4 ms·

I like how you phrased it - "cheat ourselves out of clean air". In my country (Serbia), politicians basically pocketed the money assigned for filters for most

I like how you phrased it - "cheat ourselves out of clean air". In my country (Serbia), politicians basically pocketed the money assigned for filters for most of heavy industry, and there's speculation of importing and burning waste from EU countries - which wouldn't be surprising given the AQI levels of 150-300 on the regular during winter months. We're a red circle in a green sea on AQI map of Europe, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo was the second worst location in the world a couple of days ago). I can definitely understand corruption and stealing for self-gain, it's a very familiar concept here. But those people, and their kids (!) are living here and breathing the same air - they're doing it to themselves (as well as to everyone else) - how stupid and greedy do you have to be?

alephnerd 3y ago
> their kids (!) are living here Won't their kids leave for London, San Francisco, Vancouver, or New York? At least that's what the children of the Indian and Chinese officials who I know did.
- alluro2 3y ago
  Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, they seem to prefer to embrace the family tradition, stay, and keep riding the backs of the people.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    Actually, now that I think about it, it makes sense. Leaving might leave you open to prosecution for financial crimes, and naturalization can become difficult depending on how high you go. A couple of my classmates and friends from families lower down the chain naturalized, but those higher basically had to return.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  You still need to be smart and hard-working to do well in those cities. Can't buy the same level of lifestyle for the money compared to where they are currently.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  Serbia and Bosnia are no EU countries, which means their citizens have it a lot harder emigrating to other countries.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Not really. Germany, Austria, etc. have a "labor shortage" so they rubber stamp just about any work visa. Or, you emigrate as a university student, that's what most do to get around the stricter labor visa rules, and you can easily find a non-top-10% university that will accept anyone to study something easy like "English studies". As long as you pay the tuition fee(very low in most EU countries), nobody will ask you anything. My American mate who emigrated here for welfare, doesn't work officially, just enrolls in a new university every 2-3 years as an "English student" to get his visa renewed and earns a living by doing private English lessons for cash on the side, and there's others like him as well. So if you know the system and the loopholes, it's pretty easy to exploit. Talking to Bosnians, Indians, and other non-EU immigrants, the more I learn about the various exploits.
    - mschuster91 3y ago
      > Not really. Germany, Austria, etc. have a "labor shortage" so they rubber stamp just about any work visa. I wish. I'm German, my employer is attempting to hire someone from former Yugoslavia, and HR has been dealing with getting shitwalled by the local Ausländerbehörde for months now. We've resorted to paying him all the effort required to set him up as a freelancer in his home country, deal with taxes and other crap, until the Ausländerbehörde gets their shit together.
      - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
        That's an orthogonal issue. The fact that the state authorities are overwhelmed and take forever to give out the rubber stamps is orthogonal to my statement that they're very willing to give away the rubber stamps. My statement was that it's very easy to pass the conditions of getting a work visa, not that the German government is fast and efficient at work.
ponector 3y ago
No one is really thinking about long term health consequences. In Poland people are using cheap local coal for heating so much that during winter months if there is no wind air quality is terrible, aqi 150+ easy. You can see and smell smog everywhere. And yet, people continue to poison themselves.

alephnerd 3y ago

> their kids (!) are living here Won't their kids leave for London, San Francisco, Vancouver, or New York? At least that's what the children of the Indian and Chinese officials who I know did.

alluro2 3y ago
Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, they seem to prefer to embrace the family tradition, stay, and keep riding the backs of the people.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  Actually, now that I think about it, it makes sense. Leaving might leave you open to prosecution for financial crimes, and naturalization can become difficult depending on how high you go. A couple of my classmates and friends from families lower down the chain naturalized, but those higher basically had to return.
robertlagrant 3y ago
You still need to be smart and hard-working to do well in those cities. Can't buy the same level of lifestyle for the money compared to where they are currently.
mschuster91 3y ago
Serbia and Bosnia are no EU countries, which means their citizens have it a lot harder emigrating to other countries.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Not really. Germany, Austria, etc. have a "labor shortage" so they rubber stamp just about any work visa. Or, you emigrate as a university student, that's what most do to get around the stricter labor visa rules, and you can easily find a non-top-10% university that will accept anyone to study something easy like "English studies". As long as you pay the tuition fee(very low in most EU countries), nobody will ask you anything. My American mate who emigrated here for welfare, doesn't work officially, just enrolls in a new university every 2-3 years as an "English student" to get his visa renewed and earns a living by doing private English lessons for cash on the side, and there's others like him as well. So if you know the system and the loopholes, it's pretty easy to exploit. Talking to Bosnians, Indians, and other non-EU immigrants, the more I learn about the various exploits.
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    > Not really. Germany, Austria, etc. have a "labor shortage" so they rubber stamp just about any work visa. I wish. I'm German, my employer is attempting to hire someone from former Yugoslavia, and HR has been dealing with getting shitwalled by the local Ausländerbehörde for months now. We've resorted to paying him all the effort required to set him up as a freelancer in his home country, deal with taxes and other crap, until the Ausländerbehörde gets their shit together.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      That's an orthogonal issue. The fact that the state authorities are overwhelmed and take forever to give out the rubber stamps is orthogonal to my statement that they're very willing to give away the rubber stamps. My statement was that it's very easy to pass the conditions of getting a work visa, not that the German government is fast and efficient at work.

ponector 3y ago

No one is really thinking about long term health consequences. In Poland people are using cheap local coal for heating so much that during winter months if there is no wind air quality is terrible, aqi 150+ easy. You can see and smell smog everywhere. And yet, people continue to poison themselves.