That was scarcasm. XD I agree whole-heartidly. See americans are usually alot... well... more uninformed than other countries. In refrence to america's child mortality rate. I live in Tennessee. the LITERAL worst in the USA. Proven fact. I might be moveing out of state because of it in the future.

Interesting discussion. The US is a big country, with a lot of variance per location. In the SF Bay Area city where I live, a one bedroom apartment (1br, 1bath, 1kitchen, 1living room) starts from $1050 based on the cheapest place I could find when I last moved. 1 room studios are a bit cheaper, maybe around $750, but average prices are higher. A loaf of bread, well, it depends on what you buy but $1 can get you the cheapest store brands. $2 isn't uncommon for more well-known brands. Pay tends to be a bit higher as well; cost of living needs to be met if a company expects to have employees. I make about $80k/year, working in a field where this is not so unusual. Interestingly enough, I also pay about 30% taxes up front but that comes with the tax bracket. People with lower salaries will pay significantly less. We also have an 8.5% sales tax imposed by the state, but this doesn't apply to unprepared food and a few other necessities. No arguments with the heath insurance, I pay for it for my wife and I but it could be better. I have a fixed co-pay for medicine as per the insurance, although some medicines are not covered. This happens when there's a generic version of the drug, which is covered. A doctor will typically give you a sample to start with, some will give a lot of samples if they know you can't purchase it. If there is a problem we know it will be taken care of. Hospitals are not allowed to turn people away just because they cannot pay - the patient might have quite a few large bills, but they usually won't die. I was in this situation myself while in college. I had a few bills that I thought I'd never be able to pay as a student, but after getting a good job they went away quickly enough. Of course, some people choose not to go to the hospital because of the bills. It's a different system, not perfect to be sure, but it could be worse. As for your last point, and to make a post within the topic... Today, on the day of the supposed huge re-release with Target getting 40,000 Wii systems nationally, it has just sold out in my area according the tracker at crayz.org. Lots of scalpers on Craigslist posting new Wii consoles, go figure.

yeah... I noticed on e-bay there's alot of scalpers with 5-10+ Wiis. Must not be TOO hard to find anymore. Well... If say. I broke my arm and I had a bone sticking out. (friggn A+ ouch) I go to the hospital... They take me in, and fix me up. Later that week I get a 10,000$ bill in the mail. Ouch. There goes 1 year of gross pay : So I can then pay 500$/month for 5 years to pay it off... 'with intrest' Holy ****. That's half of what I was being paid. There goes my house... At least a cardboard box is cheap...

Do you seriously make 10,000 a year?

It's hard to find if you don't want to pay a scalper, as I've found while trying to help a few friends buy Wii consoles. There were about 40 at the local target from what I've heard. All were gone by 10am when I woke up and checked, this being the weekend... Of course, a number of them are now on Craigslist. I'm surprised that you have good availability of the consoles where you live, I've heard of people seeking them out in neighboring cities. As I mentioned, I've been there before. I actually couldn't pay the bills when I was a college student, nor with the $13k job I landed in the area I went to college. I eventually ended up moving to another place where I could. My credit was shot at first and I was basically broke for the first month due to the increased cost of living, but in the end I fixed the issues and came out much better off. It was a small bit of luck landing a good job to be sure, but interviews can be landed without moving. Most of it was hard work and preparation. FWIW, I'd recommend moving out of that economically depressed area as soon as you get the chance, it's the best thing that ever happened to me. Yup, I see that around here as well. It's not unique to the US, but it certainly shows that we're not perfect. I've also met homeless people in Japan, no doubt it happens all over the world.

You think $10,000 is bad for medical bills? My wife's aunt had to have her gall bladder removed. Thankfully she had insurance and it was covered. Want to know how much it is WITHOUT insurance though? $200,000. To remove an organ. TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS. Want to know what that costs in Canada? Take a guess. Want to know what a 3 month hospital stay costs in Canada? Want to know what a checkup with your family physician costs in Canada?

Amen brother, and Sweden is a really small country :) I think we have smaller pop than New York...Gothenburg is the second largest city with a whopping population of 500k :) I do think if you want to get rich is is easier in the USA, if you have the possibility, I doubt that my parents could have paid mine and my brothers education if I was born in the states. I mean I think that I would make a lot of more money if I would have a work in the states instead of Sweden, but as I said before I do love my country. Wii is sold out and the shops are talking about 2-3 months of delivery time, but of course Sweden is not high priority.

I live in Canada. My father is undergoing chemo right now. Were we in the states, we'd have had to sell the house by now.

That's the best argument for good health insurance you can make. You never know what can happen to you or your family, a pity there are so many in the US that think universal health care is a bad idea. No doubt these are people who already have good insurance. OTOH, this is getting way off topic. Anyone seen a non-bundled Wii in stock today in the SF Bay area?

http://members.forbes.com/global/2006/0522/032.html As I said, if you read my entire post before. Which you did not, I was wrong about Canada. But certainly not about taxes in Europe. Where did I ever say I thought making 26k was making 20k in Canada? And the US dollar is in a long term down trend, has been for a while if you look at a graph. http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_03/milhouse021603.html You'll see even in the 1990s when we had one of the most explosive periods of growth in US history the dollar was still in decline??? Anyway, your sales tax is still much higher than US sales tax, that's a fact. And why do you want the US to fall down? The majority of Canadas exports are here, if the US fails you think Canada is just gonna keep pluggin along??