Levys in London

Writer's strike

The writer and reporter at Levys in London relocated to not-so-sunny California last week. Once they find their camera again in all of the boxes they will return with posts, videos, witty insights, and a new title for this blog.

Thanks for your patience.

Why Lowering Taxes Will Not Work (this time)

Fret not conservatives - I too agree that taxes are a disincentive toward the taxed behavior and agree that lowering or removing taxes reduces the disincentive. But not this time.

The UK recently lowered the VAT tax (see this earlier entry for an explanation of VAT) from 17.5% to 15% to help stimulate consumer spending. Here’s the relevant portion of the previous entry for lazy readers:

“The finale is the VAT’s cloak of invisibility as a hidden portion of every final item price, rather than as an added line-item amount at check-out (like sales-tax in America). So, not only do Europeans hear that they are ‘adding value’, they actually never see the VAT at all. Brilliant! I applaud the effort for added consumer convenience of a transparent price rather than calculating 8.75% +19.99 while shopping. But… “

Now, back to the issue of the lowered VAT. As a consumer, I may spend marginally more if I have less overall tax expense. My mother first illustrated this point to me when we visited the Nordstrom’s in Portland (where there is no sales tax). However, remember that in the UK the VAT is included in the price. So this system requires a pas de deux between the consumer AND the business owner who prints the price tags.

Would a rational business owner, say of a Subway sandwich restaurant, reprint every menu and signboard to change the price for a “5 GBP Footlong sub” to “4.89 GBP Footlong” to help that cash-strapped consumer save his extra 2.5%? Doubtful. Instead most businesses simply pocket the 2.5% as profit. Some of the clever stores are offering a line-item discount at check-out to refund the 2.5%, but that eliminates the cloak of invisibility that is the brilliance of the VAT.

Unlike Michael Moore, let’s consider the opposite side. What happens when the VAT rises back to 17.5% (or higher) as it is scheduled to do at the end of 2009. Will businesses raise prices? Will they add a line item of extra VAT at check-out, again ruining the cloak of invisibility and the promise of “what you see is what you pay” price labels? Unlikely. They will probably just keep prices the same (and take a loss) or re-price their entire inventory and menu at a substantially higher price by rounding up to a whole number.

Consumers should know they live in a anti-consumer country when the tax scheme  functions better when the taxes rise.

Six GBP footlongs coming soon.

Instructor of the Jovian Month

Esther is still the ‘Instructor of the Month’ at David Lloyd Kensington Gym.

They must be using a Jovian lunar calendar based on Callisto’s orbit since Esther first took the title about 4 earth months ago and stopped teaching before Thanksgiving.

I still think she deserves it. Too bad the paychecks don’t follow the same schedule.

Unemployed, uninsured, and disconnected

And disconnected hurts the most.

Unlike Hollywood, Levys in London is immune to writers’ strikes. But when British Telecom rips our internet umbilical cord from our loving computer, we cannot provide the witty verses that our 5 readers enjoy infrequently.

Two weeks ago, Esther called British Telecom to notify them of our upcoming move and to stop our phone and internet service on December 15th (a full 10 days after we leave London - we like buffers).

They turned off the phone and internet two days later. And as I learned yesterday (about 8 days after we lost our connection), turning on the internet is much harder than turning it off. For our trouble, they gave us a brand new home telephone number too!

Scarred by big company incompetence, we bought Esther an iPhone over Thanksgiving.

Starting next week Levys in London loses its accents, breaks from the cocoon on the British Isles and reappears as “Levys in Palo Alto”. And thanks to the iPhone will deliver even more photo and video updates - without interruption.

Time for Change - A Plagiaristic Pronouncement

If there are any remaining readers out there who still doubt that Levys In London is relevant; who still wonder how we afford living in Europe; who still question the power of the Slingbox to satiate Dan’s appetite for Stanford sports and Esther’s for dancing shows, tonight is your answer.

It’s the answer told by queues in the UK that are simply too long; by people who wait three hours and four hours, many every single week, just because they want to get some milk at the Marks and Spencer on Sunday morning.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old taxi drivers, many of whom we still can’t understand.

It’s the answer that led our friends and family 4500 miles, fearful, and doubtful that we actually lived in a flat in London large enough to host them.

It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did about a week ago, change has come to the Levys in London.

We recently received a very gracious offer from Facebook. They called to tell me that they are growing, succeeding, and wanted my help. I congratulate them, and I look forward to working with them to help make the world more open and connected.

We want to thank our partner in this journey, a cat who cuddled from his heart and peed on the customs agent upon arrival.  The furry member of Levys in London, Champ the Cat.

Thank you for the inspiration Mr. President Elect.

On December 5th, Levys in London arrives in Palo Alto, California.