weather SUCKS.. the green card thread

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Mad Mike said:
Don't kid yourself, you're paying health insurance -- probably a lot more than $400/month. Forty percent Ontario tax dollars goes to fund public health care insurance. Yes and no. Safer than the GTA, probably not safer than anywhere else in Canada. Like most places in the world you need to know where you are and be mindful of your surroundings. I've lived in Florida, Texas and California -- the areas I chose to live were no less safe than Markham (which is really safe IMHO).Again, you need to know your surroundings. I have friends that lived in Cabo San Lucas, they never felt scared.
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--Not going to deny, you make some good points but...you get chronically sick up here you're not going to be cut off, your rate doesn't rise and nobody says "well you didn't tell us about that so you're not covered anymore". The minute you make a claim in the U.S. you could be paying $700-$1000/month.

--No argument about the GTA, it's super-crowded and super-deadly on a bike. But I'm in Orangeville, a short hop from the hills, lakes and beaches. Rural Texas, Arizona and New Mexico I suppose are okay, but I've been there and the fishing in the desert is tough. Baking in the 105 degree heat is tough too. Camping with the creepy-crawlies can be unnerving too. Black scorpions...yuck.

--I don't want to worry about my surroundings. I want to be able to just go and eff it. A place where I have to worry about going to the wrong place and getting mugged or killed is not for me.
 
Yeah I've been thinking about it seriously too. The US is definitely one option for me. Salaries are higher and the cost of living in Manhattan is comparable to what you'd pay in downtown Toronto (ignoring the exchange rate which won't apply once you're in the country), and the rest of the country is cheaper still, but I'm not so sure I want to live there... the public school system is garbage, people tend to be predominantly uneducated outside of metro areas, and the US is a steaming pile from a social perspective.

I've been contemplating a move to Europe since I already have an EU passport... it has its own problems but it's warmer and I like the lifestyle.
 
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I would move to Spain in a minute. Wonderful country. Good weather year round, nice easy going people, good food and a variety of environments.


Sent from the moon!
 
sburns said:
Not surprising, they seem very much like Ontario, nanny like, which costs money. A few years ago a co-worker told me a family member living in New York was paying something like $16,000 or so for property taxes. I know that is all relative but still seems outrageous.
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Hey, socialism rocks, right?
 
RockerGuy said:
Hey, socialism rocks, right?
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In a lot of instances, it does, yeah. Basically every country that exceeds the US on development, education, life expectancy, and quality of life are all more socialist than the US. You just have a warped view of what socialist is...

Housing taxes are not an indication that you live in a socialist society. NYC and California are just expensive real-estate wise.
 
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I'd love to live in the Bay area (San Francisco/silicon valley).

Been there many times for business trips and I'd say it's pretty nice for riders.

If in tech, there are tons of jobs though living costs are quite high I'm told by locals. Though if you have skills they pay you higher.
 
I’m in Boquete in Panama now by the Costa Rican border. One of the top places in the world to retire to apparently. Year round climate of 24C. Scorching hot sun, 1h from the beach, 2 hours or so to the top of the volcano nearby, $500 US a month is a decent income to live here. If the roads weren’t all mostly ****** it’d be a great place for bikes. As it is you need a bike that will stand up to the conditions for it to be enjoyable for riding. If I go 20 mins upslope on the road the temp drops by 2-4C, downslope it increases the same. At sea level right now it’s about 38C. I flew here so no bike but the KTM would be at home here. I did see a cbr600rr the other day though.
 
jc100 said:
At sea level right now it’s about 38C.
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That sounds like hell to me. I do not handle heat well, and yeah, I know the whole "acclimation" thing, but there's no way I could ever acclimate to that. Riding (much less living) in that sort of heat and humidity is not enjoyable to me - I hate riding in it the few days of year it gets like that up here as there's just no escape from it even when you're riding, it just feels like standing in front of a blast furnace.
 
PrivatePilot said:
That sounds like hell to me. I do not handle heat well, and yeah, I know the whole "acclimation" thing, but there's no way I could ever acclimate to that. Riding (much less living) in that sort of heat and humidity is not enjoyable to me - I hate riding in it the few days of year it gets like that up here as there's just no escape from it even when you're riding, it just feels like standing in front of a blast furnace.
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Last year i did Thailand in May with full gear @46C. Sitting at the lights must be what baking in an oven feels like, but once you`re on the go it was actually pleasant. Walking around and sweating was annoying but as you say, you acclimate.
 
PrivatePilot said:
That sounds like hell to me. I do not handle heat well, and yeah, I know the whole "acclimation" thing, but there's no way I could ever acclimate to that. Riding (much less living) in that sort of heat and humidity is not enjoyable to me - I hate riding in it the few days of year it gets like that up here as there's just no escape from it even when you're riding, it just feels like standing in front of a blast furnace.
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No two ways around it, it’s hot. However at the beach at least there’s a decent breeze and that takes away the humidity a little. In the city it’s a furnace with nasty humidity. Takes me a good few days to get used to it.

Up here in the mountains it’s gorgeous, the sun is still really powerful, got a sunburn in 20 mins yesterday, but the temperatures are really nice and the mountain breeze is lovely. It’s 25 C in the shade today and I went for a 40 min walk to buy some coffee and came back with a bit of a sweat.
 
jc100 said:
No two ways around it, it’s hot. However at the beach at least there’s a decent breeze and that takes away the humidity a little. In the city it’s a furnace with nasty humidity. Takes me a good few days to get used to it.

Up here in the mountains it’s gorgeous, the sun is still really powerful, got a sunburn in 20 mins yesterday, but the temperatures are really nice and the mountain breeze is lovely. It’s 25 C in the shade today and I went for a 40 min walk to buy some coffee and came back with a bit of a sweat.
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Are you vacationing or on business?


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Mad Mike said:
Don't kid yourself, you're paying health insurance -- probably a lot more than $400/month. Forty percent Ontario tax dollars goes to fund public health care insurance. Yes and no. Safer than the GTA, probably not safer than anywhere else in Canada. Like most places in the world you need to know where you are and be mindful of your surroundings. I've lived in Florida, Texas and California -- the areas I chose to live were no less safe than Markham (which is really safe IMHO).Again, you need to know your surroundings. I have friends that lived in Cabo San Lucas, they never felt scared.
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The real numbers, facts not alternative facts....

News flash, the US pays WAY more for healthcare than Canada, way more than just about everyone! But it gets even better!


Numbers per Capita (2016 OECD):

US Government funded portion of healthcare is $4,860 USD
Canada Government funded portion of healthcare is $3,341 USD

WAIT/WHAT! The US Government (tax payers) pays more for healthcare per capita than Canada!


US voluntary funded (insurance, out of pocket) portion of healthcare is $5,032 USD
Canada voluntary funded (insurance, out of pocket) portion of healthcare is $1,412 USD

Anyone with a pay stub knows our system is not 100% taxpayer funded.... dental, private room, etc. otherwise no surprise here.


US total healthcare costs per capita $9,892 USD
Canada total healthcare costs per capita $4,753 USD

WAIT/WHAT! The US tax payers pay more for healthcare (in taxes/deficit) than the Canadian tax payer plus Canadian insurance total and they do not have universal healthcare! Let that one settle in, the US taxpayer is paying MORE per person for healthcare than the total cost for Canada, yet still has to have insurance to get actual healthcare!

The total per capita total cost is double in the US! US is around 17% of total GDP in healthcare total, Canada around 11%...


https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm
The enclosed chart, diamonds are taxpayer funded portion, X is voluntary and circle is total.

How? The US runs 3X the deficit of Canada and has 4X the debt of Canada per capita!
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