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No, they don't teach history anymore because the idiots with doctorates in education who are constantly shuffling the curriculum at taxpayer expense watered it down and threw a lot of it out to make the kids feel better. So hopefully the kids feel good because they are for the most part know-nothings when it comes to history and geography.
I have been to Switzerland many times and the only thing good about it is the chocolate. That and marijuana being legal, but it is now legal here so the Swiss have no advantage over us because I can buy chocolate just as good at Macy's, Target, Trader Joe's or Aldi.
The Swiss all live in small cramped apartments. A few live in detached houses (they call them villas) on the outer edges of their cities, but you will never find one for sale for under a million dollars. Here, anyone in the middle class can buy a big house with a big yard. I wouldn't trade my big house and yard for any Swiss lifestyle.
As for feeling secure, I was almost mugged in the center of Zurich on a sunny midday. I would feel safer walking the streets of Detroit, Cleveland, or Baltimore at night.
Sounds like truth instead of liberal hype about small utopian societies offering better ways of life.
Technology and capitalism have made the world a very small place — we have access to virtually everything nowadays. Any good idea in another country gets funneled here to make the big bucks. Most any product can be bought here in equivalency or accessed online.
My parents went from poverty to what amounted to lower middle class in a matter of 15-20 years.
Doing well in THIS country is more often than not a matter of making “not bad” decisions.
That USED to be true. My family did the same thing. My grandparents worked factory jobs and were able to buy a house. All three of their kids went to college. But it's not like that any more. Wages have NOT kept up with the increase in housing, healthcare, and education costs or inflation. People are making less money while the cost of basic things, even food, have increased substantially. It's a formula that makes it substantially harder to get ahead.
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl View Post
Most of the first world feels pity for us, not jealousy.
Exactly!! And I would like to know what those first world countries are and why they feel pity for us.
I have Canadian friends who can't believe that people in the US are waiting in food lines or dying and going bankrupt because they get sick or hurt. Trust me, they pity us.
That USED to be true. My family did the same thing. My grandparents worked factory jobs and were able to buy a house. All three of their kids went to college. But it's not like that any more. Wages have NOT kept up with the increase in housing, healthcare, and education costs or inflation. People are making less money while the cost of basic things, even food, have increased substantially. It's a formula that makes it substantially harder to get ahead.
I disagree. People like Bernie Sanders like to preach this but it’s actually just a cheap attempt at dividing people based on class. The poor and young are constantly preached to about how bad they have it and how voting Democratic will fix things.
I personally piggy backed on my parents success and within 3 generations we went farmers/Appalachian poverty/outhouses (grandparents)....to middle class....to millionaire. My grandparents were born in the 20s so under 100 years from their birth to now — a drop in the bucket historically speaking.
I have Canadian friends who can't believe that people in the US are waiting in food lines or dying and going bankrupt because they get sick or hurt. Trust me, they pity us.
Only those jealous of America with an axe to grind.
I can’t believe people even live in an inhospitable place like Canada.
I don’t think I’ve ever really had pity for people in first world countries — just not a concern. Canadians would be better served directing their pity toward people in countries that actually have it bad.
I have Canadian friends who can't believe that people in the US are waiting in food lines or dying and going bankrupt because they get sick or hurt. Trust me, they pity us.
Is that why 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the United States and we have one of the strongest relationships on Earth?
The Swiss all live in small cramped apartments. A few live in detached houses (they call them villas) on the outer edges of their cities, but you will never find one for sale for under a million dollars. Here, anyone in the middle class can buy a big house with a big yard. I wouldn't trade my big house and yard for any Swiss lifestyle.
And I love how people who claim to be free market conservatives seem to somehow get offended when those free market actions drive up housing costs in areas where the quality of life is seen as being high by many. No, it's not a liberal plot (the restrictive nimbyism that does drive up housing costs cuts across the political spectrum) it's that a lot more people find those kinds of places to live to be more desirable than, say, Tulsa.
I do agree with you about Zurich though. Really the best reason to be there is that you're changing trains to get to a more interesting part of the country.
We have been kicking around the idea of an ex-pat retirement, though definitely in a lower cost location. Largely because retiring to Spain or Portugal could happen 5 or so years sooner than retiring stateside because of the insane cost of health insurance in the 50-Medicare age group if you don't qualify for subsidies.
Is that why 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the United States and we have one of the strongest relationships on Earth?
The 100 miles to the border thing is largely because of climate-you can't farm in many places much north of that because you just don't get a decent growing season, so the handful of people who go further than that are typically in the oil and gas industry or choosing to live a traditional First Nations lifestyle.
And when you get so many cities that close to the border, you get natural movement of goods and people. Do you know how many generations of young adults in metro Detroit took serious advantage of Ontario's drinking age of 19...
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