Europe border each other like states in the US.
You pay in pounds in the UK, they’ll
still accept Euros for now, but they’ll only give you change in pounds. Switzerland uses Francs, they’ll accept Euros as well, but will only give you change in Francs. Denmark uses the Krone, and Sweden uses the Krona. And all this currency fluctuation is housed in a geographical area a lil’ bigger than the state of Texas. So, let me explain this to you in terms
of the US. A family from Nebraska flies into Miami for their summer vacation with $2,000 of American cash and a couple credit cards. They enjoy their first weekend in the South Florida area, and take the $1,200 they have left up to Orlando to go to Disney. But in Orlando they only take UNO, a totally differ- ent form of currency. And the family can ex- change their cash, but for only $995 of UNO. So they do it, and enjoy the Orlando area for a couple days before heading to Tampa to enjoy Busch Gardens. When they get to Tampa, their UNO and American cash are useless – because they use the CAXO in Tampa? And your credit card acceptance rules change in each city. Over time this has to discourage visitors from coming to your area, or country – no matter how beautiful it is. However, the European system of
adding the taxes in all of its retail prices makes for a much more sensible pricing pol- icy for the consumer. So that when a product or service is 10.99, you know that the $11 will cover it. Instead of all the different machina- tions of prices here in the states based on taxes. Especially since most of us can’t count to save our lives. The homeless situation in Geneva was
both very, very sad – and yet odd, too. Their seemed to be a total disdain for the homeless people in the heart of the city center, where we were staying. More than one of the street market vendor thanked me for not giving homeless people money as they approached
me in front of their stands. There actually was not a large population of homeless people like you’d see in an American city. But hell, some of these homeless people were dressed better than
me.They damn sure didn’t look home- less. On my last day in Geneva, a homeless woman approached me outside a grocery store. This was beautiful woman, smelled re- ally good, hair and nails had been maintained – but beggin’ for money? Hell, I thought she was a prostitute. Maybe she was: My French ain’t that good.
I intentionally saved the race issue for
last: I didn’t wanna’ run certain people off. And I’m not gonna’ go all “Malcolm X A” on ya and claim Geneva as my Mecca. But I’m gonna tell it like it T – I – IZ. … And I need my many close non-Black friends to keep in mind that your American experience, andmy American experience are totally different. The fact that I’ve lived in middle class neighbor- hoods most of my life right next door to you, am college-educated, and am married to a pretty popular white woman doesn’t shield me from the realities of being black in Amer- ica. I still get followed around stores, a lot of police officers still see me as threat on first sight, and I still can’t buy a home in certain neighborhoods in this country – even if you endorse me as the perfect neighbor. The fact is, black people in America
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