is living in the USA overrated

[TheMetetron]

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As I came to the US as an exchange student I immediately felt more at home in the US than I did in Sweden.

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interesting. ive never heard anyone say that about moving to a foreign country.

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Feels that way for me up here in Sweden/Denmark. Already feel much more at home than in the states.

[TheMetetron]

Oh and taxes... 57% after 50k USD in income.... 25% sales tax.

Yeah it sort of shocked me too.

[thomasperfecto]

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need people from the UK to explain how the government take your wages, huge percentage??

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About 30-45% depending on salary but I get free health care/ dental care/ drug prescriptions. You also get tax rebates if you have a family, and the government give you a saving scheme for children.
They even pay you to stay in school or college.

Tax Free gambling!

[jaffa]

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We dont pay anywhere near 80% tax, income tax for most people is set at 22% up to $60,000 ish over that you pay 40% on the extra earn. We do have a council tax as well to pay for rubbish collection as well as partially funding the police (mine is $3,000). Vat at 17.5% is added to some goods. Petrol and cigs are pretty heavily taxed as well.

However we dont have to pay for healthcare at all doesnt matter what is wrong with you, all operations and treatment are free, although if you get prescribed drugs from the Pharmacy they are £7.50.

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sounds like you pay less tax than me.

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Also, as a UK citizen, you don't have to pay any income tax if you were to say, make decent amounts of money winning 'prizes'..at card games.

I was talking to a friend of mine who moved to america with her parents from the UK two years ago. She hates it with a passion. She says the quality of living is pretty much identical, she just cant get her head around your ideologies and general ways of life compared to that of the brits, apparantly you're all very patronising and way too passionate about your country and protection. Obviously if you were bought up in the states you will know no difference, so it doesnt matter. She also doesnt like the way that you can't pronounce [censored] or bollocks.

I actually think the majority of high quality OOTers would enjoy the english way of life once you got used to the 'bad food' and weather. We're all very cynical, much like most of OOT.

*the censored word begins with Tw and rhymes with rat.

[Pete H]

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is living in the USA overrated

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I think it is in the minds of most US residents.

I also think that living in [insert any country] is overrated by the residents.

[HP]

ah ok, it was terrain then. NZ rulez

[Shajen]

I'm American. I've been all over the world though.

I think the thing that makes the US great is the unlimited potential offered to it's citizens.

Anyone can come here and with a lot of hard work and some luck, have a much much better life than they can in 90% of the world.

What makes the US so great? Potential.

[HP]

sucks though if you don't wanna work your nuts off, no?

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

I dont have any reason to read this thread, but I am sure a bunch of people who have never left the USA have already commented.

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Admittedly New Zealand in incredible with the mountains, fjords, beaches and incredible scenery, but I think that the US has more geographical diversity - mostly just due to the much larger size of the country. Esp. in the West we have higher mountain ranges (esp. in Pacific Northwest and Alaska and parts of Cali), warmer beaches, dryer deserts etc. Plus we've got the lush fertile East Coast and Florida. And Vegas! Per square mile though it's tough to beat New Zealand I'd guess.

Countries like France, Italy, Spain and even Turkey also have incredible geographic diversity - greater than that of the US I'd say - France and Italy have much higher more dramatic glaciated mountains than in the US (outside Alaska) and very nice beaches in a much much smaller land size that the US. I would think that the beaches in southern Italy, Spain and Turkey are probably much more beautiful than anything we have in the US.

I do think the US is pretty overrated though. Mostly bc of our quality of life in the major cities (which is where I've lived most of my life). In the US you get 2-3 weeks of vacation and work harder than most other developed countries. In Europe I think most people get 5-6 weeks vacation, work less, enjoy life more and have better cultural/social benefits. Plus they eat better too and have slimmer better looking women mostly! (well, outside the UK).

I guess I like living in the US, but would certainly not mind living somewhere else too.