Why Leica charge $500 more in the US?

[ywenz]

Stop comparing a tiny country like Norway with its measly population of 4.5million to a giant like the US.. It's much easier to manage a country like Norway.. Do we really care whether people in Luxembourg live a good life? No, because what they do there is insignificant

 

[furcafe]

In most states w/sales taxes, residents are actually liable for sales/purchase taxes on items purchased from out of state. The problem is that those states have no easy way to collect it as they have to get out-of-state retailers to collect their taxes for them (hence the periodic proposals for a federal internet sales tax); some states rely on taxpayers to voluntarily pony up the cash in their annual income tax returns, w/understandably paltry results. Some retailers, like the on-line Apple Store for example, do routinely charge sales taxes even for out-of-state sales.

In the U.S. if you buy via the internet or by phone or mail from a vendor in another state you are not charged any sales tax. This infuriates state officials and they are contantly proposing legislation to end this practice, but so far without success. Our Scandinavian friends must remember that the U.S. is not called konsument samhalle for nothing.
Kurt M.

 

[Sailor Ted]

Population numbers for the worlds 50 most populated cities:

1. Tokyo, Japan - 28,025,000
2. Mexico City, Mexico - 18,131,000
3. Mumbai, India - 18,042,000
4. Sáo Paulo, Brazil - 17, 711,000
5. New York City, USA - 16,626,000
6. Shanghai, China - 14,173,000
7. Lagos, Nigeria - 13,488,000
8. Los Angeles, USA - 13,129,000
9. Calcutta, India - 12,900,000
10. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 12,431,000
11. Seóul, South Korea - 12,215,000
12. Beijing, China - 12,033,000
13. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,774,000
14. Delhi, India - 11,680,000
15. Dhaka, Bangladesh - 10,979,000
16. Manila, Philippines - 10,818,000
17. Cairo, Egypt - 10,772,000
18. Õsaka, Japan - 10,609,000
19. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 10,556,000
20. Tianjin, China - 10,239,000

21. Jakarta, Indonesia - 9,815,000
22. Paris, France - 9,638,000
23. Istanbul, Turkey - 9,413,000
24. Moscow, Russian Fed. - 9,299,000
25. London, United Kingdom - 7,640,000
26. Lima, Peru - 7,443,000
27. Tehrãn, Iran - 7,380,000
28. Bangkok, Thailand - 7,221,000
29. Chicago, USA - 6,945,000
30. Bogotá, Colombia - 6,834,000

31. Hyderabad, India - 6,833,000
32. Chennai, India - 6,639,000
33. Essen, Germany - 6,559,000
34. Hangzhou, China - 6,389,000
35. Hong Kong, China - 6,097,000
36. Lahore, Pakistan - 6,030,000
37. Shenyang, China - 5,681,000
38. Changchun, China - 5,566,000
39. Bangalore, India - 5,544,000
40. Harbin, China - 5,475,000

41. Chengdu, China - 5,293,000
42. Santiago, Chile - 5,261,000
43. Guangzhou, China - 5,162,000
44. St. Petersburg, Russian Fed. - 5,132,000
45. Kinshasa, DRC - 5,068,000
46. Baghdãd, Iraq - 4,796,000
47. Jinan, China - 4,789,000
48. Wuhan, China - 4,750,000
49. Toronto, Canada - 4,657,000
NORWAY
50. Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) - 4,458,000

 

[Xmas]

Perhaps the reason it is easy to manage Norway is they did not have the option of a moron or a robot to run the show. And if you were paying up front for the piper, rather than using a credit card, you might notice the tax, we are noticing the tax.

Lux is ok too, real nice to visit, nice to work in.

Noel

 

[jarski]

in terms of how well/bad some place is governed, would it be better to compare Norway e.g. to State of Maine?

 

[Xmas]

The Sc peoples are worried about global pollution, all the light bulbs are high efficiency, all the glasing triple, the typical auto runs on 85% C2H5OH (efficiently) and they have detected the Br C2H5OH is not earth friendly.

So no they are much better than us.

Noel

 

[EmilGil]

I can't really decide whether to take these last 10 posts seriously or not...

FWIW, the taxes are even higher in Denmark (4 million people) and Sweden (9 million) than here in Norway.

 

[bluepenguin]

Wow..

I guess all other places have high price for M8.... except Korea and Japan.

 

[ywenz]

in terms of how well/bad some place is governed, would it be better to compare Norway e.g. to State of Maine?

HAHA tru dat, tru dat.

Thinking high about ourself are we? Its strange that a giant like the US cant even fix their own country. Just look at New Orleans? A year and a half after the disaster and Oprah has to get all her celebrity friends to do charity so that someone can restore the city. "Its much easier to manage a country like Norway"?. What do you know?
Things get harder when you say that you are fighting a war against terrorists and bring 14year old boys to a torture camp like Guantanamo. Magnum Photographer Paolo Pellegrin said after being in Guantanamo: "If they werent radicals before, they probably have become so in the prosess".

Hey keep the political spin out of the conversation okay? What kind of reasonable logic would compare the management of a 4.5 million population country against that of 300million+ country? hilarious.

 

[ywenz]

Whatever man. Turn of Fox news and go explore the world or reed a book.

fact is, my argument makse sense, while there is no argument on the other side. It is obvious whose judgement is being convoluted by his political views. I have nothing against Norway, you're making me have second thoughts though.

Its strange that a giant like the US cant even fix their own country. Just look at New Orleans? A year and a half after the disaster and Oprah has to get all her celebrity friends to do charity so that someone can restore the city. "Its much easier to manage a country like Norway"?. What do you know?
Things get harder when you say that you are fighting a war against terrorists and bring 14year old boys to a torture camp like Guantanamo. Magnum Photographer Paolo Pellegrin said after being in Guantanamo: "If they werent radicals before, they probably have become so in the prosess".

EDIT:
On second thought, lets play your game. Norway is run so well huh? Yeah it's great that the government creates a national economy based on a non-renewable natural resource. It'd be interesting to see how they keep up all the freebies when the oil wells are sucked dry.

 

[Keith]

fact is, my argument makse sense, while there is no argument on the other side. It is obvious whose judgement is being convoluted by his political views. I have nothing against Norway, you're making me have second thoughts though.

I'm stunned ... do your job please mods!

 

[hth]

A Leica M8 is 42500 swesetas. It sorts of annoys me that we have to pay about 10x euro price, when the exchange rate is more like 9x. Ripped off 10% just becuase the majority here thinks Euro is not good, even though the currency more of less follows the Euro...

My Leica M8 account has been quite steady for a long time. I managed to start saving, then I felt a desire to buy Photoshop CS2 and a continous flow system for my B&W printer... I have not fully recovered from that yet.

At the moment I am more thinking about using that fund for something else. I am not really sure I want a Leica M8 after all. I kind of prefer working with film.

Regarding taxes and such, well I hope the money is sort of well used and that everyone can have decent social welfare whether they have a job or not.

/Håkan

Hi, in Finland M8 is 4200 EUR (incl. 22% VAT). And we also have free shcools, health care etc. Just like in Sweden and Norway.

 

[EmilGil]

[...] EDIT:
On second thought, lets play your game. Norway is run so well huh? Yeah it's great that the government creates a national economy based on a non-renewable natural resource. It'd be interesting to see how they keep up all the freebies when the oil wells are sucked dry.

That's why they don't cut down the taxes to 0 but stack the money from the oil industry in the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, currently at $350 billion. Considering that this fund is about 40% larger than the Californian pension fund (CalPERS) and the population is 1/8 of California's, I think Norway should be pretty well off for a long time post-oil...

 

[Ronald M]

Right on Ted.

Government is the modern Robin Hood

 

[migtex]

hmm Looks that I need to find a better place to live.... too many taxes and no benefits...

 

[varjag]

Hey keep the political spin out of the conversation okay? What kind of reasonable logic would compare the management of a 4.5 million population country against that of 300million+ country? hilarious.

Per capita calculations of life expectancy and standard of living would.

Or are you going to reveal on us that China's better run just by the virtue of overpopulation?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Norway is taxing the hell out of its citizens to pay for programs people who make enough money do not take advantage of anyway.

This is the logic that escapes me. If you pay $1.00 for bus fare, are you going to calculate how much that dollar actually stretches for 100% of the ride, and if you're not going to "take advantage" of 100% of the bus ride, will you demand a pro-rated refund of that $1.00? If you buy a Big Mac combo, and you only eat half the fries and threw away half the lettuce, are you going to ask for a partial refund? Whether you use something available to you when your social contract says it's available to you as you've paid it...it's up to you...

Taxes for a responsible government are for the distribution of resources among the population. When government becomes irresponsible and convinces its population that they ought to pay only what they use, forget the poor, not care about education for children they don't have, not repair roads they don't use, and not clean air they don't breathe, and start counting their pennies while they run up a magical credit card to keep the Ottoman Turks from storming the walls of Vienna, we have lost all sense of civic responsibility and duty and more concerned with our own powerless wallet.

Reality is, after you do the math (and I've compared stubs from friends over there, and mine, and trust me, it's stomach-wrenching), there really isn't much difference left between what's deducted from a middle-class level paycheck in the U.S. from that in France, U.K., or the Nordic countries. There is, however, a much more discernible difference in their quality of life, transportation infrastructure, social interaction, and politicians' accountability.

I'll pay the extra $200 a year. It's worth the $5000 otherwise.

 

[ywenz]

Per capita calculations of life expectancy and standard of living would.

Or are you going to reveal on us that China's better run just by the virtue of overpopulation?

I repeat - Norway's economy is entirely that of the oil which it sits on. It is government managed and requires no input from its citizens. Norwegian government can save and build the funds all they want but it is a finite resource none the less. If Norway has a short outlook on the future, then this plan is great. However, I think most countries will take a pass on that, and would rather prefer an economy based on diversification and the resourcefulness of its own people.

 

[ywenz]

I think that you was pretty condescending in the first post I reacted on and that is why I reacted the way I did. When you use strong words like tiny, measly, giant and insignificant you are acting like a man that doesnt know that there is another world outside of his own country.

My post was not intended to be condescending but just to emphasize my point that people were comparing a country with small population like Norway to a much larger population of the U.S. It's an apple vs. orange comparison on many levels. I never thought that saying "Hey your country has low population!" is hurtful.

 

[EmilGil]

I repeat - Norway's economy is entirely that of the oil which it sits on. It is government managed and requires no input from its citizens. Norwegian government can save and build the funds all they want but it is a finite resource none the less. If Norway has a short outlook on the future, then this plan is great. However, I think most countries will take a pass on that, and would rather prefer an economy based on diversification and the resourcefulness of its own people.

Oil is a finite resource, we all agree on that, but are loans from the Chinese government an infinte resource? I doubt that...