Corruption

[sgreger1]

There is one lol :-)

Luckily I don't depend on this Country at all :-)

My main sales are from US, lol

I think a lot of people/countries are in the same position. Not a great economy back home, but they sell shit to the US so it all wokrs out. What happens if the US continues to go under? What if our economy collapses? All the other countries who sell stuff to us are going to dry up in 15 minutes once we fall. That is what I am really worried about. We've created an environment where everyone has 1 main customer, the US. When the US runs ut of money, what then?

[Bigblue1]

I think a lot of people/countries are in the same position. Not a great economy back home, but they sell shit to the US so it all wokrs out. What happens if the US continues to go under? What if our economy collapses? All the other countries who sell stuff to us are going to dry up in 15 minutes once we fall. That is what I am really worried about. We've created an environment where everyone has 1 main customer, the US. When the US runs ut of money, what then?

You mean when they run out of cheap credit not actual money......

[sgreger1]

You mean when they run out of cheap credit not actual money......

Well, it's being exchanged and traded as currency, so by definition it IS money. It's just that the stability of said currency is shaky, since there is not a finite supply of money and because there is no cap on how much they print. Printing money would be fine (and has worked with great results in the past here in the US), if they would tie it to GDP. If you have a super high GDP, then you can print more money. If you have a bad year, no printing money. This way there is some check on the monetary supply, and yet they can still expand and contract the monetary supply as they see fit.


The problem is when you JUST print money for nothing.


Credit isn't bad. Businesses use credit for growth. The US should be printing money (credit) for growth, but instead just takes endless loans without ever paying them back. Company using debt to grow,then paying it back = good. Borrowing, then borrowing more, and never paying off the principal = bad

[precious007]

I think a lot of people/countries are in the same position. Not a great economy back home, but they sell shit to the US so it all wokrs out. What happens if the US continues to go under? What if our economy collapses? All the other countries who sell stuff to us are going to dry up in 15 minutes once we fall. That is what I am really worried about. We've created an environment where everyone has 1 main customer, the US. When the US runs ut of money, what then?

There's certain areas/niches that will never dry up :-)

All evergreen markets have ups and downs up they never dry up. The marketing scene is very tough these days, when everyone and their mother is trying to sell - Even if it's information - it still sells.

[Premium Parrots]

Are you insinuating that PP is an old fart??

no need to insinuate.






quote sgreger...Here, if you make 90k a year, you are solidly middle class, but it's not enough to buy a house. Me and my wife combined make about that, so we live comfortably, but that's because we have no debt and manage our money well. We pull in about 3k a month, but we pay $1,100 a month just for our 2 year old to be babysat while we work. Once they get to kindergarden it becomes more expensive. unquote


@sgreger...I figure theres 12 months in a year. how many months do you have in your year? You say your pullin 3k a month, that doe not equal 90k.


How the hell can you get by on $3k a month, especially in cali.






yes, I have a stash of coffe/van and I don't use other brands/flavors of snus. It will probably be another year before I appeal to V2 for another limited edition c/v

[sgreger1]

no need to insinuate.






quote sgreger...Here, if you make 90k a year, you are solidly middle class, but it's not enough to buy a house. Me and my wife combined make about that, so we live comfortably, but that's because we have no debt and manage our money well. We pull in about 3k a month, but we pay $1,100 a month just for our 2 year old to be babysat while we work. Once they get to kindergarden it becomes more expensive. unquote


@sgreger...I figure theres 12 months in a year. how many months do you have in your year? You say your pullin 3k a month, that doe not equal 90k.


How the hell can you get by on $3k a month, especially in cali.






yes, I have a stash of coffe/van and I don't use other brands/flavors of snus. It will probably be another year before I appeal to V2 for another limited edition c/v

EDIT: Too long, didn't want to read version:

90k is before taxes. 3k is after taxes. It's actually 5k now that my wife is working. So 5k after taxes, 90k before taxes.





Long Version:


I spose those numbers need more explanation. I, myself, make 40k a year. After taxes I get about $1300 a paycheck, so 2600-2800 a month. My wife makes almost 50, but she doesn't get to claim any tax exemptions so she comes home with about the same amount I do each month. Together it is more like 5k a month after taxes.


She just started working though, so this is relatively new to our situation. Previously we were living on my 40k a year (about 3k a month), and did okay, but didn't have much left over. Together we both make a combined nearly 90k, and about $5,600 a month. So that's what I meant when I say I make 90k but make 3k a month, I meant I myself make 3k a month but my wife's new job pays the same so we take in 90 together, but this has only been for a few months.


It's all about taxes, income, and marriage status too. My mom makes 95k a year but takes home SIGNIFICANTLY less than me and my wife who make less but are married. So being married makes a big difference, and having a dependent also helps a lot.

[precious007]

i don't understand one thing...

I'm 26 and only worked 2 years employeed here... and there you know ... as a barman and waiter during the season .... been of on a contract as well for one year in bermuda ....

Why do people talk about their NET income ? The profit is what matters at the end of the day ... I mean thf you salary before taxes is purely fictive If you get what I mean...

Saying I earn 90K a year when all you bring home is 40K is useless.....

Anyways.... 40 - 50k a year is great in pretty much any place in this world... I mean yep you're an average guy on that kind of money .... even if you're raising two kids...

BTW I've heard California is pretty expensive....

Similar to NYC and LA ??!

[zmanzero]

once again: dick size contest

yes, corruption is infinite.

[Darwin]

My hat's off danielan. Satisfyingly cogent and measured analysis.

[sgreger1]

i don't understand one thing...

I'm 26 and only worked 2 years employeed here... and there you know ... as a barman and waiter during the season .... been of on a contract as well for one year in bermuda ....

Why do people talk about their NET income ? The profit is what matters at the end of the day ... I mean thf you salary before taxes is purely fictive If you get what I mean...

Saying I earn 90K a year when all you bring home is 40K is useless.....

Anyways.... 40 - 50k a year is great in pretty much any place in this world... I mean yep you're an average guy on that kind of money .... even if you're raising two kids...

BTW I've heard California is pretty expensive....

Similar to NYC and LA ??!

I'm only 24 so i'm just starting, but I managed to muscle my way into this job when I was 18. I have had no real raise in income since that time. We get a 2-4% merit increase, but that only covers inflation for that year, it's not really a raise by any means.

And I use the gross figure because in American culture it is somehow the default whenever discussing wages (in my experience). Mainly, I think, because your gross income can change wildly based on how your taxes are set up, so it's easier to just say what the net is. I never thought of it that way, but your grossincome is intirely fictive now that I think about it. lololol. It's just the unit of measure that is preferable here in America for some reason, or at least in my experience.




And 40-50k a year is not great, at least not here. Are you talking about net now? I don't even know what one would have to make GROSS in order to bring home 40k gross in America, the tax system here is FAR too complicated for me to it figure out. Again this is why I deal with gross, because taxes are so radically different for every person on an individual basis here in America, which is stupid.

40k NET would mean about $3,333 a month. Here in CA, your bills may look like this for 2 adults (24 years old) and 1 baby:

All figures are per month:

Apartment Rent: $1,700
Utilities: 150
$20,000 car: $400
Car Insurance: $130
Food: 500
Babysitting for one 2 year old: $1,100
Cell Phones: $150
Health Insurance: $180

Taking the figures above, this still equals out to $4,300 a month. So someone making 40 grand AFTER taxes each year will not have enough to afford an apartment, a car, food, kids, phones, health care, etc. In fact, they will be short 1,000 every month.

Sucks, huh?


CA is expensive though, these prices are only typical of the big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, etc etc. If you want to live in the more rural areas than it's way cheaper, but you also get paid way less.

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

I think you might have gross and net confused. Gross = before taxes, Net = after taxes. Just sayin'.

Ok looks better now, thought I was going crazy.

[sgreger1]

I'll go the other route from the other commenters - of course your mileage may vary - In my experience and opinion, we have really low levels of corruption in the US - and really zealous reporters, prosecutors, etc that tend to keep it that way.

The closest you can usually get to corruption in the US is (more or less) buying favors from government officials by supporting their election campaigns (which is reasonably transparent any more). When this, or more direct corruption comes to light there is certainly a ruckus and usually people get fined, fired or thrown in jail. When you get arrested - you don't think your best approach is to bribe the police or the judge - instead, you hire a lawyer and then blame your crimes on your upbringing or society as a whole.

We do, IMO, see the little bit we do have and think, "OMG! OMG! OMG!". Mostly, IMO, we're like this because, when taken as a whole, we (US citizens) are:

1. Law and order type people who believe in the "rule of law" and
2. Kind of sheltered from the realities of the rest of the world.

I do tend to think of corruption more in the governmental sense - although there are some private-enterprise black-market activities, mostly for illicit items, but still some tax evasion type stuff. It's pretty low-key though, at least compared to many places in the world.

We're the same way about poverty. We actually think we have a poverty problem in the US. Which is, of course, silly when you look at actual poverty on a world-wide scale.

I spent several years living in east asia and was totally shocked by what actual poverty is (even compared to some of the worst poverty in the US (i.e., indian reservations)) - orphans wearing rags, living 3 to a cardboard and stick box next to an open sewer and eating out of the trash is a hell of a lot different then living in government housing, attending government schools and eating government cheese.

We, for the most part, have, I'll call it, "differential poverty" where we think we are poor when the things we have are not as nice as those of our neighbors or the people we see on TV. So, if you still have a tube TV or have a pre-paid cellphone - you're automatically "poor".

Sgreger lives in CA. Which should not be mistaken for the US.

I live in a reasonably nice 40 year old 3 bedroom house on a cul-de-sac that cost me about 1 year's wages. For most of America - this is closer to "normal" then life in CA (especially the bay area).

Great post. Yes anything I write should be taken with the knowledge that I am living in San Fran, so it may be different than the rest of the US. I have lived in several states (mainly the southern ones), and in my experience california is the most expensive. I was shocked when I went elsewhere and found out people were buying houses that they could pay off in less than 50 years lol.


And your completely right, poverty here is not "real" poverty I suppose. Our bums here make $50-$100 a day, which when combined with all the free government shit, actually makes for a decent life. $50-$100 a day will buy you 3 meals, a beer and maybe some crack for bedtime.

In America, we see poverty as not being able to have nice things. No one actually dies of starvation here. Anyone who dies of starvation in America was NOT trying, because botht he public and private sector are constantly bending over backwards to ensure that you have a certain standard of life regardless of what choices you make for yourself.

As far as corruption, we have LOTS of corruption, but compared with other countries we don't have much. Our corruption mainly boils down to favors for money, like you said, and that's about it. People don't generally dissapear in the night, and I would NEVER think of bribing a cop. When i'm in mexico partying and I get pulled over or arrested, I immediately think about how many greenbacks are in my wallet, and if this cop wants an ipod bad enough to let me go. In the united states I immediately call a lawyer and the whole thing can likely be handled without me even needing to show up in court.




Still, just because there is corruption elsewhere does not mean that we should not constantly watching out for corruption here. Corruption creeps slowly and our hyper vigilant culture has allowed us to keep the corruption at bar for now, but I don't think things will be gettign any better any time soon.

[pactactrefugee]

Like that BP/Halliburton/Corexit connections.

I think the US is BIG corruption.

And lest we forget the Federal Reserve and the World Bank and IMF These along with all the other scumbag banks are the reason countries like Ireland which was very strong prior to joining the EU is now broke and heading towards austerity like Portugal, Spain, Greece, America etc... If we could only get rid of the mega banking institutions we (worldwide) would be much better off and be able to build our nations up from a crumbling mess! Oh yeah and those Assholes at Monsanto who are genetically modifying our food sources to make us reliant on them for seed and killing us with the pesticides they genetically introduce into said seeds.

[precious007]

I've just found a 2 bedroom / 2 story ap. in CA for $1000

This two bedrooms/1bath is $1,050/month. It located in an 8 units apartment complex which adjacent to Beach, a major thoroughfare where there are vibrant & thriving retail centers. This two-story apartment features: 1. Fully carpeted 2. Fireplace in living room
3. Vertical blinds on all the windows
4. Gas-range stove and oven, tenant provide own refrigerator
5. Plenty of storage and counter space
6. Dining area lead to the kitchen
7. Wide windows and sliding-door closets
8. Contain one full bath with a tub & shower. 9. The two bedrooms are about equally sized
10. The larger bedroom has a sliding door that leads to a balcony
11. Carport parking for one vehicles, there is also ample parking available
12. Apartment complex has 2 coin-operated washers & dryers
13. Three houses down is the grassy field of a pub school
14. Gas and water are paid by the owner; tenant pays only electricity. Below are our location perks: 1. Walking distance to the Bella Terra Shopping Center on Edinger & Beach. 2. Near new Costco on Edinger will be completed in3. Easy access to 405 & Beach. 4. Near Goldenwest Community College Target & outdoor shopping plaza
6. 2 miles from Little Saigon in inster, 7. 4 miles from the beach 8. aza
Deposit is $1,000. Rent is $1,050/month, No pets allowed. If you are interested.

just saying ...

The prices are pretty similar here for a duplex (two story ap's) around 700 - 800 maybe a bit more... depending on how luxurios it's inside.. the location and so on...

About the poverty, the poor - There are still people around here eating from the trash can.... but largely speaking they are either mentally ill or too lazy to get a job or find some work in the neighborhood .... there are a few alcoholics in my area that can easily pull $50 a day which is like 5 times more than the average wage .... but they're too dumb to get a life.... and drink all the moneyz...

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

I've just found a 2 bedroom / 2 story ap. in CA for $1000

This two bedrooms/1bath is $1,050/month. It located in an 8 units apartment complex which adjacent to Beach, a major thoroughfare where there are vibrant & thriving retail centers. This two-story apartment features: 1. Fully carpeted 2. Fireplace in living room
3. Vertical blinds on all the windows
4. Gas-range stove and oven, tenant provide own refrigerator
5. Plenty of storage and counter space
6. Dining area lead to the kitchen
7. Wide windows and sliding-door closets
8. Contain one full bath with a tub & shower. 9. The two bedrooms are about equally sized
10. The larger bedroom has a sliding door that leads to a balcony
11. Carport parking for one vehicles, there is also ample parking available
12. Apartment complex has 2 coin-operated washers & dryers
13. Three houses down is the grassy field of a pub school
14. Gas and water are paid by the owner; tenant pays only electricity. Below are our location perks: 1. Walking distance to the Bella Terra Shopping Center on Edinger & Beach. 2. Near new Costco on Edinger will be completed in3. Easy access to 405 & Beach. 4. Near Goldenwest Community College Target & outdoor shopping plaza
6. 2 miles from Little Saigon in inster, 7. 4 miles from the beach 8. aza
Deposit is $1,000. Rent is $1,050/month, No pets allowed. If you are interested.

just saying ...

The prices are pretty similar here for a duplex (two story ap's) around 700 - 800 maybe a bit more... depending on how luxurios it's inside.. the location and so on...

About the poverty, the poor - There are still people around here eating from the trash can.... but largely speaking they are either mentally ill or too lazy to get a job or find some work in the neighborhood .... there are a few alcoholics in my area that can easily pull $50 a day which is like 5 times more than the average wage .... but they're too dumb to get a life.... and drink all the moneyz...

There are some really bad neighborhoods in that area you listed. That apartment could be in Compton. I live in a nice area in a 1950s ok 3 bedroom house and my rent is $2400 a month.