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Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

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Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#151

Post by bigyabai »

Pet_Ant wrote: post #121
kuerbel wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Germany and I'm not afraid of Russia. If they had more manpower they would have overrun Ukraine by now. They do not. I'm not saying it would be an easy fight, but Russia stands no chance. Not even with Belarus on their side or some other satellite states.

When they come for Europe, they will come with nukes. It's clear they only need to protect St Petersburg and Moscow with SMD. The rest they are happy to let burn. Can England and France threaten Russia with retaliation? Trump has made it clear that Europe (maybe minus the UK, just maybe) is in the Russian sphere of influence, and we can't really count on the English to not Neville Chamberlain their way out of this.

Russia's BMD program was a joke when it was new. Take a moment to consider exactly which sabre you're rattling.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#152

Post by jbstack »

jonkoops wrote: post #72
jbstack wrote: post #44

I love the Netherlands and have spent a few months trying it out as a place to live. It's among my favourite places: moderate weather, friendly people, a high level of personal freedom, very high rate of English speakers, clean and modern environment, good international restaurants, lively town centres even in smaller towns, most towns have rivers / canals which make them very pleasant to walk around. I could list ma…

The new limit before being taxed is around 60K (€59.357), any amount on top of that is taxed (1.44%), so it is not like you are getting robbed blind. It is only fair that those that have a lot of money contribute so that others can participate in society with equal opportunity. Also, not all assets are taxed.

It's actually more like 2.2% for shares (5.88% assumed return taxed at 36% = 2.2%.

If you have an ultra-low risk investment strategy focused on value preservation and inflation beating (where your expected returns are in the low single digits e.g. 2 - 3%), that does start to look like being robbed blind.

> It is only fair that those that have a lot of money contribute

Really? 60k is "a lot of money"? Yes, it's a lot in the sense that many people have far less than that, but it's not "a lot" in the scheme of things when we're talking about saving and investing.

With 60k you'll be lucky even to get the down-payment on a mortgage for a small apartment, which you'll then be paying off every month for the next several decades. Should we be taxing people on their wealth before they've even had the chance to own their first home? I would argue that such a person can't legitimately be called wealthy.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#153

Post by jbstack »

neilv wrote: post #67
jbstack wrote: post #44

I love the Netherlands and have spent a few months trying it out as a place to live. It's among my favourite places: moderate weather, friendly people, a high level of personal freedom, very high rate of English speakers, clean and modern environment, good international restaurants, lively town centres even in smaller towns, most towns have rivers / canals which make them very pleasant to walk around. I could list ma…

> This makes it a pretty bad place to live if you care about investing and saving for the future. What if you plan to stay permanently? Does that change your priority for accumulating more personal wealth?

I don't follow why it makes a difference? If someone wants to invest to improve their future quality of life, why would it matter how long they will live in a place for?

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#154

Post by gicgic »

xp84 wrote: post #65
trvz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

I suspect this is largely driven by a subset of liberals who have equated words they don't like with violence. So when someone like Kirk commits a misgendering or some other verbal assault against their beliefs, this is essentially the same as exacting physical violence. Which by that logic can be responded to with actual physical violence.

It's very twisted, and fortunately not all liberals have this perspective. Some are actually liberal in their beliefs.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#155

Post by mindcrash »

Please, please, please go to anywhere EXCEPT the Netherlands. We beg you.

We have a gigantic and near unsolvable housing problem. We have thousands of refugees/immigrants with residence permits waiting for housing already (currently stuck in hotels and bungalow parks just to give them a roof over their heads), and we don't even have enough affordable houses for our own.

On behalf of everyone in the Netherlands waiting to start a family in their own affordable house, thank you.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#156

Post by gls2ro »

mothballed wrote: post #114
neilv wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you moved to a place that was physically safe, would gun ownership still be a top priority?

Seems paradoxical. If I'm not allowed to have guns, then I am physically unsafe, because someone from government will use violence against me if they both discover it and have the ability to do something about it. I wouldn't feel safe anywhere violence is used for malum prohibitum 'crimes.' In fact I don't feel safe basically anywhere a government exists because they all do this; this is part the reason why I live in…

(coming from a country where having guns at home or seeing a civilian with a gun is very very strange and an huge emergency so maybe my question is stupid)

IF the government decides to use violence against you do you really have a chance with a gun? or 10?

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#157

Post by throwaway-11-1 »

mothballed wrote: post #114
neilv wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you moved to a place that was physically safe, would gun ownership still be a top priority?

Seems paradoxical. If I'm not allowed to have guns, then I am physically unsafe, because someone from government will use violence against me if they both discover it and have the ability to do something about it. I wouldn't feel safe anywhere violence is used for malum prohibitum 'crimes.' In fact I don't feel safe basically anywhere a government exists because they all do this; this is part the reason why I live in…

[flagged]

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#158

Post by mantas »

yeahthatguy10 wrote: post #132
Pet_Ant wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...do you really need examples? In America, *if* you have money, everything is better than anywhere else. Maybe Dubai can compare but there are some strong trade offs. America has the best healthcare. Not the best value, but the best healthcare. It has low taxes, lots of world class cultural institutions, and varied beautiful geography. It is the Rome of our age. Corrupt, amoral, and exploitative? Sure, but with mone…

I have a chronic disease making over 500K dollars and I can tell you the US healthcare (from primary care to specialists) ability to help me stay on track or identify health issues has been null. If it wasn't because I second guess every recommendation, go and pay out of pocket tests (even though I gotta pay 4K+ in insurance premiums) I would have been dead by now. No, the US does not have the best healthcare not eve…

It's likely that you'd have issues in pretty much any country in the world with your conditions. For example many european single-payer systems have tons of exceptions. Covering only basic tests/procedures/drugs (premium available out-of-pocket only), queues (jumping queue is possible by paying out-of-pocket) and incompetent doctors (longer queues at the good ones). And you pay a huge insurance for this, so there's not that much money left to pay out-of-pocket for most people.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#159

Post by Gud »

Pet_Ant wrote: post #69
ohm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples?

...do you really need examples? In America, *if* you have money, everything is better than anywhere else. Maybe Dubai can compare but there are some strong trade offs. America has the best healthcare. Not the best value, but the best healthcare. It has low taxes, lots of world class cultural institutions, and varied beautiful geography. It is the Rome of our age. Corrupt, amoral, and exploitative? Sure, but with mone…

None of those things are better in America than in Switzerland.

Unlike the US, Switzerland has the added bonus of having a very stable democracy.

Re: Leaving the U.S. for the Netherlands

#160

Post by returningfory2 »

searedsteak wrote: post #51
dr_dshiv wrote: post #10

Come to the Netherlands! It’s awesome. And the visa is easy: just put 5k in a business account. Look up Dutch American friendship treaty.

Is there reciprocity for this treaty?

Yes: E-2 visa. Though I suspect the investment amount has to be much higher than the Dutch requirement of ~$5k.
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