For the money side of things there is this as a nice overview:
http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3503641
It is surprisingly accurate, considering that we spend about two
times more then last year (housing and feeding more people at a
lower standard). I dont want to have debconfs above the US (price
wise), really, since it is a waste of money which we could use in
other ways instead. like for having more debconfs in an other
location where other people can travel cheaply. Everyone would
win.