Quantic School of Business and Technology

It's still privilege. Some of which you've earned by virtue of being a stubborn old cuss who's lived as long as you have. Some of which comes from virtue of being in Canada. Not needing a car because you don't have to go to work every day - another privilege.

All this? Privilege.

If you can't save to get yourself out of the hole, how is it supposed to be temporary?

But American welfare is designed to be permanent, no matter what the right-wing wants people to believe. Once you're on it, you're heavily penalized any time you try to better your situation.

Moving is expensive and most of the US is no better (and often arguably worse) than Phoenix. Cities like Boston and NYC have better public transit than Phoenix, for instance, but are more expensive to live. The hills of somewhere like Tennessee or Kentucky are super cheap to live in, but if you don't have a car then you're dead. And good luck finding a job at all.

Imagine for one moment that you're a young man again. 21. You've graduated HS, but you don't have a degree because your family can't afford university. You've got a couple of years' job experience on your resume, but that's it. How do you live?

 

This is an issue in Canada too, called the benefits cliff or the welfare trap or a number of other names. Effectively, social assistance in both countries requires you to be so close to the edge, and is clawed back or cut down as soon as you begin to make a little bit more money that it often makes more sense to stay on it than to get off, the exact opposite of what its proponents want (or would have you believe.) If you lose a daycare subsidy as soon as you make $X more, but that money isn't enough to pay for daycare, you have little hope of getting off the program until your child is old enough to not need daycare.

Without anything but my gut to go on, I'd argue that Canada is better at social assistance than the US (where daycare subsidies, for example, are much less common), but neither does a great job. And I think in trying to stop greedy people we often go too far in the other direction. Drug testing welfare recipients costs more than it saves, and the Welfare Queen of Reagan years never existed but almost every conservative you talk to has a story about someone they know on welfare with a convertible in the driveway. If those stories are true (and I doubt that they are), they are so rare in comparison to the number of people living hand to mouth that it doesn't make sense to punish the many to get back at the convertible owner.

 

Well, at least I made some bucks out of my "privileges" ... put them to pretty good use, I think. Better than the next old gummer receiving this kind of money. If these are indeed privileges (and I'm still not 100% OK with that, but --- so what?) then they're EARNED.
And yes, stubbornness pays. I learned that VERY early in life. Around age 4. The thing I regard as REALLY a privilege? LIVING IN CANADA. Nothing beats that. Nothing.

To quote a Canadian politician of some years ago, "I'm entitled to my entitlements."

"When questioned while giving testimony before Parliament as to why he felt he should receive a severance package after the voluntary resignation, he remarked "I'm entitled to my entitlements."[5] The statement would be used by the Conservatives in a television advertisement during the 2006 federal election that featured that part of Dingwall's testimony."

Whole thing here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Dingwall#:

 

I couldn't have made the financial turnaround I did after 65, in the US. And I might not have lived to do it, if it were possible. Life expectancy is years better here - and rising, not falling, as it is in US. Also, we spend about 2/3 of what the US does, per person / year on health care, but our outcomes are considerably better. They saved me at 72 (heart) and again at 77 (cancer). At no cost to me.

(US health care spending averages about $12K per person per year. Canada's is $8K+. I looked it up.)

 

Daycare is ridiculously expensive these days, too.

https://www.mother.ly/news/viral-trending/daycare-cost-in-america-tiktok/
https://cafemom.com/parenting/moms-rant-about-astronomical-child-care-costs-goes-viral/so-many-parents-could-feel-this-video
https://www.scarymommy.com/parenting/working-mom-explains-why-5k-childcare-tiktok

New Zealand isn't any better. https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2023/04/kiwi-mum-goes-viral-on-tiktok-for-revealing-why-the-cost-of-childcare-means-it-s-not-worth-going-back-to-work.html

UK sounds good, though. Germany is not that dissimilar to the UK, AFAIK, and all parents (not just poor ones) get paid Kindergeld for each kid they have. It's not a huge amount, but it does help offset costs if you have to do something (like hire a nanny/sitter for a few hours) that the government doesn't directly cover. Some countries have things right, others have them very wrong.

 

I have 4 kids. (3) I put through daycare at $681/child/month. So for my (3), I paid $2,043/month. Our 4th is almost 5 months old but the state covers her childcare since she is in the foster system.

To put into perspective how much $2,043/month is, my mortgage is $2,600/month for our 4 bed 2 bath that sits on our 9.62 acres. LOL

 

Yes it is, very. There's a system where I live that offers geared-to-income support. And there's a federal child subsidy - spend it as you will, for your child's needs - I think it's up to $522 per month, and is paid to all parents with household income under $200K per year. When my kids were young, their mother got $12 per month for each child. When I was young, my mother got a whole $6. The original purpose was said to be making sure there was money for milk. Times change.

https://www.ontario.ca/page/child-care-subsidies

And some years ago, Jr and Sr. kindergartens were all made full-day. That, however, was a transparent move to get votes by doing "free all-day babysitting" in the schools. The Liberal Party was successful in that one election. They lost the next one. There was backlash from parents who felt that the all-day program was not suitable for all 4 and 5 year-olds - but years later and under a Conservative government, the policy is entrenched. They're not about to lose votes by going backwards.

There's also this: https://www.moneysense.ca/columns/making-it/canadas-10-a-day-daycare-program/#:

 

Quantic needs a professional doctorate in strategic leadership.

 

I don't know that Quantic's mobile-first, single-track model would work for the kind of self-directed learning that learners would need to do for a doctorate. You might be able to guide people through the coursework and comps they need to learn on the app (though they don't really do electives so you'd end up with a clone of people who all had the same knowledge areas), but from there they'd need to do their proposal, lit review, etc., in a more traditional way and that might would throw people off.

 

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go....

I'd do more, but I'll have to come up with something that rhymes with "Spanish Riviera."

The reasons we came to Phoenix no longer exist, and there's no compelling purpose for staying.

 

Greyhound Bus fare from Phoenix to Albuquerque is $54. Hope this helps.

 

Diego Rivera? No--- doesn't work. How about "Ana's quinceañera?" Yeah -- might do.

 

Places I've lived I liked better than Phoenix:

• Tucson
• Fairfax, VA
• Las Vegas
• Osan AB, RoK
• San Diego
• San Antonio
• Sacramento
• Boston
• Monterey, CA

Places I've lived that I liked less than Phoenix:

 

Might not. Not in Spain.

 

I think it just might.

Google: Quinceañeras are growing in popularity in Spain, which sees frequent emigration from the countries of the former Spanish Empire. ¿Quien sabe?

 

And Rich, if you still object to quinceañera, how about Meredith Vieira? https://www.google.com/search?q=Meredith+vieira

"...Can she dance the Habanera?"

 

Oh, I don't object. I just noted that it is a Latin American thing.

As for Meredith Vieira, highly approve. Very. Mucho, even.

 

I totally agree. There are a good number of people living lavida loca here in Nigeria. Some have done well in business, some made money off government and some have done well in careers too.