Are you glad to live in America? VOTE (health care, crime, laws)
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ecuador is a better choice. colombia is ever better in my view.
CR must have been really nice 20 years ago before all of the rich Americans came in and took over is right. When I visited there in 2006, I was shocked to see all of the beachside homes with So Calif prices! It was pretty depressing that the natives were priced out of their own country! I guess that only the libruls are going to discuss other countries on this thread. Why do you think that Colombia is good right now? I agree that Ecuador is good. An elderly friend of mine from Ecuador told me what dumping her Alhambra, Calif would buy her in over in Ecuador.
I've actually put a lot of thought into this question. The question is a bit loaded, because it depends largely on the person and circumstances.
One of the problems with talking about other countries is that. It is sort of the dilemma of being a foreigner/immigrant vs being native-born. There is a difference between having been born in a country and living your whole life there, and to look like, sound like, and be acculturated to that country. And immigrating from the United States to a country, where people might be somewhat hostile towards you, and generally consider you an outsider.
If I was any minority, I think I would easily say that America is the best country in the world to live in. The only other country I would want to live in as a minority, would be either Britain, or Canada. And Canada only if I was Asian.
Another dynamic of the question in my mind, is a time-frame. For instance, a country like Sweden is relatively nice today, and was even nicer in the past. But I think it is on a downward slide. And I would say most European countries fit that same basic criteria. I think they will get worse instead of better as time goes on. For instance, if you compare the Greece of today vs the Greece of five years ago. The same goes for places like Iceland and Ireland. If you go back in time, and compare the Japan of the late 70's and 80's vs the Japan of today(at least relative to other countries). And so on and so forth.
So the real question to me is. If you could look at the entire world, and find the country in which not only would you want to live there today, but you would also be happy in renouncing your current citizenship to move there and living there till you die. And also a country where you would possibly be able to bring all of your friends and family to, in which you believe that you would have no regrets in doing so.
The question is difficult, because we have to understand the economic level of the person. For instance, a rich person who didn't have to work might enjoy living in the Caribbean. But a relatively poor person who would have to find employment would not want to live in the Caribbean, or any other developing country for that matter.
A poor person might wish they could live in a welfare state, like in much of Europe. But for a poor person, it would generally be impossible to be able to migrate to most welfare states. And even if they could somehow get in, it would be nearly impossible to bring their family and friends with them.
So when we look at a country where someone would want to live. It would necessarily be in a system which could allow happiness from a variety of economic and social levels. It would have high levels of freedom(personal and economic), and which would have relatively open immigration.
With that said, the United States would most likely be the only major country in the world, where pretty much anyone of any economic or social background could come and wouldn't face any major issues. The problem though, is that the United States has a fairly restrictive immigration policy compared to what it was in the past. And so, most people these days would find trying to bring their friends/family to the United States to be difficult. And I think this country is on a downward slope as well. So I don't hold out a lot of optimism for the future.
If I didn't have to work at all, but wanted my money to stretch as far as possible. I would probably move to a country like Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bulgaria, or Thailand.
But being that I have to work. It greatly limits your real options. Basically, immigration is sort of a catch 22. If you are poor, you want to go somewhere that has a lot of social services. But if you are poor, those countries don't want you. If you have a high income, you want to live somewhere with a high quality of life for your pay, especially with low taxes. And those countries tend to be in places with fewer social services.
With all that said, I would say the best country in the world. Would be a country with relatively free-immigration, a highly competitive but relatively free market, a country with high levels of economic and individual freedom, and which has first-world infrastructure and amenities.
The problem is really, that a country like that doesn't exist. Certain countries have certain numbers of the aforementioned characteristics. But since no single country has them all, it ends up being up to the individual to decide which characteristics are most important to them.
But, I do just want to add one last thing. There is a country that would fit all of my criteria, at least relative to the rest of the world of its time. And that would be the United States of the late 1800's.
Before you get all defensive. I'm not talking about wanting to live in the late 1800's. I'm just saying, it was the last time you had a highly competitive and free-market, almost completely free immigration, very high levels of economic and individual freedom, and infrastructure and amenities that rival any other nation. And while there was racism and segregation, I would still rate the United States of the time as probably being the only major country in the world that was highly accepting of minorities.
The question in my mind is, can we get back to the point where people of all economic and social backgrounds would want to live in the United States? And especially to the point where we can again have nearly free-immigration?
ecuador is a better choice. colombia is ever better in my view.
I visited Costa Rica and loved it but was disapointed in seeing Pizza Huts and Taco Bells (Yes, a Taco Bell in Costa Rica) and even a Wal Mart. You are right, It seems it would have been much better 20 years ago.
I would love to visit Ecuador, Colombia or maybe even Panama and Nicaragua next. Americans don't take advantage of their citizenship enough.
Do you think any of your countries of choice would take you in? Maybe you should give it a try.
Nope, unlike us they have strict immigration laws. I'd love to spend a year or 2 living in Europe for language immersion and the cultural experience though.
Of course, I love how all you right wingers assume just because we like other countries, it means we hate America.
Why are people so quick to label who's a Conservative? Enough acting childish, i'm pretty sure everyone here finished elemeantry school already?[/quote]
The question in my mind is, can we get back to the point where people of all economic and social backgrounds would want to live in the United States? And especially to the point where we can again have nearly free-immigration?
No. It will never happen.
Big government will never voluntarily reduce it's size and power. The number and power of Government regulation always grows and very very few ever get reversed. The cumulative effect is bigger and bigger government and more and more regulations.
At some point government runs out of new regulations that could be at least tolerable, then it begins developing the absurd regulations designed to tell people how to live their lives. The NYC soda regulations are a prime example, but there are thousands more.
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