in the US ....

or that it's much more expensive in Europe than in the US ... and indeed, even in Singapore too ? ....

go check it out ....

are they practising bad governance, bad monetary policy ? should i ask our goverment, you the economist, or apple corporation ? ...

Are you sure Australian ipods are more expensive than Singapore?

FYI, UK is not a free port, it imposes tariffs for imports. UK also has a higher cost due to higher living standards, surely you don't expect to compare Singapore's standard of living to UK. The price of petrol is also high by global standards.

Why not compare free ports like Hong Kong?

Hong Kong iPod 8GB = HKD 1,550 = SGD 281.17

http://store.apple.com/hk/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_nano?mco=MTIwMDQ

Singapore iPod 8GB = SGD 318

http://store.apple.com/sg/browse/home/shop_ipod/family/ipod_nano?mco=MTIwMDQ

Fatum SG

Are you sure Australian ipods are more expensive than Singapore?

UK has a higher cost due to higher living standards, surely you don't expect to compare Singapore's standard of living to UK. The price of petrol is also high by global standards.

Why not compare free ports like Hong Kong?

Hong Kong iPod = HKD 1,550 = SGD 281.17

Singapore iPod = SGD 318

I said more expensive than the US, read it again ...

because you alleged that apple is practising differential pricing cos of currency risks, then why in all of the countries i listed to you, ipods costs so more in USD terms than in the US ? .... those countries have a floating exchange rates too btw ...

and if you say higher costs' due to higher living standards ....

then since ipod is cheaper in australia than in Singapore and the UK, and you were trying to say the neccessities are still cheaper in australia than in singapore in this thread .... are you saying that the standard of living is lower there ? ...

back to the question then ....

why are ipods more expensive in most other countries, including singapore, than in the US ? ....

can it all be blamed on their respective goverments ? ...

you want an ipod, you work for it ...

eagle SG

you want an ipod, you work for it ...

or better

you get other people to work for it, but you own it

maurizio13 SG

I said more expensive than the US, read it again ...

and if you say higher costs' due to higher living standards ....

back to the question then ....

why are ipods more expensive in most other countries, including singapore, than in the US ? ....

can it all be blamed on their respective goverments ? ...

you want an ipod, you work for it ...

I added something else about UK.

UK is not a free port, it has tariffs and it's GST (VAT) is 17.5%.

If it's so hard for you to understand that monetary policies has a direct impact on the citizen's lives, I am willing to accept your theory that god through his "invisible hands" manages the exchange rate, inflation and interest rates.

So your only other country of contention is UK?

Also don't forget that Australia and New Zealand has higher GST than Singapore, but their ipods are still priced competitively. If you remove all elements of taxes, the iPods would be cheaper than Singapore.

Hong Kong has no GST and a free port, the iPod cost SGD 281.17 even with a GST of 7% it would end up cheaper than Singapore.

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