The most logical way to argue that the US is a bad or expensive place to raise children is by comparison with other countries. What do you want to compare with, the costs of rabbits and bears? And before I brought up Germany, here you are comparing US costs with, of all places, Hong Kong: I'm replying directly to your claim that the Democrats have nothing to do with the high cost of raising children in the US. Here, I'll quote you again: You are wise to run away; all you have are the old emotional arguments and now I see you're reduced to filth in your reply to another poster.
"And in the US not everyone can "just" pay and go to a 4 year university, which has been a core point of this thread" - volpunter Can you explain why 51% of low income students in the U.S. go on to college. While in Germany under 10% of students from low income families go on to college? http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...w-income-students-still-trails-richer-groups/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany I thought not. So much for the "superior" "free" German university system.
he/she is apparently on my ignore, not sure whom you are talking about. Membership declined. At some point, however, we would have to talk about your ET privileges, TsingTao. Someone who never adds value and always flames is by majority vote not welcome anymore. Time to consider another forum perhaps? Or are your 14,573 posts that valuable? Got the ET platinum card? lol. likes/post ratio = 2.5% lol. So much to your fanclub.
Firstly, you don't get to decide who is in the club or not. You do, however, add to membership by all of your "civil discourse" that is so prevalent on this forum. Making friends seems to be your specialty. Second, just because you don't find value in my posts does not mean others do not. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I'm doing something right if you dislike my posting! Third - it's hard to know who you have on ignore since you put people on, take them off, put them on again, etc. Yet for all your complaining about me, you still don't have me on ignore! Lastly, how can you use a ratio like "likes/post" when the like feature was only turned on 6-8 months ago, and the posting has been going on for six years? Duh. College in the states, you say, was it?
yes I do get to decide in the same way as you do. If I feel displeasure with your "membership" then I speak out and voice the fact you hardly ever add constructive value. You take the same privileges. Grant them to other then, too. So if others liked your posts so much would they not more often vote for you? I do not see that reflected in that metric. So, I think you see the quality of your posts in a much better light than the majority of users here. Sure, so how many posts have you made in the past 6-8 months? I would argue a lot more than I have, or most others have. Even taking the last year into account I dare to bet your stats still reflect a stark contrast between how you see your post quality vs how others see it. Can you inform us which post in this whole thread has meaningfully contributed to the thread topic, to enlighten others and to make others think constructively? Just the post ID or number would be sufficient. One is enough, also. Any? One? 1?
You're speaking for everyone now, are you? I wouldn't count your own "popularity" all that high based on the amount of people you've insulted/argued with these past few weeks alone. Not that ET is supposed to be a popularity contest or something. Again, you're certainly welcome to feel whatever you like! Sure. This one, where we were discussing obesity. But apart from that, this thread has pretty much been you arguing with various folks, and me laughing at you. Welcome to P+R.
Can you inform us in which post in this whole thread you have meaningfully contributed to the thread topic, to enlighten others and to make others think constructively? Just the post ID or number would be sufficient. One is enough. Any? One? 1? Thread topic, not obesity. Can you show us one single post of yours?
Ah, it has to be under specific criteria that you establish in order to have meaning. Well, then no. In this thread all I've done is point out how ridiculous you are. Guilty as charged.