"Dee Dee" > ha scritto nel messaggio
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>
> "Giusi" > wrote in message
>> Only that when takehome pay is about 1000 euro to support a family, 25%
>> rise in the price of the national dish is enough to make you spit.
>>
>> You think 70 centesimi is cheap, but you don't live on that kind of
>> money. It can't go both ways. You can't jack up food prices that impact
>> families when alaries are not and have not in years gone up.
>
>
>
> I completely understand your logic. I understand inflation.
>
> From what I have read, I thought the prices of everything in Italy had
> gone sky-high and Americans living there were almost unable to live on
> what there salary; and my thought is that in American money, 70 euro cents
> is quite reasonable (comparing it to prices here in the U.S.)
>
> Perhaps I only went to tourist places 20 years ago, but I 'seem' to recall
> that a cup of coffee in Italy was more $1US than that then. I was
> wondering why it was less than a Euro now.
>
> If I couldn't afford the cup in the restaurant, I wouldn't be drinking
> coffee outside the home. Do they have thermos' in Italy?
> But, yes, I know, this doesn't really address the problem, but it is a
> band-aid until it gets solved.
> Also I'm glad I can make pasta.
>
> Dee Dee

Prices had been quite stable, it is the dollar that's in the toilet. I now
pay $1.40 for one euro-- they do charge to change them you know. When I
arrived I paid $.82 for the lira equivalent of a euro.

Italian coffee is almost inexplicable to someone who doesn't live here. the
tiny cups taken through the day are part of the social fabric. Espresso
doesn't taste good even five minutes after making it, so even were all
Italians to arrange to meet with their Thermoses in a park, it wouldn't do.
And then what are the bars to do? Close up? Not knowing when, where or how
you took your coffee here means I can't tell what you paid. Sitting down in
a sidewalk cafe costs more. Tourist areas cost more. Also I can't know
what the dollar was worth then, but the euro is 1978 lire. So maybe you
spent more than that on a coffee, but I never have. Capuccino, yes, but
espresso not unless I was in an expensive restaurant or a major tourist bar
like in San Marco at Venice.

Naturally many Italians can make pasta, but they don't make it everyday.
Most Italians work and pasta making is for a day when you aren't out at
your job. Also, if the price is going up because of wheat prices, then
flour will also go up. Eggs are already pricier than the US, as I recall,
costing about 20 to 28 centesimi per egg. Multiply those prices by 1.4 to
get dollar equivalent prices.