Journal 4

The last couple of days have been quite interesting. Two days ago I worked for 15 hours just to write a two page comparative analysis on “Cost of Living” in Europe. Almost all of that time was actually just researching what “cost of living” is and how to implement it in a comparative analysis. It is quite easy to understand what “cost of living” is by its very phrase. How much does it cost to live a certain way; that is all it is. But what about when you are trying to implement a cost of living index for an entire population, or even more, a group of populations? That’s a pain on a whole other level. So many variations must be taken into consideration, one cannot simply calculate a personal expense check-list; said check-list varies for each person. I certainly do not live the same way as Mr. Donald Trump (despite my most earnest day-dreams). And Mr. Trump doesn’t live the same way as the bum sleeping on the street in downtown Manhattan. I took a picture of said bum as I was exiting the New York Public Library about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I was actually envious of the bum, I do love sleeping and it was a particularly sunny afternoon where sleeping outdoors is one of those rare delights for the perpetually indoor bum that I am.

With all this in consideration, once again, I ask the question, how much does it cost to live a certain way for an entire population? The answer, in a limited way, is the use of a consumer price index (CPI), calculating the changes in inflation, documenting said fluxuation, and then comparing it against a certain set of information; this, to some degree, is what I did. Rather, what I did was to calculate the above mentioned information for the United Kingdoms and comparing it to Kyrgyzstan. Doing so I found that, no surprise to those who know much about economics, Kyrgyzstan had a higher rate of inflation. This is not a negative issues, despite the negative connotation that the term inflation bares. The United Kingdoms has reached, some 90% of its potential growth, as such, the United Kingdoms will never see a significantly high inflation rate. This doesn’t mean that the United Kingdoms will not be more influenced by a high (for its own set of standards) inflation rate. Rather, it means that Kyrgyzstan is a young country that has not yet made its stride to economic growth yet, and because of such the rate of inflation is higher.

This has real significance. If Kyrgyzstan can (at some point) reach a CPI standard that can compare with the United Kingdoms, it is conceivable that a country like Kyrgyzstan can see its own potential future. This is something that isn’t even remotely visible in the near future, but it certainly isn’t something that cannot happen. What would be really interesting would be if we could somehow calculate CPI for the United Kingdoms around the same time in its conception as that of Kyrgyzstan in its current state.