is living in the USA overrated

[ps27]

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Funny you can say that without knowing my personal history such as me not being born in the USA.

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what does where you were born enter into this conversation? either you believe it or you dont.

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You are right, it does not. After rereading his statement it appears i read it too quickly and just assumed he was tying me in with the average american citizen that he speaks of.

[_brady_]

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Always feel a bit embarrassed by Americans who seem to think we are the only worthwhile place on the planet.

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This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Most of the people who think this way have probably never been out of the country. I overheard this fantastic statement the other day:

"I love America, seriously if I was born in any other country I'd kill myself."

People like that make me not want to live here.

[Jinx]

america's alright. better than a lot of places, but it's nothing special. I've heard australia is better and I'm moving to Korea after I graduate from UCLA.

[microbet]

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Best country in the world.


c) education

There are tons more, those are the main three.

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for our economic resources i think we do a poor job on education. think of the categories swede outlined and most of those countries in that category outperform the US.

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The US probably has the best university-level education. Safe to say we don't have the best primary and secondary education.

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Elementary school is a lot harder than it was when I was a kid. The schools, at least in the richer areas, are obsessed with testing. Good and bad, but even kindergarden is serious nowadays.

[SackUp]

I love living in California. I might enjoy living in some other countries over many states in the US.

There is definitely tremendous opportunity in the US to do anything and everything - this is something that cannot be said about many, if not most countries.

Sure there is a lot wrong with the US, but that can be said about any country and much of that is based on personal prefernce.

It would take a lot for me to ever leave the US for an extended period of time, but much of that has to do with family, friends and work, as opposed to liking other countries.

[Dale Dough]

I spend most of my time here in Moscow, mainly because of my girlfriend who is from here. I don't live in the best area, and I didn't get a particularly nice place - because I realized that I just don't care enough. As long as I'm renting, why waste?

Although the center is beautiful, my area is not - but I do have a nice park nearby where I can run. The subway is a three minute walk, the 24 hour grocery store 1 minute. And if I don't like that one there are at least five more within a ten minute radius, most of them 24 hours as well. The casino I frequent is half an hour away.

I kinda like the crappy old stands everywhere on the street where people are selling all kinds of crap. I like that I can hail any car as a taxi, and if I feel like it they'll have an interesting story to tell as well (now if only I could understand them a little bit better, but I'm working on that). I must admit I even like how they drive like crazy sometimes, kinda like a roller coaster if you're 'lucky', although after eight months combined I've seen it all and I prefer the safer ones. Oh and I like the feeling of accomplishment if I can manage to talk the price down to a more 'Russian' level. My girlfriend still pays less on average, but it's not a lot anymore.

Although people can be rude, I usually like the mentality of people I run into. Taxi driver: 'oh you're late? well traffic is kinda stuck here, but that curb over there is only a little over half a foot high, let's see if I can get there.. no.. ok back up and try again, a little more speed this time..'. I like the people hanging out and playing - or making - music on the street. Yeah it's messy sometimes. So what, walk carefully (that's a skill I'm stil developing. Locals have it down to an art. I am amazed how they can keep their clothes clean sometimes. But I'm getting there). I forgot where I came across it, but someone described it as a 'Mad Max' like quality. That's a perfect description.

I do realize, though, that a whole lot of that depends on personal circumstances as well. I am lucky enough to make decent money at poker. Surely if I was one of those factory workers that actually look like Mad Max, I'd prefer to live in a more affluent nation. But my time living here has taught me that there's more to where you live than luxury - such as adventure and variety from what you're used to.

That said, I don't think I could live here - or in any big city, but especially here - all my life, partly because of health reasons. Although it's probably not particularly good for your lungs to live in Amsterdam or Paris or New York either, I can't imagine the situation is better here. But, to return to the point of the thread, that aspect is not USA-specific.

[Green Kool Aid]

overrated? i thought the rest of the world hated us?

edit: someone dig up KKF's post about coming back to America last year. it was fckn hilarious.

[jokerthief]

I think the best thing that the US has going for it is the geographic diversity. No other country can really compete with us in that department.

[paperboyNC]

I've traveled to 8 european countries, singapore, and also lived in India for over a year.

Compared to living in India -- America is all it's cracked up to be.

I loved Europe. I live in the US because I feel comfortable here and more useful as an employee since I know how things work.

[CallMeIshmael]

Top (ten) countries (HDI range from 0.963 down to 0.878)

1 Norway
2 Iceland
3 Australia
4 Luxembourg
5 Canada
6 Sweden
7 Switzerland
8 Ireland
9 Belgium
10 United States


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDI