I am remembering some thoughts I had the other night before going to bed, talking to Laura, and thinking about conversations we had with Iker, Mari Fran, Unai, and Oroitz. We had a great time, working with their computer, fixing it, explaining, all the while speaking (and struggling) in Spanish.
One of the conversations that we got into was about packaging, specifically how stuff is packaged in the U.S. in no less than 13 layers, and how stores are open 24 hours a day. Wow, they said, half in shock at the convenience, but maybe a little incredulous as to why someone would want to shop at 3 in the morning and want to work that hard to get at a Twinkie (which they don't even know anything about anyway).
Mostly stuff here isn't any more expensive than in the States. It varies a bit with certain items, but overall, pretty much the same. Over here, though, they are only open for a short time, everything is closed by eight, and the world doesn't even exist on Sunday. You want to shop, forget it, not even the supercenter grocery stores are open on Sunday. So, if they have shorter hours, that means fewer employees, less overhead, etc, how do they get away with the same prices?
Maybe in America, we do pay more. Interesting thoughts I was having before going to bed, huh? Maybe we pay in ways that we don't even dream. There's a family where both the young wife and husband work. He works nights at the factory, she works in the day as a secretary. Between them they spend a total of an hour and a half together with their child. To make ends meet, they both have to work, live in a poorer area, and pay someone else to raise their kid (or give him to grandma).
We're so production happy, we forget what we're really producing, and why. Oh, no, stop the world, there's a shortage on convertibles. Man, we've got to run that production plant 24 hours a day to keep up with the demand.... I mean, geez, we produce more in the States, than most of the world combined.... but why? What is it we want.
More thoughts. The U.S. is made up of the disenfranchized, the poor, the outcast, the out of the loop. We left our respective countries (or were dragged) to come here with nothing, no friends, little money, only ourselves. Later we would try to prove ourselves to those around us who arrived before and those across the waters. Hey, we would say, we're doing better than you are. Look, you said we'd never make it, but look. And with a collective thumbing of the nose, we produced, and consumed, and produced some more of the biggest, most expensive, most inovative, and plentiful products the earth has ever given birth to.
Now the world is playing catch up. English is the most sought after language here, the most expensive. France only a few miles away, seems to not be as alluring as companies doing business in English. Stop signs say STOP... not halto, or pare, like in Latin America. Commercials mimick those seen the U.S., People are watching more and more T.V., owning more and more cars, and consuming more and more and more and more.
For example, a nationwide T.V. station here CANAL + spends most of it's day as a scrambled signal. It can only be seen if you pay around 12,000 pesetas/month (about $100) to get the descrambling equipment. Well geez, why the hell would they make it so expensive. They could earn tons more money if they lowered the price and put it in everyone's houses.
But here, only bars can afford to subscribe. People, to watch a big futbol game, go to the bar, hang out with their friends, drink a few drinks, and socialize. It's a market that is dictated by the culture. Perhaps the CANAL + people don't have any idea to put it in peoples houses, because that's just not the way it's done... it's not a market where people pay for programming. It's a market for the bars alone.
Now an American company would say, "Geez, that stupid. We could really make some money here." And they'd put cable (or satelite) in everyone's houses, make tons of money, put CANAL + out of business, and the people would eat it up, because now they wouldn't have to go the bar when they wanted to watch TV. People love convenience, and they don't often love things that are good for them.
Bars start drying up, because during normal peak hours, people are at home watching the big games from the comfort of their own living rooms. You would find that bars would go from being one every five or six feet, to being one per block, or one every two or three blocks, and they'd be places you go just to drink and watch Mike Tyson get his ass kicked/or kick some ass.
People would require more munchies and things at home, so more supermarkets would be build, they'd finally get Cheetos here (that's another story), refrigerators would be bigger to accomodate all those things you buy at 3 am. Then the houses would have to be bigger. Instead of going out to change your mind, you'd need more space in this new place that you spend the majority of your time when your not working. Wow, we're gonna have to build some new houses.
SO now there's a building boom. People are employed, (right now unemployment is at 33%), goods are cheaper (we're lead to believe they would be), munchies are plentiful, everybody had two chickens in every pot, two cars, wonderful things... and child care springs up. "What's that!" they would say.
Just you wait.