Khuutra said: tombi123 said: Khuutra said: trashleg said: come to scotland. I've actually considered doing this, one day How's the food Amazing!  Haggis is really nice. Aberdeen Angus beef is probably the best beef in the world. The fish is also great. Britain has some of the best produce in the world. See I've always figured that. I'd like to try haggis, but I'd need to make my own and do you know how hard it is to find sheep stomach in Toronto The answer is very. I can't eat barley, though God, not being able to have anything related to wheat sucks

That's a shame. If you ever get the chance to make/try wheat free haggis it is definitely worth it. I'm allergic to shellfish, which is annoying enough because I love Thai food, but they put prawns or shrimp paste in almost everything . I can't imagine a wheat free diet. No bread or pasta :O

Also... isn't that actually already illegal in the US?

Australias a nice place to live.

Democratic, stable and our economy is en great shape considering the current state of the world economy (we avoided recession, one of the few countries to do so).

Low average and minimum wage? My understanding was they are very decent?

High unemplpyment?  Compared to who?  Until recently our unemployment was very low, and unless the Labor government keeps pissing away money in an attempt to make Kevin Rudd a global celebrity, 10 years of good coalition economic governance should mean we can still go back there.

Extreme weather?  Where?  In the cities?

In some cities I'll give you the bad public services on transport at least.

tombi123 said: trashleg said: come to scotland. It's -16 degrees at the moment isn't it? Maybe a tad too cold for Mafoo

I live in Minnasota. It's gets far colder here. Right now it's nice at only -3C, but in a few months it will get to -40C.

Yea, it gets cold here. One of the reasons I want to move.

You must have missed my other long post in here.

it has little to do with me ideology (although that plays a part), and more to do with not wanting to live in a system that's about to go bankrupt.

Over the next 10 years, we are going to be in major trouble here, and the only way out is to put the successful peoples lifestyle in decline.

I would accept that if the reason was massive deaths due to something, or war, or something we had to endure. It's not. The only reason is mismanagement, and I don't want to give my efforts to a futile attempt from a incompetent government to "fix the problem".

This is not party based by the way... both parties suck at this. Republicans I think would run us into the ground slower, but they still do it. In no way, is this problem like prohibition. That's a law you can pass or dissolve. The problems in Washington that I see.. will not go away.

Real Mafoo-- keep in mind that if you move to Australia you'd have to put your taxes, your biggest complaint if i'm reading you correctly, into two systems, which wastes your $$$$$.

You could just not pay the US taxes and stay in Oz, but you would lose the taxes that you've already paid, wouldnt get social security. You might not get that in Oz either or have the time to put that in, dont know about their walefare systems.

Why not just move to a state that you'd like more? You seem pretty conservative and like warm , possibly dry climates. Why not think about texas? That would meet all of your requirements, you could talk about Obama, and the conservatives here with their rootintootin string ties would say "Hear Hear" .   We've got the telecom corridor in Dallas, the Austin area is very liberal and more upscale and has a lot of 20-30 year olds, Houston has the energy sector depending on industries that you possibly might like.

Lastly, moving to australia, a country with the GDP that would probably be 2/3's of the US doesnt totally make sense and forgive my bluntness. 

Either way, good luck finding some place that you like more.

I spent the first 24 years of my life in Texas (was raised in Dallas), and while I like Texas, that does not solve the problem.

When the US starts printing money, and my dollar is worth 60 cents, it applies the same in Texas as it does anywhere else in the US.

As for Social Security, that's 30 years or more away. Do you really think we will have Social Security in 30 years? Wait until the Baby Boomers enter the system for 10 years.

I have not looked too deeply into what US taxes I would have to pay if I worked and lived outside the US.. I assumed it would be zero, as there is no reason they need to provide anything for me.

I should look into it as apposed to trying to apply logic to the situation.

Fair enough.