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REPLY: The outdoor temps/humidity you quoted are VERY rarely the ca se if you check CityData's Temp. Chart for any town in Florida. I know of no town in Florida that has a violent thunderstorm EVERY day and challenge you to prove it. If you make $8 per hour full time then you must have a limited education and if you were skilled youd find jobs --- this is true all over the USA . Homeowners insurance is rather high but mainly near the coast but is acceptable inland. Property taxes i find are extremely cheap particularly in the Panhandle (living inland) compared to Illinois and nearly every other state. I like old people and so should you ; they are filled with wisdom and represent the backbone to the Floridian economy -- do you like your Parents who are approaching old age ?
Can you as a native think of any benefits such as : A great deal of sunshine per year sometimes as much as 300 days out of 365 depending on where you live in Florida . No State Income Tax which allows you to keep more money earned . Some of the most beautiful towns and beaches in North America . Superb condition of all major roads and Interstates . Law Enforcement that are dedicated to stopping drug trafficing. Warm friendly smiles from most Tourists who bring thier money to Florida which helps the states economy so natives dont have to pay State Income Tax. A Theme Park (DisneyLand) which is known the world over . The advantage of enjoying nature and being outdoors every day if you desire . The convenience of taking a Cruise Ship from any number of points along the Coast that sail regularly to areas of paradise.
It would benefit you if you could develop an attitude of gratefulness for what you DO have and what you CAN partake in by being a native Floridian. I wish I were one but will settle for being a Transplant from the North soon.
Regards.
You're in dreamland buddy.
What does tourist money do for Floridians ? I know it helps pad the pockets of Disney, Burger King, and Holiday Inn. Tourist money doesn't help minnimum wage earners make more money, if anything it holds pay down in Florida.
Are you honestly going to argue beautiful towns, Disney, and roads as great points of Florida ?
Tennessee has beautiful towns, as far as theme parks go, we may not have Disney here but hell we have Graceland and Dollywood. Roads are great and guess what ! We don't have a state income tax either... and we don't depend on tourist money to boot !
We have decent companies that pay decent wages. We have a state-wide cheap health insurance plan called Tenncare. We have FOUR seasons. We don't bake year round and get just enough snow to make us content. It's nice being able to look at a hillside and not have to look at nothing but flatlands !
You can have your crime infested, flat, minnimum wage paying, hot as hell, full of RUDE people state.
But don't sit there and pretend that it's the greatest place in the world because it's far from it.
BTW, I'm glad that Florida law enforcement is dedicated to stopping drug trafficing, now maybe if they would dedicate themselves to preventing other forms of crime, maybe the state wouldn't be so dangerous for families ?
Good morning! I love to visit Florida and we're planning to live there as soon as we retire. The Midwest is a great place to raise a family, get an education, have a career, and live life, but now we're ready for warmth, sunshine, and a slower pace. I think, for us, Florida will be a wonderful place to live because it offers what we need at this stage in our lives. It wouldn't have worked for us earlier, but that's the beauty of our country. You can live wherever you wish and do what's best for your family at each stage of your life.
REPLY: The outdoor temps/humidity you quoted are VERY rarely the ca se if you check CityData's Temp. Chart for any town in Florida. I know of no town in Florida that has a violent thunderstorm EVERY day and challenge you to prove it. If you make $8 per hour full time then you must have a limited education and if you were skilled youd find jobs --- this is true all over the USA . Homeowners insurance is rather high but mainly near the coast but is acceptable inland. Property taxes i find are extremely cheap particularly in the Panhandle (living inland) compared to Illinois and nearly every other state. I like old people and so should you ; they are filled with wisdom and represent the backbone to the Floridian economy -- do you like your Parents who are approaching old age ?
Can you as a native think of any benefits such as : A great deal of sunshine per year sometimes as much as 300 days out of 365 depending on where you live in Florida . No State Income Tax which allows you to keep more money earned . Some of the most beautiful towns and beaches in North America . Superb condition of all major roads and Interstates . Law Enforcement that are dedicated to stopping drug trafficing. Warm friendly smiles from most Tourists who bring thier money to Florida which helps the states economy so natives dont have to pay State Income Tax. A Theme Park (DisneyLand) which is known the world over . The advantage of enjoying nature and being outdoors every day if you desire . The convenience of taking a Cruise Ship from any number of points along the Coast that sail regularly to areas of paradise.
It would benefit you if you could develop an attitude of gratefulness for what you DO have and what you CAN partake in by being a native Floridian. I wish I were one but will settle for being a Transplant from the North soon.
Regards.
Enjoy being outdoors?!?!?!?! Ya right.... January, February, some of march maybe. NOT HUMID???!!!.... WHERE ARE YOU LIVING???
Great roads.... Take a ride on Route 80, 60, Some down here in the Fort Myers area... What dreamland are you in?
Also state income tax is recouped in other places such as higher car insurance, homeowners insurance, 6-8% tax depending on what county you are in.
I think that this country could do much more to finance EVERYONE'S education - not loans, but full tuition. For the richest nation on earth, not to do this is inexcusable and will soon, if not already, bite us in the **s. Students in Holland and Scotland are more stoned and drunk than US students yet still excel in the classroom - it's all about culture and the social contract between the state and its citizens.
Just like healthcare, the individualization of inequality is an old, tired notion which simply reproduces social and economic hierarchies.
I can see that point of view coming out of academia in California. And I think you're introducing irrelevant points into this thread since the Euro systems of ed have really nothing to do with the quality of life here.
You're comparing two different social systems. And the Netherlands system has plenty of restrictions you're not mentioning, such as classes of low passing grades of students that are too low for continuing to a higher "cycle of education".
They have vo-tech there just like here, too.
My Greek immigrant husband paid for two masters degrees and his PhD in an Ivy League school here. (by the way in his country they had 8000 applicants for every 800 positions in the FREE university way back in 1976, where he obtained a pseudo-masters in Economics before coming here).
I paid for my undergrad here and enjoyed some college tuition rebates from my EMPLOYER while attending school at NIGHT, working full time.
I paid 100,000 for my kid's undergrad too.
FREE college education is the least of what will solve the social and problems here. I think you're just focused on that since you're so involved in academia, which is understandable.
Florida is the number one state for dropouts, jumping between first and second place in the past. Prior to 9th grade you have social promotions just to get them out of the way. How about we get the PARENTS to enforce attendance in the FREE years before college? By the way, there's compulsory education in the Netherlands beyond 16 too.
How are you going to mandate socialist VALUES for education among a group of citizens who don't value education? If you want to learn in the US you can learn. If you want a higher education it can be obtained at very little cost starting with community colleges and state schools. PA for example, has a wide system of state colleges that are extremely popular and quite reasonable.
Healthcare? (yes I agree that insurance completely mismanaged and fraudulently taken advantage of but.....)
(I know of no hospital that lacks a big sign in the ER that says they're required to treat anybody who walks in regardless of insurance.)
Well if you look at MEDICAID (govt sponsored MULTITUDE of benefits already) per state you'll see every single state has children enrolled in Medicaid benefits from 22% the lowest all the way to 52% (maybe higher in DC I think). Florida has 41% of all children enrolled in Medicaid.
Yet certain people keep complaining there are barriers to enrollment, they're still not satisfied. (like liberals and socialist/Marxist types who think redistribution of wealth is a panacea for all ailments ).
This is the political difference among the citizenry here. I don't believe in your form of "social contract" between the citizens and the government in your form of free everything for everybody and am horrified by the very thought of it.
I believe the "social contract" is that citizens need to uphold their end of the arrangement. Go to school and graduate. Work. Stop being crack heads. Stop having a multitude of children for no reason at all. And stop waiting for everyone else to pay your way.
I can name you several teenagers that are serial mothers of unrelated fathered children right in my office.
A dear friend of mine has one. She had 5 kids from age 16 to 19 with no support from any father. We all warned our friend that she needed to go force the girl to get depo shots or something but she didn't. So while she was slaving away at the office, the kid was running around sleeping with all these "imaginary boyfriends" and/or having them in the house while the mother was working. No control. The kid was one of several in her high school that thought it was cool and a way to get a boyfriend/husband. Yeah right. ONE of the fathers showed up in court for support and he was 35 years old with 9 children already and unemployed (on the books anyway) and there of course was nothing available to get from a court order.
The grandmother's standard of living plummeted with each birth going from an excellent paid union salary even though raising two children it was fine...., taking vacations and moderate shopping etc....to living in chaos and filth and eating "low income food" every single day supporting that crazy kid of hers. At 55 years old.
THEN her son pulled the same trick, got some girl pregnant who ALSO had twins, and SHE moved in the house too, since her parents threw her out.
That's 7 kids in 3 years all freeloading off ONE meager $52,000 a year salary by a hardworking person. The son worked a little bit but it all went to his cell phone and a car. I might mention that the womans health has so deteriorated they can't even figure out what's wrong with her now but suspect an autoimmune disorder.
You think I'm happy about subsidizing that? Tell me....exactly WHY I should. (meanwhile, MY kid graduated college and started a business down here in employment challenged Florida). I even used to go to her home on weekends to help out a little bit. I'd take a bunch of food and make it like a little cooking party to freeze during the week and help with gardening since I like yardwork etc. Guess what that kid couldn't even change the babies diapers, they were wandering around all soaked, begging for a drink from their little cups because nobody remembered to feed them or give them a drink yet at 10 am, and there was spilled milk all over when they GOT the drink and were wandering around the kitchen. We'd tell the daughter "There's some milk spilled over here" and she'd take some tissue and wipe in the general area and not even get the right spot and walk back to MTV.
Things are not always as they appear when you evaluate them from the academic ivory tower .
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Last edited by runswithscissors; 08-12-2008 at 06:55 AM..
Enjoy being outdoors?!?!?!?! Ya right.... January, February, some of march maybe. NOT HUMID???!!!.... WHERE ARE YOU LIVING???
Great roads.... Take a ride on Route 80, 60, Some down here in the Fort Myers area... What dreamland are you in?
Also state income tax is recouped in other places such as higher car insurance, homeowners insurance, 6-8% tax depending on what county you are in.
even when the temps sometimes get into the 70s in January and February. The only break is on those rare NIGHTS when it goes down into the 50s, no humidity then!!!!! That is when I sit outside in my lanai and enjoy the nice cool crisp breezes, in the DARK.
even when the temps sometimes get into the 70s in January and February. The only break is on those rare NIGHTS when it goes down into the 50s, no humidity then!!!!! That is when I sit outside in my lanai and enjoy the nice cool crisp breezes, in the DARK.
I hear you there! LOL!! I can't tell you how many nights I had last winter sitting in the dark looking up at the stars taking in the cool crisp air!
I was doing that last year when I was in Massachusetts, I lived where there was a huge hay field. We took our lawnchairs out in the yard and just stared up there at the stars with a hot cup of coffee. It was about 55-60 degrees, it was in September. Not a hint of humidity. It was so peaceful. Looking forward to it soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TANaples
even when the temps sometimes get into the 70s in January and February. The only break is on those rare NIGHTS when it goes down into the 50s, no humidity then!!!!! That is when I sit outside in my lanai and enjoy the nice cool crisp breezes, in the DARK.
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It's humid
