Free Republic

Some people claim the iPod index tells you more about the economic situation of different countries than the Burger Index or GDP/capita statistics, in fact, some will even tell you it says more about this issue than any other stats available. Anyhow, In this case, what could one possibly make out of the compilation featured in the article below? What does the economies of Brazil, India and Sweden (my home country) have in common? I've heard of research reporting that Sweden is poorer than Mississippi (at least an internet profile like Instapundit - perhaps not the most frequent visitor to...

Little has changed in world purchasing power since 2003, with the exception of perennially expensive U.S. cities like New York and Chicago falling from the top, largely as a result of a weaker dollar, according to Swiss banking giant UBS. Using the Big Mac index, the authors found it takes an average of 35 minutes of work to buy the burger globally, but disparities are huge: ** In Nairobi, 1 1/2 hours of work are needed to buy the burger with the net hourly wage there. ** In the U.S. cities of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Miami, a...