Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019
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When I was picking a country to live in, the choice wasn't so great. My criteria were:
- English
- Free-ish medicare
- Affordable higher education
- Actual seasons with real winter and real summer
- A decent market for IT jobs
- A nice overall mentality
- A place where I can raise my kids without worries
It all converges on Canada for me. I've lived and worked in Europe, visited the US quite a bit and spent years in both the Middle East and Eastern Europe, so I have a fair bit of knowledge of what life looks like in other places.
I'm not chasing the big bucks, but I do want to live in a nice house in a nice neighbourhood and be able to afford enough luxury. In 5 years in Canada I got all that and more. Never going to be a millionaire, but that was never the point.
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@dyasny said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@Emad-R high income from the outside can make you happy almost anywhere, I doubt it's much of a real factor.
High income.... can make you happy almost anywhere.
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@scottalanmiller said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@dyasny said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@Emad-R high income from the outside can make you happy almost anywhere, I doubt it's much of a real factor.
High income.... can make you happy almost anywhere.
High income can make you happy
to a point -
@dyasny said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@scottalanmiller said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@dyasny said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@Emad-R high income from the outside can make you happy almost anywhere, I doubt it's much of a real factor.
High income.... can make you happy almost anywhere.
High income can make you happy
to a point More importantly, low income can make you sad pretty extensively.
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@dyasny said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
- Free-ish medicare
You know this doesn't exist anywhere - right? If it's free - it's paid by taxes.. Now that said - I have no clue what the actual typical tax rate is in Europe say compared to the USA ( I know that my tax rate between state and Fed is around 17% - that doesn't seem right, but this is based on my actual pay, not the post standard deductions pay, which would clearly be much higher.
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We need to stop calling these things free and call them tax payer funded.
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@Dashrender said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
You know this doesn't exist anywhere - right? If it's free - it's paid by taxes.. Now that said - I have no clue what the actual typical tax rate is in Europe say compared to the USA ( I know that my tax rate between state and Fed is around 17% - that doesn't seem right, but this is based on my actual pay, not the post standard deductions pay, which would clearly be much higher.
Thanks you captain obvious. I'm happy to pay higher taxes if it means I can get proper medical care without being presented with a huge bill. I've actually given up on additional paid medical insurance 6 months ago, and the level at which I get medical coverage did not decrease, beyond nice perks, like a few hundred $ per year in massages, physio and new eyeglasses every 2 years. I still pay 0 for covered meds, 0 for children's dental care etc. It could be better, but I'm not here to be sick on someone else's account
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@scottalanmiller said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
Cars SHOULD be priced off of the road.
You've lived in some pretty sparsely populated parts of the country. What would public transport cost in Piffard, NY? I think cars would like a cheap and reasonable alternative to busses running down all the country back roads every hour.
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@Mike-Davis it's all about having a balanced system (note, I'm not saying fair, just balanced). If the tax rate isn't murderous, and that provides me with healthcare I don't get an extra bill for, that works for me. Just like paying car insurance that isn't insanely expensive, and in case of an accident, being covered instead of going out on a limb. In Canada these things are more or less balanced. Again, not perfect, but well balanced enough for me to feel comfortable with.
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@Dashrender said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
I know that my tax rate between state and Fed is around 17% - that doesn't seem right, but this is based on my actual pay, not the post standard deductions pay, which would clearly be much higher.
According to H&R Block my tax rate for 2018 was like 12% calculated after deductions and crap.
But those numbers do not account for my portion of health and dental insurance premiums, etc.
So I consider my "tax" rate higher. -
I like the Dutch system of health care vouchers. It gives everyone coverage, but is competitive because private companies compete for the voucher money.
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@Mike-Davis said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
I like the Dutch system of health care vouchers. It gives everyone coverage, but is competitive because private companies compete for the voucher money.
I may be too American, but I refuse to believe that privatized healthcare can ever actually be valid.
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Doesn't matter how much or how little you pay in taxes when a major medical problem will guarantee you go bankrupt in the US. All that money you saved on taxes goes out the window, plus your house, your truck, and your savings.
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I fully expect my savings to be gone by the time I die. My wife has MD. Nuff said.
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@Mike-Davis said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
I like the Dutch system of health care vouchers. It gives everyone coverage, but is competitive because private companies compete for the voucher money.
It's like that in Israel - there are several private companies competing for customers, each has hospitals and clinics and whatnot. They aren't paid by the customers though, but by the portion of health taxes collected, relevant to their portion of the overall taxpaying population. If they want people subscribing to them, they have to provide good service, so there's healthy competition, and yet as a patient, I'm not paying any premiums, it's all in the tax. The only problem is, in Israel the taxes are insanely high (I was paying 56%) and could be much lower, but the system itself seems to work very well
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@JaredBusch said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
I may be too American, but I refuse to believe that privatized healthcare can ever actually be valid.
Talk to someone who has experienced the VA for healthcare. You will then get an idea of what government healthcare looks like. It isn't always pretty.
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@scottalanmiller said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
In the US my tax rate was 52%, that's higher than Finland, and the healthcare coverage was abysmal.
I thought Texas had no personal income tax and the highest federal rate is 37%. How do you figure 52%?
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@Mike-Davis he might be factoring in property tax and sales tax.
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@JaredBusch said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
@Mike-Davis said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
I like the Dutch system of health care vouchers. It gives everyone coverage, but is competitive because private companies compete for the voucher money.
I may be too American, but I refuse to believe that privatized healthcare can ever actually be valid.
help me understand what you mean. America is basically all private healthcare - not saying that it's valid though.
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@Nic said in Top Ten Happiest Places on Earth in 2019:
Doesn't matter how much or how little you pay in taxes when a major medical problem will guarantee you go bankrupt in the US. All that money you saved on taxes goes out the window, plus your house, your truck, and your savings.
I know Scott believes in the public healthcare solution - I just have a hard time paying for everyone else's lack of giving a shit about their health that leads to huge health care costs. if we could hold people accountable for their expenses (not counting things like accidents against them) I think that would make me 'feel' better.
I see the value in some public services - law enforcement/roads/national defense, but I still have a hard time seeing public healthcare as a public good.
I suppose if there is proof that public healthcare raises the quality of life of it's citizens more than it costs those citizen, that would go a long way to convincing me.
