US President Barack Obama called on Congress to approve $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors to make up for no increase in Social Security next year – by law, the Social Security increases are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year, thus Obama is planning to pay pensioners a “bonus” despite the cost of living not rising.
“Even as we seek to bring about recovery, we must act on behalf of …

The United Kingdom is slightly cheaper than an average European Union country, according to European statistics agency Eurostat.
Eurostat compares the price levels in all 27 European Union countries and the United Kingdom scored at 99% – meaning it’s one per cent cheaper than the overall average of the 27 nations.
The most expensive country in the EU is Denmark with 141% of the average, followed by Ireland (127%) and Finland (125). Finland used to be the …

According to Mercer’s recent Cost of Living survey, Japan’s capital Tokyo is the most expensive city for expatriates and Johannesburg is the cheapest; London drops from 3rd place to 16th.
Top 10 cost of living ranking for cities worldwide:
Tokyo, Japan (1st)
Osaka, Japan (2nd)
Moscow, Russia (3rd )
Geneva, Switzerland (4th)
Hong Kong, Hong Kong (5th)
Zürich, Switzerland (6th)
Copenhagen, Denmark (7th)
New York, USA (8th)
Beijing, China (9th)
Singapore (10th)
The period from March 2008 to March 2009 was characterized by important currency fluctuations; in …

London is no longer in the top 50 of the most expensive cities to live in for foreigners, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey by human resources consultancy ECA International.
ECA says that continued weakness of pound sterling over the year has seen costs for assignees coming to the UK fall. “Central London has dropped significantly in the ranking as many Western European and US locations become more costly than the UK,” according to …