Originally Posted by bewildering

Hmmm. These meta studies of 'health', or 'quality of life', or 'education', or 'happiness' are all flawed; especially when dealing with the USA. They are more a measure of the diversity of your country.

The USA is a diverse place. More diverse than any other country in these lists. When the authors of these studies take averages of their values they combine values of professionals that live in New York along with values from people that live in rural Alabama. This results in meaningless data. This happens for other countries, but the result for the USA is skewed by the large inequalities and geographic disparities that exist.

The lesson from these, and every other study, is that if you are a college educated then your life will be similar in any country. The results for professionals are essentially the same across all countries.

If Tom moves to the USA he will do well, just as well as in the UK, or Finland, or Australia.

Originally Posted by bewildering

If Tom moves to the USA he will do well..

Originally Posted by Hotscot

With a Mickey Mouse degree and a c level education?
You really think that?

Originally Posted by Sally Redux

I worry a bit more about my son living in the US than I would if he lived in a country with more employment protection and universal healthcare provision.

I don't think that we can guarantee that Tom12 will do well, although of course we would hope so.

Originally Posted by Hotscot

With a Mickey Mouse degree and a c level education?
You really think that?

Originally Posted by bewildering

Employment protection exists as much in the USA as the UK, Ireland or even Germany. The key to employment protection is to choose a career were you preform a valuable function. Any business can collapse and even government jobs can be lost.

I am confused by people saying the US has no universal healthcare. If you have no income or saving you qualify for medicaid. The previous lack of coverage problem applied to the working poor, but Obamacare has fixed that problem.

Originally Posted by bewildering

Employment protection exists as much in the USA as the UK, Ireland or even Germany. The key to employment protection is to choose a career were you preform a valuable function.

Originally Posted by Sally Redux

Go for it.

Originally Posted by Hotscot

Have you heard of At Will Employment?

and

as regards career choice...valuable employees get laid off all the time for reasons beyond their control and not necessarily related to their performance or function.

Originally Posted by bewildering

For sure. But dress up 'employment security' any way want and it comes down to two questions: is the business making money, and are you performing your task to an adequate level. A negative to either of these questions and you will not a have a job.

Originally Posted by bewildering

<SNIP> The previous lack of coverage problem applied to the working poor, but Obamacare has fixed that problem.

Originally Posted by bewildering

Yes. From the census:

No GED $18,900-$22,000.
High School Diploma $26,000-$30,400.
Associates; $33-$38,000
Bachelors; $45,400-$52,000
Master's; $54,500-$62,300
Professional degree $99,300-$109,600

Originally Posted by bewildering

..... I am confused by people saying the US has no universal healthcare. If you have no income or saving you qualify for medicaid. The previous lack of coverage problem applied to the working poor, but Obamacare has fixed that problem.

Originally Posted by unique_boy

I always had the dream myself, looking back I am not so sure why. I actually made a bet with two friends when I was 12 for £10 that I would be living in the US by the time I was 30.

On the face of it is a great country and some of the lifestyles the US can offer are second to none. However drill down on a benefits levels and many of those are no where near as comparable to the UK. I feel I can't comment too much as I have been very lucky with the benefits offered by my employer.

Would you not consider returning to Australia?