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[QUOTE=Digital Curry]How many of you have ever called your congressmen?[/QUOTE]
I HAVE!!!!!! I wrote to both my senators and to my congressional representative to complain about the new international marriage law called IMBRA.
The response? One senator said the he will address my concerns the next time that bill comes up for debate. The other senator thanked me for writing him and said I was now on his mailing list. My Congressman didn't respond at all.
A citizen's vote doesn't count any more. It takes large campaign contributions to get a pol's attention.
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[quote=george90]i am finding that a substantial problem is infrastructure. i am trying to find a job that can be done over the internet. but many places in la do not have reliable highspeed internet access or reliable electricity. when you live by high-tech, you need an infrastructure that can support high-tech.[/quote]
hi george,
not to be confrontational, but that's the excuse you are using to prevent yourself from actually having to do it, not the real reason.
moving to another country, especially one so different from home can be a huge jump, and many people are afraid to step out of their comfort zone. i know, because i made up excuses why i couldn't do things in the past. just like you, these weren't real reasons, just made up ones. change is scary.
the internet works great in central and south america. banks, electricity, dhl and fedex, all of it works great. some places are better than others, but if you want to make it happen you can do it.
don't talk yourself out of great adventures. you will amaze yourself with what you can accomplish when you have faith in your abilities and allow yourself the chance to make things happen.
good luck.
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[QUOTE=Digital Curry]Amen.
So are we all in agreement that the Bush administration is the worst in history?
How many of you have ever called your congressmen?
Check out the Congress website and put in your zip code and get their phone number and call them.
Don't complain on ISG, complain to your representative.[/QUOTE]
I did that....
I'm also on Sen John Conyers email list...
Haven't sat idle and let the world pass me by, F that...
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Most cities in South America have great broadband internet now, it is the ONE thing you will consistently pay more for, but it's there and it works. Some cities even have 3G networks.
[QUOTE=Elberto]Hi George,
Not to be confrontational, but that's the excuse you are using to prevent yourself from actually having to do it, not the real reason.
Moving to another country, especially one so different from home can be a huge jump, and many people are afraid to step out of their comfort zone. I know, because I made up excuses why I couldn't do things in the past. Just like you, these weren't real reasons, just made up ones. Change is scary.
The internet works great in Central and South America. Banks, electricity, DHL and FedEx, all of it works great. Some places are better than others, but if you want to make it happen you can do it.
Don't talk yourself out of great adventures. You will amaze yourself with what you can accomplish when you have faith in your abilities and allow yourself the chance to make things happen.
Good luck.[/QUOTE]
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Actually, even if you made less money overseas in US dollar terms, your purchasing power in that country would make up for it. Just to give an example, I had a friend who moved to Poland but says his money goes five times further than it did in the Northeast USA. China is supposed to be like that within 15 years, in PPP terms their economy will be bigger than ours but in actual US dollars they will be smaller. There has been a few studies among industrialized countries showing that Americans pay more for a lot of crucial services such as medical care and education and often get lower quality. There are so many college grads in America with debt up to their eyeballs flipping burgers. Get sick in America, you could pay as much as $200 for a routine physical, I remember my insurance company paying my doctor that much a few years ago. Hmm.. maybe I should have became a doctor, think about it, he probably sees 25 to 30 people a day times 200 bucks a visit, well you know.
Its amazing that in a matter of only 5 years, GW Bush has destroyed America's good image around the world. Its going to take a long time for the next President to repair the damage that this clown has done. The rapid drop in the value of the US Dollar should be alarming everyone. This is the downside of the American political system, we have a conservative and a very liberal wing, there is no centrist party.
China and India are going to surpass us not because they are smarter, its because they have more people(2.5 Billion versus 280 Million) and are copying our technologies(thanks to all those good American companies that have outsourced to these countries).
An old friend of mine, his brother got divorced, rather than pay alimony, ran off to China, manages a nail factory, and for the cost of living makes a king's ransom. He is balding, fat, and not good looking yet has plenty of fine Chinese women hitting on him, to them he's Donald Trump, even though back in the US, he is your average working class Homer Simpson. Its possible to live good anywhere, you got to make it happen. Interesting because this guy was a carpenter back home.
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[QUOTE=Elberto]Hi George,
Not to be confrontational, but that's the excuse you are using to prevent yourself from actually having to do it, not the real reason.
Don't talk yourself out of great adventures. You will amaze yourself with what you can accomplish when you have faith in your abilities and allow yourself the chance to make things happen.
Good luck.[/QUOTE]
I know that. It is excellent advice. To some extent I am afraid of failure. I do not want to have to return to the US because things didn't work out abroad. I want the first time to work.
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[QUOTE=CBGBConnisur]China and India are going to surpass us not because they are smarter, its because they have more people(2.5 Billion versus 280 Million) and are copying our technologies(thanks to all those good American companies that have outsourced to these countries).[/QUOTE]
I am a teacher. You are plain wrong! IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE SMARTER!! Or at least because they place a higher priority on education and encourage their children to perform well in school. In addition, the attitude in those countries is that the future of their country depends on the current generation doing well academically so they can compete with the big baddies on the block; the US and Europe.
The attitude here in the US is that we are at the top of the food chain so all we have to do is show up and we win. My foreign born students from ANYWHERE whether it be India, China, Ukraine, Poland, Colombia, Jamaica, or anywhere else, run circles around my American born students. 90% of the A's my students earn are going to the foreign-born students. 90% of the D's and F's are going to the US-born students. To add to the issue, I myself am foreign-born as are many of my colleagues.
I will conceed that part of what I am seeing is due to the type of student who comes to the US for an education. They are far more serious than the countrymen they leave behind. Perhaps the students who stay in their own countries are much less capable and more like the US-born students in my classes.
My point is that US education has taken on an elitist bent where only the richest get the opportunity for a world class education. And then many of them do not avail themselves of it. (Our current President comes to mind.) For the US to stay on the technological, economic, and social leading edge in the world, it needs to educate ALL of the next generation, not just the elite.
CBGB is correct about the numbers. If India and China highly educate just 1% of their populations, that will yield 25 million top workers. If the US does the same, it will yield just 3 million top workers. (US population is now 300 million.) That translates into India and China having 8 times as many top workers as the US, so they will be able to do MUCH more leading edge work and pay MUCH less in wages.
When its time for us to retire, the US may be a third world country.
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One thing I can agree with you on is that these two countries, China and India will surpass the US sometime within the next 15 years. The education systems of both countries are improving, they are using a traditional US model of economic development to improve their financial well being. The traditional American system depended upon industrial growth which today the US economy is mostly service oriented. Both India and China each produce ten times as many science and engineering graduates. The doctor that charged me 200 dollars got his medical degree in India. Too many students in the US as well as other rich countries go to college and study liberal arts. America's economic strength has been based on technology, over the last thirty years the US has been bringing in scientists from other countries. Lately many of these scientists are staying in their home countries. Usually students from more developing societies work much harder than those born in the US and other rich countries.
The sad reality is that come 20 years, the US might be a third world country. Not enough money is being spent on education and other social services, if there are too many poor people, the US like other countries around the world will have serious political problems.
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Hey guys,
I am 19 living in New York City as a student. Any wayz, this is my first "so call report". I just wanted to say hi to all of the wsg members and happy holy days. I have been readin this form past 3 years, and I guess the reality is sinking in for me at this point of my life. So, thank you all, you guys have changed my life. Because of you, i have a new goal and a prospactive in life.
Any way, I don't know if anybody heard about this ladder theory. Its pretty interesting. It just hight lights and yealds on more what you guys have been discussing all along. Here is the website. [url]www.laddertheory.com[/url] or you can just go to google and type ladder theory to check out the site.
Peace
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ladder theory
Hey guys,
I am 19 living in New York City as a student. Any ways, this is my first "so call report". I just wanted to say hi to all of the wsg members and happy holy days. I have been reading this form past 3 years, and i guess the reality is sinking in for me at this point of my life. So, thank you all, you guys have changed my life. Because of you, i have a new goal and a prospective in life.
Any way, I don't know if anybody heard about this ladder theory. Its pretty interesting. It just high lights and yields on more what you guys have been discussing all along. Here is the website. [url]www.laddertheory.com[/url] or you can just go to google and type ladder theory to check out the site.
Peace
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Ladder theory
I had a quick look at it......it appears to be a workable paradigm.
B9k
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SO TRUE regarding purchasing power.
In many Latin American cities, people earn 1/5 or so of what they'd earn here, but things like food, transportation, and real estate cost them 1/10 of what they'd cost here. The only killers are cars (but who the fuck wants to drive in those places anyway?), and phones and electronic type stuff.
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Damn!!
Reading The Ladder Theory was like being tied to a chair in a small room with a grim-looking deprogrammer inches from my face saying: "Son, there are some realities we're gonna discuss. You ain't gonna like hearing it, but it's the truth, and the sooner you accept reality, the better off you'll be. Granted, explaining the Ladder Theory is like KGB interrogation tactics (brutal and simple) but effective. I'd have to say that it is a more extreme view of Doc Love.
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It Is Spreading
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/world/americas/28briefs-ecuador.html?_r=1&oref=slogin[/url]
Ecuador: Woman Selected as Defense Minister
"[T]o promote gender equality".
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I also took a look at the ladder theory website. It seemed to me to be common sense packaged in psycho-babble.
I remember the same thing being explained to me as a teenager as an explanation for why upper class families in India kill their daughters.
WOMEN MARRY UP!!!! ALWAYS!!!! Women must marry into a family that has more money, or more social status, or more power, or more prestige, or more of something, than her own family. When a woman marries down it is a sin against her AND her family. Families that are at the top of society and can't find enough suitable men for upper class women to marry might have to suffer the shame of a daughter marrying down. That is TOO shameful. The family kills her instead.
The same thing goes on here in the US, except we try not to admit it. Women must marry up, so they look for money, alma mater, etc as indicators of higher social status and class.
For a man to get a pretty and loyal wife, he needs to show that he is tops in something, something that that women admires and values. Money helps, though I don't think it always needs to be money. But a man does need to be the Alpha male in something.