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Old 01-22-2012, 09:25 PM
ManchestrMorgue's Avatar
ManchestrMorgue ManchestrMorgue is offline
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,601
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWickerFan View Post
Interesting question.:)

I live in Long Island, New York; a red spot in an otherwise blue state. I think Long Island has quite a bad reputation as being filled with snobby, wealthy people, but it isn't so. It is ludicrously expensive to live here, but we're comfortable financially. I think when it's time to retire we'll probably move somewhere cheaper. I'm an old lady, so recreation would probably be a restaurant and movie theater.

As for the U.S. as a whole, I could go on for hours about the political divide. I'm a die hard liberal, and hate to see the hard right get all the publicity. I can't imagine how backwards we must look to other countries like the U.K. and Australia. My husband is English, and certain U.S. practices (like the lack of national health insurance) still baffle him.
Thanks.

When you say "ludicrously expensive", what do you mean? What would an average house cost (not a huge mansion, just a regular house). What about goods and services - how much does it cost to live once you have accommodation sorted out? I ask because I think Sydney is ludicrously expensive ... :mad:

As far as political divide - we have essentially a two party system in Australia, with a Liberal and Labor party (with the Liberal party being traditionally more right wing, and Labor being more left wing), although I think both of these parties are reasonably moderate in most of their policies, and there is a right wing faction in the Labor party, as well as a left-wing faction.

With regards to national healthcare, my understanding is that the bulk of healthcare is privately funded through insurance, which is usually provided through workplace packages? Is that correct? Is there any emergency healthcare - say if you were unemployed and without insurance and suffering something life-threatening - like a serious car crash or a heart attack?

With regards to looking "backwards" to other countries - I wouldn't worry. Sometimes I feel the same way about Australia. But I think that people make a lot of assumptions about other countries with the only knowledge being what they see in the media.

That is part of the reason why I have started this thread. Obviously we hear a lot about the USA through the media. But I am sure that this is only what the media wants to portray, and isn't much of an indication of what it is like for the average person. So I was just really interested in what average people thought of their country. And I wanted to learn a little bit about what normal, mundane life was like in the USA. Not the lives of movie stars and CEOs.
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