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Ok here's an argument...Let's say I don't have kids. Yet I pay tax that contribute to the public schools where I live. Why should my tax go towards kids who are not my own? Bottom line is you won't avoid contributing towards social programs. You fail to realize that your right-wing comrades, as much as they hate to admit it, secretly love the unions and programs. How else can someone afford to live here when getting paid to wash that right-wing Bentley or process their right-wing driver's license renewal (with an Upper East Side address) at the DMV. Enough of the crap already. Republicans love capitalism; they eat it up like candy, and look what it caused. A country run by the 1%, and the other 99% starve. You probably have a bumper sticker that reads "Reaganomics."
This country was so well ran by your lovely Republicans that their own terrorist friends stabbed them in the back with 9/11. They promoted all that "Made in the USA" crap in the 80s, and dont impose any tarriffs. Lol. It should cost me $50-60K to buy a Camry. You go to France, you think you see American cars? Lol. Matter of fact, can you go to any other country and see American cars? Lmao. Please. Nobody wants them. Republicans are money hungry bastards who would slice their own mother's neck for the estate.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
This is Very Well Said Seventh,
It doesnt take a genius to realize that republicans and democrats are two sides of the same coin that has been playing the people of this country for years. The only reason why ANYONE AND I DO MEAN ANYONE would think that they exist to make decisions to vote alongside party lines is because the top 1% (wealthy elite) makes it so with their bribes and pay offs to the politicians, hence giving you the illusion that you can make a difference.
Republicans vs. Democrats, liberals vs. conservatives, black vs white, pro this, pro that, poor vs. middle class = Perfect divide and conquer strategies that help to serve who? Well I need not go any further
I know we all have our dislikes but this is too much. You can spend the same amount of time on CL looking for jobs/apartments elsewhere.
I'm not a fan of where I live now(Columbus,Ohio) but you'll never see me post anything like this on the C/O forum. As a matter of fact when newcomers visit the C/O forum looking for the usual relocation info, I gladly help them with as much info and detailed posts that I can write.
Your disdain for NYC is misdirected disdain for your own life. It's your life, make something happen if you don't like your current situation.
You've wasted a ton of time and energy. I actually feel bad for you.
Most of the stuff that you've listed is out of your control. Why not either focus on making things easier for yourself or move on?
This is just plan and simple foolishness.
This thread has run it's course starting with the first post......it needs to be closed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sterpetron
Here's some interesting facts about this city and state:
1) 35% of the NYC budget is for welfare
2) NYS spends over $52 Billion per year on medicaid, far more than any other state
3) Cuomo the idiot governor just mandated that medicaid recipients can receive their forms in any one of SIX languages other than english - and they are no longer visited by the state to make sure they quality, they only have to write in their assets/income on the forms
4) NYC is estimated to have over 2 million illegal aliens living in the 5 boros
5) over 335,000 people work for the City of NY - a higher proportion BY FAR of employees per population of any city in the country
6) and of course, NYC has the highest combined income tax rate in the country
Given that this city and state are hurtling towards bankruptcy, and I am just beyond fed up with the leftwing, liberal idiocy that passes for government in this city, having lived here for over 40 years, it is long past time to get out.
Any wonder why half of mexico and puerto rico live in NYC, if not to collect the ridiculous welfare medicaid benefits and free housing and schooling for their anchor babies that <I> am supposed to endlessly pay for?
If there is a reason to remain in this rathole, I can no longer think of one.
And I still stand by it. If there was such a demand for American cars overseas then there would be no need to close manufacturing plants...we have the land space and the labor so both of those aren't a problem. Only thing missing is the demand.
I hope you do the research on this one. A cursory Google search turns up plenty of information which may change your mind. Ford alone is releasing 20 new models in Europe this year. They are being built in France, Germany and England.
I'm responding again to the issue of welfare brought up by the OP...I think there's a strong gut reaction on the right against welfare, but again, I don't hear solutions for reforming it. I'll admit, I've personally known few people on welfare, but we did have a tenant who got some form of welfare, and she had to work. I think as long as there's a limit on how long you can receive it and requirements for work, I don't have a problem with it. This tenant's husband was on disability but seemed to have nothing wrong with him. He just played loud music all day and lifted weights. In the morning, he opened the door to let his 6 year old walk to school by himself.
I think disability can really be a scam, but I hear hardly a peep about reforming it. It's sad but I know a surprising number of people on disability for life - this has to be way more expensive per person than welfare. Some people I know have some legitimate health issues and some have totally scammed the system, but of the people I know, almost no one has any issues too severe to totally disqualify them from working (several with health issues work off the books on the side). I think there should be more partial disability or retraining if an injury keeps someone from working in their field, and more monitoring of claims. Perhaps there's more of a stigma against welfare because the stereotype of the typical welfare recipient is someone of color (although I don't know the actual demographic breakdown). Most of the people I know on disability are white.
Sterpetron: I would agree with all those statements, but again, the city has been through similarly bad circumstances, survived and came out stronger. That is not to say that will happen this time, however I see nothing to indicate the city will be in worse shape than any place in the country.
This year is forecasted to have record tourism, close to 50 million in fact. Foreclosures are significantly lower than most parts of the country, the city continues to invest heavily in working/middle class affordable housing, and quality of life improvements like bike lanes, parks, etc. Real estate is slow, but stronger than most other regions as international buyers are stepping in where local buyers are not, and rents are forecasted to increase over last year, with less Landlord incentives, particularly at the higher end of the market.
So while you can paint a doom and gloom picture, which has been painted pretty much at some point every decade since the 1880s, I see nothing to indicate that this time, vs every other time, the city will fall and/or fade from prominence. It continues to attract the best and brightest, has one of the highest educated people in the country, highest salaries, and Bloomberg is pushing a technology corridor to rival silicon valley, attracting companies recently like Facebook and Google to NYC.
I have never been to Germany. As far as Europe goes I have been to England and France and I don't remember seeing any American cars there. That's actually surprising to me since Mercedes-Benz is reknowned worldwide.
Do they drive on the left in Germany?
Does the USA manufacture export cars for left hand driving? I would actually like to dig into this and see what I can find concerning stats.
No country in Europe drives on the left except the UK, Ireland, and Malta.
I live in France and American cars are not that uncommon. Of course French and German cars are the most popular, followed by Japanese cars, but that is mostly because people prefer smaller cars here, and Ford seems to be the only American company that makes cars specifically for this market.
For bigger cars though, and trucks, American cars are pretty common. One of my coworkers has a Dodge Charger and another has a Jeep.
Compare that to say French cars in the US. French manufactures Renault and Peugeot are two of the biggest car manufacturers in the world, and I don't think you can buy any of their cars in the US.
American cars are very popular in China too. In fact GM sells more cars in China than in the US.
I am not sure what any of this has to do with the predicted downfall of NYC though :-P
It doesn't. Seventh just went off on an anti-republican rant that somehow included his false representation of American cars being ghosts on other countries' roads, which was so laughable I had to refute it. Thanks for confirming
Location: where you sip the tea of the breasts of the spinsters of Utica
8,297 posts, read 14,159,764 times
Reputation: 8105
Quote:
Originally Posted by yodel
I'm responding again to the issue of welfare brought up by the OP...I think there's a strong gut reaction on the right against welfare, but again, I don't hear solutions for reforming it. I'll admit, I've personally known few people on welfare, but we did have a tenant who got some form of welfare, and she had to work. I think as long as there's a limit on how long you can receive it and requirements for work, I don't have a problem with it. This tenant's husband was on disability but seemed to have nothing wrong with him. He just played loud music all day and lifted weights. In the morning, he opened the door to let his 6 year old walk to school by himself.
I think disability can really be a scam, but I hear hardly a peep about reforming it. It's sad but I know a surprising number of people on disability for life - this has to be way more expensive per person than welfare. Some people I know have some legitimate health issues and some have totally scammed the system, but of the people I know, almost no one has any issues too severe to totally disqualify them from working (several with health issues work off the books on the side). .....
One of the problems disabled people have to deal with is the fact that disabilities are usually invisible except at certain stages of illness. So the average person thinks, "he is not blind or in a wheelchair, why is he on disability?" But that person may have terminal cancer or multiple sclerosis or schizophrenia, among so many other conditions that don't show except at certain times. No employer wants to hire someone dying of cancer who needs to take off most of the week for treatments or therapy! There are plenty of healthy young applicants, why hire someone with mental illness - which doesn't usually show all that much if the person is medicated, but which may come out floridly under stress (such as social interactions at work).
It's good especially for rightwingers and conservatives in general to understand this. They're the cause of almost all the harassment disabled people get (which is considerable), because they confuse disabilities with obvious, visible handicaps. So they get enraged at someone who is suffering greatly and would rather have a normal place in society than being supported on SSI, and they vent that rage in mean ways.
That's why there's a system in which two independent doctors must show evidence that the person is totally disabled and unable to earn a living on his own. They do need to requalify periodically when they get it. There was a time in the 70s when this system was abused and didn't require as much evidence, but now the situation is reversed: there are many very sick people wandering around homeless because they can't get SSI disability.
Could some of them work full time? If they can, and are doing so, it's against the law and they should be reported. They're stealing money from people who really need it.
Many disabled people could conceivably work a little every now and then, but that simply doesn't match what employers want. They don't want a part-timer who has to take time off even from that for medical or psychiatric appts.
One of the problems disabled people have to deal with is the fact that disabilities are usually invisible except at certain stages of illness. So the average person thinks, "he is not blind or in a wheelchair, why is he on disability?" But that person may have terminal cancer or multiple sclerosis or schizophrenia, among so many other conditions that don't show except at certain times. No employer wants to hire someone dying of cancer who needs to take off most of the week for treatments or therapy! There are plenty of healthy young applicants, why hire someone with mental illness - which doesn't usually show all that much if the person is medicated, but which may come out floridly under stress (such as social interactions at work).
It's good especially for rightwingers and conservatives in general to understand this. They're the cause of almost all the harassment disabled people get (which is considerable), because they confuse disabilities with obvious, visible handicaps. So they get enraged at someone who is suffering greatly and would rather have a normal place in society than being supported on SSI, and they vent that rage in mean ways.
That's why there's a system in which two independent doctors must show evidence that the person is totally disabled and unable to earn a living on his own. They do need to requalify periodically when they get it. There was a time in the 70s when this system was abused and didn't require as much evidence, but now the situation is reversed: there are many very sick people wandering around homeless because they can't get SSI disability.
Could some of them work full time? If they can, and are doing so, it's against the law and they should be reported. They're stealing money from people who really need it.
Many disabled people could conceivably work a little every now and then, but that simply doesn't match what employers want. They don't want a part-timer who has to take time off even from that for medical or psychiatric appts.
I understand your point, but I'm not referring to people with these types of disabilities. Like I said, I know a surprising number of people on disability and know them well enough to know what their issue is. I'm certainly not saying that all people on disability are illegitimate - far from it - but I there are definately abuses going on.
One person I know is on disability for some type of depression issues but she works almost full time under the table as a nanny and has for years. Another woman I know is a very good friend of a friend - she's on disability for back problems but she's well enough to volunteer as soccer coach their children's school (this is a very time intensive activity) and carries on her life quite normally. I know someone else on disability for back issues as well, but she's quite active too and admits that she could work if she wanted to.
I've had back problems for years myself. When I was laid off my doctor asked if I wanted to put in a disability claim! In my instance, back problems are worse if I have to sit all day at a desk, but there are jobs that don't require all day sitting. I could go on if you wanted me to. I'm just saying there are a lot of abuses going on. Since the recession, the number of people on disability has increased greatly. Does the recession really make more people disabled? The problem is that once people go on disability, it's very difficult to move them back into employment. I'm sure many if not most of these people have legitimate health issues, but I'm also sure that many of these issues are not severe enough to impede their working.
My friend (who's friend is the disabled soccer coach) is very conservative. She's a lovely person in so many ways, but when she starts to speak about people on welfare, she gets so angry--she can work herself up to where she's almost shaking. I don't think she even knows one person on welfare (she lives in a relatively well-off area in CT). Her friend is abusing the system - I'm sorry but that's the truth - but my friend continues to feel great anger against the "others".
Last edited by yodel; 10-14-2011 at 11:31 AM..
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