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I have to agree with Pharg – and I didn’t find a place to comment on the actual video page (just the one comment already there!)
So, I think this is a fantastic idea and I greatly appreciate it. I normally browse several of the forums as well as the news sites to get a feel for what’s going on in CR since I’m not there yet. Your video essentially pulls it all together and makes for a very interesting and insightful few minutes!
Btw – I’ll ask Sharon Stone to look you up next time she’s in CR! 🙂
[quote=”sweikert925″]Oh, one more thing – to get the equivalent Chicago prices I sometimes had to pro-rate it because of different package sizes. For instance, I saw 3 liter bottles of 7Up and Pepsi in CR but here we only get 2 liter bottles, so I multiplied the 2 liter Chicago price by 1.5 to get the equivalent 3 liter US price.[/quote]
Nice job Sweikert! I too came to the same conclusion as you during my month-long stay and due diligence tour! Eating locally is THE way to go — and my wife and I really miss the bazillion local sodas to eat at! Nothing like some local food, cooked by locals, fantastic quality, better for me AND low prices!! Puts McD’s to shame!!
As far as overall cost of living, being from Texas, one of the first things I’ll love to ditch is my $9-12K annual property tax!! Can buy a LOT of rum with that!!
Thx!
Ok – so it’s been mentioned by several folks now that they “got out” of the market. So, I have to ask — where did you put your money and how well has it worked for you? I am one of those with the majority of my investments sitting in the US market. I’ve done very well since 2008, but I too believe that’s it’s a completely propped-up system that is due for a reset at some point soon. I’d rather not see everything disappear overnight!!
Thx!
I’ve flown Sansa a few times and love them!! Always friendly and ON-TIME! Very professional. No complaints whatsoever!
“You need to check again,Canadians are not American,Never have been Never want to be Even though Americans would like to think of Canada as the 51st State we are definately not Americans.”
I think the point is that from the southern tip of South America to the northern reaches of Canada, we’re all part of South, Central or North America — therefore we’re all Americans (not necessarily citizens of USA – which is only a part of the much larger “Americas”.)
[quote=”waggoner41″][quote=”kwhite1″]
Kinda stinks knowing that SS won’t be there for me when I am of age. Been paying into it for 25 years, and have another 20 before I can get some back. Does anyone really think it will still be viable in 20 years? If so I will sell mine now at a discount! $.60 on the dollar!! Don’t pass it up!![/quote]The Social Security Investment Trust holds 18% of the Federal debt. SS is not broke; the Federal government has a problem in redeeming SS requests to be redeemed. Right now SS has funding adequate for about 15 years.
The issue is that “our congressional representatives”, as well as anyone who keeps up with economic issues, has been aware of the dual problems of the baby boom and our ever-extending lives since the early 1950’s.
Congress in its infinite ineptitude has continually kicked the can down the road for more than 60 years by applying band-aid fixes to the issues rather than to find a permanent solution.
Write your representatives, as I have, and tell them that the problems with SS are the fault of congress to pass a permanent fix and if they vote to approve the [b]chained CPI[/b] that they will lose your vote in the next election.
The fixes at this late date are far more drastic than they would have been years ago. Where my generation should have been paying into SS at a higher rate when we were working, congress decided that increasing our premiums would be unpopular.
Here are some of the things that can be done:
1 ~ Both my wife and I receive SS and we are willing to take a 5% cut in our benefits to help alleviate the problem.
2 ~ Raise the SS monthly premium by 1% for both employee and employer.
3 ~ Raise the age to qualify for SS by an additional year. [b](Congress increased our retirement age by two years while we were employed and we didn’t complain.)[/b]
4 ~ Raise the level of income that is subject to SS premiums.
I am sure other options that I have not thought of but there are solutions.You are about the same age as our children and we want to see that all of you get your. The same applies to Medicare.
The baby boom situation is temporary, lasting until about 2042. After that it evens out. Our extending life-spans are another issue.
[/quote]Fantastic post! To actually see some sane ideas that make some common sense is great! Like KWHITE1, I’m not sure I’ll ever see any benefits given the current situation and my time until I get to partake.
