4 ms·

Don't get me wrong, we will eventually get to the spot Europe is in if we don't make changes to our health care services of one type or another. We have howeve

Don't get me wrong, we will eventually get to the spot Europe is in if we don't make changes to our health care services of one type or another. We have however shown a remarkable ability to vote for people that tell us we can't afford things we can't afford. We took drastic austerity measures in the 90's and we actually voted for it - twice. I'm not too worried about our finances, once people get the numbers in front of them, they tend to be convinced.

sliverstorm 14y ago
A cohort of reasonable voters? You just keep racking up reasons to move there...
- mahyarm 14y ago
  Vancouver has horrible housing affordability ratios (housing price : income), income is lower at the entry level for software by almost double compared to WA (MS can change that), cost of goods is about %15-%30 more expensive across the board. Housing prices are just now reversing because of stricter mortgage requirements. Interest rates are really low and an interest rate hike is just waiting to happen. The reason why Vancouver is so bad for housing is because wealthy foreign investors see Vancouver as a stable store of value for their money. It's a complicated bank account for large sums of money. Alberta is the money making place to be in Canada, since the resource industry & banking drives over %50 of the TSX. Rent is also a lot better in Alberta. But Canada is not a country right now to be a techie compared to the USA. It's a great place to be in the oil industry although.
  - run4yourlives 14y ago
    I don't disagree with anything you say, but if you are moving from Seattle to AB you may as well pick a friendlier US state. The reason I suggested Vancouver is because of it's proximity. It's pretty much the same place.
Vivtek 14y ago
Europe's healthcare has nothing at all to do with "the spot they're in". The spot is due exclusively to short-sighted compromises in the structure of the Eurozone - the idea was to get into cheap markets and it paid off great for Germany, but now they have to pay the bill the voters are balking. But no, the Canadian healthcare system is not going to pull you under.

sliverstorm 14y ago

A cohort of reasonable voters? You just keep racking up reasons to move there...

mahyarm 14y ago
Vancouver has horrible housing affordability ratios (housing price : income), income is lower at the entry level for software by almost double compared to WA (MS can change that), cost of goods is about %15-%30 more expensive across the board. Housing prices are just now reversing because of stricter mortgage requirements. Interest rates are really low and an interest rate hike is just waiting to happen. The reason why Vancouver is so bad for housing is because wealthy foreign investors see Vancouver as a stable store of value for their money. It's a complicated bank account for large sums of money. Alberta is the money making place to be in Canada, since the resource industry & banking drives over %50 of the TSX. Rent is also a lot better in Alberta. But Canada is not a country right now to be a techie compared to the USA. It's a great place to be in the oil industry although.
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  I don't disagree with anything you say, but if you are moving from Seattle to AB you may as well pick a friendlier US state. The reason I suggested Vancouver is because of it's proximity. It's pretty much the same place.

Vivtek 14y ago

Europe's healthcare has nothing at all to do with "the spot they're in". The spot is due exclusively to short-sighted compromises in the structure of the Eurozone - the idea was to get into cheap markets and it paid off great for Germany, but now they have to pay the bill the voters are balking. But no, the Canadian healthcare system is not going to pull you under.