Anonymous wrote:After living in Europe (Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, UK, France, Portugal), Israel, and S Korea, NYC and Raleigh, NC there is no better place on earth than Montgomery County, MD.

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Anonymous wrote:When you have to come back to horribly inferior food quality, obscene prices for everything and sooooooo much crime. It’s amazing when you can travel to a major city in the world and see ZERO gun deaths for literally days and weeks on end. There’s better public infrastructure that embarrasses the U.S., things are a lot more walkable, healthcare is way more afford, and things just work. Man, it gets harder and harder to return after every trip abroad. The only thing worth retuning for are the salaries and that’s about it.

I agree with you on healthcare, college, infrastructure and gun safety…the prices doesn’t really make sense. Maybe Thailand, Malaysia are what you are referring? I guess prices are low and while it’s not national healthcare…out of pocket and insurance is very low.

Europe, clearly you pay through the nose for gas, groceries, booze, etc…but that does fund the other social benefits.

Even in Japan, dining out is cheap for the Japanese earning Japanese yen. We literally stayed at our friend’s house there and talked about it. Yes, sure, you can spend a lot on elite dining in Tokyo, but there are soooooooooo many cheap to middle level options fir dining that are out of this world and way more affordable even by Japanese standards. And no tipping. The food quality at the grocery stores in all of those countries is superior, which is inexcusable given that the U.S. has vastly more room to grow food than an island nation like Japan. The quality of fruits in Thailand blows anything out of the water in the U.S., and you can buy like 2 kg of oranges for about $3, which is cheap even by Thai standards.


We also needed an ER visit in Thailand for a broken wrist. The wait time was less than 30 minutes. X-rays, cast, medication and a follow up visit: grand total of $314. And that was completely out of pocket with zero insurance. So, soooooo much better than getting bankrupted for HC in the US even when you have insurance.

Yes, but you are mixing and matching. I get that Thailand is cheap, but the infrastructure is not the same as SK, Japan or Singapore.

I have no idea on out of pocket healthcare in SK or Japan or Singapore. Is it cheap?

You have to admit though that people are fundamentally unhappy about something in the Asian systems when it comes to children. Birthrates are nonexistent and women are always complaining about the inequality they face.

The fertility rate gap vanishes if you adjust for bastard rate for the most part

Having kids out of wedlock is very taboo in Asia

American tfr is 1.6/1.7 but if it had Asian levels of illegitimacy, it would crash down to 1.2/1.3 - similar to Japan

Ok, except you are claiming that life is so great in Asian countries. If that was the case, wouldn’t their birth rates be much higher?

It’s fine as a visitor, but actually being a native is much different. Wages are so low in Japan that a medical professional in Japan can make more as a waitress/waiter in Australia.

Life is so stressful in SK that parents are suing the proctor of an 11th grade exam for ending an 8 hour test 1 minute early. That test basically determines your life and kids starting in 8th grade go to normal school followed by 8 hours of cram school.

I mean the moral of your story is get rich in the US and then move. I get it.

SK is def different than Japan - it’s way worse. I would move to Japan, Thailand, china, and Singapore before SK

Yes, you are right in that the US is just a “bazaar” where the point is to accumulate wealth then bounce

China sucks as well….and certainly is not going to be good for an expat American.

The youth unemployment rate is like 20%+, there is absolutely no safety net/good or cheap healthcare and life is very expensive if you want o approximate Western standards

Nobody with $.02 sends their kid to a public school in China. China only scores high on international metrics because they only let private school kids from Beijing and Shanghai take the tests. The average Chinese kid is basically illiterate.

There are all these birth tourist agencies that fly Chinese to the US so their kids can be born here and have citizenship.

Again, there is too much Pollyanna thinking associated with accumulating wealth here and then moving vs the perspective of natives.

Anonymous wrote:Agree but no one wants us. I’ve looked into it and it’s really hard to go somewhere else unless you’re extremely wealthy.

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Anonymous wrote:When you have to come back to horribly inferior food quality, obscene prices for everything and sooooooo much crime. It’s amazing when you can travel to a major city in the world and see ZERO gun deaths for literally days and weeks on end. There’s better public infrastructure that embarrasses the U.S., things are a lot more walkable, healthcare is way more afford, and things just work. Man, it gets harder and harder to return after every trip abroad. The only thing worth retuning for are the salaries and that’s about it.

I agree with you on healthcare, college, infrastructure and gun safety…the prices doesn’t really make sense. Maybe Thailand, Malaysia are what you are referring? I guess prices are low and while it’s not national healthcare…out of pocket and insurance is very low.

Europe, clearly you pay through the nose for gas, groceries, booze, etc…but that does fund the other social benefits.

Even in Japan, dining out is cheap for the Japanese earning Japanese yen. We literally stayed at our friend’s house there and talked about it. Yes, sure, you can spend a lot on elite dining in Tokyo, but there are soooooooooo many cheap to middle level options fir dining that are out of this world and way more affordable even by Japanese standards. And no tipping. The food quality at the grocery stores in all of those countries is superior, which is inexcusable given that the U.S. has vastly more room to grow food than an island nation like Japan. The quality of fruits in Thailand blows anything out of the water in the U.S., and you can buy like 2 kg of oranges for about $3, which is cheap even by Thai standards.


We also needed an ER visit in Thailand for a broken wrist. The wait time was less than 30 minutes. X-rays, cast, medication and a follow up visit: grand total of $314. And that was completely out of pocket with zero insurance. So, soooooo much better than getting bankrupted for HC in the US even when you have insurance.

Yes, but you are mixing and matching. I get that Thailand is cheap, but the infrastructure is not the same as SK, Japan or Singapore.

I have no idea on out of pocket healthcare in SK or Japan or Singapore. Is it cheap?

You have to admit though that people are fundamentally unhappy about something in the Asian systems when it comes to children. Birthrates are nonexistent and women are always complaining about the inequality they face.

The fertility rate gap vanishes if you adjust for bastard rate for the most part

Having kids out of wedlock is very taboo in Asia

American tfr is 1.6/1.7 but if it had Asian levels of illegitimacy, it would crash down to 1.2/1.3 - similar to Japan

Ok, except you are claiming that life is so great in Asian countries. If that was the case, wouldn’t their birth rates be much higher?

It’s fine as a visitor, but actually being a native is much different. Wages are so low in Japan that a medical professional in Japan can make more as a waitress/waiter in Australia.

Life is so stressful in SK that parents are suing the proctor of an 11th grade exam for ending an 8 hour test 1 minute early. That test basically determines your life and kids starting in 8th grade go to normal school followed by 8 hours of cram school.

I mean the moral of your story is get rich in the US and then move. I get it.

SK is def different than Japan - it’s way worse. I would move to Japan, Thailand, china, and Singapore before SK

Yes, you are right in that the US is just a “bazaar” where the point is to accumulate wealth then bounce

Anonymous wrote:When you have to come back to horribly inferior food quality, obscene prices for everything and sooooooo much crime. It’s amazing when you can travel to a major city in the world and see ZERO gun deaths for literally days and weeks on end. There’s better public infrastructure that embarrasses the U.S., things are a lot more walkable, healthcare is way more afford, and things just work. Man, it gets harder and harder to return after every trip abroad. The only thing worth retuning for are the salaries and that’s about it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you have to come back to horribly inferior food quality, obscene prices for everything and sooooooo much crime. It’s amazing when you can travel to a major city in the world and see ZERO gun deaths for literally days and weeks on end. There’s better public infrastructure that embarrasses the U.S., things are a lot more walkable, healthcare is way more afford, and things just work. Man, it gets harder and harder to return after every trip abroad. The only thing worth retuning for are the salaries and that’s about it.

I agree with you on healthcare, college, infrastructure and gun safety…the prices doesn’t really make sense. Maybe Thailand, Malaysia are what you are referring? I guess prices are low and while it’s not national healthcare…out of pocket and insurance is very low.

Europe, clearly you pay through the nose for gas, groceries, booze, etc…but that does fund the other social benefits.

Even in Japan, dining out is cheap for the Japanese earning Japanese yen. We literally stayed at our friend’s house there and talked about it. Yes, sure, you can spend a lot on elite dining in Tokyo, but there are soooooooooo many cheap to middle level options fir dining that are out of this world and way more affordable even by Japanese standards. And no tipping. The food quality at the grocery stores in all of those countries is superior, which is inexcusable given that the U.S. has vastly more room to grow food than an island nation like Japan. The quality of fruits in Thailand blows anything out of the water in the U.S., and you can buy like 2 kg of oranges for about $3, which is cheap even by Thai standards.


We also needed an ER visit in Thailand for a broken wrist. The wait time was less than 30 minutes. X-rays, cast, medication and a follow up visit: grand total of $314. And that was completely out of pocket with zero insurance. So, soooooo much better than getting bankrupted for HC in the US even when you have insurance.

Yes, but you are mixing and matching. I get that Thailand is cheap, but the infrastructure is not the same as SK, Japan or Singapore.

I have no idea on out of pocket healthcare in SK or Japan or Singapore. Is it cheap?

You have to admit though that people are fundamentally unhappy about something in the Asian systems when it comes to children. Birthrates are nonexistent and women are always complaining about the inequality they face.

The fertility rate gap vanishes if you adjust for bastard rate for the most part

Having kids out of wedlock is very taboo in Asia

American tfr is 1.6/1.7 but if it had Asian levels of illegitimacy, it would crash down to 1.2/1.3 - similar to Japan

Ok, except you are claiming that life is so great in Asian countries. If that was the case, wouldn’t their birth rates be much higher?

It’s fine as a visitor, but actually being a native is much different. Wages are so low in Japan that a medical professional in Japan can make more as a waitress/waiter in Australia.

Life is so stressful in SK that parents are suing the proctor of an 11th grade exam for ending an 8 hour test 1 minute early. That test basically determines your life and kids starting in 8th grade go to normal school followed by 8 hours of cram school.

I mean the moral of your story is get rich in the US and then move. I get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you have to come back to horribly inferior food quality, obscene prices for everything and sooooooo much crime. It’s amazing when you can travel to a major city in the world and see ZERO gun deaths for literally days and weeks on end. There’s better public infrastructure that embarrasses the U.S., things are a lot more walkable, healthcare is way more afford, and things just work. Man, it gets harder and harder to return after every trip abroad. The only thing worth retuning for are the salaries and that’s about it.

I agree with you on healthcare, college, infrastructure and gun safety…the prices doesn’t really make sense. Maybe Thailand, Malaysia are what you are referring? I guess prices are low and while it’s not national healthcare…out of pocket and insurance is very low.

Europe, clearly you pay through the nose for gas, groceries, booze, etc…but that does fund the other social benefits.

Even in Japan, dining out is cheap for the Japanese earning Japanese yen. We literally stayed at our friend’s house there and talked about it. Yes, sure, you can spend a lot on elite dining in Tokyo, but there are soooooooooo many cheap to middle level options fir dining that are out of this world and way more affordable even by Japanese standards. And no tipping. The food quality at the grocery stores in all of those countries is superior, which is inexcusable given that the U.S. has vastly more room to grow food than an island nation like Japan. The quality of fruits in Thailand blows anything out of the water in the U.S., and you can buy like 2 kg of oranges for about $3, which is cheap even by Thai standards.


We also needed an ER visit in Thailand for a broken wrist. The wait time was less than 30 minutes. X-rays, cast, medication and a follow up visit: grand total of $314. And that was completely out of pocket with zero insurance. So, soooooo much better than getting bankrupted for HC in the US even when you have insurance.

Yes, but you are mixing and matching. I get that Thailand is cheap, but the infrastructure is not the same as SK, Japan or Singapore.

I have no idea on out of pocket healthcare in SK or Japan or Singapore. Is it cheap?

You have to admit though that people are fundamentally unhappy about something in the Asian systems when it comes to children. Birthrates are nonexistent and women are always complaining about the inequality they face.

The fertility rate gap vanishes if you adjust for bastard rate for the most part

Having kids out of wedlock is very taboo in Asia

American tfr is 1.6/1.7 but if it had Asian levels of illegitimacy, it would crash down to 1.2/1.3 - similar to Japan

Anonymous wrote:. The quality of fruits in Thailand blows anything out of the water in the U.S., and you can buy like 2 kg of oranges for about $3, which is cheap even by Thai standards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im not East Asian but I’d love to see the us specifically open up more immigration from korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore

The us really would be better off if it was 30% East Asian

But would they really want to come here at this point?