Found some pics of the ballers in Singapore..


LINK:
http://autoshow.permaisuri.com/autos...20080626093012

 

Well high prices in Thailand is due to importation tax. Cars here in Thailand are crazy expensive. For example I can buy 1 A4 here and buy 2 fully loaded one in the US.

 

Gotta disagree with your assertion re wealth distribution in the US! Other first world countries (like Australia where I live for example) actually have more *even* wealth distribution across a broader section of the population. The main difference being the lifestyle of the bottom 30-40%. In the US, if you are in the middle class and up then sure things are pretty darn good, and there are more truly wealthy people per capita in the US than just about anywhere else. However, according to your own CIA world fact book (https://www.cia.gov/library/publicat...k/geos/us.html), 12% of the population of the US live below the poverty line (36 million people +) - and this is in the wealthiest country in the world! I'm sure you wouldn't want to try and get by on minimum wage over there....

In Australia, Sweden, Denmark, and many other countries, this official poverty line figure is just about zero. These countries still all enjoy highly developed first world economies with a high standard of living and a strong and broad middle class who earn a good living.

Anyway back to the price of cars, the downside in countries like Australia is that we pay for this slightly more even wealth distribution thing through generally higher taxes than in the US, which include somewhat punitive taxes on items considered/deemed "luxuries" by governments over the years, such as expensive imported sports cars For example in Australia a 997TT currently retails for around US$300k, and 2001 996TTs still go for around US$140k and up (Ie cost of a new 997TT over there!). Luxury car tax + import duty only adds up to 50% onto the landed price of any sports car.

Cheers,

Beej

 

The US is not much different. We just "think" we're wealthy and I suppose many on this forum do pretty well for themsleves compared to the general public.

This is per wikipedia. Pretty startling to say the least!

In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth, and the top 1% controlled 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth.

 

Man that is a supprise (1% control 38% of the wealth)! I guess I didn't look at the number to that extent - I just thought the US has better distribution of wealth then that. I know we are not the best but didn't realize we were in the toilet either.

BTW - in VietNam, some kid pickup a used 2000 Carrera for $165K USD and a used Hummer went for $395K.

 

its true, I guess everything is relative...

 

There was an article in VNN (Viet CNN) about high rollers (VN Playboy google). An Aston Martin Vanquish sells for $700K in Hanoi. And the guy paid cash. I think he was the president of Shisedio cosmetic distributorship. Pretty insane. Actually, a Camry sells for 60K. A SLK350 Merc is like 200K.

 

For those interested in the subject of income distribution, I suggest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient

 

That is why PORSCHE owners here in the US need to appreciate the buying power we have here.

As one of the threads indicated, the average income of a PORSCHE owner here in the US is 120k, whereas in third world or developing countries, to own a my2002 turb, you pretty much have to be a Larry Ellison or Sergei Brin,

God Bless America!!!

 

The redistribution of wealth coming at us = the redistribution of Porsches...

 

that red interior car looks familiar...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...3DA22%26sa%3DN

pic at the top