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I have lived in both places and I'd like to debate which is better. I have the right to live in either place but choose the USA.
At first, I thought that the UK was a better place to live but now think the opposite overall.
I don't think that the UK can offer very much that USA can't and I think that the USA is better overall.
UK folks have a several hour headstart........
Here are my observations/thoughts/viewpoints:
1) USA has more affordable housing (single family homes) than the UK. You can have a yard and/or real land yet still be more easily commutable to a city (in many circumstances) without going broke.
2) I think that overall the UK has less materialistic people than the USA. I think that people are generally a bit more sincere, down to earth, honest in the UK but not much.
3) Wages are overall higher in the USA than in the UK and taxes are lower especially when you are solidly middle class.
4) I think that you have more freedom of speech in the UK. We can legally own guns for the purpose of self defense (while not always used that way unfortunately).
5) I think you all get better vacations/holiday in the UK overall, but for some Americans that can be mitigated by choosing a job with similar benefits.
6) I think the food is better in the UK...better bacon, Chinese, and Indian food overall.
7) There are pros and cons to the medical situation in both places, I think the UK is better overall but I think you get better healthcare here if you can afford it even though it is hit or miss.
8) I think the job market is better in the USA than in the UK. I think that the job market in the UK is hurting worse than in the USA.
9) I think that poverty in the UK is worse than the USA from personal observations.
10) I think that crime is worse overall in the UK than in the USA (besides gun violence). The UK seems to have quite a bit of knife slashings and beatings don't seem to be penalized like they are here. Someone beats someone up in the UK nothing generally happens. If you do that in the USA (even over a single punch) you will probably go to jail/prison for a while. It doesn't seem that there are deterrents for beatings in the UK. (I kind of like that actually but I am sure that it makes for unjustified beatings as well). I think that people may be less inclinded to screw around with each other for no reason because they could get a beat down. Here, we have to "fight with our heads" which I don't always like.
11) Public Transport is better in the UK but I fundamentally dislike public transport due to getting sick more often on it.
12) I think it generally safer for kids to grow up in the USA than in the UK. The judicial system doesn't tolerate neds etc.
13) I think that the UK has a much better safety net than the USA, but I avoid living in areas where a safety net is required.
Conclusion: You have more choices in the USA. If you like something about the UK that you can't get here, you can generally pursue it. It seems that in the UK most of your decisions are made for you and it is harder for the average person to climb above a certain rung in the ladder. In the USA, you can make more decisions for yourself if you are willing to put just a bit more effort into it.
I also lived in the U.K. for 5 years and I would never ever live there again. Racism and prejudice is rife against women and foreigners.
One year it rained 330 days out of 365 days. Lucky if it was just a shower, mostly rain throughout the day. I hate the colour Gray because of the English skies...
The only good thing that came out of the grey rainy skies is the green of the land.
Snotty private people. It took 2 months for people to even say hi to me as I walked my children to school. So glad I left, no desire to ever live there or even visit again.
I was in the UK for foreign exchange and I loved it. Would I want to live there full time? No, probably not. I did love the ease of public transportation, and the scenery is beautiful, and I'm used to lots of rain, but there's things I would miss about the U.S. (like coupons) and it is just cheaper altogether.
I do hope to go back tho' to visit.
I have lived in the UK... the weather is horrible compared to most places in the US! Cold and humid don't mix well. Also, the people are somewhat rude (maybe its because they dislike americans?)
I dunno, its really just the weather.. I can't take that cold dreary drizzle.
If you are very competitive and value work and money over quality of life, live in the US.
If you value family and leisure time, opportunity for travel, esp. to Europe, and aren't that competitive and hung up on money and material goods, choose the UK.
Weather in the US is usually either too hot or too cold. You might get a few months of good weather but it's balanced out by months of horrible weather. Weather in the UK is horrible in the winter but the summers can be really beautiful and mild.
If you are rich you are better off in the US. If you are poor or average, you are better off in the UK.
I don't like the drinking culture in the UK--too many kids out drinking and beating each other up all weekend. I don't like the gun culture in the US.
There's a whole lot more to it than that but those are my highlights.
Under the current conditions, comparisons between the UK and the USA are probably not as persuasive as they could be.
I am referring to the real reason why the USA is unique among nations. The real reason why America is unique among all the nations on Earth is that it espouses a republican form of government.
In the republican form, the people are sovereigns, served - not ruled - by government, unless they consent. They can directly exercise that sovereignty over their private property, absolutely owned.
The irony is that its people have squandered that birthright and volunteered into a socialist democratic form of government, anathema to the original endowment of sovereignty, freedom and independence.
Under the republican form, an American sovereign is the social equal of every other monarch on earth and holds a superior status to every other titled nobility. It is also the reason why Americans do not bow nor kneel to other monarchs - or should not.
Frankly, if you do not think being a sovereign is something special, well, you can kiss my royal American [expletive deleted].
:-)
I have lived in both places and I'd like to debate which is better. I have the right to live in either place but choose the USA.
At first, I thought that the UK was a better place to live but now think the opposite overall.
I don't think that the UK can offer very much that USA can't and I think that the USA is better overall.
UK folks have a several hour headstart........
Here are my observations/thoughts/viewpoints:
1) USA has more affordable housing (single family homes) than the UK. You can have a yard and/or real land yet still be more easily commutable to a city (in many circumstances) without going broke.
2) I think that overall the UK has less materialistic people than the USA. I think that people are generally a bit more sincere, down to earth, honest in the UK but not much.
3) Wages are overall higher in the USA than in the UK and taxes are lower especially when you are solidly middle class.
4) I think that you have more freedom of speech in the UK. We can legally own guns for the purpose of self defense (while not always used that way unfortunately).
5) I think you all get better vacations/holiday in the UK overall, but for some Americans that can be mitigated by choosing a job with similar benefits.
6) I think the food is better in the UK...better bacon, Chinese, and Indian food overall.
7) There are pros and cons to the medical situation in both places, I think the UK is better overall but I think you get better healthcare here if you can afford it even though it is hit or miss.
8) I think the job market is better in the USA than in the UK. I think that the job market in the UK is hurting worse than in the USA.
9) I think that poverty in the UK is worse than the USA from personal observations.
10) I think that crime is worse overall in the UK than in the USA (besides gun violence). The UK seems to have quite a bit of knife slashings and beatings don't seem to be penalized like they are here. Someone beats someone up in the UK nothing generally happens. If you do that in the USA (even over a single punch) you will probably go to jail/prison for a while. It doesn't seem that there are deterrents for beatings in the UK. (I kind of like that actually but I am sure that it makes for unjustified beatings as well). I think that people may be less inclinded to screw around with each other for no reason because they could get a beat down. Here, we have to "fight with our heads" which I don't always like.
11) Public Transport is better in the UK but I fundamentally dislike public transport due to getting sick more often on it.
12) I think it generally safer for kids to grow up in the USA than in the UK. The judicial system doesn't tolerate neds etc.
13) I think that the UK has a much better safety net than the USA, but I avoid living in areas where a safety net is required.
Conclusion: You have more choices in the USA. If you like something about the UK that you can't get here, you can generally pursue it. It seems that in the UK most of your decisions are made for you and it is harder for the average person to climb above a certain rung in the ladder. In the USA, you can make more decisions for yourself if you are willing to put just a bit more effort into it.
Way too general. For most of these points, the differences vary more in 50 miles in any US city than they do country to country. Jobs, housing, food, public transportation, etc.
Also, for every one person in the US who desires to move to England, there are 69 persons in England who want to move to the US.
Well that is my point exactly, we have more cities and more choices. Not sure where you are seeing the "general" part though. I thought that I started off with some pretty broad differences.
Where did you get your numbers from? Are you speaking figuratively? This sounds about right though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
Way too general. For most of these points, the differences vary more in 50 miles in any US city than they do country to country. Jobs, housing, food, public transportation, etc.
Also, for every one person in the US who desires to move to England, there are 69 persons in England who want to move to the US.
I also lived in the U.K. for 5 years and I would never ever live there again. Racism and prejudice is rife against women and foreigners.
One year it rained 330 days out of 365 days. Lucky if it was just a shower, mostly rain throughout the day. I hate the colour Gray because of the English skies...
The only good thing that came out of the grey rainy skies is the green of the land.
Snotty private people. It took 2 months for people to even say hi to me as I walked my children to school. So glad I left, no desire to ever live there or even visit again.
Better not come to Seattle, other than the racism it's pretty much the same, on average there are fewer than 60 sunny days / year. Of course in the US if you don't like it you can move to another state, there are 49 other very different states to choose from. If you don't like the UK you're pretty much stuck.
Also, for every one person in the US who desires to move to England, there are 69 persons in England who want to move to the US.
Have you ever considered the "advertising machine" of the US? When you agressively market yourself for hundreds of years as "the best land on Earth" where everyone wants to come for a "better" life, expect a lot of people all over the world to WANT to do just that: dream of coming to the land of promise for a supposedly "better" life.
What most people are missing is that gains are rarely incurred without "reverse of the medal" type losses; and sometimes people lose more than they gained.
When people come to the US, they often learn that they indeed gained some advantages (usually material) by having sacrificed other aspects related to quality of life (usually spiritual). Many will not admit to the losses because that would mean de-legitimizing their own "new life" so they insist they "have it all" in the new land of "milk and honey".
It would simply be fair to say that self-driven materialists will find more perceived quality of life" in the US. Those who include in the definition of "quality of life" a solid humanistic, spiritual and communion-based component - will not be OK in the US over the long term.
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