GENERAL TOPIC: The cost of living!

[djadonis206]

Ah man, it only get's better to - they're just as good as they look (and yes, that is what you think it is in the background !!! )

[glu]

Eureka is one of the major welfare capitals of California.

Lived in Arcata before moving to Seattle, pretty mellow back then, but that was 90.

Just glad I wasn't there when Jerry Garcia died!

I was born in Arcata, lived there for the first 6 years of my life. The redwood trees are amazing. I miss riding my dukes of hazard big wheel around the redwood national park...

[ounorecordings.com-Lyday]

I lived in Miami for 2 years and I bailed.

Yea, it has South Beach and the Everglades, but all that is for vacation. If you live there, you pay vacation prices year round and with out an economy to support it. Miami's economy is driven by retirees, foriegn realestate investores and an all-star line up of rich Latin-Americans. Fun to visit....hard to live there.

I live in Houston now because it's cheap and a lot of companies are starting to move down here. The economy is awesome, the people are friendly and it's just as hot as Miami . There are down sides of course, but the cheap housing and strong economy allow you to spend more money traveling.

I have a nice 3,400sqft house just outside of Houston (15min) and got it for just over 200K. You can't get anything in Miami for that price but a old apartment unit which has been turned into a "condo".

Don't get me wrong...I love Miami...just can't live there.

[luv2spin31]

Please stop bitching about the cost of living in the grand old USA you guys don't know how lucky you are, just for a second why don't you take your heads out of your butts (backsides) & take a look around. Price for -: 1 Liter gas US average $.97, UK average £.97. conversion $1.80 for a liter of gas (or petrol if cannot understand what i am trying to get across). Prices for property http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/ Its getting beyond a joke. If you live in the grand old USA,
PLEASE
STOP MOANING!!!!

hey now!

not only was sqook's point a valid one (the US is HUGE and transportation between cities is limited mostly to cars...buses and trains don't always get you where you need to go and planes are super expensive), but i gotta add to that.

now admittedly i do not know much about the employment situation there in the UK, but consider this:

*the federal minimum wage in the US is $5.15. according to the US census bureau, in 2001 (and certainly this has gone up in the last 5 years), the median monthly housing costs (rent, utilities, and garbage and trash collection) for renter occupied homes was $633.

5.15 times 40 hours a week is 206. if i were to apply the percentage of taxes i usually have taken out, that would make a weekly check about 164.80. times that by 4 weeks in a month. that's 659.20. so basically, someone making the minimum wage could not afford the average housing costs in the US from 5 years ago, let alone buy food or pay for transportation.

*43 million americans (most of them working class) have no health or dental insurance. those who do can still lose everything if hit by a major medical emergency. in fact, the leading cause of bankruptcy in america is major medical bills. and those without can become incredibly sick or even die if they have to choose between a roof over their head or paying medical bills.

*the corporate bastards who run this country are doing their damndest to turn the whole damn country into a service industry economy by sending high tech and manufacturing jobs overseas.

we don't have it any harder or any better than anyone else. poor people have it tough no matter where you go, and more people are getting more poor in the US. the rest of the world has this image of the US as the richest country in the world, and in numbers we are.

but those numbers are going to the richest people in the country, while the rest of us (middle to working class) are getting progressively poorer. real wages have stayed static since 1973, and the cost of living has skyrocketed. the reality on the ground is poor people are getting poorer and rich people are getting richer.

i guess my point is that playing the "my struggles are bigger than your struggles" game gets nobody anywhere. things are tough all over. but until you have walked a mile in my shoes, don't try and tell me how good we have it here in america. hell, one look at the aftermath of hurricane katrina says more about this than i ever could.

p.s. i HIGHLY recommend reading barbara ehrenreich's "nickel and dimed: on not getting by in america".

i agree with you wholeheartedly, and i have read barbara ehrenreich's "nickel and dimed". it is a good read and it should be a required reading. but people do not read anymore, so it should be dramatically acted out on youtube.com.

the government decided to rised the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25, and you know what that means everything else will probably rise also.