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Absolutely, when I read that story it makes my insides churn. So much evil propagated from ultra-capitalist US interests. It's in these scenarios where I understand the second amendment. No wonder Colombia went through so much turmoil and Venezuela is the way it is now. There comes a point where the average person just says enough is enough and goes down the socialist route which in its extreme form is yet another cancer.
^Exactly. UFCO was involved in much of the political mess in Guatemala during the 50's . Now Chiquita banana workers in Guatemala and Honduras are still some of the most exploited people on the continent.
That's rich when like 95% of the Latin American cities are just as ugly (and barely functioning, not to mention violent and poverty-stricken) and have next to no capacity of handling any sort of natural disasters (except Chile).
Very few Latin American cities are as ugly as Taipei. There is no point in debating or denying this.
Mexico City got hit with a major earthquake and it was back to normal rather quickly. In fact, in recent times only two natural disasters in Latin America demonstrated any lack of capacity of handling the situation: the earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti and the disaster created by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Haiti is a special case and Puerto Rico´s fiasco had more to do with Donald Trump. Other than that, every other natural disaster that has hit a Latin American city show that the region has a very good grip at handling those events.
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I think most people would take limited statehood recognition over the banana republic mess, out-of-control criminality, outrageous corruption, extreme poverty, and hyper-inflation in Latin America except Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay, and even in those three (plus the US) the crime and poverty level puts Taiwan to shame. The only country in the Americas with comparable poverty rate (one of the lowest in the world) or crime rate (close to Japan's level) to Taiwan is Canada.
More mumbo jumbo from your part.
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Taiwan is cheaper than Brazil (at least Taipei's cost of living is lower than Rio or Sao Paulo's) but the income is considerably higher. Language is a poor argument as most expats in Taiwan get by with very limited knowledge in Mandarin. They don't really bother learning it.
Rio and Sao Paulo are much more pleasant and more beautiful than Taipei. They are also closer to the West and have a Western-based culture, which makes the culture shock much less for Western expats. The standard of living at the income levels most expats find themselves is probably higher in Rio and Sao Paulo than in Taipei too.
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Distance is relative. Latin America is extremey far for Asians and Europeans.
Defintely distance is relative. Here we are in a website dominated by people living in North America with Europe not too far behind. Latin America is close to most would be expats participating in this forum, and many Latin American cities can be reached much quicker than Taipei from Western Europe. Add to that that the cultural distance is also shorter, given that Latin American cultures are overwhelmingly of Western-Christian origin.
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I'm not saying that Taiwan is the best country in the world (because it's not; I don't even like it that much myself) but it's definitely better than every single country in Latin America in almost every single parameter there is, and the HDI reflects it (0.907 as of the latest data; the highest in LA is Chile at 0.843, which would be Taiwan's figure like 30 years ago).
Yet, Taipei has an ugliness level that is not so common in Latin America, plus the Taiwanese live a much more work-focused and highly stressed life. Dare I say it? What the heck, they appear to be less happy than Latin Americans in general. That does makes a difference for many would be expats.
True you make good points, But if the HDI is so high in Taiwan compared to banana republics, why is Taipei so ugly?
Probably because HDI is the geometric mean of life expectancy, mean and expected schooling years, and PPP per capita? There's nothing architecture-related there.
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Originally Posted by AntonioR
Very few Latin American cities are as ugly as Taipei. There is no point in debating or denying this.
Yeah because stuff like this is such a feast to the eyes.
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Other than that, every other natural disaster that has hit a Latin American city show that the region has a very good grip at handling those events.
Or it means that you have a very low standard of what "a very good grip" is. Dozens or even hundreds of deaths under a minor storm is not "a very good grip".
In case you can't find it, the dot of Taiwan is next to DE, aka Germany.
I know reality is a hard pill to swallow.
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Rio and Sao Paulo are much more pleasant and more beautiful than Taipei. They are also closer to the West and have a Western-based culture, which makes the culture shock much less for Western expats. The standard of living at the income levels most expats find themselves is probably higher in Rio and Sao Paulo than in Taipei too.
I'm sure the Westerners are loving the inspired-by-the-West gated communities and armed guards present in all LA countries. And I'm also sure that the state of Brazilian economy is super appealing to the so-called Western expats.
Btw, for your information, Taiwan's total wealth is 4 trillion USD whereas Brazil's is 2.4 trillion according to Credit Suisse and the number of USD millionaires in Taiwan outranks Brazil's by many folds according to virtually all consulting groups; the population of Taiwan is 1/9 of Brazil's. To say less about other smaller LA countries. That certainly reflects the spectacular economic performance of Brazil and all the expats there making big bucks.
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Defintely distance is relative. Here we are in a website dominated by people living in North America with Europe not too far behind. Latin America is close to most would be expats participating in this forum, and many Latin American cities can be reached much quicker than Taipei from Western Europe. Add to that that the cultural distance is also shorter, given that Latin American cultures are overwhelmingly of Western-Christian origin.
These cultural arguments are utter *******s.
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Yet, Taipei has an ugliness level that is not so common in Latin America, plus the Taiwanese live a much more work-focused and highly stressed life. Dare I say it? What the heck, they appear to be less happy than Latin Americans in general. That does makes a difference for many would be expats.
Exactly how many Taiwanese people do you know to make the judgment that Taiwanese people are "less happy" than Latin Americans?
And for a Latin American to point fingers on East Asia about work-life balance is really quite something, as if the working hours were any better in LA.
Very few Latin American cities are as ugly as Taipei. There is no point in debating or denying this.
Mexico City got hit with a major earthquake and it was back to normal rather quickly. In fact, in recent times only two natural disasters in Latin America demonstrated any lack of capacity of handling the situation: the earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti and the disaster created by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Haiti is a special case and Puerto Rico´s fiasco had more to do with Donald Trump. Other than that, every other natural disaster that has hit a Latin American city show that the region has a very good grip at handling those events.
More mumbo jumbo from your part.
Rio and Sao Paulo are much more pleasant and more beautiful than Taipei. They are also closer to the West and have a Western-based culture, which makes the culture shock much less for Western expats. The standard of living at the income levels most expats find themselves is probably higher in Rio and Sao Paulo than in Taipei too.
Defintely distance is relative. Here we are in a website dominated by people living in North America with Europe not too far behind. Latin America is close to most would be expats participating in this forum, and many Latin American cities can be reached much quicker than Taipei from Western Europe. Add to that that the cultural distance is also shorter, given that Latin American cultures are overwhelmingly of Western-Christian origin.
Yet, Taipei has an ugliness level that is not so common in Latin America, plus the Taiwanese live a much more work-focused and highly stressed life. Dare I say it? What the heck, they appear to be less happy than Latin Americans in general. That does makes a difference for many would be expats.
I really liked Taipei and Latin American cities....pretty much everywhere in Asia, and Latin America...is a walker's paradise for those that hate being stuck inside a car on roads.
Lets not go hard on the guy. We must put ourselves in his shoes.
If Taipei looked more like this (Santiago, Dom Rep):
Instead of like this (according to the guy, that´s suppose to be one of the nicest areas of Taipei):
Maybe he wouldn´t be so grumpy. I´m a firm believer that ugly ambiances does impacts people psychologically and when its an ugly city with hardly any paint, it affects the entire populace. Even in the poor areas of many Latin American cities you´ll see more vibrant colors than in dreary Taipei. Heck, in Taipei even the ‘nice’ areas look iffy.
Last edited by AntonioR; 12-28-2018 at 10:57 AM..
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