From: Randy (cryofan@mylinuxisp.com)
Date: Mon May 27 2002 - 22:09:34 MDT
On 27 May 2002 18:59:20 -0700, you wrote:
>On Mon, 2002-05-27 at 18:24, Samantha Atkins wrote:
>> Thanks for the interesting information, James. In Silly-Con
>> Valley and surrounding locales it is very difficult for a single
>> adult to live on $25k, much less a family of three! Do you or
>> does anyone reading this know of a good map of such areas?
>
>Take a map of the US, erase the SF bay area, NYC, perhaps Boston and San
>Diego and some tony resort type areas (e.g., Santa Barbara, Naples,
>Aspen). Amazing how cheaply one can live in any other metro in any but
>the most expensive neighborhoods. More liberally, erase California, the
>Northeast and several of the largest remaining metros. You're left with
>thousands of options for dirt cheap living. Almost all of the US is an
>incredibly cheap place to live. Much of it is now wired.
Absolutely. Really nowhere else in the world can such living be had
for so liittle, as that avaiable in much of rural America. Considering
sanitation, infrastructure, non-corrupt govt, where else can you match
it for the cost? Maybe Canada, except for the weather. There are
plenty of 3rd world countries considerably cheaper, but they are not
as healthy. Consider mid-Tennessee, which has a decent climate, and
quiet rural housing with Net access for 50K!
However, for those who would rather take it easy and enjoy life,
America is definitely way behind Western Europe. Welfare is MUCH
better in western Eurpoe, as far as I can tell. As far as I can tell,
welfare is more or less for women and children only, in the USA.
THere are apparently large numbers of able bodied young men on welfare
in western eurpoe!
If I were one of the masses, who purportedly "think" that a normal
lifespan is the right thing, that death is what makes life worth
living, that death is a part of life, etc etc, that is where I would
be--living off the dole in Europe, with fake docs, or whatever it
took...Of course, being "one of the masses" really means buying into
the whole consumerism and kids schema....
>> Perhaps it is time to reconsider telecommuting. My semi-single
>> burn-rate in the valley is around $5K/month but $2100 of that
>> goes to the ex and kids. And that is with renting part of a
>> house rather than having one of my own.
>
>(Burning ~$2k/month in San Francisco, almost all of that rent, looking
>into rural Nevada.)
Ouch! That makes Houston look pretty good---you can buy a decent house
here in a decent neighborhood with a decent commute for 100K.
Condos are cheaper, etc....
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:25 MST