Comments by "Lorri Lewis" (@lorrilewis2178) on "" video.

Back in the 1990s, I used to work at a big US convention hotel that was owned by a German chain - Kempinski Hotels. Young German employees would come to our US location to work in our hotel for 18 months and then return to Germany. The idea was that they would learn US hotel practices and bring them back to implement. They jumped at the chance because they could advance faster once they went back home because of the experience. The typical thing that would happen when the German employees arrived for their 18 month stint, was that they would spend six months asking a lot of "Why" questions due to culture shock. By the time they were getting close to leaving, they had adjusted and most of them wanted to stay in the US - some tried to win the Visa lottery. They used to joke they needed to find an American to marry. Most of them still wanted to eventually move back to Germany where their families lived, but they wanted to stay here for a long time. I asked one why she wanted to stay here and she said, "lifestyle". All of them did as much traveling in the US as possible since they'd never get the chance again to be here so long. As far as how those same Germans would feel about living here now, I have no idea. I lost touch with all of them. EDIT: Just looked one of them up and he's still here going strong. He made a big career for himself in the US.
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It has always been difficult for minimum wage workers, but US prices for buying or renting have risen VASTLY in the last 2 years. It's a combination of a housing shortage and large investors buying up tons of properties to turn them into rentals. I live in a rural retiree area where 3 years ago, you could have rented a large beautiful house for what it would've cost for a one-bedroom apartment in a city. Even here, rents have doubled. Lots of people moved out of cities during the pandemic once they were allowed to work at home, and this raised prices in smaller cities and towns, making them less of a bargain than before. Everyone is hoping this insane market in the US is temporary, but who knows? EDITING TO ADD: Some US fast food workers are getting paid a bit more these days because the pandemic created a worker shortage for those jobs. This caused many franchises to raise their pay.
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One quibble. Anyone living in Colorado need not worry about losing their health insurance if they lose their job. Colorado is one of the states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA. As of 2023, 40 states have expanded Medicaid. Unless you live in one of the 10 states that didn't expand Medicaid, you are covered.
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@PDVism The subsidy is on a sliding scale. For instance a person only making $15,000 per year would pay zero, with the gov't picking up the whole cost. Also the sliding scale sets a cap on what percentage of your income can go to pay the cost. The old scale was 2% to 9.5% of your total income and 0% for people at the lowest incomes. However, the Inflation Reduction Act was just passed and now the scale is 0% to 8.5% of income until 2025. They also removed the income cap, so it applies to everyone now. Another thing is that if a person has no insurance and needs surgery, many hospitals will provide financial aid up to 100%. I know two people who got 100% financial aid from two different hospitals in the US. One of them had a $60,000 bill for a 2 week hospital stay wiped clean because of financial aid. The other had a surgery 100% paid for via financial aid from the hospital - she never even saw the bill to know the cost. Our system has a lot of holes, but at the same time, there can be more options than you'd think.
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I don't know that those numbers are correct these days. A lot of US fast food restaurants have raised hourly wages because the pandemic created a shortage of restaurant workers. My local Burger King offers $12.00 per hour and we're in the middle of nowhere.
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@kilsestoffel3690 Vacation rentals are using up a lot of real estate in the US as well.
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@wolfgangpreier9160 The Bay Area is insane. Rich tech employees have made it untenable.
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@PDVism Sure, but at that income the gov't partly subsidizes their marketplace plan. And if they contribute to a retirement account, their subsidy will be higher.
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@JustLIkerapunzel As I said, some of them joked that they needed to marry an American because they wanted to stay. I didn't mean they only wanted to stay for a couple of years. They wanted to stay for many many years, and then retire in Germany when they were old. The one guy I looked up is still here after 31 years and he's doing super well in his career. I'm not trying to prove anything - just telling my experience at that time.
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Bay Area prices are only second to Hawaii aren't they?
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@wolfgangpreier9160 Very! The Bay Area is a joke to many Americans!
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