Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Your northeast Texas 200k$ house wouldn't pass any inspection in Europe. Houses are much more advanced here because of the stricter regulation.
Few people do most of your work. Unemployment rate doesn't mean anything if more and more people are sliding out of the workforce. You have so many people willing to work but unable to find anything who are not counted in that statistic.
See, this is what I'm talking about. I'm not sure if you can even get a condo in CA for 200k. Maybe 250k. My great aunt and uncle bought a house in my hometown of Berkeley in the late 60's for 9,500. Recently, they had that house appraised at 1.3 million or something like that and it's a two bedroom family home with a small backyard. Now, to live in a even somewhat decent area (that area is just ok) in many CA cities, a home will run from 700k on up. Now in the interior of the state you can find cheaper housing. Problem there is there are hardly any jobs.
Ok, before you respond, please keep in mind what I find myself repeatedly having to tell you; We do not live in the same region of the country which is specifically why I did not use the phrase "average American" that you just did. I simply said "people". You live in a state where the cost of living is lower. I have seen how what used to be in reach become completely out of reach for most people. Now I don't go around telling you that what you're saying is part fiction (because I can't possibly know that from over here) so please think before you post because you have no idea how things are in a place you don't live.
You seem to have this tendency to not just disagree which isn't a problem in itself, but you have the habit of taking it a step further and attempting to tell others about the reality they know. Now if you were to approach it with "where I am this isn't so much true etc." then it wouldn't seem as though you are arguing just for the sake of it because someone says something you don't understand/agree with which is what you look like most of the time.
I actually do know how things are in places where I don't live, because I have traveled to most regions of the US for business and pleasure repeatedly for decades, and I've lived in several regions of the US as well. And finally, I've worked extensively with employees and employers from all over the US for decades as well.
I am using source after source after source to support what I'm saying (as opposed to relying on personal anecdotes or opinions) and if that approach makes you feel as if I'm "attempting to tell others about the reality they know," well, I'm sorry you feel that way. I see it as putting things in perspective and using objective sources to do so, rather than insisting on seeing things from a very narrow, and personal point of view.
Is it possible for you to keep this conversation on topic rather than making it personal, by the way? You're bordering on being personally insulting and if things reach that level, I'm just not going there.
I think there are around 30 million americans who are really interesting, intelligent and amazing in general. Some of my best friends and my favorite writers are americans. Alas, the other 270 million people are pretty much the dumb and ignorant ones who couldn't ever find themselves on a map. Fortunately, 10% of the population is enough to make for an interesting country.
As of today, I think it is the most influential country in the world. I also despise its role in international relations during the last sixty years, claiming to act in the name of justice and freedom but at the same time promoting and supporting military dictatorships and neo-colonialism. But americans aren't to blame (completely) for the bastards who run their country.
No other country in America (the continent) would ever call the United States by the name "America". We refuse to let them believe that our shared continent belongs exclusively to them. Well maybe Canada does, but I meant countries with character and soul.
And Argentina is such a moral intelligent Country?
No, sorry, I do not trust that you are intimately aware of all US building codes, or that you know more about my country than I do.
Good lord.
At the risk of sounding like an uneducated American, "Dees people be trippin'." I'm just about done here. If they want to believe that the US is a third world country and that we all work 80 hours a week just to be able to afford McDonalds and our lives in a cardboard box, then they can have at it. It really doesn't do a thing to affect my quality of life or my family's standard of living at all.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go finish making my banana nut bread, with organic ingredients that were reasonably priced, and then I'll bake it in the kitchen of my comfortable and affordable home and enjoy a piece of it while I talk to my husband about our vacation plans.
I like my home. But to build a house that big in Europe would be much much more expensive.
From Wikipedia:
Btw do you have single family houses built of stone in America? Here wooden houses are the cheaper ones.
Benicia is not far from where my mom currently lives. So much of that area of western Contra Costa County was built that way. The homes are of lesser quality too than older structures built in better locations. So much of the shoreline around San Francisco Bay up to the delta where Benicia is were landfills and those areas that were developed should have never been. The city of Berkeley turned it's old landfill into a park. Not even businesses were allowed to build there.
I actually do know how things are in places where I don't live, because I have traveled to most regions of the US for business and pleasure repeatedly for decades, and I've lived in several regions of the US as well. And finally, I've worked extensively with employees and employers from all over the US for decades as well.
Good lord, ok, last time then I'm done with you. Travelling someplace and living someplace are two completely different experiences. I don't know why you can't understand that. At any rate, I too have visited places and have worked with many different people from all over the US for decades as well. Doesn't mean I know what they know about day to day life in those places.
Good lord, ok, last time then I'm done with you. Travelling someplace and living someplace are two completely different experiences. I don't know why you can't understand that. At any rate, I too have visited places and have worked with many different people from all over the US for decades as well. Doesn't mean I know what they know about day to day life in those places.
Good lord, ok, last time then I'm done with you too.
Unlike you, I have continually sourced my statements with objective and credible sources that may not always put the US in the most favorable light (because it's not a perfect place), but which support my GENERAL statements that I am intentionally not limiting to my own personal experiences, or your own personal experiences.
I don't think that's too hard to understand and I don't think you're an idiot, so I am assuming that you don't want to acknowledge my true position and therefore are resorting to all sorts of other irrelevant arguments.
So yes, let's please stop talking to each other. I'll start.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
