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Sweikert
Good points.. and your right.. there is nothing you can do aside from 2 things
1.) dedicate and sacrifice your life to politics and get elected so you may have inside knowledge and get all the perks associated with being in politics.. like insider trading.. waivers…crony capitalism..etc 🙂 if you pay you dues.. over the years you may get into that elite club.. like royalty..
2.) The other option is to physically remove yourself from the game and move somewhere else.. like most people on this board.. 🙂
[img]http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5049fdefecad04a361000008/throwing-money.gif[/img]
[quote=”sweikert925″]To those who are fixated with Obamacare, I would recommend that you just get on with your lives and accept it. In order to get rid of it, you need a majority of the US House to vote for repeal, 60 votes in the US Senate and a president willing to sign the bill. That certainly won’t happen in the next 3 years and given the likelihood of a Hillary Clinton presidency and the difficulty of one party gaining 60 seats in the senate I doubt it would be even remotely possible for decades. You can pass a law without a president’s approval (i.e., he or she vetoed it) but in that case it takes a 2/3 majority in both houses of Congress to do so.
Besides, as I’ve already shown Obamacare won’t affect anyone living in Costa Rica so why are any of you even concerned about it?
What I find truly remarkable is why any political party would be stupid enough to attempt to repeal it 43 times. Did they really say to themselves one day, “Well, the previous 42 attempts to repeal it failed but let’s try again and see if the 43rd time is the charm!”. And they no doubt wonder why their approval rating is so low.[/quote]
sweikert
I dont know but I am liking some of your posts recently 🙂 this is NOT good 🙂
[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”bogino”]Polls are a dime a dozen these days (and that may be generous).[/quote]
If that means they’re common, then I suppose that’s true, but they’re also remarkably accurate these days – which explains why they’re so common. Anyone who relies on knowing what people think about something to make policy or conduct busines is wise to conduct polls as often as possible.
But they can be misused and they tend to be more accurate when the questions asked don’t require you to reveal things about yourself. For example, if a pollster went out and asked “Do you think people who belong to other ethnic groups, religions or political parties are inferior to your own?” the answer would probably be a pretty universal “No”, but we know from the way life is actually experienced that quite a few of those people wouldn’t be answering truthfully.[/quote]
pixframe
It never ceases to amaze me that people actually believe anything about the government anymore.. I don’t know what it is..
The public are sheep.. fodder. so to speak.. and its a disgrace because in todays information world.. one can do his own research and piece meal the truth.. its not brain surgey..
If I lied to you on a regular basis would you keep believing me or take anything at face value??? 😀
lets see how this plays out..
here is my predication and I am solely basing this on the fact that the U.S. politicians are both [b]incompetent[/b] and [b]corrupt[/b] and should NEVER be taken on their word
1.) The main platform that this project was sold to the American people was that it would be more affordable hence the name Affordable Health Care Act…
I have not see this to be true so far.. in fact it will be the opposite. It will COST more!!!!
If I am wrong I will send you a gift certificate at pricesmart. 😀
2.) This is not a tax LOL this is funny since the IRS is in charge of enforcement and collection.. hmmmm.. 🙂
look at the incompetence with the website.. using something as insecure as JAVA and paying over $600,000 for this site to be completed.. just reveals again the incompetence of government.. and now people are supposed to trust them with something as personal as healthcare.. lol
Not surprising really.
[quote=”pixframe”]David, I just read this a few days ago. “New Poll: Only One-Third Of Americans Support Repealing, Defunding Or Delaying Obamacare.
Polls consistently show that Americans aren’t happy with Obamacare. They think the law will make health care more expensive, and decrease its quality.
But a new survey of 1,976 registered voters finds that only 33 percent believe that the health law should be repealed, delayed, or defunded. 29 percent believe that “Congress should make changes to improve the law,” 26 percent believe that “Congress should let the law take effect” and see what happens, and 12 percent believe that the law should be expanded.
The bottom line?
Voters are skeptical that Obamacare will live up to Democrats’ hype. But they also believe that it should be given a chance to succeed.”
[/quote]
[quote=”pixframe”]David, in the last Presidential election the linchpin of Romney’s campaigned was his promise to repeal Obamacare and he lost the election. The electorate wanted Obamacare.
[quote=”davidd”]interesting points of view.. can someone tell me opposite??
… Americans didn’t ask for Obamacare, they don’t want it,
That’s how good it is![/quote][/quote]pixframe
thanks for the update.. I may have to disagree with you on that statement
Truthfully it was the current administration that did all it could to keep things from emerging from the closet that kept Romney from winning the election
no let me rephrase that.. all the people that would have been affected with Romney being elected.. even big bird..:)
or carlos slim one of the richest men in the world.
🙂
interesting points of view.. can someone tell me opposite??
In the current fight over the government shutdown, Republicans are simply representing the views of the American people.
Americans didn’t ask for Obamacare, they don’t want it, but now their insurance premiums are going through the roof, their doctors aren’t accepting it, and their employers are moving them into part-time work — or firing them — to avoid the law’s mandates.
Contrary to Obama’s promises, it turns out: You can’t keep your doctor, you can’t keep your insurance — you can’t even keep your job. In other words, it’s a typical government program, but this one wrecks your health care.
Also, the president did raise taxes on the middle class in defiance of his well-worn campaign promise not to. Indeed, Obamacare is the largest tax hike in U.S. history.
Among the other changes effected by this law are:
— Obamacare will allow insurers to charge 50 percent higher premiums for smokers, but prohibits insurers from increasing premiums for those with HIV/AIDS.
— Nationally, Obamacare will increase men’s individual insurance premiums by an average of 99 percent and women’s by 62 percent. In North Carolina, for example, individual insurance premiums will triple for women and quadruple for men.
— Health plans valued at $27,500 or more for a family of four will be taxed at a rate of 40 percent.
— No doctors who went to an American medical school will be accepting Obamacare.
— A 62-year-old man earning $46,000 a year is entitled to a $7,836 government tax credit to buy health insurance. But if he earns an extra $22 in income, he loses the entire $7,836 credit. He will have more take-home pay by earning $46,000 than if he earns $55,000. (If he’s lucky, he already works for one of the companies forced by Obamacare to reduce employees’ hours!)
— Merely to be eligible for millions of dollars in grants from the federal government under Obamacare, education and training programs are required to meet racial, ethnic, gender, linguistic and sexual orientation quotas. That’s going to make health care MUCH better!
— Obamacare is turning America into a part-time nation. According to a recent report by economist John Lott, 97 percent of all jobs added to the economy so far this year have been part-time jobs. Ninety-seven percent!
— Obamacare is such a disaster that the people who wrote it refuse to live under it themselves. That’s right, Congress won a waiver from Obamacare.
Responding to the people’s will, House Republicans first voted to fund all of government — except Obamacare. Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it.
Then the Republicans voted to fully fund the government, but merely delay the implementation of Obamacare for one year. Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it.
Finally, the Republicans voted to fully fund the government, but added a requirement that everyone live under Obamacare. No more special waivers for Congress and their staff, and no waivers for big business without the same waivers for individuals.
Obama refused to negotiate and Senate Democrats refused to pass it. So as you can see, Republicans are the big holdup here.
A longtime Democratic operative, Karen Finney, explained the Democrats’ intransigence on MSNBC to a delighted Joan Walsh (aka the most easily fooled person on TV) by comparing House Republicans to a teenager trying to borrow his mother’s car. “No, I’m not negotiating!” Mother says. “It’s MY CAR!”
This wasn’t a stupid slip of the tongue that other Democrats quickly rejected. Finney had used the exact same metaphor to a panel of highly agreeable MSNBC guests the day before. (MSNBC books no other kind of guest.)
The left thinks the government is their car and the people’s representatives are obstreperous teenagers trying to borrow the government. Which belongs to Democrats.
That’s not how the Constitution views the House of Representatives. To the contrary, the House is considered most reflective of the people’s will because its members are elected every two years.
As a matter of fact, the Republicans who mistakenly assume they have something to do with running the government represent most of the people who pay taxes to run it. So it’s more like a teenager who is making the car payments, maintaining the car insurance and taking responsibility for registering the car being told: “It’s not your car.”
But the Democrats refuse to even negotiate. It’s their government — and if you Republicans think you’re going out dressed like that, you’ve got another thing coming! Needless to say, they absolutely will not consider the Republicans’ demand that Democrats merely live under Obamacare themselves.
Instead, Democrats say “the Koch brothers” are behind the effort to defund Obamacare.
They say Republicans are trying to “burn the whole house down” (Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz); “have lost their minds” (Sen. Harry Reid); are trying to negotiate “with a bomb strapped to their chest” (senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer); are “legislative arsonists” (Rep. Nancy Pelosi); and are engaging in “blatant extortion” (White House press secretary Jay Carney).
The MSNBC crowd calls Republicans “arsonists” every 15 minutes. They ought to check with fellow MSNBC host Al Sharpton. He knows his arsonists! In 1995, Sharpton whipped up a mob outside the Jewish-owned Freddy’s Fashion Mart with an anti-Semitic speech. Sometime later, a member of the mob torched the store, killing seven Hispanic employees.
Every single Democrat in the country uses the exact same talking point: We “refuse to negotiate with a gun being held to our head.”
Which means the Democrats will not negotiate at all — not now, not ever. House Republicans have already passed three-dozen bills defunding, or otherwise modifying, Obamacare. Senate Democrats and liberal commentators had a good laugh at Republicans for passing them.
Now they’re paying attention!
If you are in the minority of Americans not already unalterably opposed to Obamacare, keep in mind that the only reason the government is shut down right now is that Democrats refuse to fund the government if they are required to live under Obamacare.
That’s how good it is!
imexploring
you know your right.. and this is scary thought that may need some feedback from expats that actually live here.
and the very fact that the IRS is in charge with this they will set the precedent as to what is acceptable or not
[b]and please let me know your thoughts on this…[/b]
if one has not filed tax returns for whatever reason.. they may use this as the tool for insufficient proof according to them that you are not eligible for exemption from Obamacare. Which may mean one has to be 100% fully compliant in filing.. NOT owing BUT filing.. to be able to be exempt.
( we are talking about the IRS here.. all they care about is.. they want their money)As you and I know if one lives out of the country more than 330 days.. one does not pay taxes on income of I think its $90,000 I could be wrong but its in that area
but Living out of the country does not allow you to NOT file a return.
SO
to fully comply one has to have a specialized accountant to prepare all the paperwork because of the extraordinary complexity of rules that they make expats go thru.
So even if you owe NO money paying you still have to pay to get your offshore tax returns which costs a nice sum..
this is not some easy turbo tax $50 return.. this is expensive.. and must be done every year
[b]please tell me where I am off so far..[/b].
so in essence you have to pay.. to tell them you don’t owe any money..:D
this is one of the biggest reasons people are giving up their US citizenship’s.
OK.. so if one has legal residence here.. and has been out of the states for 10 years..
and just decided to not file any longer.. I would speculate that you will NOT be exempt from Obamacare..
and could rack up penalties over the years.. which is eventually going to lead to controlling travel as this information will eventually be merged with passport information. ( they did this with a pilot program on alleged parents on back child support)
Which could eventually lead to having your passport detained when you are at the airport.
I see this type of collaboration a soon to be reality.. again this is the IRS..
and Imexploring.. thanks for bringing up that point.. my guard was down.. when I read that .. it is too easy and leads to interpretation..
The key will be what the IRS defines as living out of the country.
I myself have had it with this thievery ..:evil::evil::evil::evil: and am working on getting totally rid of my U.S. passport.. they can keep it.. soon.. within a year I will be free…
we shall see how this unfolds
[quote=”imxploring”][quote=”sweikert925″]Important News Update on This Topic:
Apparently SOMEONE in the US government has thought about this question and provided US citizens living abroad with a definitive answer to it.
[i][b]U.S. citizens living outside the U.S.[/b]
U.S. citizens living in a foreign country are not required to get health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. If you’re uninsured and living abroad, you don’t have to pay the fee that other uninsured U.S. citizens may have to pay.
[/i]https://www.healthcare.gov/am-i-eligible-for-coverage-in-the-marketplace/%5B/quote%5D
Not so fast there my friend! That answer is much too simplistic to be a legitimate resolute answer to a complicated issue! Must a US citizen living abroad have legal residency in the foreign country they are living in to avoid the health insurance requirement? If not just how is Uncle Sam going to verify your residency status/living location and give you an exemption to the requirements of Obamacare?
I doubt VERY much that simply claiming to live in a foreign country gets you off the hook. There will be more. Legal residency in a foreign country and a minimum period per year outside the US will no doubt also be required. Uncle Sam is not going to let all the perpetual tourist off the hook that “live” outside the US.
It also brings up the issue of US citizens living (legitimately or not) abroad that might be exempt from required insurance purchase who run home to the US for medical treatment when confronted with a serious life threatening health issue. How will they be dealt with under Obamacare when given an exemption from it’s requirements only to use the US healthcare system for what can often be medical treatment that runs into hundreds of thousands of dollars as is often the case with cancer?
I think the answer given above needs to be expanded on as it is much too simple to be used when making meaningful decisions. Two sentences is far from providing a “definitive” answer to such a complex and important issue.[/quote]
Sweikert
good find!! 😀
your like the king of online research
[quote=”sweikert925″]Important News Update on This Topic:
Apparently SOMEONE in the US government has thought about this question and provided US citizens living abroad with a definitive answer to it.
[i][b]U.S. citizens living outside the U.S.[/b]
U.S. citizens living in a foreign country are not required to get health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. If you’re uninsured and living abroad, you don’t have to pay the fee that other uninsured U.S. citizens may have to pay.
[/i]https://www.healthcare.gov/am-i-eligible-for-coverage-in-the-marketplace/%5B/quote%5D
[quote=”bogino”]If an American citizen is living in CR, or anywhere else for that matter, will they still have to pay the “penalty”?[/quote]
Bogino
Common sense would dictate
NO
but as you are well aware of its not about common sense or fair practices.. its more like them getting their money regardless..
this should be interesting to see how this unfolds
can you imagine.. you live out of the country for years and you go and visit only to find you owe thousands in penalty fee’s :shock::shock:
Hey Sweikert
good to see you still around 🙂
doesn’t it give you that real warm and fuzzy feeling that with all the money you pay in taxes.. non voluntarily ( W-2) and voluntarily
gives you some basics rights as to get some answers to questions you may have from your elected reps???
I mean no replies??? I would find that totally unacceptable..
who are these people
royalty??? :shock::shock::shock::shock:
[quote=”sweikert925″]There was a pretty long thread here about that a few months ago and I have been trying since then to get an answer to that very question. I tried asking the US State Department, both of my senators and my Congressman and NONE OF THEM ever replied.
I sent another request to the US Embassy in CR to see if they can now provide an answer that makes sense (their original response was: [i]Health coverage is a requirement of the Costa Rican Immigration Office according to the Costa Rican Immigration law not the U.S. law. Any questions about it should be directed to the Costa Rican Immigration Office http://www.migracion.go.cr or a Costa Rican attorney knowledgeable in Costa Rican Immigration law.[/i]) which of course is a ridiculous answer.
We’ll see if they have a better answer now that the individual mandate for coverage portion of the law is about to take affect – assuming they’re not all on “furlough” at the moment.[/quote]
[quote=”costaricafinca”]I agree with davidd. We too are live in the country, and have always lived in the country since we have moved here and have been robbed multiple times, from thieves who gained access by just crossing through fields. But, now in similar conditions as davidd, with a main gate, and 3 strings of barbed wire fencing, everything has been fine.
[i]Tico[/i] homes are much more likely to have bars, high walls or fences plus guns, and tend to offer new arrivals advice, on not to leave ‘anything outside’. They don’t even leave their shoes outside…and they were right on that issue, as ours were taken.
It is very easy to tell someone ‘not to worry about the security of property of family and you home’, when you don’t live here.[/quote]costaricafinca
It never surprises me of the inability for people to stop looking at things the way they would like them to be and to see them as it is
nothing more nothing less
if i have weeds in my garden
I am not going to chant
I have no weeds I have no weeds I have no weeds.. this also comes in the phrases using the words
[b]I Wish.. or I hope.[/b]. very self defeating
Look at the weeds and just go and ranked them out 🙂
The more open the area is the more inviting it is for people to ahem.. accidentally walk into your property 🙂
[quote=”sprite”]I am a WASP. But I speak fluent Spanish with a Cuban accent. I am married for 32 years to a Puerto Rican woman and I have lived within and among the Hispanic culture here in Miami for over three decades. Depite a concerted effort and natural tendency to try to blend in to the Latin culture, I will always be seen as a gringo. I will stand out physically as a gringo and so I will be treated initially, always as a gringo.
No matter how I behave or how familiar I am with Costa Rica and its people, no matter how successfully I assimilate the accent, I will always be seen as a non native. It is always a bit unsettling standing out in a crowd. I never quite get used to it.[/quote]Sprite
you will never change peoples mentality… but you can leverage this to your advantage if you look hard enough
for example I run a internet business here in costa rica
and I use the gringo thing and I find it helps me because Tico clients think Americans are better at technology than ticos
just as an example
[quote=”sprite”][quote=”elindermuller”]Living in a golden cage called gated community has nothing to do with luxury or elite. Luxury for me means Space and Privacy, not staring at other peoples roofs and into their back yards. Just my opinion, others may feel the opposite way.
[/quote]
Live in the country and you will have plenty of privacy.[/quote]
Sprite
think about what your saying
yes.. if you move to the country you will have lost of privacy but lose some security- I have always found it best to live in a residential gated community in the country 🙂
as we live now
we have 6 houses on 2 acre lots.. not too close but not to far. In the event of an accident we all would help each other
for example my Canadian vecino is leaving for 3 weeks.. so we all watch over the house as she is gone and vice versa
[quote=”sprite”]David, you are wrong about there always being a thieving segment in societies. Theft is rare in societies where members have all they need for living contented lives. It is only in societies with an economic system of designed scarcity and the resulting economic stratification where such aberrant thieving behavior is made common.
I have all I need and so I am not a thief. Would you take property from another? Don’t make the egocentric error of believing you have superior morals to some others because you are not a thief. There is not as much difference between us all as you may have been led to believe.[/quote]
Sprite
in a utopian world.. I would agree.. but we do not live in a utopian world..:D:D:D
I never called you a thief.. strange that you would have this kind of reply and it does reveal interesting side of you.
I don’t feel any moral superiority in fact I see things the way they are no more no less.
in any society you will always have the haves and the have nots..
that’s a fact.. 🙂
and when this gap is stretched to the extreme you will see consequences that rise from this.
what we really need is a non aggression society that lets people live and let live based on thier values.. and a set of laws. and the thing that connect all different values and beliefs is commerce.
I watched a really interesting video about this.. if I can find it I will post it.
but going back to gated communities.. I like it 🙂
Scott
I think your right on the money .. instead of focusing on guns we should be more on the mental health of these individuals
being the U.S. is one of the most medicated countries in the world.
[quote=”Scott”][quote=”jerry”]After all, when was the last time someone took a rifle or pistol and started murdering passersby in Costa Rica???
I can remember at least half a dozen cases as such in the States. Too much frustration Me thinks[/quote]
Frustration may indeed be small part of the equation but many people are suggesting that prescription drugs are the real culprit …
“When roughly [url=http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/top-psychiatrist-meds-behind-school-massacres/]nine out of every 10 cases in these school shootings and mass shootings involve these drugs being prescribed[/url], then at least a significant proportion of these cases were either caused by the drugs or the drugs made a significant contribution to the problem,” Dr. David Healy
… and no doubt those drugs will be prescribed here too…
[/quote][quote=”costaricafinca”]Many gated communities, are not much more than a North American style of a subdivision, albeit sometimes with a gate that may or may not have a guard on duty.
In regards to the question of what drives expats or [i]Ticos[/i] to live in them, most I would [i]presume[/i] is they do not wish to live on a street front home, with an excess of cars, buses and vehicles with loudspeakers on them…so can expect some amount of privacy.[/quote]we live in a world where there will always be a segment of society at large that will always try and take what does not belong to them.
You have this mentality of entitlement that is rampant here in this country. I mean the concept of aguinaldo alone should give an idea of this.
The idea of people setting up a home on property that does not belong to them with the hopes of eventually taking this over gives a point of view that is so foreign to most people.
I understand the concept of gated communities.. at the very least as a deterrent more than anything else
we have had many break in in our little residential.. and when we finally set up a gated scenario with a unarmed guard break ins totally stopped.
so I do understand this concept however weak it may be.
