Is the U.S. all that bad?

[larss]

Well I sure the fuck ain't reading all that.

It's long as fuck.

:dito:

Why stay in America? .....sports.

Soccer, cricket, rugby?? No thank you.Holy Fuck!! Men get pregnant outside of America?? I'm definitely not having sex when I go overseas.

Why go to America, American Football, Baseball, Basketball?? No thank you.Holy Fuck!!

Your healthcare sucks. At least in the UK, everyone gets healthcare, whether or not they pay insurance. It may not be the best in the world, (but then neither is the US), but everyone gets treatment.

I've been to the states a few times. Nice to visit, but I am not sure that I would want to live where I have visited. USA is, after all a combination of 50 countries, and there are not many people who have visited them all.

One of the things that gets up non-American's noses is the seemly ego centric nature of jingoistic Americans. Their sheer inability to realise that there is anywhere other than the USA on the world map. I often wonder how many Americans can actually name all 50 states.

 

[larss]

Tell you what though, living in the UK, I'll never complain about US taxes again.

You get what you pay for.

 

[GregCentauro]

The world's hatred is justified as long as you don't switch to the metric system

 

[ForumModeregulator]

December 1st was my 5 year anniversary of packing up and getting the hell out of the US. I can honestly say, I'm not coming back.

I think my top bitch about the US is employment. Why on earth would I want to go back to at will employment, a crap amount of vacation days, hardly any paid sick days, mandatory overtime and fear of being fired for saying no, and the live to work mentality? I LOVE getting a minimum of 21 vacation days a year...that I can actually and am encouraged to use. Oh, and I get PAID to go on vacation.

If I'm sick, I can call in sick. If someone dies in the immediate family, I don't have to jump through hoops to get the day off. There's awesome maturnity leave and men get rights too when it comes to this. I think officially you even get a day off to marry. Some companies even give a 13th month paycheck, lease cars, etc.

Oh yes, and you get help with getting to work. Some pay for so many kilometers driven, some pay for all, some pay for some of your public transport and some pay for all. The point is, you're not stuck with the full bill.

But, no country is perfect. The NL isn't perfect, but I can say I'm a lot happier here than I was in the US.

If its even possible, on a scale of 1-10...how much of a hassle was it to completely move out of the United States? Or did you already have citizenship established elsewhere prior?

 

[Petra]

I'm with Petra on this one; I'm only a year and some months out of the US myself, and I'm working two 0-hour-contract part time jobs. And I still get holiday pay, which I've never - not once - got in any job I've had back in the States. I sometimes only work ten hours a week, and I'll still get a little holiday pay for it.

Tell you what though, living in the UK, I'll never complain about US taxes again.

The NL has pretty high taxes too. BUT...for the most part I can actually see it at work.

The only thing that irritates me is the US still has a stranglehold on overseas citizens. Why the fuck do I still have to file taxes when I don't live in the country or benefit from anything the taxes do in the states?!

 

[ForumModeregulator]

:dito:


Why go to America, American Football, Baseball, Basketball?? No thank you.Holy Fuck!!

Your healthcare sucks. At least in the UK, everyone gets healthcare, whether or not they pay insurance. It may not be the best in the world, (but then neither is the US), but everyone gets treatment.

I've been to the states a few times. Nice to visit, but I am not sure that I would want to live where I have visited. USA is, after all a combination of 50 countries, and there are not many people who have visited them all.

One of the things that gets up non-American's noses is the seemly ego centric nature of jingoistic Americans. Their sheer inability to realise that there is anywhere other than the USA on the world map. I often wonder how many Americans can actually name all 50 states.

Our healthcare sucks?...I guess if your too broke to afford it...
The United STATES of America is one country made of fifty states.

Why (and more importantly how) do you know that Americans are poor at geography? And quite honestly, being up to date on global politics or whatever does not make you a better person. If a person chooses to live their life, without caring about a god damned person thats totally up to them. It's important to care, I agree and even bette,r to be unbiased and educated about the world. But its very ignorant to hate a country based off of such a trivial complaint. Is that really a legitimate reason to hate a country of people you're never going to meet?

or is it just trendy to hate america?

 

[roronoa3000]

I've been to the states a few times. Nice to visit, but I am not sure that I would want to live where I have visited. USA is, after all a combination of 50 countries, and there are not many people who have visited them all.

Since when are there 50 countries in the US?
...and whats the point of visiting them all.

Why go to America, American Football, Baseball, Basketball?? No thank you.Holy Fuck!!

Football, Basketball, Baseball > Soccer, Cricket or Rugby.

The world's hatred is justified as long as you don't switch to the metric system

I's sooner kill the rest of the world! :cussing:

 

[Petra]

If its even possible, on a scale of 1-10...how much of a hassle was it to completely move out of the United States? Or did you already have citizenship established elsewhere prior?

I'd say it was probably a 6 for my situation if you include the hassle of getting the correct paperwork, getting loose ends tied up, and getting all your stuff moved over. But I know a lot of Americans who came over in 2005 and would say it was 100. I lucked out. Now, if you start adding the assimilation test (really, resistance is futile...) then I'd say it's probably an 8 or 9 out of sheer inconvenience that they got back to me after I've been here 3 years and already got a 40 hour a week job (they actually expected FreeOnes to allow me to go to their classes 4 days a week for 2 years). But that's a whole new bitch and why I said no country is perfect. Thanks Wilders...

The Netherlands is one of the hardest countries to move to. There's only 3 ways an American can get here. Company recruiting you from abroad and sponsoring you, having a partner that meets the minimum income requirement (if you have a non-dutch EU partner you're golden), or you're establishing a business under the dutch american friendship treaty.

There are countries that allow you to move over and live if you can prove a certain income level. France is one of them...but I'm not sure about others.

 

[magicspore]

I think the women are fine, and thats what matters.

 

[roronoa3000]

or is it just trendy to hate America?

Its a requirement.

I think the women are fine, and thats what matters.

 

[pool_hustler]

Why (and more importantly how) do you know that Americans are poor at geography?

Well let's face it, an awful lot of us are pretty poor at geography, especially world geography.

Tests scores and interviews all indicate as much.

And quite honestly, being up to date on global politics or whatever does not make you a better person.

No it doesn't, but it does make you a more aware person - a person who realizes the interconnectedness of events across the globe. It also gives one an appreciation for the major impact (good or bad) the actions of the United States have on the rest of the world, and how other nation's actions affect us. We are not an island.

And he's right, American jingoism has been rolling along at a pretty appalling level for the last decade, at least.

or is it just trendy to hate america?

Perhaps in a way.
But at the same time George Bush gave a whole lot of people legitimate reasons to hate america. Fortunately Obama is intent on mending a lot of those fences.

 

[roronoa3000]

We are not an island.

Technically a continent is just a enormous island seeing as the world is like 70+% water.

 

[pool_hustler]

Technically a continent is just a enormous island seeing as the world is like 70+% water.

haha!
I think you take me too literally.
I mean metaphorically that the U.S. is not an island in the same way John Donne stated that no man is an island :thumbsup:

 

[alton88]

America is a fine country. Some of the people that live there are the problem. But I guess that goes for any country. Except Africa.

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. I believe it consist of 54 sovereign states.

Here is an interesting article I read that compares the American heath care system with Rwanda, one of the top 10 or 20 poorest countries in the world.

My answer to the question is it depends on the size of your bank account.

 

[z9102]

America seems to be obsessed with race. The US needs to drop that shit.

It's a product of the horrendous racial history of the US.

Here is an interesting article I read that compares the American heath care system with Rwanda, one of the top 10 or 20 poorest countries in the world.

The US should be ashamed of itself.

 

[ForumModeregulator]

It's a product of the horrendous racial history of the US.




The US should be ashamed of itself.

Are you fucking kidding me? Learn some history. Who the hell do you think brought the slaves over to begin with? All racist ideas were well set up before the Americas were discovered. You ever see a black king ruling in Europe back then...I think noooootttt...

and for the love of Christ, I dont get you Euros...True Native Americans are well Native Americans. The ENTIRE white population of America came from the other side of the damn world. Europe essentially fucked everything up in the first place by clinging to god, while trying to conquer the damn world. And here you are a few centuries later criticizing us...all nations have history.

 

[TheOrangeCat]

On the whole, I love America. It's just got a little lost lately .....

 

[Rattrap]

If its even possible, on a scale of 1-10...how much of a hassle was it to completely move out of the United States? Or did you already have citizenship established elsewhere prior?

I'm lucky, here - my mother's British.

The NL has pretty high taxes too. BUT...for the most part I can actually see it at work.

The only thing that irritates me is the US still has a stranglehold on overseas citizens. Why the fuck do I still have to file taxes when I don't live in the country or benefit from anything the taxes do in the states?!

That's the thing: I can see some of my taxes at work, here. And some things are great - like the NHS (say what you will, but the fact that I don't have to worry about health insurance is fantastic). Others, like incredible nanny-state spending (such as, say, free housing to single mothers which has led many to believe - and I haven't looked into it enough to say one way or the other - that it provides an incentive for young girls to get pregnant. Whether or not that's true, I do see a lot of young mothers here), not so much.

As for the US's overreach, I think I read that the US is the one of the only (if not the) countries that taxes you on income that it had no part of. That's why I never made anything official when I left - I didn't change my address with anything in the States, or notify anyone. I just quietly got on a plane, and as far as the US is concerned, I live at my mother's house and have zero income.

 

[z9102]

Are you fucking kidding me? Learn some history. Who the hell do you think brought the slaves over to begin with? All racist ideas were well set up before the Americas were discovered. You ever see a black king ruling in Europe back then...I think noooootttt...

Perhaps you can educate us on who started and continued the mid-Atlantic slave trade from the 1500's till the early 1900's.

As for racist ideas, when one group enslaves and brutalizes another it tends to engender or magnify already existing beliefs concerning superiority because such an arrangement is to certain people prima facie evidence of superiority regardless of how it developed.

 

[Facetious]

December 1st was my 5 year anniversary of packing up and getting the hell out of the US. I can honestly say, I'm not coming back.

I think my top bitch about the US is employment. Why on earth would I want to go back to at will employment, a crap amount of vacation days, hardly any paid sick days, mandatory overtime and fear of being fired for saying no, and the live to work mentality? I LOVE getting a minimum of 21 vacation days a year...that I can actually and am encouraged to use. Oh, and I get PAID to go on vacation.

If I'm sick, I can call in sick. If someone dies in the immediate family, I don't have to jump through hoops to get the day off. There's awesome maturnity leave and men get rights too when it comes to this. I think officially you even get a day off to marry. Some companies even give a 13th month paycheck, lease cars, etc.

Oh yes, and you get help with getting to work. Some pay for so many kilometers driven, some pay for all, some pay for some of your public transport and some pay for all. The point is, you're not stuck with the full bill.

But, no country is perfect. The NL isn't perfect, but I can say I'm a lot happier here than I was in the US.

Curio: Who ultimately absorbs the costs of these fringe benefit entitlements and how are they processed? I mean, it almost sounds as if the government acts as an aggressive intermediary when dealing with employee and employer relationships. . . almost like a union, true?

If true, this kind of system wouldn't work in America, for private businesses would simply
offshore their companies to ''less oppressive'' destinations . . .you know how it works.

In any event, I'm delighted that things are working out well for you . . . and I'm not being facetious!