Is USA done?

[Raven_Rayes]

1 minute ago, krishnaaa said:

Keep assuming

why else would a place you lived all your adult life working and making a life for yourself be boring?

because you have no friends.

its a reasonable assumption. and assertion that India won't be any different follows from that. after the initial euphoria of couple weeks where everyone is excited to see you, no one is going to give a fcuk.

unless you have deep family ties in India.

[Raven_Rayes]

5 minutes ago, krishnaaa said:

You probably had bad experiences during your stay and having difficulty opening up. I get it. Not everyone is going to have the same experience.

If you like suburban life in the US, yeah you'll like India. India is as ugly as the ugliest suburban space in US, except you get to live in a densely packed city or its outer burbs, and still it can feel like you have the privacy and convenience of living in US suburbs.

that's how ugly India is.

I prefer beauty and function of the inner cities.

[andhra_jp]

Just now seen this post in SOS global Indians FB page majority are suggesting to stay back in India..

Quote

Me and wife together earn around 2 lakhs in India Bangalore in hand after taxes. I have got my H1 and the current offer is around 115k and no bonus or shares at Bellevue. We have a kid who is 5 years old. Is it a good idea to move to the US for that pay considering that my wife will have to take a break from work atleast till she gets her EAD which would be around 2 to 3 years if things move fast.

 

So basically when one is considering US salary , visa hassles , expenses , health concerns all come into picture... its not like US suits every homo sapien in this planet...

 

[andhra_jp]

Treatment Cost Comparison
Procedures	US ($)	Costa Rica ($)	India ($)	Korea ($)	Mexico ($)	Thailand ($)	Malaysia ($)
Heart Bypass	$144,000	$25,000	$5,200	$28,900	$27,000	$15,121	$11,430
Angioplasty	$57,000	$13,000	$3,300	$15,200	$12,500	$3,788	$5,430
Heart Valve Replacement	$170,000	$30,000	$5,500	$43,500	$18,000	$21,212	$10,580
Hip Replacement	$50,000	$12,500	$7,000	$14,120	$13,000	$7,879	$7,500
Hip Resurfacing	$50,000	$12,500	$7,000	$15,600	$15,000	$15,152	$12,350
Knee Replacement	$50,000	$11,500	$6,200	$19,800	$12,000	$12,297	$7,000
Spinal Fusion	$100,000	$11,500	$6,500	$15,400	$12,000	$9,091	$6,000
Dental Implant	$2,800	$900	$1,000	$4,200	$1,800	$3,636	$345
Lap Band	$30,000	$8,500	$3,000	N/A	$6,500	$11,515	N/A
Breast Implants	$10,000	$3,800	$3,500	$12,500	$3,500	$2,727	N/A
Rhinoplasty	$8,000	$4,500	$4,000	$5,000	$3,500	$3,901	$1,293
Face Lift	$15,000	$6,000	$4,000	$15,300	$4,900	$3,697	$3,440
Hysterectomy	$15,000	$5,700	$2,500	$11,000	$5,800	$2,727	$5,250
Gastric Sleeve	$28,700	$10,500	$5,000	N/A	$9,995	$13,636	N/A
Gastric Bypass	$32,972	$12,500	$5,000	N/A	$10,950	$16,667	$9,450
Liposuction	$9,000	$3,900	$2,800	N/A	$2,800	$2,303	$2,299
Tummy Tuck	$9,750	$5,300	$3,000	N/A	$4,025	$5,000	N/A
Lasik (both eyes)	$4,400	$1,800	$500	$6,000	$1,995	$1,818	$477
Cornea (both eyes)	N/A	$4,200	N/A	$7,000	N/A	$1,800	N/A
Retina	N/A	$4,500	$850	$10,200	$3,500	$4,242	$3,000
IVF Treatment	N/A	$2,800	$3,250	$2,180	$3,950	$9,091	$3,819

[Raven_Rayes]

23 minutes ago, andhra_jp said:

Just now seen this post in SOS global Indians FB page majority are suggesting to stay back in India..

 

So basically when one is considering US salary , visa hassles , expenses , health concerns all come into picture... its not like US suits every homo sapien in this planet...

 

2lakhs is barely above the barrier of upper/middle class. no one in my circle is making less than 5lakhs in hand.

but yeah.. even with 50k salary, you can give a great life in India. completely removed from mundane sh1t 90% of Indians have to struggle with.

[andhra_jp]

Many Americans Will Need Long-Term Care. Most Won’t be Able to Afford It.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/health/assisted-living-costs-elderly.html

 

Some comments in the above article

 

Quote

Long-term insurance is a thorny solution-- it pays at best 4k a month for a max of 4 years. Here in Portland, OR, elder care in facilities or (more $)at home care starts at 8K a month. Then, who manages the endless, confusing communications, paperwork requirements and payment delays  with the insurance companies?

Social security pays a stipend, but it is 1/5th or 1/10th the future cost of care once a single senior is left living alone, has an incident, and needs assisted care, community setting, or long term care.

A bit of warning about Long Term Care insurance: most of it is a scam. Chances are you will die before you ever get a chance to use it.
My wife and I bought 2 LTC policies when I turned 50, she was 48 at the time. We bought because we are childless and knew we weren't going to have kids. We also thought we were being smart by buying young, with an "inflation rider", and keeping the annual costs low.
Except now we're 68 and 66 and our premium is being raised 40% in 2023. Or, we can freeze our benefit and continue to pay our old payment. Or, we cancel completely and lose 18 years of premiums down the drain.Also, most policies have a 90 day "elimination period" before benefits kick in. Most nursing home patients don't live 90 days in a LTC facility; they die. It's a Win/Win for the insurance industry and a scam for the rest of us.
My wife's mother bought a barebones LTC policy and dutifully paid $103/month for it (no inflation rider), money she could have used to make her life a little more comfortable. She died in a nursing home and the LTC policy never paid a cent because of the 90 day elimination period.
Be sure to research any purchase of LTC very carefully.

I was diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukemia in late March of this year.  I’m 73, divorced with no children.   My first oncologist gave me  a year- 17  months while I was in the hospital for almost 5 weeks. After a number of rounds of chemo,   I’m in a vaccine trial and I’m in remission. One sibling has a spinal glioblastoma and the other lives out of state but has been wonderfully helpful but can only take on so much. I want to have agency for my ‘exit strategy’. I can’t afford to go to Switzerland.

I'm 85 living in NY. Shoveling my own snow, mowing my lawn with my muscle-powered mower, lugging my trash to the dump (switching arms to throw bags to balance muscle building.) At some point, I'll no longer be able to do these things. So, I'll commit suicide. I don't care what happens to my house or my 3000+ books or anything other than my cats. Let me buy some pills that will kill me quietly and gently. What's the problem with that?

 

 

[hotmaddy]

Good discussion and thread

[andhra_jp]

In r2i club forums i see these kind of posts that tells the story of US healthcare...  something is not right about capitalist USA...

 

Quote

Each 5 ml Diflucor (difluprednate) bottle here runs some $300 and from India the bottle is only 100 rupees. So I get Diflucor (difluprednate) from India

 

[Raven_Rayes]

1 minute ago, andhra_jp said:

In r2i club forums i see these kind of posts that tells the story of US healthcare...  something is not right about capitalist USA...

 

 

what do you think pays that otusized salaries in USA?

[krishnaaa]

2 hours ago, Rushabhi said:

It is better if you live for a few months in India to emulate the experience in tier 1 cities and decide. 

Have already done that......also been in contact with cousins/friends who already moved back.

General consensus is to never move back without passive income unless you are FAANG material/High Earner.

Traffic isn't much of an issue....but pollution is.

Rest varies from person to person.

[andhra_jp]

1 hour ago, Raven_Rayes said:

what do you think pays that otusized salaries in USA?

 

US is not just about IT  industry what about say teachers and their economic difficulties?

 

Data from the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics show that the average public school teacher salary nationwide is $63,645. In the United States, the average teacher earns $16.00 per hour.

 

Quote

 

Seattle teachers go on strike over pay, staffing issues

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/seattle-teachers-go-on-strike-over-pay-staffing-issues

 

 

[andhra_jp]

Seen this post in SOS global indians ...  

 

What are these salaries for teachers and professors .... how are they going to meet their expenses especially if working in expensive areas?

 

 

 

Quote

 

Not an SOS, advice/reference needed for a fed-up math professor

Dear Members,

Four months ago, I reached out here to vent out that I am a math professor with a $43k salary and trying hard to make ends meet. I love teaching and I have been teaching in the US for about 8 years now. But it is high time for me to move out of academia as it is affecting my family financially. I am copying the link to the original post here.

 

[krishnaaa]

On 1/3/2023 at 9:58 PM, andhra_jp said:

Seen this post in SOS global indians ...  

 

What are these salaries for teachers and professors .... how are they going to meet their expenses especially if working in expensive areas?

 

 

Yup.....most nri's live inside their bubble and don't know the real US.

And then they compare their bubble with real India. 

[tables]

On 1/2/2023 at 9:17 PM, andhra_jp said:

In r2i club forums i see these kind of posts that tells the story of US healthcare...  something is not right about capitalist USA...

 

 

do you see software engineers making good salaries in healthcare domain in india? 

apollo, care projects anni tcs/infy ki veltai.. and least skilled and paid employees work on those projects.

ikkada healthcare/pharma IT lo dunnestaru salaries..so ekkado akkada compensate cheyali kada.

[telugu_fan]

On 1/1/2023 at 10:16 PM, krishnaaa said:

US has lot of debt and has not much growth left.

With average age increasing and immigrants being mistreated and the political system taking a long time to implement reforms....do you guys think that US has any future?

While India is just getting started....our political system...although imperfect....is implementing reforms at a rapid pace.

NRIs would probably start coming back in less than a decade.

What do you guys think? Any rebuttal?

Is USA done? is a very big question with lot of parameters.

Defining it more will send this thread into one direction - USA is on top in many sectors - pure R&D for STEM, military spending, technologies, green ev companies, quality of life (which itself is a big set of variables), trade, dollars and what more.

it depends what you are looking for, everyone will have different set that is important for them as envisioned in this thread - personal safety, pollution, access to basic infra, govt responses to their requests and so on.

Everyone arguing on these requirements as paramount will cause this thread to wander aimlessly.

USA going down is not absolute. USA will try to ensure it maintains it lead over other countries even if it means it has to destroy/subvert other countries lead in the said fields.

The biggest problems that US will face will be from their progressive brigade if it grows more powerful and introduces gender studies to elementary school kids and puberty blockers to middle schoolers will ensure next generation decline.

people forget that US became the top dog by being extremely ruthless and cutthroat and attracting talent and building their own and not through gender bender studies and equality. As long as equality is followed along with the basic R&D research it will not be an issue, only when you make it either or the US will start slipping.

If the dollar is removed as the reserve currency from the world (there will be a lot of chaos prior to that and hence since), then all the people singing praises of US and quality of life will catch the first flight back to their homelands with all the trillions of dollars of debt accumilated.

Even in absence of any of the above, China will pip the US at current trajectory with no changes to China or the US. And the music will start once China becomes the new top pole.