General Discussion

Germans pay a ton of taxes as well, and legally resident US citizens have it even worse if their job is still in the USA, and they are paid there. US taxes must be paid, and the Germans just ignore parts of the Double Taxation Treaty they find inconvenient or vague, and tax me again on the same income, giving me nothing, as in zero, in return. They even get to take half of my US Social Security payments! No health insurance, no pension, zip. I never asked for a pension, but stupidly believed the myth about what I thought to be the wonderful northern European attitude toward health care. Nope. I was directed to those insurance companies that offered "Privat" health insurance. This was when I got my quote of €30,000 per year out of pocket for "private" health insurance, which meant I paid up front and asked for reimbursement afterward. Dental not included. I was told I had to get that separately.

I don't even know who is the Canadian ambassador to the USA is these days, but i don't envy his task. My dad had to work with the Canadian Ambassador in DC his whole working life, and some of them even became friends. I played in a rock band with Don Ritchie back in the 1960s, and we used to practice in the basement of the Canadian Embassy residence in Washington. Later on, my dad introduced me to Raymond Chrétien in the 1990s. Raymond was the finest foreign service officer for ANY country that I have ever met. He retired when his uncle ceased being PM, and we haven't seen each other in ages, but we keep in touch. After he left Washington at the end of Bill Clinton's second term, he became Ambassador to France, and we occasionally got together in Paris, since I was/am there once a week for my work. When he retired, I was honored to be the only Anglo at his French language farewell party, but it was frustrating because I didn't know anyone! And kudos to Canada for grabbing a former urban castle on the Rue St. Honoré for the embassy residence right after the war for practically nothing. That piece of real estate would have broken the Canadian national budget if you had been forced to buy it today!