“There is no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated”

As an American I am ashamed to acknowledge that she sadly is not alone amongst my fellow countrymen.

Yes, I’ve heard good things about the Macallan 18yo. I have to sample some. I think that’s one of the cases where Alko’s supply falls short. They only recently added the 12. wtf? But as I said, it’s getting steadily better.

Since we’re on the jet fuel topic, you might like to know, if you don’t know already, that there’s a Finnish single malt: Teerenpeli 5yo! After tasting it, I concluded that it should spend at least an additional five years in the barrel. But hey, if the Japanese do it, why not the Japan of Europe?

Well, first of all, due to some prudent tax planning those 6 figures are not immediately at my disposal and secondly, you just can’t appreciate the smoothness brought forward by that third pass. Besides, the folks at Midleton know how to make a ridiculously expensive bottle just as those kilt-wearing dudes.

Aw, just use a strap-on. Nobody will notice the difference under a burqa. I don’t know about the whisky prices, but the venues for enjoying it are admittedly limited. Still, the money is good and that’s what we’ve been talking about at least as far as I can tell.

maksalaatikko:
“The folks in New York you mentioned make plenty enough to support there living expenses.”

Donald Trump certainly does. Some lowly geek on Wall St. doesn’t. Sure they do better than an employee in Finland would. Being an employee in Finland simply sucks in countless, unimaginable ways. Unless you’re management anyway.

“Fact: If you are a Sugar Dadday capable of making over 100,000e in Finland; using the numbers only, you would be much better off in the United States.”

According to the job openings, those Wall Street jobs pay less, in absolute terms, than what I make in Helsinki doing the same work. In fact, it’s quite easy to make more. It just depends on your negotiating skills.

London is another matter entirely, but even there money does not grow on Hyde Park trees.

“Fact: If you are a Sugar Dadday capable of making over 100,000e in Finland; using the numbers only, you would be much better off in the United States.”

Would your head totally explode if I told you that I’ve actually looked into this and, in fact, applied for and been interviewed for those jobs?

Then again, New York cab drivers make a decent living as well. As hfb said, take a number and get in line. Go Amerika, become Billionaire.

Hey, I know all about that little tax advantage High-Tax Daddy. It’s a great deal for those who can take advantage of it (myself included). What happens if you make a 20% return? I’m sure you know but your not telling us. How much taxes do you pay if you spend some of that interest?

By the way Daddy, I make over 100,000e a year and I did not start paying income tax beyond Social Security and Medicare (royal rip offs) until I hit the $90,000 mark. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

The folks in New York you mentioned make plenty enough to support there living expenses. There is a large range on “low six figures”. Do you live in Kaivapuisto? I live in a city more than twice the size of Helsinki, yet real estate is cheaper. This is fairly well off area to beat. Smoke that too, Pops!

Fact: If you are a Sugar Dadday capable of making over 100,000e in Finland; using the numbers only, you would be much better off in the United States.

Can I have my tutti now?

Easy commute is, well, we live in a town bordering Cambridge so my husband can get to work in Cambridge with a short walk, short bus ride to Harvard and a short T ride in roughly 35 minutes. If one were to drive…it’d be about 15 minutes but who wants to pay 20 bucks a day for parking? Any commute over an hour each way is just a waste of life.

Nobody would dare push Irish anything to me knowing my very bigoted feelings about whisky.

Yeah. Nothing beats Saudi Arabia, especially for medical and IT professionals. Again, your mileage may vary.

“And back here is Boston. ~700k in dollars would get you a nice single-family 4bd house with a lawn inside the 128 zone of easy commuting and civilisation.”

Something like this? I don’t know your standard of an easy commute, though. Under 4 hours/day? As for civilisation, I admit it’s just outside Ring III.

There are plenty of 500k single family homes in Espoo. Most of them should be torn down, of course, even if they were built less than 5 years ago.

“And Alko could definitely sport a better selection of single malts. I don’t consider the Irish malts drinkable though.”

For Scotch, the situation is improving by leaps and bounds. As for Irish, no. Traditional Irish whiskeys are blended anyway. If someone is pushing “Irish malt” to you, you’re being scammed.

Well, if I was working at, say, Wall Street for 26 hours a day and earning low six figures (about the same I make here), I would be struggling to make ends meet. In Helsinki I live quite comfortably. The balcony of my homeless shelter overlooking the sea and the better parts of Helsinki isn’t bad at all, although I admit it’s a whole lot better in the summer than in the wonderful Helsinki winter. Now, if I happened to have 1M€ capital, I’d get 90k as dividends annually, paying no income or capital gains tax. That’s a 0% tax rate. Dig that for a starter, low tax-boy.

In the case of EVERYTHING the purchasing power is better in the US, except for maybe sauna accessories, pine tar, and maksalaatikko. If your a poor homeless bum in Finland, then you pay less taxes and have more purchasing power. If one has no income to tax, no home, and digs food out of a dumpster; then one’s taxes are low and purchasing power is high.

If you’ve got half a brain, a smidgen of ambition, and a pinch of common sense you’ll be much better of here. If you want to live your whole life on impulse be lazy and irresponsible; you will be much better off in Finland.