Are you happy the direction of your country is going?

[CrimsonMoon]

I have to say that I'm quite fine with my country. Sure we don't have much entertainment here as oppsed to nature, but we do that by going to another country (though it's sometimes a hassle). The leader of the country is also someone that I respect. Heck, maybe most of us citizens here respect him a lot. Basically, education is paid for, you can even get free scholarships to study abroad. $1 for healthcare (less than USD1). Housing and settlements. Taxes? Well, road tax and housing tax once a year. No income tax. I'd say it's a good place to live.

However, it's pretty hard to find well paid jobs here. There aren't many available jobs with high pays here. You're lucky if you get paid $1500 per month for a job. That's why some people opt to work in other countries. Well educated people? Yes, sure, but limited work job pools. That, and our primary source of income is oil and gas, so it's pretty hard to diversify. So far, industries are limited. To diversify economy would be pretty hard. Not much expertise in other areas. So I hope in the future we can diversify to other types of industries.

[sunnyside]

@CrimsonMoon what country?

Is the low paying jobs thing because the government controls the oil/gas income and so you get the money via benifits as opposed to wages?

[CrimsonMoon]

@sunnyside It's a small country named Brunei, just next to Malaysia and Indonesia.

No, not really. Here, having wages like $1000+ is considered quite good. Actually, most government and semi-government jobs are well paid. That's why there are competitions for us here to get a job in any of them. Not so much for private sectors. The thing is, there are many small and medium enterprises in private sector here. Mostly small shops and restaurants and the likes. You don't get paid much there, even though you're busting your hips trying to keep up with the job. I don't know the cause, but I'd say it's because in shops or restaurants, you need more workers, then price of items are cheap, so even if there are many customers, the employer can't pay that much to the workers because they barely made any profit themselves. That's just a speculation from my experience, I don't really know the real cause.

[sunnyside]

It's a small country named Brunei, just next to Malaysia and Indonesia.

No, not really. Here, having wages like $1000+ is considered quite good. Actually, most government and semi-government jobs are well paid. That's why there are competitions for us here to get a job in any of them. Not so much for private sectors. The thing is, there are many small and medium enterprises in private sector here. Mostly small shops and restaurants and the likes. You don't get paid much there, even though you're busting your hips trying to keep up with the job. I don't know the cause, but I'd say it's because in shops or restaurants, you need more workers, then price of items are cheap, so even if there are many customers, the employer can't pay that much to the workers because they barely made any profit themselves. That's just a speculation from my experience, I don't really know the real cause.

Wait, I've heard of Brunei, it shows up on lists of wealthiest nations per capita. You've got massive amounts of money coming in per person and are known for insane GDP growth as your production ramps up. Your countries future ought to be very bright so long as the world craves oil and natural gas.

Although Brunei is also known for having laws about stoning people for Sharia reasons. So I guess that might put a damper on the parties...

I've got the right country don't I? *pokes around intertubes a bit* Yeah, that seems to be the place. Maybe your income inequality is massive even compared to the US?

[CrimsonMoon]

@sunnyside There are well to do families here, yes, but I'd say my family is normal, not too rich, not too poor. Well, that's just the national average, it doesn't mean that it applies to every person. Income inequality comes because of the wages paid for every person. You see, not every person is paid accordingly. Some are underpaid, especially the private sector companies. They don't enjoy the same benefits as you do if you work in government sectors. Overall though, our income inequality isn't as bad as it would seem. I mean, most of the citizens here have roof over their head and incentives are given to the poor.

Haha, well, yeah, maybe that's the only thing we're known of. It became quite a big deal to some other countries for some reasons. Frankly, I live here and I don't feel the change at all. Most of the citizens here don't seem to have any problems either with the law. No riots happened here. It's a wonder why there are riots everywhere else but here regarding the Shariah law. I can't understand that one thing. People worry too much about stoning in Shariah, but really, it only applies to Muslims, not to all people. It's true though we don't have wild parties, and entertainment is pretty much lacking here. I'd still live here if I can choose to live in other countries though.

I can't compare my country to US because I really don't know much about your country. I'd say there is income inequality here, yes, but the gap between poor and rich isn't that bad, I guess. The poor here can easily be considered rich in African countries. They still have a house, food, and car. They will also be helped by the government in terms of cash every month. By doing this, I think the gap between poor and rich gets narrower. In all honesty, I've never seen a homeless person here. It's an indication that income inequality isn't that bad here.

[darkrider21]

going to have to say no. i mean sending troops to Africa to fight ebolia a contagious killer? is this relay the rout obama wants to go down? all that will come out of this is more americans with ebolia

[Kumagawa]

going to have to say no. i mean sending troops to Africa to fight ebolia a contagious killer? is this relay the rout obama wants to go down? all that will come out of this is more americans with ebolia

Hahahaha ebolia
you crack me up

[ParaParaJMo]

I disagree with where my home country is doing with all the illegal immigrants since I was raised in border states (California and Arizona). Granted it is a federal responsibility, but its the states that end up losing money over it. Going to high school in Arizona, trying to accomodate illegal children was why Arizona was ranked 50th in education in 2001. And I don't get why illegals can get in-state tuition for local universities and yet our veterans can't. Plus, my family has been trying to get relatives to the US for over 20 years the legal way and still have yet to be processed.

I also hate that taxes are going up, the government is conducting warrant less searches and arrests, wanting to engage in more illegal military action, not providing for our veterans who still choose to fight in these illegal interventions, etc.

As for my current country of residence of Japan, I hate how I still have to pay taxes and yet I get no benefits from them. I hate that they are progressively raising taxes. I hate people like Ishihara and I will rejoice if he gets assassinated. I hate that the elderly population is why my insurance rates are jacked up to $400 a month when I am 30 years old, healthy, have no history of any illnesses like cancer, not on any medications, etc. I hate keynesian economics. Japan is the poster child of why it doesn't work. Now Abe wants to expand the military and violate their own constitution. I hate the right wing mini vans that spout non-sense about Yamato Damashii and how they didn't commit any crimes in WWII.

[dragoninja]

it seems like the masses are unhappy with being lied to. there will be a third world war. its already in the play book. the good news is nothing ever goes as planed. god bless the earth.all rise for the earth anthem. one world government. no more money just micro-chips in your body. modern day slavery will continue. my entire lifetime will be controlled by law

[360 FistKick!]

The whole world is going in a bad direction and were not going to actually fix it until were right at the brink. Necessity breeds invention and we can save ourselves from an early end.

As for my home and native land of Canada I can't say enough good things about (aboot) it. We have free healthcare, free or cheap school for all, a very multicultural and diverse environment, low cost of living, you are never to far from nature, all four seasons, primarily atheist population, friendly people, the list goes on. I am thankfull for all the opportunity living in Canada has afforded me and I truly believe it is the best country in the world to call home.

[Digimon_Sommelier]

USA rocks!!

Chant: USA! USA! USA!!

[星らぶ]

we are going to have the third elections since 2009 (it is suppose to happen every 4 years but pfft)
we got 18 neonazis inthe parliament
we blame the EU for everything
we have history of junta so I'm afraid of a new one in these coming elections
people cry about not having money to buy food then instagram a a picture from their protest with the latest model of smartphone what costs 700~800euros ...
neonazis and leftish anarchists are fired up so any moment a civil war might start
there are only left and right wing policies and ideas, but everyone blames the liberals for everything even though liberalism never governed this country ever there is not a single liberal minister in the parliament and the liberal party got 0.2 in the last elections ==;
my country's ministers and prime minister said to the EU "we don't give a damn about civil rights/human rights"
we are the first country in the world that made a new law for civil unions 4 years ago and excluded homosexuals.
a mayor who dared to wed two homosexual couples, had his title taken away and the judge was to send him to jail too but he died before that could happen :/
christian church has full control of the state, they decide what to be taught in schools, in religion course we only learn about christianity, there is only ONE chapter of couple of pages about other major religions, in the religion book of the last grade of highschool (religion is a 9 years long course). In History books the control how the books are written so church will be glorified, when in reality they did nothing of what we learn in school. Biology...include adam and eve. They wanted to include a sex ed course in high school, but the book for that, dared to have one line about homosexuality, so church opposed it. Therefore there is no sex ed in schools. (AIDS rates I think are highest in europe)

A gazillion more things are wrong, and nobody does nothing to change them, I was to FLEET the country and never come back.

[Sympathy]

The whole world is going in a bad direction and were not going to actually fix it until were right at the brink. Necessity breeds invention and we can save ourselves from an early end.

As for my home and native land of Canada I can't say enough good things about (aboot) it. We have free healthcare, free or cheap school for all, a very multicultural and diverse environment, low cost of living, you are never to far from nature, all four seasons, primarily atheist population, friendly people, the list goes on. I am thankfull for all the opportunity living in Canada has afforded me and I truly believe it is the best country in the world to call home.

that picture... lol