Ballistic:
Sadly, most mass produced American beers are a little over 3 percent alcohol by volume. By mass produced, I mean Budweiser, Miller, Bush, and the like. A 12 pack of 12 OZ bottles or cans will run you about $7 to $9 or so in my part of the U.S. Fortunately, in recent years, micro brews, and mass produced craft brews have grown hugely in popularity and availability. These beers have higher alcohol content, from around 4.5 to 8 percent by volume, and have the additional perk of not tasting like piss. The only drawback to enjoying good beer in the U.S. is that quality beer is more pricey. Anchor Steam, an excellent beer brewed in San Francisco and sold nation wide, costs about $7 a six pack of 12 OZ bottles. The average cost per six pack of quality beer runs about $5 to about $8.
Haujobbz:
Thee U.S. Does have a social security system. I happen to work for the U.S. Social Security Administration -- the governmental agency in the states responsible for paying out monthly cash benefits to senior citizens and their dependents, the disabled and their dependents, and the surviving (spouse and surviving children) of deceased workers. By dependents, I mean children under age 18, or under age 19 and 2 months if not yet graduated from high school, elderly parents who derive at least 50 percent of their income from their children, and the spouse, and, or divorced spouses of retired, disabled, or dead workers. In cases of payment to divorced spouses the marriage must have lasted 10 years or longer). Benefits are based upon the amount of earnings a worker contributes to the Social Security program through mandatory contribution of 15.3 percent of a workers salary per year. The responsibility of the payment of the 15.3 percent contribution to the program is split equally between the worker and his employer such that the employed person only sees $7.65 percent of their salary going towards funding their retirement and disability insurance. Note that if a worker is self employed, he must pay the entire 15.3 percent contribution.
Social Security pays an average benefit of about $850 per month to about 44,000,000 total beneficiaries. Benefits can range from less than a dollar a month to a maximum of about $1660.00 per month. More details, ask?
As to housing in my part of the country, Cincinnati, Ohio, a 2 bedroom apartment can cost anywhere from about $350.00 on the low end to about $800.00 per month. Homes range from about $50,000 to about $175,000 for a 2 to 3 bedroom, 1 to 2 bath home. Bobsgirl and I just purchased a 1440 sqft 4 bedroom 1.5 bath quad level home in a nice neighborhood for about $125,000. The lot (owned land upon which your house sits) is 60 by 145 in size. Our monthly mortgage payment will be about $950.00 including property taxes and home owners insurance per month.
Gas runs about a buck 40 per gallon. Is a gallon about 3 liters? If that be the case, gas then would be 40 cents a liter here.
Neat thread, btw, its neat to see the comparisons.
