Thursday 1 October 2009

R$ vs £ - Greed or need?

Well, those who know me reasonable well knows I have quite the utopic view about capitalism. I truly believe capitalism the worse necessary evil we have to live with, for several reasons.
One of the things I don't really understand is how countries who are supposed to be poor (or "developing" - to use the politically correct term) can afford to sustain high enormous prices on products which can be found so much cheaper in other countries.
I do know about taxes, and everyone has to make a profit to survive (bing! There you go capitalism being evil!) but I do wonder if the HUGE difference in prices are mostly greed and the certainty people will pay whatever is asked for it, to either:
1. sustain a status of "look, I worked hard, I can spend sh1tloads of money buying this, you can't"
2. simply out of necessity
3. just liking the item and have no option but to buy it even at higher exorbitant value.

Now nothing wrong with the second reason, if you need something, and there is no way out of it than what can you do really? What annoys me with capitalism is the 1. and 2. points, where you could easily live with another cheaper option, simply not to buy whatever is being exploited from you, and force the prices down.
In my view, it is as easy as that. But maybe I am wrong?In here we have the example of Jaguar, which went bankrupt because people would not buy their cars anymore on the prices they were charging. It is sad to see a national industry go away, but have them lowered their prices I am sure they would have survived. See prices for houses, cars, mobile phones, anything here don't survive too long a surge on prices because people stop buying.Of course I am using Brazil as my criticism view, unfortunately a bad one this time.But coming from there and having this outlook on people

I was raised seeing people getting suffocated by debits. On credit card, on financing in 817373 instalments payments to have things they don't really need, they just want. To keep up with their friends, put up a front and try to live a life beyond their means, and it is a circle vice, and when you least expect everyone is caught on it. Sad affair.Thanks to mum and dad, I got the right hang of it. Bought my cars always with prompt payment. Never spend more than I make. First thing I do when I get my salary is to put a big chunk of it aside on my savings. Never buy more than I need. Maybe that's why I can't understand how this industry is still fed by people buying these things and throwing money at something so replaceable.


Fiat 500
Price in Brazil - from £21834.00 (R$ 61.900.00)
Price in U.K. from £9100.00 (R$ 25782.00)


Ac Dc gig
Price in Brazil - from £53.00-£106.00 (R$150.00-R$300.00)
Price in UK - from £45.00 (R$ 127.00)


IPhone
Price in Brazil - from £670.00 (R$1899.00)
Price in UK - from £342.00 (R$ 968.00)

**Currency converter

Now, I can't leave this post without saying how bad the Fruit/Veg prices are here compared to Brazil where they are sold at ridiculous low prices. I was going to include how cheaper the Avocato, Apple, Lettuce were in Brazil, but boy how wrong was I? They are cheaper here now! Ok, they don't taste the same (they are frozen to survive the trip and then thawed again for sale) but I was soo surprised to see the prices we are paying for food in Brazil now! Maybe it is a great sign people are earning more and affording to have more... Mmm, food for thought... - no punt intended ;)

3 comments:

Lilian Raquel said...

Eu tenho dó de pagar por uma coisa tão cara se nao vou usar tanto, ou se realmente nao preciso.

Dou exemplo o meu celular
ele é um v3, eu comprei na epoca que ele estava bem carinho, e comprei por impulso. Depois me arrependi e prometi que ficaria com ele até que nao houvesse mais condições. Afinal eu só uso ele pra poucas ligaçoes quando estou fora de casa, e para enviar sms pra minha familia e amigos, entao na preciso de um celular todo moderno e um absurdo de caro. Acho lindo o Iphone? acho, acho super demais as funçoes dele, mas sei que seria pouco usado por mim e nao tenho coragem de pagar esse preço todo.

Meu v3 continua aqui inteirao depois de mais de 2 anos, ele só teve duas quedinhas e que nem arranhou, pois ele vive na case que o protege inteiro. Se duvidar vou mante-lo por uns 5 anos ou mais.

beijinhos
Lee
http://lilianraquel.blogspot.com/

said...

Estava outro dia falando com Má sobre isso. Os preços dos carros no Brasil são absurdos!!! E ouvi muito português comentando que em Portugal as coisas andam muito caras por conta do euro por lá. Triste! Beijos, Fê.

Mauro said...

A gente não compra muita coisa que não precisa, também. Graças a isso, quando a gente quer comprar algo supérfluo, tem dinheiro. Mesmo assim, são poucas coisas, não tem sentido ficar torrando dinheiro com bobeira só porque está na moda ou todo mundo tem.