[News] Happy 4th July

[Simster]

Not really. Being made redundant at the drop of a hat, 15 days paid leave rather than 25 plus bank holidays, piss poor pensions and generally staying in a job for the healthcare.

If being ill leaves you in debt then it’s third world.

Very much this.

Americans look at you like you're mad when you point out these things, but the fact is that unless you're one of the very comfortably off middle classes (or better off) then you may as well be in the third world. There are parts of the southern states that would make El Salvador blush.

 

[SeagullinExile]

I have a smoked 10 hour pork shoulder that is just about to come off the grill.

Just had a swim in my pool.

Happy 4th July. I am the American Dream.

Best ever US export originates from Hawaii....the delicious golden ale Big Wave. My favorite tipple by a country mile!

 

[Insel affe]

Very much this.

Americans look at you like you're mad when you point out these things, but the fact is that unless you're one of the very comfortably off middle classes (or better off) then you may as well be in the third world. There are parts of the southern states that would make El Salvador blush.

Agreed, when I have been over and discussed work/life balance topics they simply look at you in disbelief, even when I was talking to Eminem's manager back stage at a concert he was gob smacked, he said he was jealous as he gets no time off to spend with family,
America is a wonderful place and I have said it before if you are wealthy or comfortable, but even then you are one hospital trip away from bankruptcy, and that is not a healthy state to be in.
The wife is obviously American and has now lived here longer than the states, she has passed the citizenship thing and considers herself British, she still holds an American passport, but says she would never return to live, because of the holidays, NHS, and better social care we get over here, not to mention the politics, religious nut jobs everywhere, racism in certain areas, and the demonization of anything considered left wing.

Still love the place though.

 

[brightn'ove]

The USA already has healthcare, unemployment benefits, subsidized housing, employment rights, paid sickness and vacation.

If you are middle class or above.

Let me repeat that.

ONLY if you are middle class or above.

 

[schmunk]

The wife is obviously American

Well, maybe just a little bit...

 

[Deportivo Seagull]

Agreed, when I have been over and discussed work/life balance topics they simply look at you in disbelief, even when I was talking to Eminem's manager back stage at a concert he was gob smacked, he said he was jealous as he gets no time off to spend with family,
America is a wonderful place and I have said it before if you are wealthy or comfortable, but even then you are one hospital trip away from bankruptcy, and that is not a healthy state to be in.
The wife is obviously American and has now lived here longer than the states, she has passed the citizenship thing and considers herself British, she still holds an American passport, but says she would never return to live, because of the holidays, NHS, and better social care we get over here, not to mention the politics, religious nut jobs everywhere, racism in certain areas, and the demonization of anything considered left wing.

Still love the place though.

I worked for a US country and so spent some time in the states. In general it’s a great place to go for a short period of time.
I spent two Thanks Givings over there due to emergency visits.
One was with an American guy whose wife was Irish …. As you would expect …. carnage and a great time. The second was with a US family through work that I had never met before. They were great but really weren’t sure what to do with this Brit. The lady of the house had heard of the British drinking culture and the first thing she did was show me the fridge stocked with beer. I was to help myself, which I did in moderation but from the looks I got drinking all through the day was a bit of a shock. Interestingly I was not anywhere as pissed as two other guests who hit the beer for about two hours and were done.
They spent most of the time picking my brains over all things British and had a real hard time understanding that Scotland, Wales, England & NI were separate countries rather than being separate states like Oregon or Washington state for example. Great time but a bit surreal.


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[Insel affe]

Well, maybe just a little bit...

Good one, she is far more Ska/Punk than that.

Her mother on the other hand

 

[schmunk]

They spent most of the time picking my brains over all things British and had a real hard time understanding that Scotland, Wales, England & NI were separate countries rather than being separate states like Oregon or Washington state for example.

Whisper it softly but, US states have somewhat more independence than UK-constituent countries...

 

[Swansman]

North Korea you say?

Yes. Well worth a visit. Not as weird as people might believe it is.

 

[Insel affe]

Yes. Well worth a visit. Not as weird as people might believe it is.

That probably depends on how weird you are though.

 

[Swansman]

That probably depends on how weird you are though.

Maybe. But NK is quite frequently portrayed as a very weird place - such as the old myth that NK media said that one Kim or another had done x number of hole-in-ones, portraying the leader as some kind of retard and the population as utterly brainwashed in such a direction. Or that they have no understanding of the outside world etc., when in reality there are more people from NK who can speak English (older gen) or Russian (younger gen) or Chinese (a lot of ppl) and pretty much everyone and their mother finds loopholes in the censorship and shit. All of that seems very exaggerated, but Western media can just lay back and publish these (very popular) stories because no one in NK is going to deny or confirm anything as there is no real communication.

I came to a country, had heard plenty of stuff but had no expectations and any direction... and what I found was a place were people were talking, laughing, coughing, arguing like pretty much anywhere. Sure, some odd statues and buildings and the infrastructure was stuck in the 70s but if people go there to find something weird, they will be pretty disappointed.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

but if people go there to find something weird, they will be pretty disappointed.

Unless they had happened to bump into you on your visit!

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

[American Seagle]

Nope. Utter wanker he was, obviously, but as for the overall impact... no chance he gets anywhere near the yanks.

Why the yanks. Odd to pick on just one part of the US. You are ok with the slave stuff from the south then? Odd stance you have there.

 

[American Seagle]

Utter Bullshite from you again, plenty of countries have caused more issues, take a long hard look at history before you make stupid comments like that.

If it were not for Americas participation in both World Wars, the world would be a much worse place right now, and that is a cold hard fact.

Just because it is cool to hate America.

Yes they have issues, some of them pretty disgusting, but that does not make the country and all that live there agree with their policies and issues. It is an amazing country to visit, with such a wide and varied landscape, with a wide selection of folk that generally are like you and me.

Grow up and as you like to tell everyone, don't believe the narrative you are fed.

America is still a young country, and needs to unshackle it's self from the constitution and the religious restraints, that can also be said about many many countries.

Happy 4th of July America.

I would point out that we are in a strange time where the government (particularly the Supreme Court) are implementing things the majority of the country is against.

 

[dangull]

Maybe just a Las Vegas thing, but the size of the meals there was ridiculous, then walking around there seemed to be not surprisingly more over weight people as well.

Luckily, I wasn't there when the good old American gun culture caused some nutter to shoot loads of people on the strip from his hotel room.

 

[Doonhamer7]

The USA already has healthcare, unemployment benefits, subsidized housing, employment rights, paid sickness and vacation. What makes you think it doesn’t? The way Republicans will get back in power (the rise and power of religion driven by Cheney? Huh?) is for the country to first elect an incompetent president who will put incompetent socialists in positions of power and drive the economy off the edge of a cliff (in process).

Not from my colleagues in several states including Texas who have employment at will contracts, scared if they lose their job that their healthcare goes (they also pay a lot for it with large excess) when made unemployed, paid sickness comes out of 20 PTO days, can subsidised housing explain many in trailer parks or homeless sleeping on streets (it was reallly sad to see them on streets of Houston on my last trip). They are all surprised how good we have it in the uk. Also forgot to mention the USA quality maternity and paternity leave.

I watched a programme (either bbc or channel4) how the Republicans looked at how they get re-elected during Clinton period. They noted large percentage of religious conservatives didn’t vote at all so since then they have aligned policy to get them on side.

Your last statement could potentially apply to many presidents - a lot of Obama policies were more right wing than Reagan’s.

 

[Jim Van Winkle]

Best ever US export originates from Hawaii....the delicious golden ale Big Wave. My favorite tipple by a country mile!

It’s good. Their Hanalei IPA is delicious. Also, if you come across anything from Maui Brewing Co. you should give it a whirl.