Desert_Rat
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Posts posted by Desert_Rat
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Canada is not 1/10th the size of America. it's actually larger. As far as admittance into America I don't think we're accepting any more Canadians until our interest in hockey increases.
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Ok, apply, than.
America accepts 3 times more immigrants than Canada, on average.
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Since we're sharing immigration stories on this thread let me share mine as an immigrant to Canada.
In the late 90s my family decided to emigrate. We said to the Canadian government we would like to emigrate to Canada. The Canadian government said ok. We flew to Pearson airport (Toronto). There they stamped our passports and we were in. Once we were in my parents (I was still a teenager) applied for jobs. Jobs were a bit dicey in the beginning but both of my parents found jobs withing 9 months. My mom at a sketchy web design company for $17 an hour and my dad at GE for $20 an hour. Both lost their jobs withing 18 months (recession and everything) and had to start the whole painful process all over again but they found new jobs. Now my mom is lead software architect at a development company and my dad is an engineer at a large auto parts manufacturer. Both make comfortable 6 figure incomes.
Me and my two sisters were educated here and went to university. Our undergrad cost around 5k a year. They were paid by my parents from "general funds". One of my sisters is an accountant with the big 4, the other is a project manager at a large Canadian pharma. After undergrad I did a grad degree at one of those fancy business schools where you have a lot of people are called the III or the IV but my parents didn't pay for that. Today I'm an investment manager.
Me and my sisters all make in excess of 6 figures. We never had to hide from the Canadian equivalent of ICE or INS or from any lettered agency - there was no reason to. The only person in my family that had to work 80 hours a week was me when I worked corp dev and M&A in London and while I feel I was gypped the comp was well above minimum wage.
Compared to other stories posted here mine is down right boring. Maybe it's the Canadian way. But I don't wish to trade places with the other posters and in my family nobody is sorry that we emigrated to Canada instead of the US. Make of this what you wish.
Great story, happy for you and family. I could repeat as my own escaped Nazi ghetto and were equally accepted, but more importantly the similarity is that both asked, both become citizens, and both enjoyed the fruits of their original decision.
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Does Canada still give full pension to people that immigrate? ( like social security + medicare )
Yes and no to your question in parts.
If you are a Canadian resident you get full healthcare (medicare).
In regards to pension not really and I'm not sure they ever did. There are 3 parts. Old age security - this is based on how many years you've lived in Canada between 18 and 65. So if you're Johnny come lately you don't really get much. Second is Canada Pension Plan which is based on payroll deductions - sort of like SS in the US - so if you haven't worked here you don't get any of that either. The third is Guaranteed Income Supplement. This is mainly aid for low income seniors. It is means tested and mainly phased out around 18K global income. So basically if you haven't lived and contributed here you don't really get a pension.
What?? Are you saying that Canada does not offer full social benefits to any Joe Blow who illegally crosses their border? Unacceptable! Where do I go to scream injustice and break windows and stuff like a lunatic?
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America is rich, but americans are poor.
Top 1% owns 35% of wealth; bottom 60% owns 4% of the wealth. It is like calling a dictator run sub-saharan African country rich, where the dictator has billions stashed in swiss banks and rest of the country are having a hand to mouth existence.
Compared to their european counterparts, an average american has a substandard living, lower mobility, poor access to health care, lower life expectancy, higher gun deaths etc.
An average american is just an economic slave with little prospect, no upward mobility, just given a daily dose of American exceptionalism, freedom, guns and religion and gets fucked in every orifice of his body by predatory, rapacious & unbridled capitalism. As an immigrant, I sometimes feel sorry for them. This wont end well in the long run.
This is complete commie hogwash. That the richest Americans exist does not discount the truth that all of 'us' have been granted the ability to become very, very comfortable if we're up to it. I won't condemn those who worked smarter, studied harder or strived for goals far greater than I have had, I'll just feel fortunate to live in a country where what I put in I got out. There are very few places on this globe like that, to find them just Google 'capitalist societies'. You'll find that we're all doing just fine, thank you.
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watt has finally revealed his trump card (no pun intended). im still unclear how things will work out with housing reform, but the path of least resistance seems to be based on letting f&f rebuild capital first and foremost
i suspect that watt has precleared everything with mnuchin. and indeed watt is carrying mnuchin's water at this stage, laying foundation for an administrative solution if congress doesnt act in a suitable fashion
No doubt, but still..
I am looking forward to Bob Corker's reactions tomorrow, guys.
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As an integrator, Apple anything can go to hell. I swear they will either change or go poof, although I haven't had the balls to short (thank god). Do not understand its supporters.
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I posted it because usually we see frontrunners. Not on this news though.
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Pretty expected if you ask me. Maybe not this soon, but this year.
Not a peep:
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BREAKING - Mel Watt would retain GSE earnings to prevent another housing rescue not provoke Congress, @FHFA chief to say. at hearing tomorrow, Watt will contemplate such a move: "FHFA’s actions would be taken solely to avoid a draw during conservatorship. mortgage rates wud soar, markets rattle w/ another GSE draw, Watt to say. "we cannot risk the loss of investor confidence
https://twitter.com/PatrickMRucker
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fhfa-watt-idUSKBN18633I
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This is like asking CNN their views on Comey firing. What they say, believe the opposite.
I don't believe anything that comes out of Carney's mouth, and since the preferred market is dead today I'll assume AIG cases have no bearing on us.
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Except today the divide is far greater, I think. That's probably natural given that 50% of America was served for 8 years their identity politics, cops bad/criminals good, 681 genders, intolerance of opinion, hey, give terror a chance, what's the worst that can happen?; but now the other 50%, those that detest all of that, have the mic. I'll guess that in another 8 years the chart will find center again.
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Anyone who disagrees with the conservative view now gets called a “Leftie”.
Right wing conservatives used to use the word “Commie”.
Given the present administration’s Russian connections that terminology now would seem a bit awkward.
It's really become ugly.
In all my 50+ years I've never aligned myself to a party as I am now. Maybe that's because I've voted Dem more than twice. But all this disrespect and fake grandstanding generated from your side has really got me infuriated, to the point where I swear I'll never vote democrat again. Pelosi, Waters, and their miserable flock of sheep are doing great disservice to this country (see your comment: 'Russian connections') and I'll never forget it.
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All partisan judgements, imo. They are supposed to follow the constitution, not rule on what they think pres was up to. As link I shared shows, they didn't.
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I was in for 4 years of Obama so, yes, I would. I do believe this WH will resolve sooner though.
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Very curious if some of you can humor me-
If Berkowitz, Paulson (I think he only holds a small position now, saw a recent fund filing and it was 3% of the specific fund), and Ackman were not in this investment, would you still be holding the preferreds?
There is no question that it's an input into my decision to hold.
Would make an interesting poll.
As far as me, I think I'd be more willing to trade in and out because I'm aware that without their legal help this story could go on for a long time. They're helping to push the envelope.
But, to repeat, in the end the govt will get this right. I have full confidence in that. Our rights will be respected.
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For the life of me I cannot understand how some people, almost all lefties, see one thing - like an AG undermining her boss - and conflate it into something entirely different. As if there is any possibility - ANY! - she would have done the same if Obama was that boss.
I'll give you that Yates is an exceptionally bright attorney, but what she did was wrong and against the citizens of this country. She's a partisan hack. Good luck to her future chasing ambulances.
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I don't think there's a bad healthcare system in the US. It's just really expensive. But I don't think there's much hope of improving it because of economic and political reasons.
Firstly economic. Healthcare cost is at 17.1% of GDP. But your cost is someone's income. At 17% it's pretty much the biggest sector of the economy and makes a lot of money. This gives it a lot of money and influence. In turn it will use this influence in order to defeat cost controls so it/they can keep making the money.
Secondly political. This is where the public/private ideologies come into play. Because of this when you try to pass something like Obamacare or any other reform it will be heavily flawed from the start because they have to make a lot of compromises just to get it passed. Then the other side will will try its best to make it even crappier so they can get up on a soap box and say "see it doesn't work". Basically healthcare reform fails because nobody wants it to work.
Think about it for a second how messed up the ideologies are. Basically from a pure self interest perspective poor states like Alabama and Mississippi should be all in for cheap gov't healthcare and rich states like New Jersey, California, and Maryland should prefer fancy, expensive private care. However in reality their preferences are completely opposite from their self interest.
Probably because, first and foremost, AL and MS want gov out of citizens business, while in CA and MD it's the opposite.
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Every universal healthcare system I've read of, even those countries whose military budget is almost zero because it leaches its neighbors or NATO's protections, is a healthcare system far worse than what I had available to me 8 years ago. I understand the dilemma with the poor and pre-existing with job loss but I think that should be resolved with Medicaid or SS, even as busted as the two are. What we once had was fine though.
MAGA
Singaporeans live 3 years longer than Americans, spend less than 1/3rd of what Americans spend on healthcare and express very high levels of satisfaction with their healthcare. Wait times in Singapore are also vastly superior to the US. BTW, Singaporeans spend as much on their military in proportion to GDP as the US and also force their young into mandatory service where some of them actually die in training (they run themselves to death).
Healthcare is an input. HEALTH IS AN OUTPUT. You are confusing the two. You can have a space age healthcare system and yet because you order needless tests, over treat, over medicate and don't wash your hands (poor operational effectiveness)...actually make peoples health worse.
Well, I just spent a few minutes seeking a downside to Singapore but can't.
3rd richest country in world
tax rate of 0-22%
corp tax 17%
minute # of poor
apparently, a pretty damn good healthcare system
No clue. Good for you, Singapore!
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One has to hope that just one of these cases being ruled in our favor will set the gears of freedom into motion.
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Why are you not fan of the Canadian system? difficult access? long waits in the emergency room?, long waits for primary and specialized care? others?
The Canadian system has absolutely no price signals and so tends to ration by controlling supply which leads to long wait lines, low productivity and waste.
Mostly the Canadian system suffers from the same problems as the US system except that because we ration our costs are a lot lower. But we still have poor focus on preventative health, physicians in Canada are badly incentivized, treatments often have little scientific basis etc. None of these issues though are as bad as in the US but that's not saying much. Lets provide some statistics:
Canada
average lifespan: 81.96 years
average age: 39.8
heatlh (% of GDP): 10.4%
US:
average lifespan: 79 years
median age: 37.8
heatlh (% of GDP): 17.1%
Singapore
avg lifespan: 82.6 years
median age: 40
heatlh (% GDP): 4.9%
Singapore basically spends less than half of what Canada spends and 1/3rd of the US but outcomes are similar. Canada looks good compared to the US but when you compare it to Singapore you realizes its actually pretty bad. Singapore wait times for instance are much much much much much much much much MUCH MUCH lower than in Canada. Singapore measures specialist wait times in minutes, Canada measures wait times in weeks or months. The only exception to this is emergency wait times where Canadian wait times would "only" be 3-4 times longer than Singapore.
And to give you some idea of how good Singapore's health system is. Singaporeans biggest complaint about their system are the wait times!! So they are basically complaining about something where they are 2 to 3 orders of magnitude better than Canada.
To be honest though given the immense stupidity of healthcare my suspicion is that even Singapore could cut their expenditures in half and improve health simultaneously.
There are as many MRI machines in New Jersey than all of Canada.
Every universal healthcare system I've read of, even those countries whose military budget is almost zero because it leaches its neighbors or NATO's protections, is a healthcare system far worse than what I had available to me 8 years ago. I understand the dilemma with the poor and pre-existing with job loss but I think that should be resolved with Medicaid or SS, even as busted as the two are. What we once had was fine though.
MAGA
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Although it is all mere speculation there may be something to that.As mentioned above all of these white papers maybe completely meaningless with Mnunchin knowing exactly what will happen already just going through the motions.
I believe this is highly likely. After all, one of the first things Mnuchin starts every interview with is "I've followed these companies closely for 30 years..." He might as well say, I'm an expert and don't need help on what to do here but I'm a politician now so I might as well make people think they have input so they can tell their constituents they were involved in the outcome.
when has he started interviews that way? i know he said that at his conf hearing but im not aware of any interviews.
the fact that he hired craig philips and assigned him to housing reform shows he really is exploring all options and isnt wedded to any one path
No it doesn't. All it means is he's confidant Phillips knows his shit and can be helpful.
Originally, when Mnuchin had more freedom and spontaneity to speak his mind he always referred to the GSEs issue as "a fix". How to fix them or even as a "bipartisan fix". I interpreted this as re-regulating them not privatizing them (which may take the government out of the picture completely). If he continues to believe a public-private partnership is the right model, as part of a fix Craig Phillips may be a perfect piece in the puzzle. Again, pure speculation. Since the last share prices run, Mnuchin has abandoned the word fix and replaced it with "housing finance reform". Not sure if he decided to hide his cards to when the moment is right or if there has been a fundamental change.
i like how Howard goes into how we should not try deciphering what Mnuchin says because he has to be PC as honcho.
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As mentioned above all of these white papers maybe completely meaningless with Mnunchin knowing exactly what will happen already just going through the motions.
I believe this is highly likely. After all, one of the first things Mnuchin starts every interview with is "I've followed these companies closely for 30 years..." He might as well say, I'm an expert and don't need help on what to do here but I'm a politician now so I might as well make people think they have input so they can tell their constituents they were involved in the outcome.
when has he started interviews that way? i know he said that at his conf hearing but im not aware of any interviews.
the fact that he hired craig philips and assigned him to housing reform shows he really is exploring all options and isnt wedded to any one path
No it doesn't. All it means is he's confidant Phillips knows his shit and can be helpful.
Why is America so rich?
in General Discussion
Posted
Canada's solution to national defense:
http://media.mlive.com/sportsnow_impact/photo/9235654-large.jpg
J/K :)