Are Americans unusually stupid?
Are Americans unusually stupid???
financeguy said:
By comparison to whom? Russians put up with a lot more encroachments on personal liberty by comparison, as do Chinese. If we are going to argue that Americans are stupid, we would have to argue that Russians and Chinese are stupider.
financeguy said:
By comparison to whom? Russians put up with a lot more encroachments on personal liberty by comparison, as do Chinese. If we are going to argue that Americans are stupid, we would have to argue that Russians and Chinese are stupider.
Harry Vest said:
The big difference here is that they don't have so called FREE elections and Americans do. Huge difference actually. The fact that more people say they will vote for yet another Republican administration even after this last horrific one begs the question. Not to mention the Democrats not yet deciding on a nominee. You really have to wonder.
Harry Vest said:
The big difference here is that they don't have so called FREE elections and Americans do. Huge difference actually. The fact that more people say they will vote for yet another Republican administration even after this last horrific one begs the question. Not to mention the Democrats not yet deciding on a nominee. You really have to wonder.
VintagePunk said:
Geez Harry, as a fellow Canadian, I've read some of your rantings regarding US politics of late, and I have to concur with some of the American posters, they're insulting and inflammatory.
The bottom line is, it's a democracy, and although you may not agree with the political leanings of some people, they do have the right to decide for themselves. Your name calling isn't helpful, nor does it lead to fruitful dialogue.
Harry Vest said:
What "name calling"???
I just posted an article from an AMERICAN writer and certain people are offended. Oh well, what can you do. Like you said, they do have the right to decide for themselves.
Diemen said:
Are Canadians from Winnipeg unusually condescending?
financeguy said:Met some Winnipegians at a conference a while back. Fine people. Drank a lot of whiskey.
anitram said:
Remember that person I ranted about a few weeks ago saying that I wanted to slap her thrice? She is from Winnipeg.
Harry Vest said:
melon said:I'd like to see Canadians less concerned about the U.S., which they can't control, and more concerned about the fact that you have four major political parties...
1) Two of which have no chance of ever winning.
2) Two of which do, but are consistently ineffectual.
I'm shocked to see high prices for few minutes and things like "voice mail" are still charged separately (!), not to mention that your banks charge an average of $12 a month just have a checking account open.
Hell, for such a large oil producer, how the hell do you end up paying at least $1 a gallon more than the U.S. at any given moment?
anitram said:I really have no idea what this is about since I pay nothing for my chequing account and I don't know anyone who does.
To be fair, NAFTA sucks ass for Canadians when it comes to oil and the major beneficiary of that deal was the US, per usual. This is why I can't actually believe that either Dem candidate would bring it up, because frankly we'd WANT to re-negotiate and there is not a chance in hell that the Americans would agree to any of it given how patently unfair the current version is.
melon said:
What bank do you use? I've priced out all your major banks--RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, and CIBC--and every checking account states that it costs from $9 (Scotiabank) to around $12 (the rest) a month, just to have one open. And, yes, of the Canadians I know, they all pay it too.
Or do you carry the minimum balance to avoid the fees? Most of our checking accounts these days require no minimum balance at all.
anitram said:I'd venture a guess that the cell phone thing is probably true, although I have no idea about that either since I'm on a corporate plan and don't ever really think about the minutes. My brother pays $35/month for 200 daytime, unlimited evenings after 6 pm and unlimited weekends. This includes the other mandatory charges too. I don't know if this is a good deal compared to the US though.
anitram said:I have TD. In the past I've had two types of accounts. The student account I had did not have any fees of any sort. The regular account (which I have now) requires me to keep a $1000 balance for the purpose of withdrawing $ from the debit machine. Without the minimum balance, I'm allowed 5 transactions per month and after that there is some sort of fee, I can't remember if it's $5 or $7 for unlimited usage. I have never had less than that in my account so I've never had to pay a fee. But that fee had nothing to do with my chequeing account. Neither my roommate, nor my parents, nor my brother pay any kind of chequing fee either, so this is really surprising to me to hear.
melon said:
I think the reason for my $12 a month figure is that that's what I priced for an account with unlimited transactions, which is what I'll probably need when I move to Canada later this year. I make a lot of transactions with my current bank account.
melon said:
I should point out that our checking accounts generally have no minimum balances and have always had unlimited transactions. I was shocked to see accounts with transaction limits and account fees.
I think the reason for my $12 a month figure is that that's what I priced for an account with unlimited transactions, which is what I'll probably need when I move to Canada later this year. I make a lot of transactions with my current bank account.
VintagePunk said:Many banks used to also have no fee accounts for students, but my daughter and I shopped around at various banks last summer for an account for her, and all of them had fees for students.
anitram said:I must make 50+ per month and I have NO FEE. I've honestly never even heard of a fee and so the only thing I can surmise if one exists is that I've always been over the minimum limit as have the people I know...but in that case the limit must be awfully low given the financial state of some of them.
anitram said:
It seems to me that the only time they're really giving you fee-free accounts for students is if you also have a student line of credit with them. I actually took out a LOC for $75K and then didn't charge a thing to it, but used my free account.
VintagePunk said:In fact, my mom, a senior, was one of the ones who till just recently, had a special no-fee chequing account for seniors. She received a letter recently that they're doing away with the no fee for seniors thing, and they sent along a fee schedule for her perusal. Many banks used to also have no fee accounts for students, but my daughter and I shopped around at various banks last summer for an account for her, and all of them had fees for students.