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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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 Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 4:10 am Post subject: Survey: Australia the 'lucky country' for a better life |
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http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/28/business/oecd-quality-of-life/index.html
#1 Australia
#3 Canada
#6 United States
#10 UK
It's cool that countries we are from made the top ten. We are lucky to have been born in such good places. Loads of people around the world grow up poor with limited opportunity. I feel so fortunate to have a passport from one of the world's greatest countries. |
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ampersandman
Joined: 01 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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| In some ways, yes. |
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recessiontime
Joined: 21 Jun 2010
Location: Got avatar privileges nyahahaha
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| Posted: Tue Jun 04, 2013 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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Canada being placed way too high makes me question the validity of the survey. Exactly where in Canada is the opportunity? If it is such a great country why are people coming out in droves to teach overseas?
The UK in the top 10? The country that is in an economic depression right now? really? What parts of the UK are up to par when it comes to opportunity? |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| recessiontime wrote: |
| If it is such a great country why are people coming out in droves to teach overseas? |
What percentage of Canadians come to Korea to teach ESL? One in several thousand? Is that really "coming out in droves"? For the U.S. as a percentage of population it's something 1 in 30,000. That's not exactly "everyone and their mother" coming (although maybe it feels like that). All it takes is a miniscule percentage of Western populations to come to Korea in order for the ESL market here to become "flooded".
| Quote: |
| the U.S. is still No. 1 in two important categories�income and housing. On income, the U.S. has the highest average level of household wealth, at $116,000 per household. |
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/where-u-economy-still-no-1-170204699.html
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Housing affordability ranks eighth out of 36 nations, according to the OECD, while the quality of housing�measured by the portion that have basic facilities such as indoor plumbing�is tied for No. 1 (along with Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands).
Americans also enjoy more spacious living quarters than people in most other places. The typical American household has 2.3 rooms per person, bested only by Canadian households, with 2.6 rooms per person. That may not seem lavish, until you visit a home in Korea or Japan or even some European countries, where there�s not nearly as much open space. |
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big_fella1
Joined: 08 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: Survey: Australia the 'lucky country' for a better life |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/28/business/oecd-quality-of-life/index.html
#1 Australia
#3 Canada
#6 United States
#10 UK
It's cool that countries we are from made the top ten. We are lucky to have been born in such good places. Loads of people around the world grow up poor with limited opportunity. I feel so fortunate to have a passport from one of the world's greatest countries. |
I have a passport from the world's greatest country.  |
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I'm With You
Joined: 01 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:36 am Post subject: |
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How the heck is Canada on that list? Friends tell me that it's just a over-taxed, frozen crap hole these days. Alberta is making all the money while they destroy the environment?
Australia kind of makes sense. Friends tell me that tradesmen do really well there, for example, lots of work, etc., great salaries. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 07, 2013 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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| recessiontime wrote: |
| The UK in the top 10? The country that is in an economic depression right now? really? What parts of the UK are up to par when it comes to opportunity? |
Economic depression?
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| In the United Kingdom, the average household net-adjusted disposable income is 26 904 USD a year, more than the OECD average of 23 047 USD a year. |
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/united-kingdom/
The majority of Brits are employed and are happy with their life. |
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spilot101
Joined: 05 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:05 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| the U.S. is still No. 1 in two important categories�income and housing. On income, the U.S. has the highest average level of household wealth, at $116,000 per household. |
Average income can be a very misleading statistic. When you take away the income of the top one percent, it drops down to 38-40K. |
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rollo
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: China
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| Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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The posters point is that residents of those countries are very lucky indeed.
Not just in income but culture, education and so forth. ENJOY!! |
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Who's Your Daddy?
Joined: 30 May 2010
Location: Victoria, Canada.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 10:08 pm Post subject: |
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| recessiontime wrote: |
| Canada being placed way too high makes me question the validity of the survey. Exactly where in Canada is the opportunity? If it is such a great country why are people coming out in droves to teach overseas? |
I always think, Canada is a great country to live, and Korea is a good country to work.
They are like opposites to me. Not working, as a child or retired, Canada is great. But day to day work (not for the old or young), Korea is a good place, with low taxes and lower cost of living, you can quickly save money. Entertainment and leisure, Canada. Making money, Korea/Asia.
For a given skill level Canada pays poorly compared to the USA and UK (I think it is like New Zealand in that respect). I studied undergrad in the UK, and graduates of the bachelors were getting jobs that required a Masters in Canada, and paid more than the Masters-requiring jobs did in Canada. |
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No_hite_pls
Joined: 05 Mar 2007
Location: Don't hate me because I'm right
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| Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| rollo wrote: |
The posters point is that residents of those countries are very lucky indeed.
Not just in income but culture, education and so forth. ENJOY!! |
Definitely true, Australia, the US, and Canada are some beautiful countries. I will be retiring in one of them. |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:45 am Post subject: |
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| I'm With You wrote: |
How the heck is Canada on that list? Friends tell me that it's just a over-taxed, frozen crap hole these days. Alberta is making all the money while they destroy the environment?
Australia kind of makes sense. Friends tell me that tradesmen do really well there, for example, lots of work, etc., great salaries. |
You praise Australia yet demonize Alberta for the same thing.
Alberta is NOT destroying the environment. |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:07 am Post subject: |
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| Ginormousaurus wrote: |
| I'm With You wrote: |
How the heck is Canada on that list? Friends tell me that it's just a over-taxed, frozen crap hole these days. Alberta is making all the money while they destroy the environment?
Australia kind of makes sense. Friends tell me that tradesmen do really well there, for example, lots of work, etc., great salaries. |
You praise Australia yet demonize Alberta for the same thing.
Alberta is NOT destroying the environment. |
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't believe Australia is fracking or has any signficant oil industry on land (but yes, it has huge mining operations instead). |
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Ginormousaurus
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Location: 700 Ft. Pulpit
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| Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2013 10:59 am Post subject: |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| Ginormousaurus wrote: |
| I'm With You wrote: |
How the heck is Canada on that list? Friends tell me that it's just a over-taxed, frozen crap hole these days. Alberta is making all the money while they destroy the environment?
Australia kind of makes sense. Friends tell me that tradesmen do really well there, for example, lots of work, etc., great salaries. |
You praise Australia yet demonize Alberta for the same thing.
Alberta is NOT destroying the environment. |
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I don't believe Australia is fracking or has any signficant oil industry on land (but yes, it has huge mining operations instead). |
You're not wrong.
Australia has a huge mining sector that provides great salaries for tradesmen. Alberta has a huge mining sector that provides great salaries for tradesmen. That's what I was refering to. No matter where you are, mining operations are ugly.
At this point, mining operations make up the majority of oilsands output in Alberta though this will change over the next 20 years as steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operations become the majority producers.
Fracking is something altogether different. It's poorly understood by the public and has become the latest fad (along with pipelines) among anti-development environmentalists that like to exagerate and use scare tactics to prop up their claims. Hydraulic fracturing was first used in 1947 in Grant County, Kansas and has been used approximately a million times since then in the US alone. Up to 95% of wells drilled today are fracked.
I don't think fracking is 100% harmless, but I'm positive that it isn't as harmful as some groups would like you to believe. In 2009, the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission reported that there have been no cases where hydraulic fracturing has been verified to have contaminated groundwater aquifers.
Earlier this year incredibly huge deposits of hydrocarbons were discovered in Australia, so it's possible that in about a decade Australia may have it's own money-printing oil industry. |
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