Living in the United States

[Locke]

Originally Posted by socalwingfan

I've lived here now for 16 years - all in SoCal. Again, my experience is very different from New Eras. When I first got here, I worked a lot of hours - probably not any different than joining a new company in Canada. I now work 40 - 45 hours a week on average.
As for medical - i get about $200 deducted every check for Medicare and my health coverage of myself and my wife. I get 4 weeks off a year and my sick days are independant of vacation, i have actually never heard of someone having to use vacation days for sick days.
Living in SoCal, I think I do not see the divisiveness that others experience, most of our friends are in the LGBT community and the majority our Latino. The vast majority of th people I interact with are very cool - there are ###### bags all over the world.
We don't have kids, so that is a huge factor, I don't think I would raise children here, just due to the outrageous eductation costs.
Have I heard more gunshots here than I would have in Calgary - sure - but I don't live in fear here

I dont have much to chime in on, but $200 per cheque (<-because I'm Canadian) is ~$400/month for two people presumably between 25-50 years old?

Thats kinda steep man.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont have much to chime in on, but $200 per cheque (<-because I'm Canadian) is ~$400/month for two people presumably between 25-50 years old?

Thats kinda steep man.

How much of your tax per month goes towards our health care that is considerably worse service wise? Also would his $400/month include things you would be paying here anyways as well? Like long term disability AD&D etc..

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I'm seeing a lot of Lousiana, Alabama, Southern US dislike in this thread, which kind of perplexes me. Some of the nicest people I have met in my life are from the South. Just completely genuine people who will go out of your way to help you.

Southerners are good at being fake nice. When we lived in South Carolina (and even when we tell people about it now) we would often hear from others about how nice the area was and how nice the people were. The issue was that when they visited they were tourists staying in nice hotels. So all of the service industry people they interacted with were paid to be nice; their livelihood depended on making the tourists happy.

Once you actually live and work there and interact with 'regular' people in completely normal circumstances, you quickly learn that racism is still alive and well, and that if your family hasn't been in that area for generations that you aren't really welcome.

Having grown up in the midwest, I would pick them as a nicer group of people 10 times out of 10.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Weitz

How much of your tax per month goes towards our health care that is considerably worse service wise? Also would his $400/month include things you would be paying here anyways as well? Like long term disability AD&D etc..

Theres absolutely no way to figure that out which is a huge concern and major gripe of mine.

I'll grant you that having defined medical premiums can be more beneficial than just paying into a nebulous system that is difficult to understand how much you're actually paying and for what.

But our system is socialized medicine, people who are young and rarely using the system are subsidizing those who are old and burdening it. Thats the deal and its more or less 'take it or leave it.'

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

I expect health care, like almost anything else in America, is the among the very best in the world for the 'haves'. The 'have not's'? Not so much

About 4-5 years ago my daughter had a stay in hospital in Denver.

The care was amazing, the bill was jaw dropping. They accounted for every item used.

I should say when she had surgery about 3 years ago the level of care she got at the new Children's in Calgary was on par with what we got in Denver.

[dobbles]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

I have to say my experience is almost the complete opposite of yours in every way. I can't say that state v state politics is even something that has ever crossed my mind or affected me in any kind of way.

Maybe when I started 45-50 hour work weeks were the norm. Now that I am further into my career, I work a pretty flexible 45ish hour week, work from home full time, and have 29 days vacation.

I have Anthem BCBS through work, and in the 14 years I've had it, I've never run into a place that has not taken it. I've had great experiences the times I've needed it. ie getting back surgery, wrist surgery, and a couple other things. They never cost me more than maybe a couple hundred out of pocket in a year. I remember going to my urologist for kidney stones, and was pleasantly surprised they had a CT scan in their office, and took me 15 minutes to go downstairs and come back up and look at the results during my appointment.

Be thankful you have BCBS. My wife has had it at a couple places she has worked and the coverage has overall been pretty good. I have had Aetna and UCH for the last few years and its been awful. They have denied procedures that are recommended by doctors and regularly leave us with very large bills to pay for regular services like pregnancies and physical therapy. Both my wife and I work decent jobs and made good money, so we are OK to handle it, but I can only imagine being less wealthy and having to eat huge bills like we get. My son had to get tubes put in his ears to stop his chronic ear infections before they stunted his hearing. The in and out procedure which saw us at the hospital for a total of 2 hours cost us a couple thousand dollars even after insurance 'covered' it. And while the issue is certainly clouded by price gouging and lack of transparency by medical facilities, insurance companies are just as complicit.

Also, on the states politics issue, it just depends on where you live. If you live in an area where conflicting ideologies border each other it gets ugly. Lots of states that fight with each other on taxing items more or less, allowing certain things that other states don't allow, differing tax structures, etc.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Prime example of that is my parents that I mentioned. Worked their entire life from the age of 14, and now have to pay $700 a month for healthcare off their puny little pension. Meanwhile, my uncle, who is perfectly capable of working but is a useless drunk that has been on and off welfare his entire life, doesn't have to pay a dime for healthcare as the government is picking up the tab because he has no job and no savings. The fact that we provide a net for people like while taking money from people who are on like a 25K year pension is what drives me nuts.

Does that piss you off more or less than the trust fund kids and tax evaders who use all of our public services but don't put a dime into them?

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

I have to say my experience is almost the complete opposite of yours in every way. I can't say that state v state politics is even something that has ever crossed my mind or affected me in any kind of way.

Maybe when I started 45-50 hour work weeks were the norm. Now that I am further into my career, I work a pretty flexible 45ish hour week, work from home full time, and have 29 days vacation.

I have Anthem BCBS through work, and in the 14 years I've had it, I've never run into a place that has not taken it. I've had great experiences the times I've needed it. ie getting back surgery, wrist surgery, and a couple other things. They never cost me more than maybe a couple hundred out of pocket in a year. I remember going to my urologist for kidney stones, and was pleasantly surprised they had a CT scan in their office, and took me 15 minutes to go downstairs and come back up and look at the results during my appointment.

You are exceptionally fortunate then. Your healthcare plan is obviously the Rolls Royce plan compared to what the vast majority of people have access to. I would have to say that you have an employer that is providing benefits well beyond the norm. Your vacation time alone is time is double what the national average is. Did you know that? That in most professional jobs you start out with 10 days per year. After five years you get a little less than an extra week, on average. After 15 years on the job you are likely to be at 17 days. So your 29 days is unheard of.

HTTPS://www.bls.gov/news.release/he's.t05.htm

My only question is, who do you work for and are they hiring?

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Does that piss you off more or less than the trust fund kids and tax evaders who use all of our public services but don't put a dime into them?

Trusts are a form tax evasion? Someone better tell the CRA. I would explain to you the concept of a trust, and the taxation model behind it, but something tells me you A) Don't have the financial acumen to understand it B) Even if you did, would just ignore the facts and twist it to your position anyways.

I'm not engaging in one of your ideological rants.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Trusts are a form tax evasion? Someone better tell the CRA. I would explain to you the concept of a trust, and the taxation model behind it, but something tells me you A) Don't have the financial acumen to understand it B) Even if you did, would just ignore the facts and twist it to your position anyways.

1. He didn't say trusts were a form of tax evasion, he said trust fund kids and tax evaders were two types of people who use public services without paying into them.

2. Explaining in moderate detail how trusts are taxed wouldn't even take more words than... well, the average post by me on this forum. It's not that complicated.

Don't be a jerk.

[GreenLantern]

I really enjoyed Boston in my limited visit, the people were great. Like a New Yorker shell with a Canadian filling. Come off as hard and slightly abrasive, but are actually really friendly, polite and compassionate when you get down to it.

LA was great to but to hot for me, I couldn't do that year round. Fall is my favorite time of the year I could never give that up.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

1. He didn't say trusts were a form of tax evasion, he said trust fund kids and tax evaders were two types of people who use public services without paying into them.

2. Explaining in moderate detail how trusts are taxed wouldn't even take more words than... well, the average post by me on this forum. It's not that complicated.

Don't be a jerk.

Read his posts in other threads. It's not worth the time, and even if it was, it has nothing to do with the thread. You want to engage him, go to the numerous politics threads on the site and enjoy banging your head against a wall.

And yes, implying that trust fund kids don't pay their fair share of taxes is directly implying tax evasion and shows a complete lack of understanding of the mechanics behind a trust fund.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

My experience is limited to the area I live in, but a professional working for a medium or large corporation will likely have better coverage and better experience with health care than they would in Canada, and out of pocket expenses are not really significant. If you care about whether less fortunate people have decent health care (which, it doesn't sound like you do :-) ), then yes Canada's system overall is probably a better system.

But it's not just about caring what less fortunate people have, is it? What if you lose your job, like my brother-in-law who has four kids did? Then something that you never really think about in your life in Canada - how to get and pay for health care coverage - becomes a major issue.

Employees in the U.S. are way too beholden to their employers for my liking. Long hours. Less vacation. Lose not only your salary but your family's access to health care if you're laid off. Any increased income just wouldn't be worth it to me.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

And yes, implying that trust fund kids don't pay their fair share of taxes is directly implying tax evasion and shows a complete lack of understanding of the mechanics behind a trust fund.

Uh, okay, I'm pretty sure all it implies is that they didn't put the money in the trust fund and so any taxes collected as a result of it being used in the trust or distributed to beneficiaries is for all practical purposes tax paid by the settlor. But okay, carry on.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

Prime example of that is my parents that I mentioned. Worked their entire life from the age of 14, and now have to pay $700 a month for healthcare off their puny little pension. Meanwhile, my uncle, who is perfectly capable of working but is a useless drunk that has been on and off welfare his entire life, doesn't have to pay a dime for healthcare as the government is picking up the tab because he has no job and no savings. The fact that we provide a net for people like while taking money from people who are on like a 25K year pension is what drives me nuts.

I don't think you'd like Medicare in the US either then.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Uh, okay, I'm pretty sure all it implies is that they didn't put the money in the trust fund and so any taxes collected as a result of it being used in the trust or distributed to beneficiaries is for all practical purposes tax paid by the settlor. But okay, carry on.

So you want to double tax earned income because it was someone's parents who made the money originally? Exactly as I said, an attempt to get into another ideological discussion.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

So you want to double tax earned income because it was someone's parents who made the money originally? Exactly as I said, an attempt to get into another ideological discussion.

No. I said nothing remotely similar to that. Jesus ####ing Christ, stop building straw men for ten seconds and listen to what I'm saying. The question isn't whether they should have to pay tax on the income more than once. It's what sorts of people are benefiting from the system without contributing to it. That was his only point. I'm now stuck explaining it for the second post in a row, not out of any commitment to his argument but more as a matter of basic intellectual honesty, because you're making a deliberate attempt to avoid understanding.

FML, people are frustrating. Do you not understand how bad it makes you look to double down on your own misinterpretation here? You're not saving face, you're losing it twice over.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Oddly enough, our offices in the US have "unlimited vacation" policies. Basically they say your a professional and as long as you are meeting your client commitments you can go on vacation whenever you want. The problem is though it doesn't matter if you have unlimited vacation if you are constantly busy.

We've talked about it up here in Canada, and we don't think it would work here. Whereas are seems to be too "work" driven, we are on the other end of the spectrum and having such a policy would result in a decline in customer service as "life" comes way before "work" with most Canadians.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

We've talked about it up here in Canada, and we don't think it would work here. Whereas are seems to be too "work" driven, we are on the other end of the spectrum and having such a policy would result in a decline in customer service as "life" comes way before "work" with most Canadians.

We ain't no Europe but we are trying.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

No. Jesus ####ing Christ, listen to what I'm saying. The question isn't whether they should have to pay tax on the income more than once. It's what sorts of people are benefiting from the system without contributing to it. That was his only point. I'm now stuck explaining it for the second post in a row, not out of any commitment to his argument but more as a matter of basic intellectual honesty, because you're making a deliberate attempt to avoid understanding.

FML, people are frustrating. Do you not understand how bad it makes you look to double down on your own misinterpretation here? You're not saving face, you're losing it twice over.

I'm not doubling down on anything. The fact of the matter is that income in a trust is going to get taxed. It may not be in the hands of the settlor, but the government is getting their tax. This whole attitude that kids on the receiving end of a trust fund aren't contributing anything is BS. That's their family, and that's their family's wealth, and the taxes came out of the wealth they will inherit. This whole notion fueled by jealously that there is something wrong with that is the exact reason i've grown a lot more open to moving to the US because Canadian policies are starting to align with that line of thought as we move more and more to a full on socialist society.

There's nothing frustrating about that, other than my line of thoughts doesn't agree with yours. I don't care if you agree with it or not, and i'm not debating it with people like Rubecube. The American system is a pure capitalist system which I like. Some people don't like it. Some people see it as a pro, some people see it as a con. Not going to get into an ideological debate about to fuel another 10 page politics thread with the same 4 people posting that show up in every politics thread.