With gasoline hovering around $3 bucks a gallon, ground beef at $2 per pound and milk at almost $4 dollars a gallon, it's not hard to see why many Americans have trouble making ends meet.
I did some Googling and realized I'm totally clueless when it comes to guessing what "Expensive" means at the high end:
The Most Expensive House in the World
Donald Trump's French Regency-style estate, which is undergoing the final stages of a massive renovation, includes 475 feet of waterfront, an 18-bedroom mansion, eight-car garage, conservatory, carriage house, guest house and pool house. The most startling aspect of the place, however, is the $125 million price tag, the highest asking price ever for a private residence in the United States, and perhaps the world.
The Most Expensive Automobile
The 1930 Type 41 Royale engine had massive displacement: 12.7 liters (over 700 cubic inches), roughly twice the size of the largest muscle cars from the 1960s. This is still the largest engine of any car ever sold privately.
Equally massive was the 15-foot wheelbase, which stands about five feet tall at the hood. A mere six Royale's were produced and two were never sold. Current asking price: $10.3 million dollars.
The Most Expensive Yacht
At $95.448 million, the Annaliesse is an astounding 280 feet and features a full-service spa, meeting room, dining room, salon, children's play area and a library/theater room with a 100" screen. The owner's stateroom has a king-size bed, a 42-inchTV and panoramic windows that can be covered with a remote control. There are 15 other staterooms (the yacht can accommodate 36 passengers), and many common areas with sofas and armchairs scattered amidst marble columns.
The Most Expensive (and Fastest) Motorcycle
The $150,000 MTT Turbine Superbike is the world's first turbine powered street legal motorcycle in its class, and been recognized by Guinness World Records as the "Most Powerful Motorcycle Ever to Enter Series Production" and the "Most Expensive Production Motorcycle".
Powered by a Rolls Royce Allison gas turbine engine, the SUPERBIKE has demonstrated over 300 hp and been clocked at 227 mph. The bike features carbon fiber fairings, a rear-mounted camera with LCD color display, forward-and rear-looking radar detector with laser scrambler, one touch "Smart Start" ignition, and more.
Most Expensive Golf Clubs
Honma Twin Marks MG-R18 5-Star Amazing Spec. A set of ten irons, three woods, a putter and a staff bag will set you back more than $36,000.
Here's a few other figures I found for comparison.
Worldwide, Malaria causes one million deaths annually. Malaria kills almost 3000 children every day; Tanzania alone will suffer almost 100,000 deaths this year. In the time it takes to read this paragraph, two more people will be dead.
The Tuberculosis epidemic in Third World countries continues 2.2 million deaths annually worldwide.
Leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease spread by the bite of infected sand flies, is more than 90% fatal. In India alone, as many as 200,000 die every year.
Sleeping Sickness, a fatal disease caused by a protozoa transmitted by tsetse flies, threatens 60 million people worldwide.
Two million children die annually from diarrheal diseases, many of them caused by parasites including Filariasis (round worms). It's estimated 25% of the world's population is infected with Ascariasis, an acute intestinal infestation caused by round worms. Once anchored to the intestinal wall, round worms can grow up to 12" in length.
Measles still kills more than 400,000 children annually, lives that could be spared with a simple immunization.
There are hardly any new medicines in the pipeline for diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis. Instead, the drug giants are focusing almost exclusively on the afflictions of the affluent north, according to Médecins sans Frontières.
Their report points out that there are eight new drugs on the way for impotence and seven for obesity.
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