Living Well

Kaya · Apr 29, 2003

I live in Canada and am a Canadian citizen. I lived for several years in NYC and have property in Florida. For me the differences b/w living in the States and Canada are quite pronounced. Canadians love to bitch about taxes, and with good reason...if you're a working stiff there is a lot to complain about. But for anyone with reasonable smarts finding ways to make lots of tax 'advantaged' income isn't terribly difficult. Having said this, any Canadian that has travelled abroad knows how good we have it and we pay our taxes...our complaints usually take the form of angry letters to the editor...
The quality of life issues are subtle in the states and definately depend on where you choose to live. But generally speaking, for all the talk about 'freedom' I'm not entirely sure the US is the most free society. One false move and someone is waiting to sue you. You wanna carry a gun? How 'bout a nice Glock. Get caught smoking pot and they throw you in jail...and don't get me started on the border.
And whats with all the French bashing? This garbage about the French owing the Americans is rediculas school yard stuff. The perception is that the Americans were THE French liberators is an absolute historical inacuracy. The liberation of France leading to a defeat of the Nazis was only achieved with contributions from several Allied forces...and as far as I know the Americans weren't involved in Europe until 1941...2 years after the war started. Perhaps the French will show up in Iraq in a couple of years....

jpomerenke · Apr 29, 2003

wahooo iowa... but yes, brandon is right.... trading here in iowa takes a li presure off the back... rent is cheap....and if you buy..you can find nice houses for cheap.... that the amazing thing with trading...you can live any where...and that is a huge huge edge.

Quote from Brandonf:

I know that when I started out had I not lived where I live there is no way I would have made it. There are still area's in Iowa that you can buy a nice house for $25,000 or rent for about $200 a month. (not where I live, but it is still cheaper here then in most places. ) etc.

Brandon

rlb21079 · Apr 29, 2003

Quote from Kaya:

I live in Canada and am a Canadian citizen.... Perhaps the French will show up in Iraq in a couple of years....

I've never met Canadian I didn't like. Is it the schooling, the water, the meese? Down to earth and sensible - and if it weren't for the minor colloquialism "aye," perfect english. Having speant so much time near Albany I am not sure I could bear the weather though, are there any particularly warm areas? Maybe just a hot spring in your backyard or something... thanks for the post.

RLB

Berliner · Apr 29, 2003

Quote from Kaya:

But generally speaking, for all the talk about 'freedom' I'm not entirely sure the US is the most free society. One false move and someone is waiting to sue you. You wanna carry a gun? How 'bout a nice Glock. Get caught smoking pot and they throw you in jail...and don't get me started on the border.

As you might guess from my nick, I come from Germany, and I totally agree with Kayas opinion. Being a frequent traveller to US and "the rest of the world", what strikes me most is that "the land of the free" has turned into a "land of the fearful", whereas in western Europe, you can enjoy a complete liberal thinking and free lifestyle. I really recommend to just21 (it's his age, I assume) to step over the limitations of his own biased perceptions, which where created assumingly by US mass media (created delibarately to get you trapped in fear and horror, so Mr. Bush and his consorts can handle you better).

And what about economics? Somebody here said something about "participating in the US wealth". What US wealth??? Get yourself a ticket (probably not American Airlines, but Lufthansa, British Airways or even Air France), and see by yourself (if you dare to fly these days, poor guys).

Regards,
Berliner

just21 · Apr 29, 2003

If only the French had let us (the british) know in 1940 they were for dictatorship we could have saved ourselves from bankruptcy and let europe be run by Hitler. Any other British politician than Churchill would have done the deal. The desercration of the British war graves in northern France, recently, didn't go down to well here and will not be forgotten.

rlb21079 · Apr 29, 2003

Quote from just21:

If only the French had let us (the british) know in 1940 they were for dictatorship we could have saved ourselves from bankruptcy and let europe be run by Hitler. Any other British politician than Churchill would have done the deal. The desercration of the British war graves in northern France, recently, didn't go down to well here and will not be forgotten.

that's obscene

Berliner · Apr 29, 2003

just21, you're already an ardent reader of "The Mirror", now can we do something else for you, e.g. sponsoring you a summer university program in history?

Quote from just21:

If only the French had let us (the british) know in 1940 they were for dictatorship we could have saved ourselves from bankruptcy and let europe be run by Hitler. Any other British politician than Churchill would have done the deal. The desercration of the British war graves in northern France, recently, didn't go down to well here and will not be forgotten.

just21 · Apr 29, 2003

I read the Wall Street Journal, the mirror went all serious and left wing about two years ago. Todays required reading is the comment piece in the Wall Street Journal from a Berkely professor, http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB105157855797317100,00.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
I thought that was a liberal institution until I read this comment piece, where he exposes the french/german plan to use the Euro as a second reserve currency so as to lesson the power America enjoys from the strength of the dollar being able to finance very large budget and trade deficits. And to cheer yourself up afterwards read the Richard Littlejohn column in the Sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,43-2003191198,00.html
hilarious.

just21 · Apr 29, 2003

What is obscene about pointing out, that if it were not for Winston Churchill, any other politician who was British Prime Minister at the time e.g Lord Halifax, would have taken Hitler's deal? Britain kept her empire, Hitler kept continental Europe. Would have saved a lot of British lives and money. The world would be a different place today. 60% of the worlds population live in democracy today because of that decision, a great jump from the 1914 figure of twelve democratic countries.

PoundTheRock · Apr 29, 2003

Quote from Berliner:

As you might guess from my nick, I come from Germany, and I totally agree with Kayas opinion. Being a frequent traveller to US and "the rest of the world", what strikes me most is that "the land of the free" has turned into a "land of the fearful", whereas in western Europe, you can enjoy a complete liberal thinking and free lifestyle. I really recommend to just21 (it's his age, I assume) to step over the limitations of his own biased perceptions, which where created assumingly by US mass media (created delibarately to get you trapped in fear and horror, so Mr. Bush and his consorts can handle you better).

And what about economics? Somebody here said something about "participating in the US wealth". What US wealth??? Get yourself a ticket (probably not American Airlines, but Lufthansa, British Airways or even Air France), and see by yourself (if you dare to fly these days, poor guys).

Regards,
Berliner

You would know about fear given your Nazi ancestors. Nice job at Furstenfeldbruck, too. By the way, Germany sucks as a country. The rest of Europe is much nicer.