Off Topic The SIR Kenny Dalglish Public House

You've never seen the steaks and disposable income they have mate.

 

Basically comes down to inertia. I live here, I have a good job, I have a happy life. My family all live here (except the continental's who don't speak English so don't communicate with much anyway). So I stay living here.

Guns suck, but honestly not something I often think about. I've never had one pulled on me or threaten me... Neither have most people (even though far too many have).

Healthcare is a bit of a worry and the biggest con to the US, we were in debt for a long time because of healthcare. Darn wife wouldn't stop getting pregnant. . Since we had a couple failed pregnancies we were high risk for the ones that succeeded and it was costing us $5000+ at a time when we were young and poor.

We had Trump, you have Boris. Not exactly apples and oranges, although one of them is orange.

On the plus side, I have my own large cut of land here, can only see one of my neighbours from my house, and that only in winter. I can do a short half mile hike just be walking to the end of my woods and back. Couldn't afford land like that back home. The weather is better, etc.

A few years back we were casually talking about moving to Australia or New Zealand (wife won't go anywhere that doesn't speak English, and I've already done England so if I'm uprooting overseas I want to go experience somewhere new)..

Not sure how true that is for most people.

I certainly make a lot more than I would if I lived in UK, but my costs are a lot more too. It's easy to look at various objects in shops and say "that's so much cheaper" (it is) but there a lot of hidden costs. For example, electricity: expect to pay in a month what it costs in a quarter... And you use even more electricity in the summer than the winter... It's more expensive to cool a house than to heat it... Houses are cheaply built and not to same code as UK, so even if winter isn't as severe here, probably still paying more because the heat just goes out the windows and walls.

Never underestimate healthcare. I pay $1500 a month just for insurance. My annual checkup will cost me a few hundred. x-rays will cost you several hundred each.

For my family of five, I probably spend $30-$40k on healthcare each year. Granted, I'm the only one in the family who doesn't have issues so others may pay less.

I make more than I would if I lived in UK, but I spend more just to live too. I suspect it evens out overall and actual discretionary income is probably about the same.

I still buy all my clothes off the clearance rack, drive an old economy car, can't afford to drink out, and my cell phones last me five years... Apple too pricey for my blood, last year's LG budget model for me...

... Oh, and I don't like steak that much so nice steak is not a pro for me.

 

****ing weirdo

 

I find in general that while americans say the build quality is poor they have no concept of really old crapppy small houses here. Yes yanks have timber houses and they don't last as long but they are in a lot of cases massive, very well insulated and warm in winter. Yes in certain areas air con is a big thing esp as yanks are killing the planet but half of Europe is on the air con buzz now.

Yes medical care costs are massive but actually compare the wages. It's 2x in many cases and disposable income is a thing. If you are poor in the USA you are ****ed Yes but the nhs is not all that despite the ardent fervour people here seem to place on it.

The food issue is a real thing though. It is actually cheaper in the US.

One example. One lad I knew who was absolutely ****ing useless in the USA. Absolutely incapable of scratching his arse. He was hired to do basically the same job in the USA as I was doing here. I had to tell him everything but when I was over there he invited me to dinner in his house cos I was nice to him.

****ing mansion. Bought it on foreclosure of course but it was 3000sqft min two story job etc etc.

This lads claim to fame in his career was rescuing kittens at work and bring them home. I kid you not.

I know cos I was offered terms to go to california to work that the wage would be 150k in dollars min plus whatever.

Them there's the state and federal taxes which vary wherever but they are nowhere near whats here.

 

I think in general to have the same lifestyle in US you have to earn twice as much USD as you do GBP to break even.

And yes, taxes are a little lower here, but you don't get as much for them. No public transportation unless you live downtown of major city,. Very few public parks... Even sending your kids to "free government run schools" isn't free, it's not a lot, but you can.probably expect to pay three or four hundred dollars for book fees, etc. University? Well that's $20k -$100k a year nowadays not including boarding or food... People are in huge debt because of Uni.

The one thing that is true though is housing IS much cheaper... But again, there are costs with that that you don't worry about in England. You've probably never had to worry about getting a termite bond for example

 

rising damp

it depends what we call same lifestyle i guess.

If you wanna walk to the pub, drink pints of suspect lager, stagger home and like in a small house then the uk is ideal. if you wanna drive a pick up for 20k thats huge, live in a huge house and shoot deer on your 50 acre spread america might be your thing.

my research on tax:

us (addtional allowances for households)
0-10 k = 10%
10-40k = 12%
40-86k = 22%
86-146k = 24%
146-210 = 32%
210k to 523k = 35
523 + = 37%

now i think us then have state tax and sales taxes depending.

So a person on south Carolina = 0 - 7% on top for state tax
sales tax is 6%



the dollar is 1.26 to the pound.

Someone earning 100k in uk (just to make maths easier.) say invomce tax and national insurance comes off before you see a thing. you'd be back on 65k then. 20% vat on top on things you buy.

The same dude in america. 126k in dollars... what allowances would he be getting? 24% tax + 7%? state take plus 6% sales lax so he is looking "better off"


We get absolutely ripped off with vat buut my understanding (@Nozzer ) that europeans pay even more for services and the uk tax is actually more graduated?

 

Its all in the hidden costs. Trust me, I've known plenty of expats from all over Europe who came here thinking they would be better off because they were offered higher salaries and prices in stores were cheaper.

Who knew that big houses made of thin timbre and cardboard and gypsum board walls and a thin plastic veneer on the outside wouldn't be durable or insulate well? That maintenance costs would be higher?

I do my own yardwork, but plenty of people don't because, no one wants to be mowing grass in 35-40C weather in the summer... (Hiring someone is another expense) And it takes a lot of water and high waterbills to keep that grass alive... And most people have HOAs that will fine them if their grass looks a little wimpy or untidy. (One of the reasons I moved... Got tired of the HOA complaining my centipede grass kept growing over the sidewalk and that I didnt fertilize my lawn enough)

Or that with everything so spread out, and roads not being maintained as well as in Europe that you'd end up paying more on vehicle maintenance (and even petrol, despite petrol being cheaper, you have to use more of it).

Overall though, I wouldn't say one country is better or better value, it depends on what you prioritize. I love having land and I couldn't afford it in the UK, not like I have anyway, so that's a huge plus to me. I'd love to travel overseas, but that's cost prohibitive for me being in the US... You can't get a cheap flight to another country here... And anywhere you go in the US is going to look cookie cutter to any other place you've been... Just bigger or smaller. Greener or sandier versions of the same place.

 

I've never tried bonding with a termite - is it good?

 

Pretty expensive... But if you bond with them, they don't eat your house... So it's worth patting the termites on the back and handing them a pony now and then.

 

If you get on well with them, they might build you a nice place on the cheap.

please log in to view this image

You'd have to get your own giraffe though...

 

We house keep ain't free here either.

It's wet too much, it's cold too.much and most houses are rotten at least if they are old so the same bills come up.

Average prtol per liter in UK is now £1.70 and a lot more but that's thr average today according to Google.

In usa its supposedly $1.21.

Again factor 1.26 exchange rate and we are over 2 dollars per liter so massively higher.

No matter what way I see it yanks have more disposable income, a lot don't know what cold actually I'd and its more about cooling houses not heating unless you are up Norf of course.

As for roads.. well I've seen pretty **** roads in the usa so I can beleive it but have seen bad roads here.

All in all you Yankees pay less tax, have less services, have less cost of living but have to pay for healthcare where as we think we have it free but pay for it everywhere.

 

Some other things to consider. Aren't mobile phone plans dirt cheap in UK? The average US plan is over $100/month but higher if you use a lot of data (I use a budget service, but it means I get kicked off or throttled if someone paying more is using it). Same with internet, I always hear about how dirt cheap home internet is over there. Average price for your average 100mbps broadband here will be above $70/month, it can be over $100 if you're unlucky (cable companies given monopoly in their locations so you pay what they want you to pay... No competition). You're going to be paying well over $100 if you want Gigabit internet just about anywhere in the country though.

It's all chicken feed compared to medical costs though. Between insurance and general costs I pay at least a couple thousand each month for the family. (Be a lot cheaper if just me, of course).

 

Gigabit. Yeah. That's common here

 

Feel the pain. Google was bringing fiber gigabit internet to cities at one point but gave up because the local cable monopolies threw too many lawsuits at them. Legal costs > potential profits.I can't get gigabit where I am either... Most of the country doesn't get it. The only places that get gigabit internet is in places where the cable companies had bad lawyers.

Cable companies have a government supported monopoly in their given districts for cable TV and don't like anyone trying to bring internet into their districts that isn't them. They fight tooth and nail any attempt to allow competition.

 

£10pcm for my phone (sim only)

internet (300mb), tv (biggest) and phone (don't use it but makes it cheaper) package deal is currently £90 - seriously need to review this though, was only £50 when I signed up and not played the game for about 3yrs now

 

What do you mean by services? Utlilities etc.?

Taking Germany to be representative of the whole of Europe, after a certain minimum income where's there no tax, most income is between 14 and 42%, with a top line rate of 45% above about EUR 250k p.a. You then need to pay health insurance on top, which is substantial, but health provision is very good and universal. VAT is 19%, with a reduced rate of 7% for some things. There are no local taxes.

 

Services = everything the government are supposedly there to provide.

 

It seems odd trying to compare America with the UK.

It's difficult enough trying to compare one part of America to another.

 

Anyone doing anything interesting tonight, I will probably stay in and watch telly if there is anything on. Also reading a decent autobiography at the moment so have that as a fall back.

 

I'm looking forward to the match, not doing anything until that starts, I'm stupidly excited


Manfield v port Vale 4 o'clock kick off if anybody else is interested.