Can I live on $600 per month in Colombia?

morphus says on Apr 12, 2005, 07:00:

sure just rent a small apartment in Medellin or Bogota for around $100 a month and your set.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 07:08:

el chigger, i always imagine the same thing too, walking up 5 stories, eating cat food to supplement my diet.
colombia is the place to go and rot.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

stanmoonie says on Apr 12, 2005, 07:21:

Unless you are a Colombian citizen I think you will not make enough for them to allow you to come be poor in Colombia.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Tinto (Moderator) says on Apr 12, 2005, 07:39:

Good point The 10x minimum wage requirement equates to about $1650 USD per month of provable income (or assets that can generate that amount). So the poster will probably need to be a Colombian citizen or marry one to avoid the income restriction.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 12, 2005, 07:45:

depends on personal... tastes. I don't see why not. If you keep your tastes simple as far as an apartment goes, use public transportation, cook a lot of your meals in your apartment should be very attainable. My expenses here in Miami run about $100 a month more then that and that includes my car insurance. Skip movies-rent a Video,walk for exercise-skip high price health club memberships--same physical benefit) There is a lot of fun and interesting stuff to do for free(or almost free) in Bogota--music, mueseums,ect.Day trips on the flotas to places like Guatavita are cheap and interesting. Try it. For example, here in Miami,a Chilean friend of mine was told "Miami rents are Sky High" and usually they are-she found a small apt.(near the main immigration office) for $260 monthly--I saw it--NOT bad) deals are they if you take the time to look and have CASH in hand.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 08:41:

tinto, but who the hell is getting $1650 USA social security check, donald trump?

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

kernow62 says on Apr 12, 2005, 09:38:

Hey Miamimike, if your public library is as nice as ours they will have a great stock of DVDs, even cheaper than renting a video. Same with music, check out a CD and burn some MP3s for your own personal use. Better than paying for CDs or downloads.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 09:46:

it is for me. if i was gettin $1650 is a lot to me. if i was getting that i'll be looking forward to hit 65, but right now i want to shoot my nuts off and bleed to death.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 12, 2005, 10:14:

Donald Trump No,, but Donald Trump will NOT get any more than an average worker that has paid into the system for say 30 years. This worker will receive about $1,300 age 62, $1,800 age 66 and $2,400 per month at age 70 (plus or minus a few bucks). Posted this on the VISA forum.

Social U.S. government Security Calculator on line

The site has information on everything you ever wanted to know, but if you are on a slow connection or lazy they have toll free telephone numbers.

You can “play� with the numbers,, for instance put in 1 million a year in income and see what you get. Social Security payments are fully taxable (I’m pretty sure) as income. U.S. citizens are REQUIRED to take their retirement pay at age 70. Many professionals do this because they are still working (you can retire and still work), or have substantial income.

Trivia: Part of the Trump Tower is built on “leased� land. Long term,, think 99 years. Some families in NY will NOT sell land.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Miguel says on Apr 12, 2005, 10:16:

¡$1650! Con BOOSH, quizas $16.50.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

ARMacleod says on Apr 12, 2005, 10:16:

Tinto, Did I interpret that correctly?

If I marry a Columbiana I will not have to find the 10 times the average/minimum wage? If so...... Kat will you marry me? Desi? Mrs Gomez? Elmo?

$600 US? That should be quite enough I think, as long as food, clothing, soap, etc, are not too high on your priorities for life. You will not have enough dosh for bribes to pay off the Cops who have booked you for vagrancy.

At the moment I am worried that $1400 will not be enough? Am I getting paranoid?

Anyway whatever you decide, good luck with it. Personally I would rather live poor in Colombia than middle class in England.

Pax vobiscum. James.

Being of unsound mind and dubious disposition, I cannot be held legally liable for any indiscretions."¡El diablo me hizo hacerlo!" But don't worry, be happy.

The brain is like a parachute, it only functions correctly when it is open. Pax vobiscum.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 10:50:

james i would marry your gringo ass, but i don't even have colombian papers to prove i'm a freaking colombian. i don't have a cedula or passport. i'll be going to colombia as gringo too with my miserable 1000 bucks a month.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 12, 2005, 11:24:

Suggest I know a few U.S. self employed citizens who worked “cash� or did not pay into the “system� and may get even less than $600.00 per month. I’ve met Colombians (at DAS) who have worked in the U.S. for many years will receive $1,300 plus in S.S. and they are NOT married.

Why at DAS? They are getting their papers to RETIRE in Colombia and in likelihood own a house in Colombia plus rentals.

I stay with a woman and her female friends are CONVINCED they should find a Husband to LIVE full time in Colombia with them that does NOT need to work because he has an income. Some own houses but most do not. This is a RURAL farming town and prices for rent or ownership are VERY low. $100 USD will rent a 3BR, 2Bath HOUSE in a nice neighborhood,, I know,, because I have rented one. The rent is now 260,000 pesos a month plus utilities unfurnished.

You should seek a woman living OUTSIDE the cities. My opinion is that Living in Cities SUCKS no matter where they are located in the world or how much money you have.

Cities are great for visiting or shopping or dancing and a bus ride is CHEAP. BTW: Working is different, a necessary evil to avoid long commutes.

No matter how bad it looks,, there may be a silver lining with one cloud, Medicare will NOT pay outside the U.S. There might be some exception but not that I know of.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

0 funny, 0 helpful.

ARMacleod says on Apr 12, 2005, 11:31:

Thank's for the compliment elmo Sorry about your personal situation. Surely they must have records of your birth, schooling, in hospital, doctors etc? No? For a start you are obviously not native American, that must count for something.

It is beyond my simple comprehension that a person could be born or a citizen of a country and for that country not to recognise him? That must make you a ‘World' citizen, you should be able to go anywhere that you damned well please in that case.

Anyway, if I can get permission from my Colombian wife I would love to share a pint of the local screech with you sometime. gradu diverso via una ( the same road by different steps)

James


Being of unsound mind and dubious disposition, I cannot be held legally liable for any indiscretions."¡El diablo me hizo hacerlo!" But don't worry, be happy.

The brain is like a parachute, it only functions correctly when it is open. Pax vobiscum.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 11:47:

there are million of people like me all over colombia, born in the middle of nowhere. the only witness to my birth besides my mom were donkeys, goats and monkeys.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

go2pr says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:07:

600 us$ !!!! Maybe you'll can live just a little bit better than the average Colombian (like a pauper), but you won't be living even close from well by first-world standards.

For 600 us$, you'll live in a dingy and very small one bedroom apartment, you'll cook all your meals at home, you'll have maybe no phone and air-cond, no car, no health insurance, no regular trips back home, no good restaurants and gifts to girlfriends, no new furniture or electronics, and no weekend getaways.

If you do this, at least pick a city with a beach like Cartagena, because free entertainment is about all you are going to afford. I wouldn't want to live anywhere in South America with anything less than 2000 € per month, and that's in a small town where things are cheap.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:10:

what, no hookers???? the hell with that i;m shooting my nuts off. who the hell wants to grow old and cant even afford a hooker.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

michaelz says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:11:

$4,500 What would $4500 per month get you in Colombia?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:12:

you'll get poor colombian modefoques robbing your rich ass.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

go2pr says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:15:

Good one :-) "who the hell wants to grow old and cant even afford a hooker."


Right Elmo !! (yet I edited this part of my post, you know the mods ...)

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Bill1243 says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:18:

and Social security pays according to your contributions. Tinto's comment about the 10x minimum wage includes ALL your income from all sources.

I have for a long time questioned whether it is cheaper to live there than in the U.S. Certainly rents are cheaper, yet they run all over the map. Food is cheaper for some items, but not for others. Utilities, at least in Bogota, depend on the part of the city you live in...and can get high in strata 6. It would seem that having a car would cost the same as here. Schools are usually private. Tis an interesting topic though.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:30:

Yes,, we might be We're all doomed. ;-)

Heard this a Looooog time ago. Yes,, it might be true, Medicare sooner than S.S.

Since I have no real control I've found it better to think of all the friends I'd have sitting at the local bar drinking beer. No difference except in the U.S. a car pool, Colombia a walk.

Oh,, in Colombia you would be happier.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:37:

What will US$4,500 get you in Colombia? US$4,500 a month should be enough to get you kidnapped. Better off with US$600 a month. Especially in rural areas where US$5 will get you vegetables for a week at the plaza marketplace and $100 will get you a nice apartment. (Figures are 2005 and come from my sister-in-law in Popayan).

Make ajiaco at home.

Enjoy!

Platano

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on Apr 12, 2005, 12:52:

600 per month Hard to tell if things are true or not. $600.00 month to live OK,, Serious??

YES,, Need to spend more in a Rural Area?? On what?

NEVER take a wad of pesos to buy something. I NEVER have any money,, NEVER. This is true for the U.S. also,, but we use credit cards.

PS: even the rural area take Visa and Mastercard,,,, once you show the card the negotiations go to s**t because it costs the merchants money and they will want a higher price.

Negotiate the purchase, tell them you need to go to the bank and GET the money.

Why live and spend in a manner that makes you look like a TURKEY walking by the TURKEY FARM two days before Thanksgiving?

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elkins888 says on Apr 12, 2005, 13:17:

Smog in Bogata I’m interested in re-locating to Colombia. I currently live in Panama near the Costa Rican border in a very small town. My Spanish is far from perfect, but I do communicate in Spanish. I will be making a trip to Colombia very soon and would appreciate any information relating to my questions.

I have read conflicting stories concerning the smog and climate of Botaga. I’m looking for a cool climate. I enjoy walking in the morning so clean air is important to me. I’m not looking for a “smog free� environment, but I would like to walk without choking.

My questions are:

1. Can one find a safe place to live near Bogata without the problems of excessive smog?

2. How would you compare the climate of Bogata to that of Cartagena? I’m assuming Cartagena would be “hot and humid� like Panama City? However many seem to enjoy the Cartagena area.

3. What other areas of Colombia would be recommended considering safety, weather and smog?

4. A good internet connection is a must. I been living with a 16K dialup connection.

Ken

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jacobtafler says on Apr 12, 2005, 14:03:

600 DOLARES A MONTH HELLO IF 600 DOLARES A MONTH IT IS NOT OK FOR COLOMBIA COME TO THE NORTH OF BRASIL TO SALVADOR OR FORTALEZA YOU CAN LIVE GOOD WITH 600 TO 700 DOLARES A MONTH YOU CAN RENT HOTEL FOR 200 TO 250 DOLARES A MONTH NOT IN THE SEASEN SO EVEN GO TO ECVADOR YOU CAN DO THE SAME I BELIVE THAT EVEN IN COLOMBIA IN ONE CITY YOU CAN DO IT EVEN YOU DONT NEAD TO COOK JOST EAT IN SOME RESTURANT ONLY THE GIRLS IS THE PROBLEM IN THIS CUONTRIS FIND ONE GIRL THAT ALL JACOB

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Jack Smith says on Apr 12, 2005, 17:11:

FRAUD! I have no doubt that with all the fake social security numbers floating around out there that many Latin immigrants and illegal are milking the system which is wwhy so many checks are going to other countries as someone posted above.....immigration is going to kill the way we live in the US POP today of the US? 293 million....in 2050? 440 million IT IS TIME TO CLOSE THE MEXICAN BORDER PEOPLE OR NOBODY IS GOING TO SEE SOCIALSECCURITY AND OR MEDICAID!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

morphus says on Apr 12, 2005, 22:02:

you can also fly out of Colombia every couple of months to renew your visa. thats why it would it would be important to have a nice chunkof change in the bank. you got a few years so get to work and start saving.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

utopiacowboy says on Apr 12, 2005, 22:08:

I am always amused reading these posts. Back not so long ago when the Colombian peso traded 2900 to the dollar, my wife earned the monthly equivalent of $600. With this, she had cable and phone (as well as a cell phone) and owned her own 2000 sq ft apartment in a Strata 4 neighborhood in Medellin.

What are you talking about Jack? We need more workers not less. Social Security is a pay as you go system so we need more people paying into the system not fewer. Is this really the best forum to be badmouthing Latin immigrants (like my wife as well as many other posters here)? Habla espanol - it's the wave of the future!

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

lpdiver says on Apr 12, 2005, 23:49:

El chigger Your ss check is determined by last few quarters income and pay in. Get off your backside and contribute and you will get a much larger check than that. In theory you could not contribute for most of your career the contribute for the last five years and get the same as someone that has contributed for a life time (unless the rules have changed recently). You could always teach ESL classes and kill two birds with one stone (win an income and meet chicas!).

Antony

"cook some rice!"

0 funny, 0 helpful.

cali373 says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:24:

For the poster Jack Smith on Wed, 04/13/2005. I am sorry to advise you that you are highly misinformed. Some advise, start doing your own research and stop listening BS. The middleclass in America is being ruined by economic policies that are engineered by special interests. Read the following NY times article. Ouch! by the way your post has nothing to do with colombia.

April 5, 2005
Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions
By EDUARDO PORTER
STOCKTON, Calif. - Since illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States six years ago, �ngel Martínez has done backbreaking work, harvesting asparagus, pruning grapevines and picking the ripe fruit. More recently, he has also washed trucks, often working as much as 70 hours a week, earning $8.50 to $12.75 an hour.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Martínez, 28, has not given much thought to Social Security's long-term financial problems. But Mr. Martínez - who comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico and hiked for two days through the desert to enter the United States near Tecate, some 20 miles east of Tijuana - contributes more than most Americans to the solvency of the nation's public retirement system.
Last year, Mr. Martínez paid about $2,000 toward Social Security and $450 for Medicare through payroll taxes withheld from his wages. Yet unlike most Americans, who will receive some form of a public pension in retirement and will be eligible for Medicare as soon as they turn 65, Mr. Martínez is not entitled to benefits.
He belongs to a big club. As the debate over Social Security heats up, the estimated seven million or so illegal immigrant workers in the United States are now providing the system with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year.
While it has been evident for years that illegal immigrants pay a variety of taxes, the extent of their contributions to Social Security is striking: the money added up to about 10 percent of last year's surplus - the difference between what the system currently receives in payroll taxes and what it doles out in pension benefits. Moreover, the money paid by illegal workers and their employers is factored into all the Social Security Administration's projections.
Illegal immigration, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, co-director of immigration studies at New York University, noted sardonically, could provide "the fastest way to shore up the long-term finances of Social Security."
It is impossible to know exactly how many illegal immigrant workers pay taxes. But according to specialists, most of them do. Since 1986, when the Immigration Reform and Control Act set penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, most such workers have been forced to buy fake ID's to get a job.
Currently available for about $150 on street corners in just about any immigrant neighborhood in California, a typical fake ID package includes a green card and a Social Security card. It provides cover for employers, who, if asked, can plausibly assert that they believe all their workers are legal. It also means that workers must be paid by the book - with payroll tax deductions.
IRCA, as the immigration act is known, did little to deter employers from hiring illegal immigrants or to discourage them from working. But for Social Security's finances, it was a great piece of legislation.
Starting in the late 1980's, the Social Security Administration received a flood of W-2 earnings reports with incorrect - sometimes simply fictitious - Social Security numbers. It stashed them in what it calls the "earnings suspense file" in the hope that someday it would figure out whom they belonged to.
The file has been mushrooming ever since: $189 billion worth of wages ended up recorded in the suspense file over the 1990's, two and a half times the amount of the 1980's.
In the current decade, the file is growing, on average, by more than $50 billion a year, generating $6 billion to $7 billion in Social Security tax revenue and about $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes.
In 2002 alone, the last year with figures released by the Social Security Administration, nine million W-2's with incorrect Social Security numbers landed in the suspense file, accounting for $56 billion in earnings, or about 1.5 percent of total reported wages.
Social Security officials do not know what fraction of the suspense file corresponds to the earnings of illegal immigrants. But they suspect that the portion is significant.
"Our assumption is that about three-quarters of other-than-legal immigrants pay payroll taxes," said Stephen C. Goss, Social Security's chief actuary, using the agency's term for illegal immigration.
Other researchers say illegal immigrants are the main contributors to the suspense file. "Illegal immigrants account for the vast majority of the suspense file," said Nick Theodore, the director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Especially its growth over the 1990's, as more and more undocumented immigrants entered the work force."
Using data from the Census Bureau's current population survey, Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, an advocacy group in Washington that favors more limits on immigration, estimated that 3.8 million households headed by illegal immigrants generated $6.4 billion in Social Security taxes in 2002.
A comparative handful of former illegal immigrant workers who have obtained legal residence have been able to accredit their previous earnings to their new legal Social Security numbers. Mr. Camarota is among those opposed to granting a broad amnesty to illegal immigrants, arguing that, among other things, they might claim Social Security benefits and put further financial stress on the system.
The mismatched W-2's fit like a glove on illegal immigrants' known geographic distribution and the patchwork of jobs they typically hold. An audit found that more than half of the 100 employers filing the most earnings reports with false Social Security numbers from 1997 through 2001 came from just three states: California, Texas and Illinois. According to an analysis by the Government Accountability Office, about 17 percent of the businesses with inaccurate W-2's were restaurants, 10 percent were construction companies and 7 percent were farm operations.
Most immigration helps Social Security's finances, because new immigrants tend to be of working age and contribute more than they take from the system. A simulation by Social Security's actuaries found that if net immigration ran at 1.3 million a year instead of the 900,000 in their central assumption, the system's 75-year funding gap would narrow to 1.67 percent of total payroll, from 1.92 percent - savings that come out to half a trillion dollars, valued in today's money.
Illegal immigrants help even more because they will never collect benefits. According to Mr. Goss, without the flow of payroll taxes from wages in the suspense file, the system's long-term funding hole over 75 years would be 10 percent deeper.
Yet to immigrants, the lack of retirement benefits is just part of the package of hardship they took on when they decided to make the trek north. Tying vines in a vineyard some 30 miles north of Stockton, Florencio Tapia, 20, from Guerrero, along Mexico's Pacific coast, has no idea what the money being withheld from his paycheck is for. "I haven't asked," Mr. Tapia said.
For illegal immigrants, Social Security numbers are simply a tool needed to work on this side of the border. Retirement does not enter the picture.
"There will be a moment when I won't be able to continue working," Mr. Martínez acknowledges. "But that's many years off."
Mario Avalos, a naturalized Nicaraguan immigrant who prepares income tax returns for many workers in the area, including immigrants without legal papers, observes that many older workers return home to Mexico. "Among my clients," he said, "I can't recall anybody over 60 without papers."
No doubt most illegal immigrants would prefer to avoid Social Security altogether. As part of its efforts to properly assign the growing pile of unassigned wages, Social Security sends about 130,000 letters a year to employers with large numbers of mismatched pay statements.
Though not an intended consequence of these so-called no-match letters, in many cases employers who get them dismiss the workers affected. Or the workers - fearing that immigration authorities might be on their trail - just leave.
Last February, for instance, discrepancies in Social Security numbers put an end to the job of Minerva Ortega, 25, from Zacatecas, in northern Mexico, who worked in the cheese department at a warehouse for Mike Campbell & Associates, a distributor for Trader Joe's, a popular discount food retailer with a large operation in California.
The company asked dozens of workers to prove that they had cleared up or were in the process of clearing up the "discrepancy between the information on our payroll related to your employment and the S.S.A.'s records." Most could not.
Ms. Ortega said about 150 workers lost their jobs. In a statement, Mike Campbell said that it did not fire any of the workers, but Robert Camarena, a company official, acknowledged that many left.
Ms. Ortega is now looking for work again. She does not want to go back to the fields, so she is holding out for a better-paid factory job. Whatever work she finds, though, she intends to go on the payroll with the same Social Security number she has now, a number that will not jibe with federal records.
With this number, she will continue paying taxes. Last year she paid about $1,200 in Social Security taxes, matched by her employer, on an income of $19,000.
She will never see the money again, she realizes, but at least she will have a job in the United States.
"I don't pay much attention," Ms. Ortega said. "I know I don't get any benefit."

Smile if you are a thinker!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

utopiacowboy says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:38:

Now, now, Cali373, you're just going to confuse him with the facts. He wants to believe that all his problems are caused by those Latino immigrants and that if they could just be stopped everything would be wonderful. Whether it's Jews in prewar Germany or Latino immigrants in today's America there's always a boogeyman to keep people's minds off what's really going on.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:40:

I could not sleep last night thinking about how it WILL NOT be possible for me to get hookers every weekend on my dismal social security check. That's the only reason I want to retire in Colombia.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

utopiacowboy says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:42:

Come on, Elmo, you'll still be able to afford some. The really old ones without any teeth.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:47:

uc, no teeth! i wonder how it feels?????

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

utopiacowboy says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:48:

Well, at least you won't have to tell her to be careful with her teeth!

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 13, 2005, 11:51:

jejejejejejej thanks uc, now i dont feel so depress.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Cerealkiller says on Apr 13, 2005, 12:03:

I bumped into a few toothless hookers the other day when i got lost somewhere around la Caracas...It was funny, I can tell you where it is elmo...kinda.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

0 funny, 0 helpful.

elmodefoque says on Apr 13, 2005, 12:07:

mi amor, i'm gonna be living in a real hell hole in barranquilla, la chinita. i'm sure i'll find some there, thanks anyway. come and visit me sometime.

any colombianita willing to date me, IS UP TO NO GOOD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

go2pr says on Apr 13, 2005, 18:44:

Elmo "I could not sleep last night thinking about how it WILL NOT be possible for me to get hookers every weekend on my dismal social security check"



I'd kill myself RIGHT NOW if this was true !!

BTW ..... the more you post about Barranquilla, the more I like this city ....

0 funny, 0 helpful.

santarosano7 says on Apr 13, 2005, 19:07:

santa rosa de cabal !!!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 13, 2005, 21:28:

SS Benefits depend on what you pay in, Not Always True... Here in Miami we and also in the Union city area of NJ there are Thousands of Cuban Immmigrants who are over 65 and have NEVER payed ONE DIME in the SS Fund and are reciving Monthly SS Checks and also Medicare Healthcare benefits. Many also recieve Food STamps monthly. Medicaid in many cases is also available to these same people. What has transpired-there Children living here pay Coyotes($5,000 to $10,000) to bring them through a 3rd country, usually Venezuela or Costa Rica.At the Miami Airport they taken to Krome Detention Center in South Miami and given a physical and then released -all usually within a few hours. Next Day its off to the Social Security office for crack the Golden Egg of lifelong Benefits and next month the checks start rolling in. Oh lets not forget, they are eligble for Housing thru Plan Ocho(8)and subsidized senior housing apartments. They pay about 25% of their monthly SS Check for a nice clena secure apartment.Can't forget the subsidized(by us US workers) Bus Passes(unlimited travel-free)they are entitled to also. Oh, lastly-meals on wheels-these arrive also. SOund too good to be true??? Well for us born here and for those from other countries who immigrated here legally--it is TOO good to be true. You will not recieve SS benefits unless you work the prerequisite number of Quarters(in my case-40 quarters or 10 years. Don't meet this--NO Benefits. Is this a great country?? Yes. If you are an illegal cuban immigrant.And they wonder why SS is in Deep Doo-Doo?? Here is a good reason!!!

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 13, 2005, 21:36:

a few SS exceptions If you marry a US citizen who payed into SS the sufficient number of queatres and remained married for 10 years you get a % of her/his Benefits at age 65. Or if the person dies nad you are legally married and living with the person-you are entitled to SS. SAme for minor children-if the wage earner passes away the children are entitled to SS benefits until 18 or if they attend college to age 23 or 23 when the recive their degree(bachelor). Am unsure if the spouse who is married to the wage earner is entitled to Disability benfits-think so but am not sure. No one in my family in like 3 generations ever collected this benefit. Here in Miami, Disability Claims for SS setting all time high claims records.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

eagle46 says on Apr 16, 2005, 07:11:

Poco Do you live... Poco
Do you live in Colombia? You mentioned a rural area, farming area. If so, how has that worked out for you? And types of jobs in that area?

Thanks!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

gregshav says on Apr 16, 2005, 08:12:

To get Medicaid and Food Stamps You have to be a permanent resident with at least 5 years of residency. If your children are citizens, they give the benefits to the parents, even if they are illegal.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

miamimike says on Apr 16, 2005, 08:35:

Not if you are Cuban.... Gregshav---I don't where you live but obviously not here in Miami,Fl.or Union City, NJ.And we are talking about Parents, not children. Tnewly arrived cubans do RECIEVE the above mentioned benefits. I refer you to the Cuban Freedom and Adjustment Act of 1967. What you are NOT aware of is this 1967 applies only to Cubans-NO other nationality groups.

"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." -- Feb. 28, 2008 --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

gregshav says on Apr 16, 2005, 19:19:

OK I worked for the State of New Mexico Human Services department at one time and those were the rules, maybe they have changed and they are unique for Cubans, as we don't have many Cubans here.

0 funny, 0 helpful.