The Flute Market : Supply & Demand

[sbfluter]

I bought a brand new Chinese violin for $99. Sure it's not a great violin but under my own hand I cannot tell any difference and it works perfectly. You can find decently-priced instruments for learning. Probably not basoons, but fiddles, flutes and guitars no problem. And there's always the trusty recorder for teaching kids musical skills. People here scoff at them, but they come in various sizes (sopranino on down) so you can form a quartet and do some mighty nice music.

When I examine my $300 flute up close I can see the workmanship that went in to it. It's not just a tube with holes in it. The holes are precisely cut and precisely placed. I could not reproduce such a flute for all the money in the world.

[jemtheflute]

Jem - the US minimum wage is $5.85 per hour. Some states have higher (it's $6.50 in Missouri where I live), but our minimum wage is not a living minimum wage.
Eric

Thanks Eric - I had a feeling it was probably going to be a lot lower than European levels - but then I believe US costs of living are proportionately lower. Just for example (multiply by 2 for £/$ or pence/cents) You wont buy any kind of decent house anywhere in Britain now for under about £80,000. A smallish two bedroom house in my (not expensive) area rents for about £450pcm. A medium-sized family car will be from £8-12k for a basic model from one of the mass brands. Motor fuel (diesel/petrol) is nearly £1 per litre. A large loaf of decent fresh bakery bread is about £1 (plastic sliced factory stuff about half that). A pound of salad tomatoes is about 60p in the big supermarkets, a whole cucumber or lettuce about 70p. Onions are about 35p per pound. Half a pound of butter is c70p. A pound of minced beef (not steak!) at the butcher's would be about £2.50. A pint of Guinness in the pub is about £2.60 (half-an hour's minimum wage!) - probably about 1/3rd of that bought in cans from the supermarket. A bottle of the cheapest whiskey or brandy would be about £8. How do those compare? (I'm not suggesting getting off into a general survey here, just an impression based on my examples.)

The UK minimum wage for an average 40-hour working week gives a gross income of a bit over £200, but rather less after tax..... Most folk with a take-home pay under £200 qualify for at least some state benefits!

[sbfluter]

Oh let's not start this! If we're going to talk about the cost of a house where we live, I will win!

[Jayhawk]

Jem - quite a few of the prices you list are very similar. Housing in most cities will cost you about the same (if not more), but there are areas you can get a 2 bedroom starter home for less than $100,000 (where I live, you need a machine gun as a home appliance to live in those areas). My current 2 BR house is in a neighborhood where the sales price is $140K to $150K for similar house. Guiness is $5 per pint in a bar. I do think our produce is slightly lower. Car prices are the same. We pay much less for gas.

Like the UK, most folks working minimum wage jobs are often able to get foods stamps and sometimes free health care from the few free health clinics.

Eric

[sbfluter]

They want almost $1 million for this house in my city:


Nearly a million and a half for this one:


And for this one, too:


Needless to say, I don't own one of these. I do own a sleeping bag and know where I might find some cardboard boxes.

[Ronbo]

Where I live most of the houses still have the wheels on them.