Examples: What is better in your country than in the USA?

Originally posted by TheLoneArcher
Oh, I think someone mentioned that NZ has no dangerous predators. I tend to disagree.
Ever been in a trendy cocktail bar on a Saturday night? Cougars everywhere. LOL

HAHA You're right! They're related to the wild MILF..... creatures of the night, hunting man in packs. They pray on the young as they are the most defenseless.....it's a two man job to tame one of these beasts

reply to post by tawewe


Oh, I don't know. I think I would like to try two single-handed. Haha.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


just beware of it's children, they also a have strong bite

reply to post by tawewe


Ouch. I think I may be too old to take on the offspring.

reply to post by starchild10


I am so happy to say that, so far, this thread has remained good natured and light hearted.
Since moving to France, I have fallen in love with the sedate way of life. Sure, there are things I miss from England, that I just cannot get here.

America? Although I would not go there to work, there are many American products that I love. Your cake and muffin mixes for instance. Love them. Also, the outdoor gear I used to be able to get from the PX in Germany. It was good quality kit at a great price. I miss that aspect.

Edit: And hell, when a guy is away from home, there are many aspects he is going to miss. Because of that, there are things about his homeland that will always be better than where he is now.

Originally posted by TheLoneArcher
reply to post by starchild10

 

I am so happy to say that, so far, this thread has remained good natured and light hearted.
Since moving to France, I have fallen in love with the sedate way of life. Sure, there are things I miss from England, that I just cannot get here.

America? Although I would not go there to work, there are many American products that I love. Your cake and muffin mixes for instance. Love them. Also, the outdoor gear I used to be able to get from the PX in Germany. It was good quality kit at a great price. I miss that aspect.

Edit: And hell, when a guy is away from home, there are many aspects he is going to miss. Because of that, there are things about his homeland that will always be better than where he is now.

edit on 5/9/2011 by TheLoneArcher because: Added Text

Love your contributions to the topic and your open minded attitude.
Everywhere has pluses and minuses and it just depends on whether they suit you as an individual.
Quality of life is so important. Ours used to be great and it is the part of America I miss the most. And as David, another poster put it our lack of heart. Unless we are fighting we put little heart in anything. Not even cars anymore.

Quality of life index based on OECD data:

www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org...

On the right panel you weight how much you value various topics of living. The application will show where the quality of life is highest according to your set of preferences.

Here in South Africa we have:

- a better education system
- a better medical system
- safety and security
- transparent governance
- fully-working and widely available transportation / public systems
- low unemployment rates

Sorry - scratch all of those. I was just dreaming about some other place which is obviously NOT South Africa.

However - I can say this much - we do have very friendly people who are generally a much more polite and demure bunch than the Americans.

We do not have chemtrails. Nor do we have strange sky-rumbles or deviating compass-readings.

And our weather is pretty awesome all-year-round with reasonably comfortable temperatures even in winter. We do not have any real nature catastrophic events or natural disasters to speak of. We may experience the occasional small storm, flood, slight earth shudder, and sometimes heatwaves or drought - but hurricanes / massive flooding / earthquakes / torrential monsoons / heavy snowfalls / Tsunamis / large-areas-to-be-evacuated-scenarios are quite unheard of here.

Originally posted by 547000
I would say the pacing of life. In America life is very fast-paced.

In Japan, Western Europe and it's not?

Oh geez..yes i MISS Taco Bell!

Here as a side-note...Europe is not Europe and it differs from country to country. It's already a huge difference from Spain compared to Germany.

Good in the USA: You can go shopping any time you want, often 24/hrs..walmart etc.

In Germany, most things close at 8pm, and stores are closed Sundays, although you can always go to a gas station etc. on Sun. and buy stuff if you really need something, 24hrs.

In Spain (in that little town here at least)..there is NOTHING open on Sunday..we don't even have a gas station where you could buy anything..which is bad considering there are more holidays than everywhere else and you NEVER know when things are open

Originally posted by flexy123

Originally posted by 547000
I would say the pacing of life. In America life is very fast-paced.

In Japan, Western Europe and it's not?

Oh geez..yes i MISS Taco Bell!

Here as a side-note...Europe is not Europe and it differs from country to country. It's already a huge difference from Spain compared to Germany.

Good in the USA: You can go shopping any time you want, often 24/hrs..walmart etc.

In Germany, most things close at 8pm, and stores are closed Sundays, although you can always go to a gas station etc. on Sun. and buy stuff if you really need something, 24hrs.

In Spain (in that little town here at least)..there is NOTHING open on Sunday..we don't even have a gas station where you could buy anything..which is bad considering there are more holidays than everywhere else and you NEVER know when things are open

edit on 5-9-2011 by flexy123 because: (no reason given)

In the Caribbean life is slow.

I'm British who has spent some time in America. One thing I've noticed is that Americans generally tend to take themselves more seriously than us, Brits have a more self-deprecating sense of humour which I like and can poke fun at each other and themselves more easily than Americans (we call this "taking the piss"). Also our humour is often more subtle and sarcastic/ironic and this can sometimes go over the heads of some (not all) of Americans I have met.

I also prefer to "go out on the town" in the UK or with British people - in my experience, we drink more, sing more and just generally have more fun (although I do admit sometimes it goes too far and we can spoil it by getting into fights/being sick on the streets etc at the end of the night). I'm sure our European friends sometimes find the Brit abroad to be a bit loutish, loud and drunk but it can be fun sometimes.

I can also say the "c-word" over here and nobody cares, say it in America and people don't appreciate it too much.

Also, I was sure that this thread would be full of defensive Americans getting all upset about us dirty foreigners "criticising" their country (which goes back to my first point), pleasantly surprised that this has so far not been the case. KUTGW.

Une littérature de qualité.

Like yourself,I am an American who loves his country,but unlike you,right now I don't live there.I did NOT leave to come to a better place,because such a place does not exist.It is true that on the surface ,Europe appears to have it better than us,and here are the reasons for that appearance.After WW2,we told Germany,"As GOD is our witness,there will be NO STRIKE THREE",and the rest of Europe that the US would see to their security needs,because when left to their own affairs,Europeans have historically proven that they can't keep it together.The longest period of peace and prosperity this continent has EVER known was forced on them at gunpoint by US and the Soviet Union.The costs associated with this are bourne by the American taxpayer.In reality,in the last 100 years,Germany has changed governments more than Mexico.This is why they have it better than us in one sense.Also,if you could ever make it over here,you would have NO shortage of young women willing to marry you for a chance to live in the USA,so they could leave.I live in Switzerland.Here everyone votes,gun ownership is just north of 51%,and they suffer from diseases of abundance.In other words,it is the most like America of any European country,and I pray every day for a chance to go back home.BAHGOOFUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reply to post by newcovenant


You are comparing apples and oranges. The US has the largest and most successful interstate and highway system in the world.
so much so that China is copying the US highway system down to teh color of the signs. The only changes is in Bejieng to handle the insane amounts of traffic there.

Did you actually compare one highway in Germany to the number of deaths in the US?

Are you actually comparing the small numbers of Germany to the entire US?

Think about that for a moment.....

I should explain this is not intended to be chit chat but constructive efforts to improve the social situation and remedy valid reasons for the civil unrest here in America.

In what areas can we improve?

I am sure there are many areas and a few even are presented here in the thread already.

We are the richest country in the world.
So why are we 41 when it comes to infant mortality and a sad 37th in health care overall?

Where is our money going?
Clearly people are dying and something tells me it isn't our elite.

www.photius.com...

This is an injustice, a travesty and a misappropriation of public funds along with the indentured slavery we call a work week.

We should be at least on even footing with other developed countries.
We are far from it and dropping like a lead balloon.

FREEDOM I also think the option of getting somewhere quickly should be incorporated into a National Plan.
This helps the towns all along the way attract tourism, lets the tourists get there and encourages travel around the country which will automatically, dramatically and quickly boost our economy. Everything we do now is so the rich are better off. We do NOTHING FOR OUR PEOPLE.

We have ENOUGH New Stadiums where the tickets go for a hundred dollars apiece... with new roads and all traffic diverted to them
Marinas for Private Yachts and roads with sidewalks and large oaks and potted plants along the way to get there ...god forbid our Yacht owners should suffer the indignities the rest of us look at every day.

We have more than enough Private Airports and the shady contracts given to the HIGHEST bidders to build the necessary roads and bridges to connect the ELITE homes with their private airports ...all with public funding of course...all with CITIZENS tax dollars that should go to something PUBLIC like the autobahn or the high speed rail. We the people are getting ripped off.

Let's chit chat about that.

reply to post by newcovenant


Well that is a more mature way of putting it then playing why my country is better then yours. And some would argue that Japan has teh best health care syste, and that is a national health care system.

We have for profit health insurance, that is why infant mortality is so high. If you do not have the adequate education and health care coverage, then mothers can't seek prenatal treatment.
That is why a welfare program, that should be expanded, is so important regarding health care.

If people want to continue to have insurance companies call the shots on life and death, then we are going to have higher mortality rates.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by newcovenant

 

You are comparing apples and oranges. The US has the largest and most successful interstate and highway system in the world.
so much so that China is copying the US highway system down to teh color of the signs. The only changes is in Bejieng to handle the insane amounts of traffic there.

Did you actually compare one highway in Germany to the number of deaths in the US?

Are you actually comparing the small numbers of Germany to the entire US?

Think about that for a moment.....

I am comparing a speed limit and ensuing tickets as a result of it and eventually losing ones license and livelihood, perhaps even your freedom and thrown in jail simply because you are an unbridled human who refuses to be tamed and domesticated, who refuses to comply with all, even the most unreasonable laws imposed by an authoritarian regime...

with no speed limit.

And I think they have less death by motor vehicle...per capita too.
If it works, don't raise your eyebrows askance like you suspect an alien.

Originally posted by nixie_nox
reply to post by newcovenant

 

Well that is a more mature way of putting it then playing why my country is better then yours. And some would argue that Japan has teh best health care syste, and that is a national health care system.

We have for profit health insurance, that is why infant mortality is so high. If you do not have the adequate education and health care coverage, then mothers can't seek prenatal treatment.
That is why a welfare program, that should be expanded, is so important regarding health care.

If people want to continue to have insurance companies call the shots on life and death, then we are going to have higher mortality rates.

Why my country is better than yours?
Look, I took a great deal of time moving words around so I wouldn't get the inane responses like that...and to say in as few words what I wanted to elicit...constructive DO-ABLE (verses ideological) ways to improve America. You want to make it small, this is your prerogative but keep in mind you are misinterpreting my intent with this thread.

Originally posted by bobennenwevun
Like yourself,I am an American who loves his country,but unlike you,right now I don't live there.I did NOT leave to come to a better place,because such a place does not exist.It is true that on the surface ,Europe appears to have it better than us,and here are the reasons for that appearance.After WW2,we told Germany,"As GOD is our witness,there will be NO STRIKE THREE",and the rest of Europe that the US would see to their security needs,because when left to their own affairs,Europeans have historically proven that they can't keep it together.The longest period of peace and prosperity this continent has EVER known was forced on them at gunpoint by US and the Soviet Union.The costs associated with this are bourne by the American taxpayer.In reality,in the last 100 years,Germany has changed governments more than Mexico.This is why they have it better than us in one sense.Also,if you could ever make it over here,you would have NO shortage of young women willing to marry you for a chance to live in the USA,so they could leave.I live in Switzerland.Here everyone votes,gun ownership is just north of 51%,and they suffer from diseases of abundance.In other words,it is the most like America of any European country,and I pray every day for a chance to go back home.BAHGOOFUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I hope you do. Why can't you? Held captive, political prisoner, married? What exactly is your dilemma that you cannot return? We will go to great lengths to get our people back but the things I am talking about are not ideological differences. I think real FREEDOM is how the people feel and what freedoms they have. This is not material goods. It is access to everything life enriching and what is free should always be free. I should not have to pay to visit my wild lands or look at the ocean...but I do. It is time and energy to LIVE and not be a slave to your job or your country. It is FREEDOM to enjoy your surroundings and the nearby and even the far off places with your family. It is feeling safe and valued. It is wanting to return to the place you call home, like you obviously do - so it must be more free for you here than there.

FREEDOM I think is essentially permission to live which translates to affordable medical care, as well as unrestricted travel and freedom to do what you want, go where you want to, as fast as you want, smoke and eat what you want...everything imaginable (pretty much) with this caveat "as long as you do not defraud or harm or impinge upon the personal space, freedom and rights of another human being."

reply to post by flexy123


well, yes and no: yes they do close for siesta BUT shops then reopen until 8.30-9.00 pm which is great because you can go shopping after work. And besides, a reasonable siesta (not too long) after lunch is being proven to be very healthy for you (it reduces stress and makes you more productive).