Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/05/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Just throwing into the mix a personal experience for your amusement. Around 1969 or 1970 I got fired from Control Data for twisting the tail of a very nasty vice president. I went to RCA in Palo Alto and took two Control Data employees with me. The negotiation with RCA was like something out of a spy story; it took place at night in a bar room on University Avenue. A bit over a year later, RCA shut up the shop and offered us all family transportation and jobs in New Jersey. Fortunately (for me), I said "Hell no"; fortunately because a few months later RCA went out of the computer business. To make a long story short, RCA put me in touch with ICL (in England) and eventually a job offer appeared. The deal was that they would transport me, family, furniture to England provided that I signed a two-year contract. If I left in less than two years, I'd have to reimburse them for those travel/moving expenses. The only rub was the salary. Their formula was obvious: when I transformed pounds into dollars, it was incredibly close to half of my current salary. My first reaction was, "Those guys must be kidding." But that weekend, I saw a newspaper article giving cost of living figures in a set of European cities, and half my salary appeared to be feasible. I actually went native, and stayed eight years. And, the only financially intelligent thing I did in my life was to keep my house in Palo Alto, to rent it out. Oh, there was a second intelligent thing, now that I think of it. All but the last year of our stay in England, we were renting a tiny tiny house. Then when we were given the choice of buying it or moving out, it suddenly seemed too tiny. We bought a normal sized house in another area. One year after that, we decided to return home. Because inflation was so rampant, we made enough profit on selling that house after one year to pay for a new Honda Accord when I got back here. Sorry if I bored y'all. Herb >With the internet, you can live in another country and do your work >on-line. I seriously considered moving to Honduras. It would be a very, >very cheap place to live and I could still sell stock photos through the >internet. There are quite a few jobs now that can be done on-line. My son >works for a law firm doing research - all on-line. It could just as easily >be done in any country with internet - which is most of them now. > >Tina > >On Sat, May 12, 2012 at 4:00 PM, Lew Schwartz <lew1716 at gmail.com> wrote: > > > Right. If this was such a great solution, then thousands of young people > > would be following their jobs overseas. EPL isn't the first to think of > it. > > OTOH, the globalization initiatives that encouraged this to happen > benefit > > wealthy industrialists and capitalists far more than their soon to be > > unemployed, underpaid workers. The real marvel was that this > > "globalization" was made to sound like a humanitarian, popular movement. > > What bs! > > > > On Sat, May 12, 2012 at 3:37 PM, Chris Crawford < > > chris at chriscrawfordphoto.com> wrote: > > > > > The problem with that is that the reason you can live on so little on > > some > > > countries is that JOBS IN THOSE COUNTRIES PAY VERY LITTLE. Someone > with a > > > guaranteed American income (like a retiree with social security and a > > > pension or some savings) can indeed live well in the third world. Us > > young > > > folks who have to work for a living can't do that. We'd be just as > poor > > in > > > Elbonia as in the US, possibly worse off. > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Chris Crawford > > > Fine Art Photography > > > Fort Wayne, Indiana > > > 260-437-8990 > > > > > > http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio > > > > > > http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! > > > > > > http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 > > > Become a fan on Facebook > > > > > > > > > > > > On 5/12/12 3:03 PM, "EPL" <manolito at videotron.ca> wrote: > > > > > > >If one feels poor living in a particular country and can find no way > out > > > >of > > > >that, the wise thing to do is to move somewhere else where the cost > of > > > >living is lower and one's resources go further. > > > > > > > >In some countries, $10 a day buys a more than adequate lifestyle, all > > > >inclusive. In much of the USA or Western Europe, one gets lunch. > > > > > > > >To remain in a wealthy society with the resources of a pauper seems > > > >foolish, > > > >unless one likes that sort of thing. > > > > > > > >One could live quite decently in a poor country for two or three > years > > for > > > >the price of one Leica M Monochrom or a new 50mm Summicron-ASPH, or > > > >whatever. Neither airfare nor batteries included. > > > > > > > >It is probably easier to move one's own location than to revamp a > whole > > > >socio-economic system to include everybody who wants in. > > > > > > > >Emanuel > > > >(who was itching to change the subject line) > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > > > >Leica Users Group. > > > >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Leica Users Group. > > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > -Lew S. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Leica Users Group. > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > > > > >-- >Tina Manley, ASMP >www.tinamanley.com > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information -- Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you.