I think I've Had Enough of America Already

Discussion Open Forum
1

To steal LLary’s thunder…

long story, usual reason…

I think I could stay in America if the following could happen:

–Gas prices went down
–A job with decent benefits
–A FCC ban on reality shows and Oprah
–People shutting up about their results from reading “The Secret”
–Chinese food actually tasted like Chinese food
–Bus ran on time, were cleaned every day, and a ‘no pissing law’ on the trains
–No more nightly news stories about wives gone missing because their husbands don’t know how to file for divorce
–Cheaper cigarettes
–more 7-11’s in my neighborhood.

Culture shock is looking fun right about now…

2

How about the sales tax. The price says $5, but it’s really $5.40. Plus in airports it seems there is some other tax added too. America: land of special fees and taxes. We’re happy to nickle and dime your ass into the poorhouse.
Don’t get me started on the electric bill, or the phone bill or the credit card bill. Too many fees and surcharges with strange names to even mention. No one knows what they mean, we just pay them so we don’t get our service cut off.

And let’s get rid of those big-ass tip jars staring you in face even if you’re just buying a cup of coffee or a plate of nachos. What, I have to give you extra money for doing your job??! I mean, come on, a tip jar next to the cash register? I will tip a wait-person, but darned if I’m tipping someone for standing behind the register, not even making eye contact, then handing me my item without a ‘thank you’.

This was my culture shock upon returning to America from a month in Taiwan.

Oh, and two years ago it was 20 seconds into the Seattle airport and the TVs were talking about where Michael Jackson was, he was supposed to be in court, and no one knew where he was. Oh the horror. All eyes glued. This is news??!

I’m glad I live in Montana, we have no sales tax. And I only tip when they earn it. So I guess I’m OK, I was just taken aback a bit when I couldn’t buy a beer at 7-11 at 2:20am. Oh well. Life is good. This is ‘home sweet home’, right?

Glad I get another break in September. Another month away in Taiwan-my second ‘home sweet home’. Sweet mercy. Back to all that those there like to rant about, but which I enjoy-the bustle, the crowds, the noise.

I guess it’s all just a matter of enjoying what’s different and trying not to frown on the ‘norm’ so much. Enjoy each day. Each day comes around once…

Unlike ‘administration fees’ and ‘application fees’ and ‘wire fees’ and ‘courier fees’ and ‘processing fees’ and ‘flood certification fees’ and ‘underwriting fees’ and ‘appraisal fees’ and ‘credit report fees’ and ‘document fees’ and ‘signing fees’ and ‘credit supplement fees’ …

Yes, all are true and all appear on my latest refinance form for my home. How many pockets do I have on these pants!!!

3

I also find it annoying that all my stops on a regular shopping outing are 20 mins apart so it takes ALL day and $10 gas to do just about anything…

4

Hey Tater!

Just put a can of used butt-wipe paper in yer bathroom and pretend…:smiley:

5

‘no pissing law’ on the trains ???

Maybe Singapore already has a law for that.

6

Welcome back …! :slight_smile:

You must be about the only American woman that doesn’t like Oprah …

7

I visited the States last year and heard lots of people whinging about how high gas prices were, in one case as they left their five litre pick-up truck running outside while chatting for 20 minutes or so.

The higher the better I think. The world won’t end if petrol is extortionately expensive. Literally. People will adapt. Better to adapt to expensive petrol than to adapt to climate change and adapt to cities designed for cars rather than people.

Off topic rant. Sorry.

8

[quote=“Belgian Pie”]Welcome back …! :slight_smile:

You must be about the only American woman that doesn’t like Oprah …[/quote]

Oh I’m not alone…ihateoprah.com

John Moss good rant. Reminds me, how about being able to look for a job without a background and credit check? When I left here, credit checks were for people working closely with money, now it’s for anything. And the shocker-too low a credit and you can be denied a job. :astonished: :loco:

And in Chicago, it seems every month some utility is losing it’s ‘cap’. Electric for years had a cap, but this year it stopped and people’s bills went up 22 % . Now properity tax is next in line.

9

Is gas really that much cheaper on Taiwan?

Okay so filling up a 50cc put-put is not the same as a 20 gallon SUV.

10

Strange observation, but as a kid I remember in the 1970’s during the first real gas crunch people were complaining about prices. The lowest gas price I remember was $0.55 per gallon. Then it went up and my parents were upset. I remember it almost went to $1.00 per gallon. Then I also went grocery shopping with my mom. Milk was like $2.50 per gallon and orange juice was like $3.50 per gallon. I remember thinking to myself as a 12 year old in the '70’s, “glad cars don’t run on orange juice or milk or people would really be pissed”; and that gas isn’t really that expensive, compared to other liquids we buy everyday.

Now things have changed. Milk and oj have gone up with the normal rate of inflation-that is 2-3% per year. What has gas done? Now people are paying almost as much for a gallon of gas as they do for a gallon of milk or oj.

I don’t know why I remember this, just an observation I remember as a kid that is now coming true.

JM

11

[quote=“JOHN MOSS”]"glad cars don’t run on orange juice or milk or people would really be pissed
JM[/quote]

According to the news tonight, that’s exactly the problem. The price of corn is high because of high demand for ethenol and reduced crop production due to cold weather.

What I can’t stand the most about the U.S. of A. (I’m in Arkansas) is that no one has any sense of anything beyond the area between them and wal-mart. And the other thing I hate the most is the sense of entitlement that everyone here seems to have. And the OTHER thing I hate the most is all the damn “news” reporting on what the hell is happening on American Idol, and how when I complain about this, explaining that there are many more important, indeed real, things going on around the world, even in our own back damn yards, that might actually be useful knowledge, people say I’m being crabby and explain to me how everyone needs some down time; they need something they don’t have to think about. And then I say something like poeple obviously already have their children for something not to think about, and how this “news” is dumbing the hell out of most of the population and then I don’t win the next popularity contest. But it true, damn it! People here simply do not think for themselves, or for their children, much any more.

Whew!! Ahhhh. That’s been in me for a while.

12

In Taiwan some mineral water is more expensive than gas …

13

Same in the US. Beer is also.
But gas prices are climbing again in the USA.
In California its around US$3.00+ per gallon for regular.

I was paying US$7.50 to $8.50 per gallon of beer for Sierra Nevada Pale Ale if I supplied the gallon jug. And that was one heck of a good deal.

14

I hear you. I have been pretty dismayed in my recent trips to the States.

I have an anti-Robert Mugabe t-shirt. My friends told me I shouldn’t wear it, because “it makes fun of black people”. I told them it was an anti-Mugabe t-shirt and they were like, “Who’s that”?

Everyone’s lives revolve around cable television and credit ratings. I have been told I am anti-American for never subscribing to cable.

I am appalled to see my brother and parents drive to the supermarket on a perfectly clear day to buy a can of soda. The supermarket is two blocks away.

I know people who are candidates for welfare but can’t seem to think to try a thermos of coffee instead of a daily $4 coffee from Starbucks.

It seems the only vacation options are Las Vegas or camping. Maybe Hawaii or Florida if you are lucky.

The airplanes are about as smelly and filthy as third-world trains.

I have to laugh when I hear American politicians talk about the U.S. as the greatest country in the world.
:help:

15

[quote=“JOHN MOSS”]Strange observation, but as a kid I remember in the 1970’s during the first real gas crunch people were complaining about prices. The lowest gas price I remember was $0.55 per gallon. Then it went up and my parents were upset. I remember it almost went to $1.00 per gallon. Then I also went grocery shopping with my mom. Milk was like $2.50 per gallon and orange juice was like $3.50 per gallon. I remember thinking to myself as a 12 year old in the '70’s, “glad cars don’t run on orange juice or milk or people would really be pissed”; and that gas isn’t really that expensive, compared to other liquids we buy everyday.

Now things have changed. Milk and oj have gone up with the normal rate of inflation-that is 2-3% per year. What has gas done? Now people are paying almost as much for a gallon of gas as they do for a gallon of milk or oj.

I don’t know why I remember this, just an observation I remember as a kid that is now coming true.

JM[/quote]

most people don’t consume 40 gallons of OJ per every four or five days. :laughing:

16

Yeah, I went without a TV for years in the States, and didn’t know who Seinfeld was. My family thought I was nuts, but my quality of life was much better, IMO.

And they charge you for drinks.

That makes me sick too. It’s such an ignorant, arrogant thing to say.

17

my sister,
you need to live OFF THE GRID. find a way to not have to depend on “the system”. i’d rather see you go get a vendor’s licnese and run your own hotdog stand than work at Target or one of those places. you’ve got to find a way to be independent from the whole thing because electricity and water and telephone companies will bankrupt you.

some ways:
home phone: don’t need it. buy a cell at walmarts with a card in it. better, use Skype.

water: if you live in the suburbs and you have rainfall, you’re wasting God’s precious resource if YOU DON’T COLLECT IT! i’ve seen 100 to 500 gallon palstic containers. drop a water stabilizer in it. make sure it’s higher than your faucets and you have (literally) running water.

electricity: make use of natural lighting. buy a solor panel for your computer. i’ve seen one that’s supposed to be really good.

hotwater: ever seen a camp shower? it’s a black bag with a nozzle. it absorbs heat from direct sunlight. better: do a japanese style bath. heat up some water in a coffee pot , pour that in some cool water, use a ladle to wash with.

eating : NEVER eat out. one dish meals like pasta with veggies sirred in.

screw the system. ran can live without ever hooking up the electricity.

america could care less about people earning less than 30,000Us a year. it’s not hard to go from 30,000 a year to 40 or 50,000 a year, but to go from 15,000 to 30,000 , you have to move heaven and earth. america WANTS an underclass.
so you can’t let them beat you. kick ass and fight back by REFUSING to buy into the system of dependence (the light, gas, water, telephone companies).

18

OP, are you back in your home counrty and feeling blue?

You may have reverse culture shock. international.missouri.edu/study … home.shtml

Don’t be sad. It just proves you are normal.

19

ran the man your post sounds like The Unibomber’s manifesto.

20

Well, Jack Burton,

With 5 kids in 1976 ranging in age from 5 to 13, plus the neighbor kids (yes, my home was one of those where the kids all gathered after school or on the weekends, and consumed everything in sight), it was pretty darn close. Even though we had a big-ass pontiac station wagon, we didn’t go through 40 gallons of gas even in a month.

Keeping the 5 growing kids fed was enough. The consumed gallons of milk and oj was probably the same (not to mention the box of cereal that was good for one brief sitting) as the car consumed gasoline. My dad walked to work as it was about 1 mile. We drove mainly to the grocery store to keep us heathens fed and happy. How many families now live within a mile of work?

Anyway, I thought a lot as a kid, as I do today. Always contemplating things. Wondering.

Things will change for sure as far as our dependance on petroleum based energy. I think about the day when my great grandkids will wonder what the hell we were doing for a century burning crap to fuel our crap.

We think we have it all figured out now, but just wait. Or, don’t wait because we’ll all be dead, but there will come a time when things will actually be…aHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, SUSTAINABLE.

It really only can evolve to sustainability or extinction. Well, extinction is inevitable but we can enjoy things for a longer time as soon as we learn to live with the earth sustainably.

Could go on, but…better stop now.

JM