How greedy can they get?.

stevebenaulim

Can anyone find a more expensive shack?.
One beach shack in South Goa (name witheld).
In a area mostly russian tourists.
An aloo gobi 120rp, plain rice 50rp, small kings beer 40rp.
It may not seem too much for the 2 week tourist, but this is crazy.
Maybe, just maybe people will vote on there feet??.
Thx

steven_ber

Exactly, and that's what drives the prices up.

My girlfriend had me feeling awful for arguing about the crazy prices in Calangute (Rs50 for a 500 metre auto ride, Rs30 for a coconut, Rs30 for a shave).

And the 'traders' just say "why do the English want to argue about the prices".

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riws76

I would agree with the traders - there should be a special charge for brits and americans. It is your Bush and his poodle- Tony Blair who are responsible for this mess.

All this price hikes are because of INFLATION which is because of this massive OIL SPIKE (due to iraq mess) and there are poor people who are suffering for this. on top of it all, they get accused of being greedy by the very ppl responsible for this problem.

There was no reason to launch your 'blood for oil' programme in iraq, we all heard of 'freedom fries', now how about some 'freedom money' ?

I know this sounds rude but unfortunately this inflation is affecting many of us middle class guys negatively and it was your greed responsible for it. Maybe you are just a hippie and not responsible for this - but you did vote for Blair, right?

goangoangone

Taxi drivers want to increase fares by 15% because business is down. If they turned their meters on, as the law requires, instead of trying to rip everybody off, people would use them. Travel agents handling UK and Russian business are reporting bookings down 20% for next season. Tourists are not stupid. The greedy bastards here will be taught a lesson. I did not vote for Tony B-Liar.

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skk

I don't carry water for either the US or the UK and I'm vehemently against the US occupation/liberation of Iraq but you have to place Indian Inflation at the feet of those responsible. There are lots of articles out there, full of turgid prose that describe why inflation is happening in India. Here's a quote:

In recent months, the RBI’s scale of currency trading without sterilisation has gone up hugely. Every RBI staffer knows that large-scale purchases of dollars without commensurate sterilisation will bloat reserve money growth and ignite inflation. Why is the RBI doing this? Its dollar purchases are injecting rupees into circulation. This lowers money market lending rates and tends to reduce capital inflows.

In the language of modern macroeconomics, however, the RBI is opting for a pegged exchange rate with a fairly open capital account—thus ceding control of monetary policy. The short-term interest rate is explicitly controlled by the demands of currency trading.

Friday , July 27, 2007
http://www.financialexpress.com/news...olicy/206981/0

I shouldn't, but I will, apologise for the nerdiness and turgidity of the quote but there's really no other way I know of to keep the discussion truthful.

But crudely put, the issue here is the "peg" that the RBI keeps with the US$ - they won't let the currency appreciate.

This can't last of course, not with the way that the US is going totally crazy with govt. debt ( cf - recent unlimited guarantee by the govt, of the debts and stock of the two biggest mortgage banks ).

Many countries have "pegged" their currencies to the US$. These pegs are, IMO, unsustainable and are going to break. To protect myself from the big devaluation of the US$ that I expect, I've examined the multi-currency ETF NYSE:PGD amongst other things.

-skk

pundabee

It is time that IndiaMike creates a prize competition for the most ridiculous posts of the year.

Arguing that all people of group should be punished because one of its members is a crook, thief, law breaker or plain evil is one of the reasons the world is in trouble and why minorities are persecuted.

Also, your complete lack of understanding of economics doesn't help your arguments.

I do, however, tearfully succumb to your concern for yourself and other middle class Indians.

wonderwomanusa

There are so relatively few Americans travelling in India, and with the dollar so low against the rupee, you can hardly blame us for overpaying those rip-off ricksha wallahs.

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batistuta

I have come across different views on the 'spike in oil' but this is easily the silliest one, yet.

I second that. But, I will withdraw my support if you folks start nominating my posts for such a dubious honour.

stevebenaulim

HERE, HERE, I just couldnt think of an answer for this bunch of twaddle.
All because some Goan, wants to rip the tourists off,charging far too much, paying his out of state waiters a few rupees.
Last season i was paying 13 rupees, for my Kings, for the flat.
All long termers know that aloo gobi costs F.A. to make.
just greed.
All because someone (not me) voted for Blaire???:

shashank.aggarwal

So very trues ww, the generalized statement was too much and seems to be a rant rather than a logical point..

However talking about Americans, I agree there might be less travelers, but yes, I do meet a huge number of them, primarily people who are working here.

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shashank.aggarwal

Yes, seriously a silly reason, similar to some people blaming, India and China for the inflation..

batistuta

We are eating too much, Shashank. We need to cut back on rice, according to Condi RICE.

colin c

where we live in turkey has learnt a lesson in this , year before last they pushed prices up , then last year they pushed them even higher , then said where are all the tourists, this year the prices have dropped to what they where 2 years ago , hence the expats are now going out again , and the tourists are comming back and using the bars instead of eating in.
although its too late for some of them as theyve already had to shut down .
the shack we use in candolim didnt increase there prices last year as they felt that the tourists wouldnt put up with it .
so lets see what this season brings, what with the credit crunch etc in the uk , and the visa situation , ive already had 2 friends say they wont be going this year .
colin

Mickey S

If you're paying 13 rupees for a beer then it seems quite reasonable for a bar to charge 40. There's a similar mark-up everywhere in the world (here in the UK a bottle of beer is 90p in a supermarket and £3.30 in a bar).

Another thing that happens all over the world (including the UK) is that people charge whatever they think a tourist will pay. Why should India be any different? It's a free market, and if one beach shack raises its prices to the point where tourists start going elsewhere then things will correct themselves.

Nick-H

Inflation in India is currently nearly 12%. That is going to reflect in prices of goods and services to tourists just as much as it does for everybody else.

It is entirely wrong to blame tourism for that; it is just not going to have that big effect overall if some tourists pay ten times the proper rate for something or give ridiculous tips to drivers.

I am not at all able to argue the influence of the implosion of the American economy, but that it exists is undeniable. The Indian stock exchange figures follow every piece of economic-disaster news to come out of America.

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