Roland Hulme

Hope I'm the first to post this. If not, please 'moderate' this thread with extreme prejudice.

Would you rather live in the UK or the US?
Posted at: 16:01
For the first time in more than a century the standard of living in Britain is higher than in America, according to a new report.

Analysts at the Oxford Economics consultancy claim that increasing incomes, free healthcare and longer holidays make the average Briton better off than his or her US counterpart.

"The UK has been catching up steadily with living standards in the US since 2001, so it is a well-established trend rather than simply the result of currency fluctuations," commented Adrian Cooper, managing director of Oxford Economics.

Britons who have nevertheless decided to start a new life in America have made a significant impact on the public sphere: this week Telegraph.co.uk is unveiling its list of the 50 most influential Britons in America, from restaurateurs to business leaders.

All else being equal, would you rather live in the UK or the US? What are the advantages and disadvantages of life on either side of the Atlantic?

Does the land of opportunity still offer more to the enterprising individual than the UK?

If you have experience of living in both America and the UK, how would you rate the relative standards of living?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../07/view07.xml

There follow 203 comments - ranging from the sensible to the tired ones.

Roland Hulme

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? But currently, our life is considerably better off under the Stars and Stripes than it was beneath the Union Jack.

That's my response to the article.

Out of the responses on the website, some are sensible, but some people should be banned from owning a keyboard - bugger the 1st amendment!

E17Avenue

I haven't lived at home since 1993.

But since moving to the US in 1999 I don't know what my benefit is to living in the US. But then again I live in Michigan, which is in its own little economic bubble apparently.

Roland Hulme

Oh, yeah! I saw Roger and Me and heard four bedrooms are going for $17,000 in some part of Mi. As long as you pay $60,000 in back taxes.

Bob

Don't mind either way. I think I preferred the lifestyle in the UK, but then that's probably because of location I'm in at the moment.

Have a decent job that I enjoy which is probably also helping in staying content, but living here isn't any better than back in blighty, just different.

dukeynorton

I think its an impossible to answer objectively to be honest. Way to many factors to consider.

dunroving

Hey, I enjoyed your response, but you know what? As I read it, the voice I heard was Earl's (from My Name is Earl) - does that mean you write like an American?

Roland Hulme

I just read it in my head in Earl's accent and it's inexplicably hilarious.

I was going to be angry at you for the insult, but you might have a point.

Dan725

I agree with Bob that it's just different. I think the Telegraph article is not conclusive at all - it breaks it down to simple GDP per head, and moreso, they are using the current inflated exchange rate. So I don't think its a fair comparison.

I thought about writing a big list of pro's and con's, but basically for me it boils down to a couple of things:

In terms of housing, cars and "stuff", we have loads more here than we could have in the UK......
......but, "stuff" isn't everything, and the sometimes self centred american culture comes through - a lot of people are so centred on themselves and their immediate families that they just don't make the deeper social connections as per the UK.

Secondly, while I do think the US is a great place to live, I don't think its a great place to work - and work is what its all about here. You are your job - I think people could do with lightening up a bit with this "Work Ethic" - work into an early grave ethic more like - Its very hard to adjust from a European attitude of Work to Live to the US attitute of Live to work...into an early grave.

Which is better? Hard to say. Sometimes I think I'd love to move back to the UK, but there again, sometimes I think we're so well set up it'd be mad to give it up. I'm also not sure the wife would want to move to the UK - she likes it OK there, but not sure she'd really want to live there for a long period.

neil

One minor quibble on your response. 2001 was when I got my bank account whilst visiting on the visa waiver.

As for my own feeling on this. Things are good here, but we are lucky enough that if things turn bad we can always up sticks and move back to the UK and I personally would feel better being there if we were in a bad financial and/or health related situation. I certainly couldn't say the same of the other way round, so does that mean the UK wins?

One other thing - as for the New Brunswick hospitals being clean - on the whole yes, but we were unfortunate enough to be in pediatric ER at St Peter's on Sunday; admittedly it was very, very busy but it really wasn't the cleanest (plus it took 9 hours to have what amounted to about 3 hours of treatment).

Roland Hulme

I was on Long Island and my choice of banks was limited - might well have been an option I didn't know about.

Tina and I have already had the: 'if one of us gets cancer we're moving back to Europe' conversation. But not to England. France. I'm rather die of cancer in France than MRSA in England!

Interesting what you said about the hospitals! Tina and I picked Robert Wood Johnson because it seemed newer and cleaner and was a teaching hospital, but both SIL and BIL said we should have gone to St Peters (they have small children.)

Looks like Tina and I made the right decision!

Mind you, Winchester Royal was disgusting and the doctor kicked Tina out (whilst gushing blood) after diagnosing her with a urinary tract infection that actually turned out be (not 'turned out be' since we already knew) an ectopic pregnancy.

Took 5 hours to be seen.

But wherever in the world, I'm sure you hear nightmare hospital stories. My personal worst is the man who went to have a diseased testicle removed and they lopped off the wrong one.

neil

Robert Wood is where our daughter was born and it was fantastic. We took the tour at St Peters and it just didn't feel as good. We were told that the ER at St Peters is better so that's where we went; maybe it is and maybe everyone else thinks that hence why it was overcrowded on a Sunday afternoon. I still wouldn't complain about the place; just pointing out that it's not always perfect no matter how good it looks at one particular time.

elfman

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=494357

There is enormous concern amongst British residents in France about changes being introduced to the French state health system. Significant changes are being applied retrospectively to British citizens who diligently complied with the law in place at the time they arrived in France. Even those currently receiving treatment for serious medical problems will find themselves deprived of it

The French government is implementing EU Directive 2004/38 by refusing newly arriving EU citizens the right to join the French health scheme. Non-working persons below state retirement age will be required to take out private health insurance. Until now, those currently living in France have been treated in the same way as French citizens, joining the state CMU (Couverture Maladie Universelle) scheme and paying contributions. Now, they have until 31 March 2008 when their membership of CMU will cease.

Full private health insurance will now be necessary even though it does not currently exist in France, where it has been illegal. Those with an existing life-threatening condition, such as cancer ,heart disease, or chronic illness will find private companies exclude these from cover.

MRSA rates are not that much lower in France btw

Roland Hulme

Fact is inconsequential in my opinion. I'm like Bill O'Reilly.

chicagojlo

I'm pretty sure that the France thing is actually against the EU law that says all EU citizens have to be treated the same. I find it quite funny to think of all those Brits actually regretting having voted in UKIP to represent them in any EU commission action to rectify that!