@SOedipus said:
I love visiting the United States. Cheap food and in large portions. It's always a treat when we head down there.
You are Canadian? How weird, we say the same thing thing about you folks.
Do you like the United States?
@doomdizzle said:
@Jacanuk said:
@n64dd said:
It seems with the racial divide, people not liking the president on here, and just general disgust it seems people don't like this country.
Do you like it? If so why? Do you not like it? Explain.
According to the far left America is the worst country in the world and should burn in .....
But America is the best country to live in if you are not afraid of hard work and want true opportunities..
According to the far right America is the best country in the world, at everything. Its only for white Christians though.
This is a fun game!
Since White Christians live under the same laws as everyone else, some of which favor minorities, it must be the the White Christian's belief's and how we live our lives that make us believe the United States is the best country in the world.
@jun_aka_pekto: yes
@kittennose said:
@SOedipus said:
I love visiting the United States. Cheap food and in large portions. It's always a treat when we head down there.
You are Canadian? How weird, we say the same thing thing about you folks.
I don't think anyone says Canada has cheap products dude.
@LJS9502_basic said:
@kittennose said:
@SOedipus said:
I love visiting the United States. Cheap food and in large portions. It's always a treat when we head down there.
You are Canadian? How weird, we say the same thing thing about you folks.
I don't think anyone says Canada has cheap products dude.
Prescription drugs?
@LJS9502_basic said:
I don't think anyone says Canada has cheap products dude.
Well, I will concede I was wildly intoxicated most of the time I was there so I am not the greatest of sources, but I also remember being able to casually feed three people bonked out of their minds for about ten bucks. The food was also amazing. I do not think I ate a single thing that was less then outstanding. If I got that cross faded at home I would have to spend a lot more, and I would get comparable crap.
Though to be honest I would say it has more to do with the fact that where I live such little deli places are considered trendy, so a bottle of water can cost you three fifty. If I want to feed three people and only have twenty bucks where I live, it is fast food or bust. That is like what, twenty five dollars Canadian unless the exchange rate has recovered the past couple years? Though we do have the advantage when it comes to Hispanic foods. There is this little Cuban place near me that will feed you until you burst for six bucks, and the food is magnificent.
@n64dd said:
@LJS9502_basic said:
@kittennose said:
@SOedipus said:
I love visiting the United States. Cheap food and in large portions. It's always a treat when we head down there.
You are Canadian? How weird, we say the same thing thing about you folks.
I don't think anyone says Canada has cheap products dude.
Prescription drugs?
You'll find in general medical treatment is less. But I was talking about purchasing things with that big tax hit.
Of course I like it, its the greatest country in the world!
Yes I like it. My experience is different from other people, so I have a different perspective. There is much we take for granted in this country because we live with it everyday.
This country is far, far from perfect, but given the incredible social issues and racial make up of the nation, I dont know of any other country that would be half as far along.
@LJS9502_basic: Beer used to be cheap... Not sure anymore though.
@themajormayor said:
@jun_aka_pekto: yes
.......and despite what occurred in the past, I don't dwell on it. What's done was done long ago. It wasn't just in the US. At the time, Western expansion (colonialism, imperialism, whatever you want to call it) was everywhere: South America, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand.......
@joshrmeyer said:
@LJS9502_basic: Beer used to be cheap... Not sure anymore though.
Beer where? Canada? Not cheap. Wasn't cheap. It's hit with the GST tax or whatever it's called. Been awhile since I've been up there.
@theone86 said:
@horgen said:
@n64dd said:
It seems with the racial divide, people not liking the president on here, and just general disgust it seems people don't like this country.
Do you like it? If so why? Do you not like it? Explain.
For tourists, politics and racial divide does not matter that much. As for living there. Maybe in one of the bigger cities. Given that I have never visited USA it is difficult to say anything actually. Visiting NYC is on my bucket list.
I was thinking of avoiding this hornet's nest, but what the hell, I'm always up for a good kick. I absolutely hate living in this country. Visiting it is probably pretty nice, living here is a different story, and it's not much better in the cities. It's just different. I went to college in a southern town, and a lot of the stereotypes are true. I heard white people drop N-bombs more times than I can remember, the local police were always harsher on the black residents, and we even had the police chief cover up the murder of a person of color. It creates a pretty bad environment where everyone's suspicious of everyone else. I know it was easier for me to live there than it is for a black person, but it's still not my definition of fun.
I didn't see a whole lot of that growing up near a major city, but they have their own problems. Rent is goddamn outrageous. I'm not kidding, it's not unusual for people to spend 70% of their paychecks on rent. You would think all that money would buy decent apartments, but you're lucky if you get a landlord that will fix basic things after you ask nicely several times. In my first apartment one of our pipes busted and they didn't fix it for about six weeks, after it had leaked out into our hallway and started growing mold. At my current apartment I've got a good for nothing handyman who complains nonstop about how everyone makes so much more money than him, but it takes me weeks to get him to do something like replace a busted lock or clean out the storage space they promised me.
And don't get me started on the jobs. People regularly commute well over an hour just to work ten, twelve dollar an hour jobs. It's not abnormal for people to work 60+ hours a week, and they get treated like crap. They get treated like they're pampered when they're working their asses off just to scrape by. Benefits? Medical? Paid leave? Most people I know think these are pipe dreams. They work their asses off just so they can give over half of it away to rent, and most of the rest to buy "generous" medical plans offered through their jobs, if their jobs even have them. Then you have to count in costs of transportation, because there's not a lot of good public transportation outside of the big cities (one thing they have going for them). Owning a car is a necessity for most people, but all the federal licensing, local licensing, maintenance, and gas cuts into the paycheck even further.
Oh, and let's talk about the schools. Let's talk about the fact that they're locally funded, so if you want to live in a neighborhood with good services (parks and the like) you'll probably be paying through the nose in property taxes. The costs of college? The cheap option will be over two grand per semester, and you're likely to run up twenty grand in debt at a state university. You're also pretty much expected to be working at the same time, which means you get to deal with all of the other crap, and watch your money drain into the black hole of American education, and the normal stresses of working and studying. Oh, and the fun part is that if you ever complain about any of this you get labelled as entitled.
Which brings me to my least favorite part, all the jerks waiting to tell anyone complaining about anything how little their opinion matters. You have people using religion to justify all sorts of personal crusades and vendettas, against abortion, birth control, LGBT rights. You get people all over trying to shove their religious beliefs down everybody else's throats. You get people going on rants about how liberals are all part of a secret plot to destroy the country, with liberals in the same damn room. Dylann Roof was not a surprise to me, the surprise is that stuff like that doesn't happen more often. If you go read some stories about the sort of stuff the websites that he frequented said, that kind of rhetoric is frighteningly common.
And you know what, the liberals aren't a cakewalk to be around either. Don't get me wrong, they're much better than the Fox News crowd that acts all surprised at the Dylann Roofs, but then goes around peddling extremism as innocuous commentary. Still, it gets to the point sometimes where they see any sort of disagreement as heresy. The "traitors to the cause" rhetoric scares me just as much as they "traitors to the nation" rhetoric, and they're both way too common.
Long story short, if you live in a place with decent social services, a decent standard of living, and not too much social unrest just stay there. Take a vacation to see the sights, then go back to a country that cares about its citizens.
I have no problem having high property taxes if it means good schools. Pretty much every other country with great social services taxes the hell out of its people. In many country the middle class pays close to 50% but they get good services in return. You can't have the best of both worlds where you pay nothing in taxes and yet have robust social systems. Just doesnt work.
@sonicare said:
@theone86 said:
@horgen said:
@n64dd said:
It seems with the racial divide, people not liking the president on here, and just general disgust it seems people don't like this country.
Do you like it? If so why? Do you not like it? Explain.
For tourists, politics and racial divide does not matter that much. As for living there. Maybe in one of the bigger cities. Given that I have never visited USA it is difficult to say anything actually. Visiting NYC is on my bucket list.
I was thinking of avoiding this hornet's nest, but what the hell, I'm always up for a good kick. I absolutely hate living in this country. Visiting it is probably pretty nice, living here is a different story, and it's not much better in the cities. It's just different. I went to college in a southern town, and a lot of the stereotypes are true. I heard white people drop N-bombs more times than I can remember, the local police were always harsher on the black residents, and we even had the police chief cover up the murder of a person of color. It creates a pretty bad environment where everyone's suspicious of everyone else. I know it was easier for me to live there than it is for a black person, but it's still not my definition of fun.
I didn't see a whole lot of that growing up near a major city, but they have their own problems. Rent is goddamn outrageous. I'm not kidding, it's not unusual for people to spend 70% of their paychecks on rent. You would think all that money would buy decent apartments, but you're lucky if you get a landlord that will fix basic things after you ask nicely several times. In my first apartment one of our pipes busted and they didn't fix it for about six weeks, after it had leaked out into our hallway and started growing mold. At my current apartment I've got a good for nothing handyman who complains nonstop about how everyone makes so much more money than him, but it takes me weeks to get him to do something like replace a busted lock or clean out the storage space they promised me.
And don't get me started on the jobs. People regularly commute well over an hour just to work ten, twelve dollar an hour jobs. It's not abnormal for people to work 60+ hours a week, and they get treated like crap. They get treated like they're pampered when they're working their asses off just to scrape by. Benefits? Medical? Paid leave? Most people I know think these are pipe dreams. They work their asses off just so they can give over half of it away to rent, and most of the rest to buy "generous" medical plans offered through their jobs, if their jobs even have them. Then you have to count in costs of transportation, because there's not a lot of good public transportation outside of the big cities (one thing they have going for them). Owning a car is a necessity for most people, but all the federal licensing, local licensing, maintenance, and gas cuts into the paycheck even further.
Oh, and let's talk about the schools. Let's talk about the fact that they're locally funded, so if you want to live in a neighborhood with good services (parks and the like) you'll probably be paying through the nose in property taxes. The costs of college? The cheap option will be over two grand per semester, and you're likely to run up twenty grand in debt at a state university. You're also pretty much expected to be working at the same time, which means you get to deal with all of the other crap, and watch your money drain into the black hole of American education, and the normal stresses of working and studying. Oh, and the fun part is that if you ever complain about any of this you get labelled as entitled.
Which brings me to my least favorite part, all the jerks waiting to tell anyone complaining about anything how little their opinion matters. You have people using religion to justify all sorts of personal crusades and vendettas, against abortion, birth control, LGBT rights. You get people all over trying to shove their religious beliefs down everybody else's throats. You get people going on rants about how liberals are all part of a secret plot to destroy the country, with liberals in the same damn room. Dylann Roof was not a surprise to me, the surprise is that stuff like that doesn't happen more often. If you go read some stories about the sort of stuff the websites that he frequented said, that kind of rhetoric is frighteningly common.
And you know what, the liberals aren't a cakewalk to be around either. Don't get me wrong, they're much better than the Fox News crowd that acts all surprised at the Dylann Roofs, but then goes around peddling extremism as innocuous commentary. Still, it gets to the point sometimes where they see any sort of disagreement as heresy. The "traitors to the cause" rhetoric scares me just as much as they "traitors to the nation" rhetoric, and they're both way too common.
Long story short, if you live in a place with decent social services, a decent standard of living, and not too much social unrest just stay there. Take a vacation to see the sights, then go back to a country that cares about its citizens.
I have no problem having high property taxes if it means good schools. Pretty much every other country with great social services taxes the hell out of its people. In many country the middle class pays close to 50% but they get good services in return. You can't have the best of both worlds where you pay nothing in taxes and yet have robust social systems. Just doesnt work.
There's a difference between paying high taxes and high property taxes. For one, property taxes affect everyone. Your federal taxes scale with income, but property taxes affect everyone. Even if you don't own a home, you're likely having the cost of property taxes passed on to you through your rent. Though they're often progressive, the fact that renters (usually lower income) end up having the costs of rent for apartment buildings (which are necessarily going to be in higher brackets) passed on to them means they're paying a higher effective rate. It also creates segregation. Better schools means higher taxes which means more demand, which pushes people out of neighborhoods. If you're interested in low taxes and decent non-educational services, good luck. It also means you're probably going to have to commute farther to get to your job, as the well-paying jobs are typically in better neighborhoods which, again, have higher rents. Failing that, you could get multiple poorly-paid jobs to avoid transportation costs just so you can pay the rent on your basic apartment in an isolated and poorly maintained section of town. And this all amplifies existing inequalities so that people without access to decent schools in the first place can't afford to move to areas with decent schools when they have kids, wealth remains concentrated, college degrees remain hard to reach, and you get all the social problems and unrest we have in the U.S. today.
The other option is that we fund schools federally and do away with property taxes that fund education, which would probably mean more disposable income for 99% of the population since it's A. taken from a larger pool and B. progressive and distributed in a way that targets at-need areas.
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