The Greatest Country On Earth To Cruise Is...

[Parmenter]

Originally Posted by MoxieGirl

Ausaviator - I'm quite confident there are not as many shootings in schools/universities in reality as there are perceived by news reports.

They are news reports, People have been shot and killed and now you are trying to tell us they were made up?

[SailBender]

Originally Posted by transmitterdan

I think this is not true. Would like to read a published story of a US citizen who died simply because they could not afford health care and there was no solution. I have heard of a story where someone decided to not seek treatment so they could pass their life savings on to some grubby relatives. That's pretty sad.

Not one child need ever go without treatment in the US. There are excellent free hospitals available to any child. No elderly person will ever go without health care. Disabled poor people have free health care. There are even options for working age freeloaders.

Do you understand that when someone does not have health insurance the only care they can get is in the emergency room? You cannot go see a specialist once you develop cancer unless you pay out of pocket or have insurance. That fact alone should tell you that indeed, every single day, people die in the US because people cannot afford health care. There are no cancer treatments in the ER. There are no treatments for the thousands of other debilitating illnesses in the ER. That is not what an ER is for.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Richard_W

Okay, whatever ... my hats off to OHIP ... happy now?

I like the post one above yours by Aikiguy much more ... I have learned something new from it.

Have to agree with Aikiguy also. We really need to circumnavigate to experience the diversity the world has to offer.

As an Australian I love my country and there is years of cruising around it shores. From Tasmania to the Kimberlies, the Oueensland Coast, the GBR and Coral Sea, a stones throw to PNG and north to Indonesia ,Phillipines and Thailand.

However I certainly plan on spending time in the med and clearly both north and South America have much to offer as does the islands of the Pacific. The biggest issue for me is managing the frozen winters in those areas. Brrrrrrrr.

Cheers. My vote is for the World.

[Richard_W]

@Parmenter ... okay, whatever ...
my hats off to Australian health system (insert a proper acronym here) ... happy now?

I like the post one above yours by MoxieGirl much more ... because it offers a perspective.

[Parmenter]

Originally Posted by Richard_W

I like the post one above yours by MoxieGirl much more ... because it offers a perspective.

Thats not perspective
Thats confirmation bias, google it.

And its also the post where she claims that the news reports of shootings and killings are figments of our imagination

Originally Posted by MoxieGirl
Ausaviator - I'm quite confident there are not as many shootings in schools/universities in reality as there are perceived by news reports.

[Vasco]

Jeez, shanedennis, you start all this crap just before fleeing the country?

Must be winter here (USA) or too hot in Oz. Might be the effects of global warming. Hot or cold, it's global warming.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Jeez, shanedennis, you start all this crap just before fleeing the country?

Must be winter here (USA) or too hot in Oz. Might be the effects of global warming. Hot or cold, it's global warming.

Better get going before Global warming destroys it all.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by downunder

Better get going before Global warming destroys it all.

There'll be lots of water, just no land to make a landfall. Hope some of that water spills into the ICW.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Richard_W

Yes, close enough ... but EU is not a country ... it is 28 or so countries lumped together.

Estados unidos de américa..... unión Europea... both unions its just that the European states are marginally more developed ( culturally and politically) is all... compare France and Alabama frinstance....
So lets throw in their overseas territories as well.. French Polynesia, New Caledonia, the Falklands, Australia.............

[bbowers2004]

Or Greece, Italy, and not to mention their cellular, rent a cars, language, or all the other things the countries don't work together in order for them to be created equal...the eu is not ahead...by any means.... And it's not so cut as dry as comparing the second country in economics with one of the 51 states....

[ausaviator]

When the US economy is in crisis, it's still the strongest in the world.

No, it's not. That's why the coversion rate was recently $1US = $90c Aussie and we came over and bought all of your cheap boats because everyone was desperate to get rid of them because your President was printing more money. You can come and buy them back off us if you want :-)

A dodgy neighborhood in the US is quite similar to a dodgy one in any other 1st world country.

As another poster has pointed out, Australia doesn't have the guns that the USA has so shootings are rare. The only people that get shot here generally are Harley Davidson riders, wives that have been bitch@es to their husbands throughout their marriage or the reverse. You don't get shot or mugged when you take a wrong turn in Australia, you generally run into a beach or miles or miles of untouched coastal beauty. The worst thing that could happen is you get your Australian made car bogged on the crystal white sandy beach or get sand in your underwear.

$8 an hour is one of the highest minimum wages in the world.

Your minimum wage in the USA is actually $4.25 per hour for the youth wage.

Your minimum "tipped" wage is $2.13 which requires tips to total $7.25 per hour minimum with the employer paying the difference. (non tipped $7.25), with $9.19 the highest minimum in Washington.

The Australian minimum full time rate is $6.03 for a 15 yr old with 98% of the population on $16 or more. Casual retail rates for an 18 yr old are around $20 an hour. The cost of things in Australia are not double that of the US. Generally American made items are more expensive, but certainly not everything, particularly Australian made products.

Health care?

I needed my appendix out, so I walked into the hopsital and had it out under the public health system and it was gone 4 hours later and I went home after 2 nights in hospital.

Under the private system I needed a BCC removed from the top of my head; I scheduled it 1.5 weeks ahead, had it done and it cost me $129.00.

They are news reports, People have been shot and killed and now you are trying to tell us they were made up?

It certainly seems that way.

In Australia we don't have the need for University Police or similar. Maybe an unarmed security guard, but that would be it. The only armed guards we have here would be ones that carry money.


Each to their own and the US is a great country for what YOU want out of a country.

[Palarran]

Honestly I can't see why anyone would want to "cruise" the States. What is there to see? The whole East Coast is flat from the shore except Maine. So you see trees and sand. You can visit a lot of really big, dirty, noisy cities. Some are cool - like Charleston but most I'd skip. And where are you going to anchor or moor? Usually in some out of the way cesspool.

The West Coast is mountainous but doesn't have many harbors in order to shelter. Maybe Washington / San Juan's would be ok for a month or two. The Gulf - dear god no.

The Great Lakes are very nice. I live on one and used to think it was the best - until I saw more. This summer we boated around Grand Traverse Bay and I couldn't help thinking how ignorant I used to be. Still beautiful but no where near the best.

Alaska would be kick ass but pretty cold for the time available to "cruise".
Hawaii - excellent but apparently you can't get berths and harbors available to anchor in are few. I'll fly there and stay in a villa.

You know, if you live here and want to sail or boat, yes it's nice. But to say it's better than Greece, Croatia, Italy, France, well, my list can go on, no way. And I haven't been to my Shangri La yet - New Zeeland. Australia, French Polynesia, the Caribbean as a whole, and so many more.

We went through the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro this year and IMO, that was the most beautiful place I've been on the water. Santorini second.

[johnmcntsh]

Is there any chance of getting Guns, and maybe religion in to this discussion? Oh, and more politics as well.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by northoceanbeach

How a nice thread became a bunch of Australians trying to brag I have no idea.

I'm American. I don't think it's the best country but it is one of them. I think a lot of the hate we get is jealousy. Mostly because we are the most powerful, richest and influential country. Jealous people are quick to point out our flaws. All while they are driving, flying, using computers we invented. Probably wearing clothes we designed and healthy enough to write because of medicine we developed.

If someone posted a similar post to South Africa or Mexico no one would say a thing.

Isn't that the American Dream , that fact that the powers that be convinced its own people to believe its own propaganda. It's like a whole nation drank the national Kool-Aid . Thank goodness for cynical Europeans.

dave

[svseachange]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Must be winter here (USA)

Winter? What winter? Huh? Thanks in part to you I am in Miami soaking up the sunshine here at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. Kinda speaks to the climatic diversity of this country.

Coming to South Florida by boat on the outside along the Gulf Stream is really cool. Wow. The Gulf Stream. It feels almost supernatural in it's power

I think it is. I blame the Gulf Stream for starting this thread!