NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/sci/econ/9914

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 3.1 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Ernst Niebur)
Newsgroups: sci.econ
Subject: Re: US as No. 1 (3 data books)
Date: 27 Jan 1993 10:39:30 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
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     ... And it seems that products and services with
    a decent quality cost more in the US than in Switzerland.
    Moreover, sometimes the US does not offer any products and services
    of quality in some areas (e.g. transportation, banking, breadbaking, ...)
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^
    as does Switzerland.

Ha! Having lived in Switzerland and living now in the US, I feel
competent about this topic. Yes, it is probably true that you get the
(Swiss versions of) croissants and french bread in good quality in
french speaking Switzerland [I say "probably" because I don't like
particularly Swiss croissants, but that is my personal taste, so I
will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that someone raised
on the stuff really likes it and that it is therefore good quality for
her/him]. But the point is that, being German by origin, I sometimes
would have liked a _different_ style of bread, in my case, dark
sourdough.  Would you please point out to me a _single_ bakery in
Lausanne (one of the largest cities in Switzerland) where I could get
this?  Oh, sure, Migros (the largest supermarket chain in CH) has some
packaged dark bread, pumpernickel style (NO sourdough!), thank you
very much.

Here (L.A.), a bit more than 1/3 around the world from Germany, no
problem at all! Lots of German bakeries who bake it fresh, many
supermarkets have it packaged. And, no, this has nothing to do with
this particular kind of bread.  I am sure if you cannot live without,
e.g., Swiss croissants you would have little trouble getting them
somewhere here. And the same is true for lots of other things from
lots of other countries.

Is the kind of bread you eat that important? Not at all, but it is
symptomatic for a difference between the US and Europe: in Europe, you
get (presumably) good quality, but there is very little variation from
the mainstream, tough luck if you happen to like something else.  Here
(US), different grades of qualities (in other words, this includes
crap), but you will find whatever you want.

Oh, btw, saying that products cost more in the US than in Switzerland,
and mentioning food (bread) in the next sentence is utterly absurd.

--Ernst

PPS: As far as the other two points are concerned, I have lots of
problems with banks in _both_ countries. The Swiss public transportation
system is, IMHO, the best in the world.
--
Ernst Niebur                              Phone [phone]
Computation and Neural Systems            Fax   [phone]
Caltech 216-76                            [e-mail]
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA                   [e-mail]