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America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

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Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#461

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

solatic wrote: post #408
aprdm wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Live frugally" , "FIRE" , "work in tech" All incompatible with 99% of the upper class, neither do they want to eat ramen to retire early. You're also one medical disaster away from being "very very wrong"

A lot of people are often surprised at how non-frugal their lifestyles are. I'm not suggesting that people living on $50k/year aren't already frugal, but yeah, there's definitely people who take out car loans, take out mortgages for the full amount they were approved for, and all sorts of random things like buying chicken parts instead of whole chickens, buying small grocery store containers instead of bulk pricing f…

But also you see people asking why can’t someone making the median wage - $75K a year - max out there 401K at $23500 and their HSA at $8300, etc

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#462

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

snayan wrote: post #421
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is absolutely no significant number of Americans who left without ties to other countries. I find it rich that Americans who leave the US call themselves “ex-pats” instead of “immigrants”

There's a difference in intention between ex-pat and immigrant. Ex-pat's tend to think of themselves as being wherever they are temporarily, but intending to return to their home country. Immigrants desire is to make wherever they are their new home country. If you're saying that people who have permanently left the US call themselves ex-pats, that is news to me, and I can understand the confusion.

They very much do. People retiring to other countries specifically

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#463

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

infinite8s wrote: post #451
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said in another reply, that’s actually a real Plan B. We are going to stay in Costa Rica for 5 weeks starting next week and my wife and I are both learning Spanish now. I’m at around an A2 CEFR level. I’ve already researched the residency requirements for both there and Panama

There are definite costs to this in terms of continued US taxation as an expat, especially if there isn't a tax treaty in place.

Costa Rica doesn’t tax foreign income. But logically it only makes sense to establish residence there if I am not working. CAJA - their healthcare system would be about the same price as my employer provided healthcare.

I already don’t pay state tax living in Florida and I would pay federal tax either way.

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#464

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

mathgladiator wrote: post #446
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s monumentally not a good idea https://www.cdc.gov/chronic-disease/about/index.html 90% of adults will have a chronic condition by the time they are 65. https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/most-commo...

That data alone invalidates any idea of insurance being sustainable, it's a sinking ship. I, on the other hand, only eat beef, butter, bacon, and eggs and everything is getting better. BUT, I may be in a cult, but this cult has benefits.

No insurance is viable because the risk pool includes people of all ages.

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#465

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

mathgladiator wrote: post #447
com2kid wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, cancer is an RNG roll away for anyone. Doesn't matter how well you take care of yourself if a random cell decides to divide in just the wrong way.

Cancer happens all the time and your immune system deals with it. Look into the recent evidence of how keto deals with cancer. I'm telling you, I live in a world without fear and it is awesome.

Are you willing going to “happy thoughts” your way into never having a serious illness?

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#466

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #317
ahmeneeroe-v2 wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Blame that on the private insurance companies.

100%. I also blame Obama and the dem politicians who legislated this into existence. This has been a disaster.

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#467

Post by thesmtsolver2 »

michaelteter wrote: post #397
thesmtsolver2 wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Singapore is a dictatorship wearing a democracy's outfit. One party has been ruling continuously since its formation and you can't go against its ideas. There is no real competition for ideas like we have in the US. So, yeah, the "discussion/debates" will be high quality when it is one sided. Just like North Korea is free from low quality debates, Singapore too is free from that. https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/a…

Have you not been observing what is happening in the US right now? Any dissension is labeled as "domestic terrorism" - this is coming from the highest levels in US government. So is the facade of democracy much different from a dictatorship? I'm not here saying that Singapore is doing everything right. I'm just noting that public political presentations from Singapore seem vastly better than watching Trump, Leavitt,…

> Any dissension is labeled as "domestic terrorism

They can do all the labeling they want, but their actions are limited.

Are you in the US? Have you not seen the amount of protests? Something of that scale is not possible in Singapore.

Can you protest for undocumented immigrants like that in Singapore or in, say, Norway?

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#468

Post by dexwiz »

rudolftheone wrote: post #407
dexwiz wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once heard a linguistic explanation for this. European languages have a future tense, which means people have different ideas of themselves in the present and future. You can even hear this in phrases like "that's a problem for future me." While Chinese lacks the European styled future tense, ignoring time phrases, auxiliary verbs, etc. So people more clearly conceptualize their present and future selves as the sam…

This sounds like the 'Future Time Reference' hypothesis by Keith Chen (2013). It’s indeed a fascinating idea, but it’s essentially an example of Galton’s problem (treating related cultures/languages as independent data points). What makes this story (scientifically) great is that Chen himself co-authored a follow-up study just two years later [1] to rigorously test his own theory. When they re-analyzed the data using…

Thanks for the follow up. I am always hesitant to believe things that sound too Gladwellian.

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#469

Post by malshe »

rootusrootus wrote: post #340
malshe wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent years in Singapore and loved it there. Never had to face road rage (which so many of us experience daily several times driving in Texas! NextDoor is full of these stories) or aggressive behavior by anyone in authority including police and immigration officers. I know many people find Singapore boring after a while but it didn't bother me much. On the flip side, the cost of living is high as a foreigner and tr…

Some of that can be solved without leaving the US. Texas is very different from, say, the PNW. Road rage and aggressive police are not in any way a regular occurrence up here.

Yes, indeed. My family is seriously considering moving out of TX soon.

Re: America vs. Singapore: You can't save your way out of economic shocks

#470

Post by com2kid »

mathgladiator wrote: post #447
com2kid wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, cancer is an RNG roll away for anyone. Doesn't matter how well you take care of yourself if a random cell decides to divide in just the wrong way.

Cancer happens all the time and your immune system deals with it. Look into the recent evidence of how keto deals with cancer. I'm telling you, I live in a world without fear and it is awesome.

I'm well aware of keto and cancer. I spent 5 years in ketosis, I trained semi professionally as an athlete (4 hours a day at a professional MMA gym), I spent years helping people get into keto and lose tons of weight and improve their health.

Keto helps with some cancers that are powered by glucose.

It does nothing to help with any other forms of cancer, of which there are plenty.

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