Why move to the US?
#31
Banned
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,300
Re: Why move to the US?
US healthcare is great if you have access to it. It's health INSURANCE that is the real issue - billions wasted in red tape and inefficiency and still there are people without any coverage at all. I happen to be lucky enough to have a decent health insurance plan and I can see top doctors at very short notice which is better than anything I experienced in the UK or Canada. Of course someone without coverage won't think the US system is better than the one in the UK or Canada. More of that polarity you mentioned elsewhere.
I pretty much agree with this. Those people are called Republicans and will be voting for Mitt The Twit
Heaven help us all. Surely Obama must secure a second term!
#32
Re: Why move to the US?
Really it's more like 15% because the 8% figure doesn't include those who are not looking for work but say they have recently looked, which is straight unemployed by anyone's definition. Part of the problem is that the neoliberal economics which gave us deregulated banking and massive offshoring of jobs has meant that the US has lost 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since 2001 when China joined the WTO.
The unemployment will continue to rise and nothing can stop it except what stopped it in the 1930s.
The unemployment will continue to rise and nothing can stop it except what stopped it in the 1930s.
Several Republicans have noticed this, and attempted to re-create it by unilaterally blowing other countries to bits.... but not nearly enough to help the country - only their cronies who got contracts to rebuild.
Then again, the job loss from all developed countries is horrific. With already high debt levels, can all the developed nations do a WPA/CCC?
#33
Re: Why move to the US?
In the UK they had this argument back in February because the U6 unemployment methodology isn't used there. The TUC made an attempt at calculating it and they determined the real unemployment rate is something like 6.3 million if you apply U6. I think that's about 21.7% - which sounds too high to me - U6 is usually around 1.8 * U3 (the headline figure).
I have heard that the Spanish unemployment rate might not be as bad as made out because people have a tendency to claim jobless benefits even when they are working and there is a significant black market economy. No idea if that's true or not or what that does to the overall rate.
Last edited by HumphreyC; Oct 3rd 2012 at 3:29 pm.
#34
Re: Why move to the US?
I have heard that the Spanish unemployment rate might not be as bad as made out because people have a tendency to claim jobless benefits even when they are working and there is a significant black market economy. No idea if that's true or not or what that does to the overall rate.
#35
Re: Why move to the US?
Because for me it was
never being told I could not do something I wanted to do
never being told I did not come from the right background (social class)
never again having to listen to the teacher laugh at my best friend when my friend said he wanted to become a commercial airline pilot
never being told I did not go the right school
never being told I missed my chance to get higher education
never being looked down upon because of my working class background
never having to listen to that tripe about one's station in life or lot
and so on, I could go on.
Mind you I have been in the USA for > 30 years and I suspect attitudes in the UK have changed some
never being told I could not do something I wanted to do
never being told I did not come from the right background (social class)
never again having to listen to the teacher laugh at my best friend when my friend said he wanted to become a commercial airline pilot
never being told I did not go the right school
never being told I missed my chance to get higher education
never being looked down upon because of my working class background
never having to listen to that tripe about one's station in life or lot
and so on, I could go on.
Mind you I have been in the USA for > 30 years and I suspect attitudes in the UK have changed some
Frankly I find class distinctions to be growing quite profound in the US, not in the UK sense but definitely social mobility is limited. The rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer.
#36
Re: Why move to the US?
I suspect that for many of the people who do not neatly fit into the love, job or investment categories there is some underlying personal issue which they believe can be solved by simply moving (aka running away from the problem). Sadly they will usually end up realizing that the problem will follow them where ever they go unless they seek help to fix the problem first. All these comments regarding the things they don't like about the UK are more likely symptoms of the underlying issue (such as depression) rather than deep felt feelings about the UK itself.
Amateur psychology 101.
Amateur psychology 101.
#37
Re: Why move to the US?
The US economy was still feeling the effects of high oil prices after the Iranian revolution and sharp interest rate increases. Home sales plummeted. The industrial base was decaying (which led to the rise of the Sun belt). Unemployment was above 10%. To cap it all off Reagan was in charge.
The music was good though - Thriller, Marvin Gaye, Rocking the Casbah. Shame I was a year old at the time.
#38
Re: Why move to the US?
It's not as if Canada is some fantastically better place either, it's not like the govt. are miracle workers, it's just that it's not badly run. I read some survey that said compared to the EU the Canadian healthcare system would rank near the bottom, but imx it's a heck of a lot better than in the US and I have a lot of experience.
Here is one example - in Canada the postal service is only subsidized by the govt. slightly, basically to provide service to remote areas. In the US, the USPS is subsidized by getting cheap US treasury loans. You get enormous amounts of junk mail, but the service is relatively quick, cheap and you have Saturday delivery unlike Canada.
In Canada also if you buy something from another jurisdiction, you have to pay your local sales tax on it, you can't avoid it like you can in the US by buying from another State.
As a result, companies like Amazon don't do so well here. Amazon is effectively subsidized by the US Govt. giving loans to USPS. This causes problems for retailers. In Canada, people go to the shops, it's quicker and cheaper (because you can't avoid the sales tax, so Amazon cannot subsidize the postage). In the US your taxes effectively subsidize the delivery of junk mail.
The US Govt. could simply pull the rug out from USPS, but will that ever happen, no because of endless lobbying from so and so about Saturday delivery, so instead there is some half ass measure that saves only a small amount of money and doesn't solve the problem.
And that is exactly what happens on US public policy issues all the time, whatever it is.
It's just this never ending general ineptness about everything that makes me wonder what the appeal of the place is nowadays. Basically there is a lobby for everything because the population is so large and people in Congress need so much money for their campaigns there is total gridlock.
Immigration laws being another perfect example, QED.
Where is it all going to end?
#39
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: Why move to the US?
I suspect that for many of the people who do not neatly fit into the love, job or investment categories there is some underlying personal issue which they believe can be solved by simply moving (aka running away from the problem). Sadly they will usually end up realizing that the problem will follow them where ever they go unless they seek help to fix the problem first. All these comments regarding the things they don't like about the UK are more likely symptoms of the underlying issue (such as depression) rather than deep felt feelings about the UK itself.
Amateur psychology 101.
Amateur psychology 101.
#40
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2010
Location: Temecula, CA
Posts: 4,759
Re: Why move to the US?
Agreed, but I guess it doesn't really seem like it until you move somewhere else that doesn't have the welfare and NHS backup that exists in the UK. You don't know how good you have it until it's gone!
#42
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2010
Location: Maryland (via Belfast, Manchester, Toronto and London)
Posts: 4,802
#43
Re: Why move to the US?
Absolutely spot on, and I've only been here 8 years.
And I'll add my own reasons:
- Getting paid a living wage to teach at a university and do research
- Getting to work with some of the cutting edge people in my field
- No one pigeonholing me because of my background
- No provincial or Middle England attitudes (depends where you live for this one probably)
- No dismissive or negative attitudes right out of the door
- A focus on community building
- The ability to reinvent oneself
- The entrepreneurial spirit
I've been caught up in all of the bad stuff that's happened because of the recession, and things aren't always easy. But I'm doing far better there than any of my UK friends in terms of job security, income, housing, and a stable community of people around me. I've done better here than I ever thought I would because I never thought I'd find a job or a life to keep me here permanently. I could see going back to the UK one day, but I moved here at such a young age that I just don't know whether I'd fit back in.
And I'll add my own reasons:
- Getting paid a living wage to teach at a university and do research
- Getting to work with some of the cutting edge people in my field
- No one pigeonholing me because of my background
- No provincial or Middle England attitudes (depends where you live for this one probably)
- No dismissive or negative attitudes right out of the door
- A focus on community building
- The ability to reinvent oneself
- The entrepreneurial spirit
I've been caught up in all of the bad stuff that's happened because of the recession, and things aren't always easy. But I'm doing far better there than any of my UK friends in terms of job security, income, housing, and a stable community of people around me. I've done better here than I ever thought I would because I never thought I'd find a job or a life to keep me here permanently. I could see going back to the UK one day, but I moved here at such a young age that I just don't know whether I'd fit back in.
#44
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: North East Ohio, USA
Posts: 1,933
Re: Why move to the US?
As we all know, Brits like to moan and groan about everything!! I'm not saying it's wonderful over there and I know there is a recession, but many people (including some very good friends of mine) seem to be doing okay, taking two (and sometimes three) vacations a year, eating, out, etc. My friends back home find it hard to believe that I haven't taken a week off work since 2010 since I have been saving my time off for a 3 week trip back to the UK later this month. They don't know how good they've got it back in the UK. It's just work work work here!! Gosh I really do need this vacation!!!
#45
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: Why move to the US?
As we all know, Brits like to moan and groan about everything!! I'm not saying it's wonderful over there and I know there is a recession, but many people (including some very good friends of mine) seem to be doing okay, taking two (and sometimes three) vacations a year, eating, out, etc. My friends back home find it hard to believe that I haven't taken a week off work since 2010 since I have been saving my time off for a 3 week trip back to the UK later this month. They don't know how good they've got it back in the UK. It's just work work work here!! Gosh I really do need this vacation!!!