6 ms·

This happens in New York as well. What if we could hear from the people suffering from this directly? We can. Earlier today, a post showed up here about John.

This happens in New York as well. What if we could hear from the people suffering from this directly? We can. Earlier today, a post showed up here about John. It was flagged. I expect my comment to also be moderated, which will reinforce my feelings of being ignored by the world. https://github.com/yeukhon/suicide https://github.com/yeukhon/suicide I investigated what's happening to him, and empathise with a lot of his struggles. We're overworked, underpaid, ignored, and rejected by the government. https://twitter.com/y3ukhon https://twitter.com/y3ukhon He's got excellent work experience for Mozilla, and a good degree. Working for a tech company in New York. What's bad about that? - He's still asking for a second job on weekends just to make ends meet. May 22: "What part time job would allow me to work on Friday - Sunday with some rest in between? Need one so I can make up some cash." - He can't afford anything more than a tiny room: Apr 13: "if only @LifeOnPurple can release a full size mattress tonight I'd be able to purchase >_< my bedroom can't take a Queen size. #mattress" - He cares about the world, but it makes him poor (me too - refusing to work for weapons manufacturers or oil companies has seriously limited my scope of potential jobs) Apr 5: "I'd be interested in working at places where I can exercise social responsibility and making industry standard salary. Too hard." - He's bored at work, probably because managers don't give him enough to do, or don't care enough to simply talk to him. ] Mar 28: "When I don't seem to do much or making huge progress at work I wonder am I the new fossil at work? At age of 25? Really?" - He can't get insurance (me too) because of systematic mistreatment of foreigners by the government (me too): Mar 5: I write software so I am denied for vision coverage. I am Chinese so I am denied for liver coverage. #preexistingconditions

majormajor 9y ago
> - He can't get insurance (me too) because of systematic mistreatment of foreigners by the government (me too): > Mar 5: I write software so I am denied for vision coverage. I am Chinese so I am denied for liver coverage. #preexistingconditions Could you go into more details about this? Many of the others sound like very sad combo of really bad fit between city + job + goals, but the insurance stuff on an employer plan at a large company is news to me. Vision coverage usually isn't the most useful thing in the world (the expenses are too predictable), but I've still never been denied it and always have had employers that offer it, and I have no experience being foreign to speak to that, but again, even pre-Obamacare employer plans I saw for middle-class+ jobs usually had some level of preexisting condition coverage (generally along the lines of "if your insurance has lapsed for 3+ months, then there's a 6-12month waiting period for coverage specific to that condition") and my foreign co-workers didn't seem to be on a different set of plans than anyone else.
jackgolding 9y ago
From recent personal discussions, I think part of the solution choosing another place to live. The "hubs" of the world are becoming way too expensive for people who don't purely chase money as an objective (or are born into it.)
- peterburkimsher 9y ago
  Where? I currently live in Taiwan. It costs me 3 months savings to buy a plane ticket to visit family. I can afford to do that once or twice a year. That doesn't matter much though, because I only get 8 days of annual leave anyway. I'm a British citizen by descent (born in Switzerland to parents resident in France). My future children cannot be British. I cannot become Taiwanese without giving up my previous nationality. I would also have to do military service, and learn how to kill foreigners. There is a conflict of interest here, because I am a foreigner. I have a Masters of Engineering from Lancaster University, UK. I started Ph.D. at KAIST in Korea, but dropped out when they refused to pay my scholarship. I wanted to move to Canada for the Express Entry programme, but now they got too many applications from the US. They changed the rules, and now they require me to be a senior manager. I wanted to move to New Zealand for the Skilled Migrant Category visa. They asked for 2 years work experience. During my 2nd year here, they increased that to 3 years. Now they require 75,000 NZD per year salary (4x my current salary). I don't think any company will pay that. It is extremely difficult, and getting harder, to take a foreign spouse to the UK. The US "asked me to leave" (one step short of deportation) when my exchange student visa petition was denied, because I didn't have $25,000 cash in the bank. Thankfully the process was so slow that I finished a whole year at UCSB before they kicked me out. I can't go back any more though. I also don't think I can afford to get married, because it's just too expensive (300,000 NTD would take me one year to save up). The politics and finance problems means I don't think I can marry my Taiwanese girlfriend. I believe in chastity, so this probably means that I'll die a virgin. I've decided that rather than ending my own life, and having no voice, I can at least speak on behalf of those who struggle. The older generation are rich (owning cars and houses, having children). Most people I know who are my age are not able to afford such luxuries. Why should I pay for pensions to support these rich old people? Why should I pay for insurance to extend my life, when I'm not even satisfied with the situation I'm in? I expect that there will be a war soon. I refuse to fight in it, but I hope that here in Taiwan, I'll be on the front lines, and it'll be over for me soon.

majormajor 9y ago

> - He can't get insurance (me too) because of systematic mistreatment of foreigners by the government (me too): > Mar 5: I write software so I am denied for vision coverage. I am Chinese so I am denied for liver coverage. #preexistingconditions Could you go into more details about this? Many of the others sound like very sad combo of really bad fit between city + job + goals, but the insurance stuff on an employer plan at a large company is news to me. Vision coverage usually isn't the most useful thing in the world (the expenses are too predictable), but I've still never been denied it and always have had employers that offer it, and I have no experience being foreign to speak to that, but again, even pre-Obamacare employer plans I saw for middle-class+ jobs usually had some level of preexisting condition coverage (generally along the lines of "if your insurance has lapsed for 3+ months, then there's a 6-12month waiting period for coverage specific to that condition") and my foreign co-workers didn't seem to be on a different set of plans than anyone else.

jackgolding 9y ago

From recent personal discussions, I think part of the solution choosing another place to live. The "hubs" of the world are becoming way too expensive for people who don't purely chase money as an objective (or are born into it.)

peterburkimsher 9y ago
Where? I currently live in Taiwan. It costs me 3 months savings to buy a plane ticket to visit family. I can afford to do that once or twice a year. That doesn't matter much though, because I only get 8 days of annual leave anyway. I'm a British citizen by descent (born in Switzerland to parents resident in France). My future children cannot be British. I cannot become Taiwanese without giving up my previous nationality. I would also have to do military service, and learn how to kill foreigners. There is a conflict of interest here, because I am a foreigner. I have a Masters of Engineering from Lancaster University, UK. I started Ph.D. at KAIST in Korea, but dropped out when they refused to pay my scholarship. I wanted to move to Canada for the Express Entry programme, but now they got too many applications from the US. They changed the rules, and now they require me to be a senior manager. I wanted to move to New Zealand for the Skilled Migrant Category visa. They asked for 2 years work experience. During my 2nd year here, they increased that to 3 years. Now they require 75,000 NZD per year salary (4x my current salary). I don't think any company will pay that. It is extremely difficult, and getting harder, to take a foreign spouse to the UK. The US "asked me to leave" (one step short of deportation) when my exchange student visa petition was denied, because I didn't have $25,000 cash in the bank. Thankfully the process was so slow that I finished a whole year at UCSB before they kicked me out. I can't go back any more though. I also don't think I can afford to get married, because it's just too expensive (300,000 NTD would take me one year to save up). The politics and finance problems means I don't think I can marry my Taiwanese girlfriend. I believe in chastity, so this probably means that I'll die a virgin. I've decided that rather than ending my own life, and having no voice, I can at least speak on behalf of those who struggle. The older generation are rich (owning cars and houses, having children). Most people I know who are my age are not able to afford such luxuries. Why should I pay for pensions to support these rich old people? Why should I pay for insurance to extend my life, when I'm not even satisfied with the situation I'm in? I expect that there will be a war soon. I refuse to fight in it, but I hope that here in Taiwan, I'll be on the front lines, and it'll be over for me soon.