The Most Expensive City For Spoiled Yuppie Scum

Once again Moscow tops the list of most expensive cities FOR EXPATRIATES in the world. Without getting into how stupid it is to judge prices by how much corporate expatriate workers pay, let's look at a small extract from this Yahoo article:

The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 143 cities around the world, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 areas such as housing, transportation and food. The findings are designed to help multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers.

In Moscow, a luxury two-bedroom apartment will cost an expat $4,000 a month; a CD rings up at $24.83; one copy of an international daily newspaper is $6.30; and a fast-food hamburger meal totals $4.80.

WHAT THE FUCK?? First of all, you could get a pretty damn nice apartment for, say, $2000 in Moscow, not too close to the center, but with a western standard of appliances and all -- low-end two bedroom in the suburban areas would be less than a thousand. AND WHO THE FUCK BUYS LEGAL CDs in MOSCOW!??!! Any market and most subway passages have bootleg MP3 discs with hundreds of songs for less than $3. And I don't know what fucking "international daily newspaper" is supposed to mean, but can't you just read the headlines on the Internet like everybody else?

I ate at McDonalds a couple times when I was in Moscow in March -- I guess $4 is about right for a Big Mac meal. TGIFridays had a business lunch that was I think $10, and yes, they force the waitresses to smile at you.

But Moscow's public transport is A LOT cheaper than New York or London -- still costs less than 50 cents for a one-way subway journey, whereas in London it now costs like 2 pounds. Food in supermarkets is for the most part a lot cheaper than England or America; alcohol and cigarettes are A LOT cheaper, though of course they're going up in price -- a half-liter bottle of decent beer still costs less than $1, a liter of good vodka costs about $5. Cigarettes are less than a dolllar, too.

(Note to the kids: English Teacher X doesn't smoke, just like the Fonz. AYYYYYYYY!)

Yeah, yuppie scum nightclubs and fancy watering holes costs a shitload, as do name brands of clothing. . .

So anyway, let's all shed a few tears for those poor beleagured Ikea and Shell engineers who will be forced to blow all of their $150 per diem on these outrageous prices of international newspapers, before they go get a couple of $75 whores and fuck all night.