How can the Bulgarians afford expensive cars ?

[Longdog]

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Stopped at a roadside bar outside VT on Friday. A black 4wd Merc pulled up & out stepped a large gentleman with black leisure wear ( shinney) and a trophy wife. And a bag.
Two minutes later , another large black vehicle, ditto contents - went to another table.
Five minutes later ditto vehicle, ditto contents, ditto table.
Ten minutes later 3 large gentlemen & their bags disappear round the back, then re-appear minus bags. Collect trophy wives and drive off, all without any sign of knowing each other.

[brianj42]

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Stopped at a roadside bar outside VT on Friday. A black 4wd Merc pulled up & out stepped a large gentleman with black leisure wear ( shinney) and a trophy wife. And a bag.
Two minutes later , another large black vehicle, ditto contents - went to another table.
Five minutes later ditto vehicle, ditto contents, ditto table.
Ten minutes later 3 large gentlemen & their bags disappear round the back, then re-appear minus bags. Collect trophy wives and drive off, all without any sign of knowing each other.

No mystery. Its just the way Bulgarian blokes get shot of their old Bags

[Stone]

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Not entirely the whole answer - a lot of people in the UK earn above the average (about 49.99999% actually)

Wrong math. If A earns 10, B earns 20, C earns 30 and D earns 1000, whos above the average? Btw, UK has the lowest “above the average” number in EU… maybe that’s why so many immigrants seek refuge in BG. I don’t know why they prefer to be called Expats – might be the same reason why Bulgarians buy plasmas and mercedeses

[kempa]

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We were told that a lot of them are hired by the day or week in order to show off - whether this is true or not - don't know - but a police detective friend only earns 370 leva a month...so we have wondered how so many Bulgarians can afford to drive around in these monsters. BTW we are constantly being driven off the road by these 4 x 4 guys because we drive an old Lada....
Kempa

[brianj42]

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BTW we are constantly being driven off the road by these 4 x 4 guys because we drive an old Lada....
Kempa

Kempa

You need a set of Boadicea wheels like these

http://thumb.phyrefile.com/t/th/the_int ... adicea.jpg

[AngloBulgarian]

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Not entirely the whole answer - a lot of people in the UK earn above the average (about 49.99999% actually)

Wrong math. If A earns 10, B earns 20, C earns 30 and D earns 1000, whos above the average? Btw, UK has the lowest “above the average” number in EU… maybe that’s why so many immigrants seek refuge in BG. I don’t know why they prefer to be called Expats – might be the same reason why Bulgarians buy plasmas and mercedeses

Wrong use of - a few of things

a) Math is Maths as we are in Europe not the US - Thank God
b) You are failing to differentiate between Mean, Median and Mode(L) though with a sample income group of close to 50m (uk pop 62.3m less those unemployed less under 16's) the 3 tend to converge and even the gigantic earnings of the very few top (D in your example) fail to make a significant impact on the "average"
c) I hate being called an Ex Pat
d) I guess the reason why most here would prefer not to be called an Immigrant is the generally accepted usage of the term immigrant implies the person in question derives a benefit from the country they are an immigrant in - whereas, like it or not, most people here are of independent means (one way or another) and bring wealth into the country - I (my business) bring 170,000 Leva annually from oversees into BG that is spent with BG businesses, manufacturers and suppliers. I think the UK government would jump through hoops to have a few million - say retired Japanese immigrants to help level the BOTD
e) "Btw, UK has the lowest “above the average” number in EU" - the UK can not have the lowest "above average" NUMBER in the EU unless the UK has the lowest income receiving population in the EU. I guess your trying to point out that the UK has the tightest grouping around the average income and that the vast majority people are on a very similar and very low average income and 1% of the country earn very very much more than "average" - however this even this would need to be expressed in percentage's or fractions rather than numbers.

[MOD]

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Please let's NOT answer AngloBulgarian's post above - it takes us too far away from the topic, which is:

How can the Bulgarians afford expensive cars ?


Thanks. Mod

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

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Re affording expensive cars: I have been told that the EU Regional Development Fund made available very large sums of money to farmers in Bulgaria a few years ago, whether it was just a home hobby farm or a regular farm. Apparently thousands of farmers and others applied for the EU money and got it. The money was supposed to have been used to improve the farm, but I was told by my friend (who lives in a small village in his parent's farm) that most of the people spent most of the money on a new SUV or 4X4... this may explain the inordinate number of posh vehicles around... ??? Has anyone else heard about this?

[scot47]

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The answer is COSA NOSTRA. NASHE DELO !

[thedichingang]

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walk down the 'high street' of most towns/cities and the proliferation of credit firms helps to explain the increase in luxury goods being purchased. consumer demand for cars etc will always be high when the car is 'macho and king' for many Bulgarian men and a status item for women. A few of my Bulgarian friends have 'big' expensive cars and all but one have them on lease, citing the road conditions as a valid reason for doing so. they change every three years or so.
a similar pattern ran its course in UK. some decades ago and NEVER went away!