Fair enough, you may be right. I just think there is a certain amount of "class signaling" that comes with some jobs that require degrees for basically no reason except to shrink the applicant pool. Obviously for jobs where a degree is required for a certification is very different.
World Cup Pool
- Thread starter ScrantonicityIII
- Start date
Fair enough, you may be right. I just think there is a certain amount of "class signaling" that comes with some jobs that require degrees for basically no reason except to shrink the applicant pool. Obviously for jobs where a degree is required for a certification is very different.
I was lots of places... Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland (only a day), Germany (a day), and Poland.
Taxes are higher, but when you figure out everything we and them pay for, it is about equal. Like I pay about 600 a month for health care benies. plus deducible, and they pay nothing. I will be paying 100K for school tuition for my boys, they pay nothing.. Single, early 20's guy makes out better in the states, but families I think are a wash money wise. Also one thing that is underlooked is our housing is mostly wood. They have study housing that have been in families for generations. Alot of our houses wont be around for our great grandchildren to live in.
My wife and I have a house from 1903 when Pittsburgh was on top of the world. In the US this is fairly old and friends from suburbs often are impressed by it, even though I don't think it's anything that special. When I was in Scotland, we stayed in a house built in the 17th century -- and not a rural cottage or castle, just a city row house. It was in great shape. They still had some of the windows covered by bricks to avoid paying the sunlight tax (property tax was determined by how much light came through the windows in the late 1600s to mid 1800s.) Some of the stone cobble streets had been there since the middle ages, and traces of Roman empire roads still exist to the south.
I made multiple trips to Norway in the mid-80's, then again around 2000. Massive changes in 15 years. Italy, Spain, France, Holland, England, Germany about every year from 1990-2000, then Estonia a few times in 2010-2013.
Meanwhile, back to the World Cup. Reports out of Moscow are that beer supplies are starting to run low in the bars there. Which I guess kinda makes sense. I mean who would have thought that having an event like the World Cup being based in your city would bring in lots of tourists? And who would have expected those people who did come to actually want to drink a beer or two?
How beautiful is Tallinn? Was my favorite looking old town until I saw Ljubljana a couple of days ago. Now I think they are equal excellent.
Next up.....Qatar. Way to go FIFA, way to go. Pick places where the spectators can go and have fun.
Why would they do that? The money was too good to not give it to Qatar.
who would have ever thought the Russians would struggle with supply and demand capitalism...
They drink 8% beer like we drink Coke, it's just a casual drink to have with lunch AT WORK or WALKING DOWN A BUSY STREET IN MOSCOW on a hot day. I loved being in Moscow THE FREEDOM (we don't have) to be walking down a busy city street pounding a liter of 8% beer. When they go out at night to restaurants and bars, they look down on drinking WEAK, LOW ALCOHOL drinks like beer, stick to vodka straight in that environment.
The freedom to walk down the street with a beer. Beats every other freedom we have put together.
We have too much freedom, so much freedom that it infringes on our ability to solve problems for our population.The freedom to walk down the street with a beer. Beats every other freedom we have put together.
But yeah, what's wrong with walking down the street drinking a beer? only Americans can't handle it.
And who gets to decide who has too much freedom and which freedoms should be taken?
I presume you feel qualified.
Also, why would you think only America has laws preventing public drinking? You have a wild anti-American bias or a very narrow-thinking brain. Maybe both.
I guess I've been to about 15 different countries, many in Europe and a few in Latin America and the USA is the most anal about drinking, of course the fundamentalist Muslim countries are worse, but I haven't been to any of those.
uh, that would be the worst way as true democracies are the worst in making decisions..
I have been in that many countries this year and I can tell you that I could not legally walk down the street with a beer in any of them.
In fact, Finland and Norway tax based on alcohol content. Good luck finding a beer in the store in Finland over 5%.
Norwegians go to Sweden to buy alcohol because their government discourages drinking by government taxes.
Those aren't the countries I've been to. I usually go to the alcoholic Eastern Euro countries.
I think some of our hang-ups about drinking age/outdoor drinking are because we have a car culture (valid concern) and kill a lot of people with drunk driving; and because we're a nation colonized by Puritans who brought in every religious group from Europe they could find (less valid.)
Duhhh... obviously the bible!
I do remember the passage of ... 'blessed art thou that consume mass beer beverage wilst trespassing upon the city streets' 'for thou whom consume weaketh asseth brews shall be damned for all eternity'
Adams 5:5
Eastern Orthodox Christian Europe is ultra religious, but they like to drink. If you've ever been to a Greek religious festival, you didn't get out sober.
We also banned the sale and consumption of alcohol for a brief time, remember Prohibition? Part of that was a reaction against the perception of drunken immigrants from inferior cultures. And part was religious piety.
you are right about Croatia. I am there now and walking around with some 7.2 beer.
But interestingly, those are the least successful of the countries you so envy as a model.
But I love be Eastern Europe.
Hahaha. Be careful, so will start quoting that as truth.
Drinking becoming more prevalent is not a blessing on society.
But how is success defined? Is it about who makes the most money? Or being happy and feeling good? I look at how they live culturally and socially in those countries, and it makes me so sad for our existence and priorities here to be honest.
Happiest countries on earth are Scandinavian. I would love a trip to Slovenia and Croatia for the hiking and beaches though.
Say what you want, but really all of those countries are more social and less stressful, I'd rather accomplish LESS and have LE$$ and be LESS Stressed and under LESS pressure. They all get like 6 weeks vacation, here we argue about TWO WEEKS being too much. They all have health care, they can mostly go to college cheap if not free. We brag about having it harder! WTF is that all about?
Not as far as I expected. Was there yesterday and surprised by prices. But might be a perfect tourist country.
Take oil away from Norway and they don’t have this life. But conform doesn’t equal happiness
