Really starting to hate Canada. (houses, movies, high school)
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in america, the things/services that truly enhance your quality of life are very expensive and thus out of reach to too many people. health insurance is the biggest one that many people cannot afford. you can own nice gadgets and have a mortgage on a decent house, but if you get into an accident with no health insurance here, you can lose everything you own in a blink of an eye, if your hospital bills are stratospheric (and trust me, they are. a simple procedure like an MRI can cost thousands of dollars without insurance! imagine something like an emergency surgery ). do not think that because america has cheaper and better gadgets, clothes, car insurance, etc, that it necessarily leads to a higher quality of life. oh yes, and education costs here (post-secondary education) are even worse. im sure you've heard all about it. student debt is a multibillion dollar industry. yo man, i'd rather have lower health and education bills than low prices for dumb **** that really doesnt count much in the end. iphone versus my health - who wins?
im not saying canada is perfect. but from what i can gather, it is probably better to stay up there for now.
in america, the things/services that truly enhance your quality of life are very expensive and thus out of reach to too many people. health insurance is the biggest one that many people cannot afford. you can own nice gadgets and have a mortgage on a decent house, but if you get into an accident with no health insurance here, you can lose everything you own in a blink of an eye, if your hospital bills are stratospheric (and trust me, they are. a simple procedure like an MRI can cost thousands of dollars without insurance! imagine something like an emergency surgery ). do not think that because america has cheaper and better gadgets, clothes, car insurance, etc, that it necessarily leads to a higher quality of life. oh yes, and education costs here (post-secondary education) are even worse. im sure you've heard all about it. student debt is a multibillion dollar industry. yo man, i'd rather have lower health and education bills than low prices for dumb **** that really doesnt count much in the end. iphone versus my health - who wins?
im not saying canada is perfect. but from what i can gather, it is probably better to stay up there for now.
Health care needs to be reformed, but most of the people who can't afford it besides people who live in poverty are the elderly. I'm 22 years old and I can get a great health care plan for only $150 per month. However, if you are 60 years old and have high blood pressure, you will pay around $800 per month for a decent health care plan. Also...if you are sent to the ER, it doesn't matter if you have health insurance or not. Also...if you are absolutely broke, there are public hospitals that will give you care. The whole misconception that if you don't have health insurance and cannot afford a surgery or if you get hit by a bus and you don't have health insurance, you won't receive care is simply false.
I'm a student and honestly, the entire student tuition being outrageously expensive is simply an outrageous statement. If you attend a public university in your home state, the average tuition is around $2,500 - $5,000 per semester. You can also get financial aid, which can pay for most of it...yes even in today's economy. I'm a senior and I don't have a single friend who doesn't receive financial aid. There's a lot of forms, but most get approved for some level of support. Students with ridiculous student debt can (in most cases) only blame themselves because they insisted to go to an out of state university or a private university and thought filling out the information for financial aid was too much work.
If you are smart and a hard worker, I strongly believe the US gives the best shot at achieving wealth. It is definitely not a guarantee, but you have a much better chance than if you lived in France (example). It all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.
even for state schools, the cost is very high because students also have to pay for rent, food, other bills. most schools are not commuter schools either, so the majority of students have to live away from home. california's cost of living is very high even if you avoid shopping, eating out, and other non-essentials. i went to a state university, and i knew many people who struggled to pay "only 2500-5000" every semester because they simply didnt get enough finaid, not enough money from their family, and not enough money from their multiple jobs. then many graduates go onto grad school because that is really only one of the few ways you can increase your chances of finding a better-paying job (if you choose the right career, that is). grad school loans are the real killer.
as for healthcare.. sure, you can go to a county hospital, and the ER has to treat you. im not saying that hospitals won't treat you. i never said that. all i said was it is not free, and it's usually freakin' expensive. the ER will bill you, and it will leave you very unhappy in most cases. even the county hospital will try to get a payment from you on a sliding scale. and just because you have health insurance it doesnt mean you'll get treated for everything. a lot of people get dropped when they get cancer or some horrible disease that costs too much for the insurance company. or the company will pay such a small amount for the treatment, that it is almost useless. if they drop you, can you really pay hundreds of thousands of dollars out of pocket?
**** or get off the pot already. grow some balls and get a real job in a trade. plimber, electrican, welder, hvac. you make way more then working in a ****ty office. you dont have to pay for school and there is not as much need for a gym since you are physically working all day.
ive been a plumber since highschool. i make $35/h, can afford a new car, house. travel...not to mention all the tax free side jobs.
if you get a job that most people cant do. you wont have to leave your country.
mikeont, i think trades are slowly making a comeback.
They are to some degree... in major urban areas where most people are doing white collar work and the cost of living is higher, trade skills are in demand (cause that's not what most people do for a living). They can also charge more for their services, reflecting the cost of operating and living there.
However, they are also highly tied to economic times just like anything else. Since the housing crash of 2 years ago, construction and work on people's homes dramaticaly slowed if not stopped altogether. For example.. so it all depends.
Sometimes where I am a good plumber is worth their weight in gold
Health care needs to be reformed, but most of the people who can't afford it besides people who live in poverty are the elderly. I'm 22 years old and I can get a great health care plan for only $150 per month. However, if you are 60 years old and have high blood pressure, you will pay around $800 per month for a decent health care plan. Also...if you are sent to the ER, it doesn't matter if you have health insurance or not. Also...if you are absolutely broke, there are public hospitals that will give you care. The whole misconception that if you don't have health insurance and cannot afford a surgery or if you get hit by a bus and you don't have health insurance, you won't receive care is simply false.
I'm a student and honestly, the entire student tuition being outrageously expensive is simply an outrageous statement. If you attend a public university in your home state, the average tuition is around $2,500 - $5,000 per semester. You can also get financial aid, which can pay for most of it...yes even in today's economy. I'm a senior and I don't have a single friend who doesn't receive financial aid. There's a lot of forms, but most get approved for some level of support. Students with ridiculous student debt can (in most cases) only blame themselves because they insisted to go to an out of state university or a private university and thought filling out the information for financial aid was too much work.
If you are smart and a hard worker, I strongly believe the US gives the best shot at achieving wealth. It is definitely not a guarantee, but you have a much better chance than if you lived in France (example). It all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want.
I think your comments about the US are right to the point.
If you have a decent job, you are mostly likely given a good health insurance by your employer. On the other hand, if you are a 40 year old uneduated unskilled person without a job or a crappy job, who is to blame that you can't afford expensive brain surgeries? Assuming that you can be a total loser in life and are still entitled to excellent health care is simply wrong and unrealistic. We all need to work hard for that. It is errorneous to think: I am a US citizen, therefore the government is responsible for taking care of me when I am sick; if I can't afford it, there must be something wrong with the country. Why not think more about how come others can get good health care and you are incapable of doing so? Why not think about those people in developing countries who are smarter and work harder and still can't have decent health care?
As to tuition, your comments are quite right. I don't know why people intentionally inflate the US tuition to a devastating level. Many good public universities charge quite reasonable tuitions. Most families should be able to afford a few thousand dollars a year (assuming they have been saving for their kids' education in a responsible way), even if there is no financial aid. If you have to go to those $40K a year Ivy leagues, that's your problem. It is like you are making $30K a year but can't afford a $1million villa. What's to whine about?
Yes, if you are smart and hardworking enough, you have way a lot of opportunties to make a fortune in the US. That's undeniably true. Look at silicon valley, many professionals working there are from poor Chinese or Indian families. Through years of hardwork, they manage to get their Masters's and Phds, make 100K+ a year and have beautiful houses and nice lives. So stop complaining what the country didn't offer you and think more about why others can be successful and I can't!
even for state schools, the cost is very high because students also have to pay for rent, food, other bills. most schools are not commuter schools either, so the majority of students have to live away from home. california's cost of living is very high even if you avoid shopping, eating out, and other non-essentials. i went to a state university, and i knew many people who struggled to pay "only 2500-5000" every semester because they simply didnt get enough finaid, not enough money from their family, and not enough money from their multiple jobs. then many graduates go onto grad school because that is really only one of the few ways you can increase your chances of finding a better-paying job (if you choose the right career, that is). grad school loans are the real killer.
So in 18 years, those parents could not save 2500*8=20K for their kids' college? For crying out loud, that's like $1000 a year. What kind of parents are those? and where have they be spending the money? Plasma TVs? Travel in Spain? Why do they have kids?
Even in expensive cities such as Los Angeles, you can live for under $800 a month, including rent, bills, groceries and everything. I know this because many of my friends have done this. Many American students find it impossible because they think watching those $12 dollars + $4 popcorn movies a week and drinking those $4 cappoccino a day are necesities in life even when you are poor. The fact is, if you cook your own meals every day instead of buying from the expensive food court, $200 a month is enough to cover your food expenses.
Plus you have a part-time job and work hard, it is not that hard to make that amount of money, not to mention students loans are plenty out there.
I am just sick of people who always complain "everything is expensive" and how they can't afford it, when they have not even tried to cut their frivolous expenses and make the best of the money. When you are poor, live like a poor person!
Born and raised in Canada.
I like it. I like the outdoors, the weather, the economy... I just hate its people. Everyone here seems to have an inferiority complex of some sort (especially toward the US) and base their identity on irrelevant stuff like hockey (which is like) or the invention of the telephone.
Canada has a huge idendity crisis which only got worse when the Liberal govt used sponsorships to sell Canada to keep the country together after the Quebec referendum of 1995. They placarded flags everywhere and sponsored embarassing ads like IAM Canadian which almost always includes a comparison with our american neighbors!
So basically, canadians are proud of not being american indirectly because of a province that didn't want to be a part of Canada. Talk about pathetic.
Of course, most canadians don't know that and they keep waving the maple leaf, screaming about how aweseome we are to not be american. Woohoo!
Born and raised in Canada.
I like it. I like the outdoors, the weather, the economy... I just hate its people. Everyone here seems to have an inferiority complex of some sort (especially toward the US) and base their identity on irrelevant stuff like hockey (which is like) or the invention of the telephone.
Canada has a huge idendity crisis which only got worse when the Liberal govt used sponsorships to sell Canada to keep the country together after the Quebec referendum of 1995. They placarded flags everywhere and sponsored embarassing ads like IAM Canadian which almost always includes a comparison with our american neighbors!
So basically, canadians are proud of not being american indirectly because of a province that didn't want to be a part of Canada. Talk about pathetic.
Of course, most canadians don't know that and they keep waving the maple leaf, screaming about how aweseome we are to not be american. Woohoo!
I would move to the U.S. too but just to NYC :-)
I agree about the ever-present "inferiority complex" and constant "I'm not American" attitude, but we can't blame Quebec. "English-Canadians" are descendants of the society established by the United empire loyalists aka the Loyalists of the Am. Rev who literally decided that "we are not American". Their only claim to "being" different was the allegiance to the Queen. Now that the monarchy and "loyalty" is irrelevant, there is little else to differentiate English Canadians from Americans other than being "Not American". It's definitely not the Quebecois who have an identity crisis, but perhaps like you say, the wish to include Quebec in the country which causes an even bigger identity crisis.
My Canadian Studies professor put it bluntly - "Most countries had a nationality first and then a country second - Canada had a country first and tried to form a nationality second".
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