Your opinons...

[brettb]

Ok so.... My pinay and I got into a little argument over some irrelevant stuff... Customs and culture crash.. Anyways some how it got really wierd and went way off topic. But she admitted to me that she first starting look at "kanos" because she saw other filipinas have "kano" boyfriends and husbands for money.. So she decided to try it out, But now she says her mind has changed since she met me... Ok so that totally raised a red flag.

Brief overlay- We have known each other for over a year became pretty serious in the past 7 months... Havent met her yet due to my work and me being a "probie" i dont have vacation time untill march which i was planning 12-14 days. Anyways she has never asked me for money or anything. I have bought her a new cell phone because hers broke And i only spent like $15 american on it throu ebay.ph
I want to believe that her story is true, But once she admitted that i really started to question her intentions and means....

I dont want to just write her off and wounder because she is truly a sweet girl. Works very hard to support her family, And seems to have great morals and wife material, But i don't know if this was all an act now,

What do you guys think?

[robert angel]

She confessed that she was influenced initially by what she saw others doing. That took guts and honesty. She didn't have to tell you, although --it's hard to tell from ehat you wrote--maybe that came out in 'the heat of the moment'.
Hopefully she learned and she's expressing how that's the fact. A sharper 'operator' would never have told you any such thing, while reeeling you in even closer. There's not really enough information you've given for me to make a real call here.  I find it interesting and would like to wish she wasn't so easily swayed earlier on, but from little I can gather, I'd see it as a yellow flag and just remind you to keep a balance of logic and affection.

[Jeff S]

Every person has a wish list of the qualities they want in a spouse or loved one. What woman on the planet doesn't wish her husband and she won't have money problems in their future? Of course she's fantasized about marrying a rich guy. Show me a woman who hasn't. Gee, you bought your girlfriend a small gift. Welcome to courtship on planet earth. Don't let the paranoia about gold diggers out for your wallet around here scare you. Only you know what your relationship with her is, and I'm sure you're smart enough to pick up the difference between some small need that you can help out with and a pattern of behavior.

[z_k_g]

brett,

Sounds like another typical day on the farm....

Keep your antenna up, but I don't see any red flags bro.

Make that planned trip count!

Zulu

[Ray]

 
 
               

[Gato4Astrid]

Anyways she has never asked me for money or anything. I have bought her a new cell phone because hers broke And i only spent like $15 american on it throu ebay.ph

At least it wasn't $100 or more. 

[robert angel]

Yea--Everybody and their sister and brother hope to 'marry up' in some manner--it's only natural. Some people won't admit it and hopefully it isn't to such a degree that it overrides other compatibility factors.

 
If she's just marrying you 'for the Benjamin's', it won't be too long before she moves on to someone who has more of them.


 
The reality is that most of the people in the Philippines are very poor and have a view of the USA that in their minds, is heavily influenced by what they see on TV and in movies. They hear that somebody here makes $25,000 a year and to them, it's over a million pesos--a huge amount of money that they mistakenly think provides a great deal of luxury and leisure here.


It's been a while since I heard the figures, but a while back, I heard that over thirty million--about a third of the population of the Philippines, makes less than one USA dollar a day--about 43 pesos. Still, more often than here, one partner is somehow able to not work and take care of the home and kids.


 
My wife was amazed at how hard and long you have to work in the USA, how expensive everything is and how many people struggle, living from paycheck to pay check and still fall into debt. To make matters worse in her eyes, those same people have little or no time for meaningful interpersonal relations, are stressed out and their kids are all screwed up.

 
Life in the USA isn't what most Filipinos expect.

[jm21-2]

My wife has a couple Filipinas she will occasionally practice her English with....they all seem aware that the US isn't what it used to be and that it's better to marry an Aussie or a guy from certain European countries.

[robert angel]

Yes--the 'stock value' of an Aussie mate has gone up markedly in many Asian nations, proportionate to the rising value of their currency.
 
One mitigating factor that sometimes remains is whether or not she has friends and family in a prospective mate's nation.

[jm21-2]

I think it more has to do with a calculation of government benefits than their currency. They've got affordable health care, great unemployment benefits, great safety nets of all sorts, less income inequality, extra money if you have kids, extra money to help take care of said kids, affordable higher education, etc., etc. My wife spent a good deal of money getting a skills visa to Australia and it was very calculated. How many months of unemployment benefits to cover the cost of procuring the visa, etc.


Most of all though, their economy is booming right now and they have pretty strong private sector unions so wages are way up for the average person. I mean, an entry-level sheep herder in Australia gets more pay than the vast majority of workers in the US right now. Absolutely nuts. I could quit my law practice here in the states, herd sheep in Australia, and make more money. I'd be able to pay off my house completely in about 4 years of sheep herding, and save quite a bit for retirement at the same time. EDIT: and they get 4-7 weeks of paid vacation...



Well I suppose I will figure out if it's all it's cracked up to be next year some time....

[tessbrittain]

I have a sister that married an Aussie, she got her citizenship a week ago. Her husband owns a business.  They pay a lot on taxes. All those free stuff or inexpensive health care come with a cost ...


Nothing is free...


So if everything is really that good in Australia we should all move there :-)




Tess

[z_k_g]

Nothing is free...

True that!

Z

[z_k_g]

The reality is that most of the people in the Philippines are very poor and have a view of the USA that in their minds, is heavily influenced by what they see on TV and in movies.

Rob,

I would also add the growing influence of Korea and its K-Pop culture and to a lesser extent India's Bollywood.

Korea has been able to market its music, movies and television very effectively in SE Asia and the Philippines is a huge growth market.  Korea is a growing power in Asia with the huge success of Samsung, the world's largest smartphone producer (sorry Apple) and with Kia and Hyundai automobiles surging in worldwide sales (to the dismay of Toyota).

Australia is not the only success story.

Zulu

[robert angel]

While I think that Filipinos (and even Justin Bieber has 'Korean hair)  are in the midst of a love affair with Korean pop culture right now, I think most of them have had negative interactions with Koreans who now live in the Philippines.  Perhaps even more than the Chinese and Indians there, they are known a cold, hard nosed business minded people. 
 
Filipinos who have worked in other nations as well as in Korea, generally don't put living in Korea too high up their wish list for a number of reasons besides personality temperment, including climate--the winters are brutal and working conditions aren't as nice as say, Taiwan or Japan. Korean guys can be some tough cookies, so to speak and the women I've met, somewhat pragmatic.
 
You pass through the international airport in Korea, going from the domestic terminal to the international and it's like night and day. The domestic, mostly full of Koreans, is quiet, with few smiles--many people engrossed in their own immediete task. Go to the international, and it's full of Filipinos laughing, interacting and having a good time.
 
Some time back, I started a thread called 'Korea:--The new Japan?' Samsung is the biggest electronics company on earth. Samsung makes a lot, lot more than electronics as well. I can only imagine what they'll be like when they acheive their dream of a signature product that everyone will name associate with Samsung--ala iPod, Walkman, etc. The Koreans are a proud people and I should say, rightfully so--but I think there's still a little hidden 'inferiority complex' going on there and it only serves them to push harder in the pursuit of excellence.
 
Some years back, I purchased a Dell ultrasharp LCD computer monitor and saw it was actually manufactured by a company with the curious name of 'Lucky Goldstar'--today, it's more of a household word--'LG'.
 
Korea is a country to watch closely.

[jm21-2]

The Korean entertainment industry has been quietly booming for over a decade now. We don't see it as much in the west but they are getting very influential. Their film industry was preserved more than other countries because the government banned theaters from showing too many American movies, then there were some big blockbuster hits like Shiri and Musa. This has helped their TV industry as well.


In video games, NCSoft was a Korean company that sold their game Lineage to China and now absolutely dominates the online gaming industry. They dominate in the US too.


But Korea is not a fun place to work by any account I have ever heard. Long hard hours.


Australia is riding on the back of a huge mining boom fueled by China's economy. Lots of people use their currency in gambling (er, "trading") as well, which causes it to fluctuate dramatically in value at times. Right now this has caused it to have the most expensive cities in the world, but also one of the highest standards of living. I suspect there will be an agricultural boom, especially in beef and lamb production, in the next 10-20 years as Asians start demanding more of those products. That would be another boon to AUS as they produce a ton of sheep and cattle. Of course, if Asian economies collapse, especially China, AUS is going to be in a world of hurt.


High taxes in AUS if you are in a high income bracket. Plus they are getting rid of tax benefits for having a dependent spouse.


We like the idea of working at some remote jobs in Aus for a few years as food and accommodation are usually paid for and non-taxable. So you can save a lot of money. A lot of jobs in AUS are in the middle of nowhere and hard to get people to go there so wages are pretty high. Mining, offshore drilling, cattle/sheep ranches, mega-farms in the outback, and even stations in Antarctica. Certainly not for everyone. Very isolated.

[robert angel]

Netflix in the USA carries a fair amount of Korean films and I never thought I'd like them, but I have to admit some of them are pretty riveting. Different country--but the series of three Swedish movies that started with Stieg Larrson's 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo are great films and are also on Netflix--I can't imagine the upcoming USA ones starring Daniel Craig (of James Bond fame) being half as good. Check em out--no one I've recommended them to has been disappointed.

In terms of pop culture, especially soap operas and pretty boys in pop rock acts, my wife's younger sisters in the Philippines just love, love, love that Korean stuff, which at least in movies and soaps, is dubbed into Tagalog--no pesky subtitles.

 
Seems that the biggest and best ships that pass through my town, including the 1200 foot  container 'Panamax' ships that can pass through the new, wider Panama Canal, are Korean made.


We all know about their cars, trucks and buses, besides their electronics, home appliances etc. I suppose it's just a matter of time, if they're not into it already, before they get into aerospace in a big way, although Samsung, Hyundai and Daewoo all have aerospace divisions and either co develop or outright make some aircraft already.
As pointed out, domestic food and energy production seem to be their only limiting factors at the present time--I guess Australia and the Middle East are still important allies for them.


 
Regarding Australia, I wasn't aware of the breadth of social services available to the populace there--it makes the other UK, as well as the Scandinavian countries, seem stingy. Eventually there has to be a backlash, as somebody's paying the piper there, I would think.


I do recall reading about a subculture that exists in Australia of surfers who exist in traveling groups, going from beach to beach, chasing the best waves while surviving economically soley on the largess of the Australian govt. Must be nice....

[Jeff S]

I sold the aluminum used in the Boeing 747 wing rib program to Daewoo back in the early 80s, and built the shiplift for the Lockheed designed fast patrol ships built in Pusan in the late 70s, so they've been gearing up for the aerospace and war toy business for a long time.

[jm21-2]

I remember Jon Stewart did a bit on Greece, listing off all the ridiculous benefits they got and then saying how of course they have a national debt per capita of $X. Then it showed the US debt per capita figure which was basically the same.


I think it was on Stossel that they looked at how much the government spent on the war on poverty. I think they figured the government could have written every poor person a check for $40k/year for the same price.


I get clients who are on or trying to get SSI or SSD too. The amount of work people have to go through, who are very obviously disabled, to get a disability payment, is phenomenal. The government will spend 3 years and hire three expert surgeons for hours and hours, as well as attorneys and judges and clerical staff, just to try to deny someone a lousy $500/month payment.


For how much money our government spends I can't but feel a little screwed.