Poll of the Day > The Cost of Living Keeps Rising

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyo1u9WxUG4

Norway ain't cheaper though, but most countries are friendlier to foreigners than the US. Like I guess Afghanistan is less friendly to foreigners than the US

OhhhJa posted...

Just move to a new country bro... most countries are actually more hostile to foreigners than the US, or at the least, have more barriers for living there. I cant just move to Norway

Lots of countries like foreigners, as long as you are what they consider to be the correct kind of foreigner.

Glob posted...

Lots of countries like foreigners, as long as you are what they consider to be the correct kind of foreigner.

like =/= easy to legally immigrate to through said countries legal system.

Vicaris posted...

Norway ain't cheaper though, but most countries are friendlier to foreigners than the US. Like I guess Afghanistan is less friendly to foreigners than the US

Lol, the entirety of Asia and South America are hostile to foreigners. The countries you're referring to that are "nice" are the expensive countries to live in

Also lol at the "right kind of foreigner." Sounds exactly like a maga person

OhhhJa posted...

Lol, the entirety of Asia and South America are hostile to foreigners. The countries you're referring to that are "nice" are the expensive countries to live in

As someone from SA that ain't true

ooger posted...

like =/= easy to legally immigrate to through said countries legal system.

I agree. I only meant in terms of the sentiment of the people you meet and how they react to you.

OhhhJa posted...

Lol, the entirety of Asia and South America are hostile to foreigners. The countries you're referring to that are "nice" are the expensive countries to live in

As a foreigner living in Asia, Im calling bullshit on this.

OhhhJa posted...

Also lol at the "right kind of foreigner." Sounds exactly like a maga person

You couldnt be further off the mark. MAGA is a scummy cult. In terms of what countries view as the right kind of foreigner, it varies. Sometimes its racist or homophobic, but often its about being hospitable to people who have something to offer the country and who are willing to make some sort of effort to respect the local way of life. Im genuinely amazed at how often Americans come over here and do things like complain that a merchant wouldnt accept their USD. Those are the kinds of foreigners that arent liked over here.

This is our trajectory so long as the people remain so easily fooled into voting against their own interests or embracing apathy.

Vicaris posted...

As someone from SA that ain't true

Then why is it you cant travel to SA without being told to avoid non-tourist areas? Guarantee I cant move to Argentina and set up an "american" shop without backlash

Meanwhile, america is so "hostile" that foreign-owned restaurants are literally on every block, sometimes entire areas being foreign communities (which i like btw). I love that there's a Korean community that basically owns the town near me. All the alleged hostility is overblown by media

ooger posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyo1u9WxUG4

Canada?

OhhhJa posted...

Then why is it you cant travel to SA without being told to avoid non-tourist areas? Guarantee I cant move to Argentina and set up an "american" shop without backlash

Bro it's not just the foreigners that avoid certain areas. It's all of us.

And if you came here and set up an American shop you'd make a killing, it's called McDonald's and burger king.

OhhhJa posted...

Meanwhile, america is so "hostile" that foreign-owned restaurants are literally on every block, sometimes entire areas being foreign communities (which i like btw). I love that there's a Korean community that basically owns the town near me. All the alleged hostility is overblown by media

And in this case it's because America was indeed once upon a time a place where people were welcome. It was a mix of being a desirable place as well as a welcoming place plus even other things like geography.

But y'all always been racist. not that the rest of the world isn't, but the fact that the communities ended up in their own little neighborhood instead of integrating is part of the American segregationist attitude.

For an instance my country also got a lot of foreigners back in the early 20th century but we weren't as welcoming. However most of the ones that came blended in.

Like yeah we get cities with strong Italian heritage, with German, Pomeranian, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese heritage, but it's rare that we get a neighborhood just for that ethnicity. We have a few of these neighborhoods but they're rare.

That's not to say we ain't racist coz we racist as fuck, it's just we do a different kind of racist. America is very conscious of race, we see in things like people saying they're 3/4 northern Italian and 22/7 Mongolian, people in other countries don't care about that. Or how you guys have an amazingly rich and creative collection of slurs for literally every nationality on earth even for countries that no longer exist.

Point is, that seed is there in America and it sprouts from time to time like when y'all suddenly start deporting people to concentration camps in El Salvador.

So it's not that America is inherently unfriendly to foreigners, it's just that the US has that potential and right now its living up to it.

If people from rich countries moved en masse to poor countries (setting aside whether they would even want to do that, or concerns over racism), they'd just cause problems gentrifying their new location. Unless you're just saying that's what one person as an individual should do, but again, how does that alleviate the problem for the people who don't do it?

It wasn't a legit suggestion btw but I don't think there would be such an effect besides the whole concept of gentrification is questionable imo. Places get richer, people move to where they can afford it, it's how it is. Calling it gentrification makes it sound like it's wrong to happen.

If it's fair for me to suggest, even jokingly, that rich people move to less rich places it'd be contradictory if I thought it'd be wrong for people in other countries to see themselves facing a similar problem.

Vicaris posted...

Calling it gentrification makes it sound like it's wrong to happen.

Money moves away, it's "wealth flight" and catastrophically bad when it happens.
Money moves in, it's "gentrification" which is also "bad" somehow.

Vicaris posted...

Calling it gentrification makes it sound like it's wrong to happen.

Yes and no. For a lot of people, gentrification doesn't mean they get to take advantage of increased economic opportunities and lower crime rates (which are good things), it means they get priced out of their neighbourhood and pushed somewhere worse (if there's even anywhere for them to go), and that's a problem.

The issue with gentrification isn't that it happens at all, it's that it tends to happen more rapidly than the broader market can adapt to and in a relatively small area. Slower, wide-reaching gentrification is great. Rapid, localized gentrification displaces people more quickly than new places can pop up to accept them, which causes issues both on a personal and a societal scale.

adjl posted...

it means they get priced out of their neighbourhood and pushed somewhere worse

That's more a symptom of renting, than gentrification itself.

Questionmarktarius posted...

That's more a symptom of renting, than gentrification itself.

Renters are certainly the most vulnerable to it, by virtue of not being able to stop the property they rent from being sold or anything like that (which also makes rental-heavy neighbourhoods more susceptible to rapid gentrification, in that it's easier to buy a property and kick the renters out than to buy a house the resident owns). Even past that, though, gentrification often results in local businesses pivoting (whether voluntarily or because of changing market pressures) to be less affordable, services required by low-income people moving elsewhere, and other changes that reflect the changing economic status of the neighbourhood and end up disenfranchising existing residents.

Also, even if the problem is more proximally with renting than with gentrification itself, renting isn't going anywhere, especially in lower-income neighbourhoods. If you drown in a flood, it's not the floodwaters' fault that you can't breathe underwater, but it's still accurate to say that the flood has killed you. Consequently, efforts to keep you from drowning in floods don't consist of you growing gills, they consist of trying to control the floodwaters to reduce the danger they are able to pose to you.

adjl posted...

services required by low-income people moving elsewhere

Like what, the bus?
If anything, a bus stop nearby is desirable for a gentrification-goto 5-over-1 apartment block with a pretentious coffee place at ground level.

Consequently, efforts to keep you from drowning in floods don't consist of you growing gills, they consist of trying to control the floodwaters to reduce the danger they are able to pose to you.

are you advocating for slums being protected?

Way I see it when it happens fast and suddenly as well as the fact that people don't have a place to go, then the issue is elsewhere.

Like I mentioned earlier with nimby and what I called a sorta of HOA setting the rules of the game, which is really people and organizations with money and influence guiding construction regulation zoning laws towards what's good for them, or sometimes even just misguided public policy.

The thing I dislike when people talk about gentrification is that it seems to shift the blame to the people moving in somewhere rather than what causes them to move in so suddenly and what caused other people caught in the process not to have another more affordable place to move to.

Vicaris posted...

The thing I dislike when people talk about gentrification is that it seems to shift the blame to the people moving in somewhere rather than what causes them to move in so suddenly and what caused other people caught in the process not to have another more affordable place to move to.

It's part of a "slum cycle".
Once the value of a chunk of land has dropped enough, it becomes commercially viable to buy it and put up a 5-over-1 block or whatever attracts yuppies. Over time, it may become a slum again, as decaying conditions has led everyone who can afford to leave have left, accelerating the decay spiral.

It's not even the slum's fault for that, but too-damn-much red tape bloating the costs of building anything. The value of the land is the only real part of the cost sheet that can move much.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Like what, the bus?
If anything, a bus stop nearby is desirable for a gentrification-goto 5-over-1 apartment block with a pretentious coffee place at ground level.

Welfare office, food bank, social workers, affordable daycare, any form of addiction services... there are quite a few services for low-income people that are in pretty short supply because they rely on external funding sources, and that means they have to pick their neighbourhoods based on where they can achieve the most. If most of the low-income people in a neighbourhood have been driven out, those services are going to go with them and the remaining ones are going to be left out.

Questionmarktarius posted...

are you advocating for slums being protected?

More for doing more to make sure there's somewhere to go if a given neighbourhood becomes unaffordable for long-time residents, including stronger tenant protections, more proactive urban planning, and controls on real estate that ensure an ample supply of housing to keep prices from ballooning out of control (like nuking AirBnB and equity firms that hoard and pass around empty houses like poker chips). It's not nearly as binary as you seem to think it is; you can restrict an area's economic growth to be sustainable and keep the bigger picture in mind without outright saying "only poor people are ever allowed to live here."

Vicaris posted...

But y'all always been racist. not that the rest of the world isn't, but the fact that the communities ended up in their own little neighborhood instead of integrating is part of the American segregationist attitude.

I think you're pretty off the mark on this. These communities end up in pockets because they actually prefer to live near each other and because its likely more economically viable for them

I think people who single Americans out for racism likely haven't encountered many people from other countries. Look out how much europe has flipped out over just just having a few arabs in their midst. And if you've never been around a Scandinavian... man they throw the n word around like its nothing

And Asians, dont think ive encountered so much open racism lol

OhhhJa posted...

Look out how much europe has flipped out over just just having a few arabs in their midst.

Look at how Yugoslavia became a complete mess over sub-ethicities.

Vicaris posted...

Also I think y'all first worlders can't afford a house because you haven't realized yet you're living in the planet's nice neighborhood, even if you never meant to.

You are being priced out of your country because your square meter is so on demand it's no longer affordable to regular folk.

That and a supercharged form of global HOA you never knew existed keeping affordable housing projects out of their backyard.

One should feel sorry for you folk but also so many of you are so giddy to keep everybody out of your land of opportunities it's hard to muster up a lot of empathy.

So allow me to iterate on bro's first advice: move to a cheaper country.

How are poor people supposed to move to a different country?

ooger posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyo1u9WxUG4

Everybody already knows inflation is because of greedy companies.

Revelation34 posted...

How are poor people supposed to move to a different country?

Everybody already knows inflation is because of greedy companies.

Go coyote style

Vicaris posted...

Go coyote style

Walk around and try to eat pets?

Revelation34 posted...

Walk around and try to eat pets?

That's how people ended up hiding their cats and dogs coz they were getting eaten

Revelation34 posted...

Walk around and try to eat pets?

I think he meant Wile E. Coyote

Living has always had a high cost. Effort is a useful commodity.

OhhhJa posted...

I think people who single Americans out for racism likely haven't encountered many people from other countries. Look out how much europe has flipped out over just just having a few arabs in their midst. And if you've never been around a Scandinavian... man they throw the n word around like its nothing

And Asians, dont think ive encountered so much open racism lol

People who claim that racism is only a problem in a handful of countries are definitely way off the mark. Its a problem the world over. But race is a much bigger issue in America than in most other developed countries (and some developing ones too).

Most other cultures don't actually recognize race or experience racism in the same way America does.

Someone of Asian descent (for example) may say something derogatory about black people, but they're generalizing in terms of colour rather than ethnicity.

Vicaris posted...

That's how people ended up hiding their cats and dogs coz they were getting eaten

So you believe in racist lies?

Revelation34 posted...

So you believe in racist lies?

There's outright video evidence.

Kyuubi4269 posted...

There's outright video evidence.

Then share it. Wed love to see what youre talking about.

teddy241 posted...

Are you keeping up? Will it ever get any better or is the American dream no longer obtainable for most?

I use to make 75k in 2021 now I make 62k.

The American Dream died on June 11th, 2015. However, the American Nightmare is going strong.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

The irony is it works the other way. When the economy goes to shit, most people are forced to move back into the cities.

It is kinda weird when you think about it, considering those people still need to live. Although I guess they must cram 2-3 people to a 300-sq ft apartment

Questionmarktarius posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7cc82558.jpg

Not as elegant or convenient as a capsule. Of course, if I was going to pick something from DBZ, flight and instant transmission would also be nice (or power levels, although the second power levels are a thing the planet is getting blown up)

Revelation34 posted...

So you believe in racist lies?

I'm captain Basch fon Rosenburg of Dalmasca. Don't believe Ondore's lies!

Glob posted...

People who claim that racism is only a problem in a handful of countries are definitely way off the mark. Its a problem the world over. But race is a much bigger issue in America than in most other developed countries (and some developing ones too).

Thats because most of those developed countries are mostly homogenous outside of somewhere like England. Circling back to my point about how European countries threw a tantrum about Muslims living in their communities.

Obviously, america still deals with black/white issues from its past of slavery/segregation, but we're also the biggest melting pot on the planet and its not close. Nowhere has near the ethnic diversity we do

Arv makes over 100k a year. More than arvs ever made. And ironically it feels like minimum wage

It sucks for people making minum wage or anything below 20 dollars an hour and that's even low balling it. Unless they live with family or dont have responsibilities

I hire people in at $20/hr but they also
can get 10-15 hours of overtime most weeks. Even with that I dont know how they get by.

I remember learning that the US was like a melting pot and Canada was like a mosaic. I didn't really know what that meant, but I think it implies that the people groups that make up Canada stay apart while in the US they intermingle

Not sure if that's even true but I always remembered it

Damn_Underscore posted...

I remember learning that the US was like a melting pot and Canada was like a mosaic. I didn't really know what that meant, but I think it implies that the people groups that make up Canada stay apart while in the US they intermingle

Not sure if that's even true but I always remembered it

Maybe? I've been to several major canadian cities (toronto, montreal, ottawa, vancouver, quebec city) I was surprised by how when i went to quebec city, i suddenly felt like had blacked out and wound up in France. There's really nothing quite like that in America. It felt very separate from the other cities I'd been too even though Montreal is pretty french as well

TimeForAction posted...

I hire people in at $20/hr but they also
can get 10-15 hours of overtime most weeks. Even with that I dont know how they get by.

That's ass. Youd have to be living at home with your parents if you're making that

Me and my wife make like 140-150k combined and it still feels like we barely make enough to get by

TimeForAction posted...

I hire people in at $20/hr but they also
can get 10-15 hours of overtime most weeks. Even with that I dont know how they get by.

Selling weed lol

ArvTheGreat posted...

Arv makes over 100k a year. More than arvs ever made. And ironically it feels like minimum wage

Damn.