What will be the next 'place to be'? (high school, gated)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
High crime, poor social safety net, declining education system, expensive higher education even for US citizens, prevalence of drugs. Ranked 14 in education among OECD countries, Canada #3, NZ 4, Australia 6.
How is the U.S. not suitable to raising a family? Most people here think raising a family here is good enough.
If I were raising a child, there is no way in hell that I would raise him/her in the USA. In America, children must be raised according to exacting government regulations or community standards, and the slightest deviation, if only for a moment, can result in imprisonment of the parent, or at the very least, having the child confiscated by the state and placed in foster care. Dogmatic fear of everything has become institutionalized in the child-rearing cycle.
The fact that "most people here think XYZ is good enough" is hardly a sterling endorsement of it. Most people think Spaghetti-O's and reality TV shows are "good enough". (But 3G is not.)
With droughts and floods, Australia has a bit of a food insecurity issue (inasmuch as a fast growing population would effect the situation). New Zealand is quite small. It is like Norway in that, the country can only support about 3-4 million people based on its agriculture and economy (i.e. without relying on too much imported food) yet there are 80 million people in Pakistan who say they would like to move there.
The the biggest problem with the U.S. is its management, not its potential to support a growing population.
For that reason, I think Canada is currently the best place for English-speaking settlers with the U.S. a close second.
I guess it will be Europe specifically Germany or the Scandinavian countries, no kidding! They mastered the financial crisis very well, their economy is rising , they have a high standard of living-and , the most important one: they don't have to fear a natural disaster (e.g. Hurricane, Tsunami, Earthquake etc.)
I guess it will be Europe specifically Germany or the Scandinavian countries, no kidding! They mastered the financial crisis very well, their economy is rising , they have a high standard of living-and , the most important one: they don't have to fear a natural disaster (e.g. Hurricane, Tsunami, Earthquake etc.)
Europe already has twice the population of North America and lives on half the land area. Major overcrowding!
Both are politically stable. While they both have big AIDS problems they seem to have them under control. As South Africa's problems grow these countries both stand to gain. They're not going to be superpowers, but they're definitely on track to become really decent places to live in the next generation or so.
LondonUSA:
Almost all the data you need can be found in the Excel files posted on this report just published by the OECD, Society at a Glance 2011 - OECD Social Indicators
This site is a bit more direct about the comparisons: The Evidence in Detail | The Equality Trust (http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence - broken link) OECD Education rankings, 2010 Gallup Happiness Ranking
Can't find an extensive comparison of tuition costs of universities in each country for citizens of that country, but there are quite a few sites to get the general idea using Google.
Both are politically stable. While they both have big AIDS problems they seem to have them under control. As South Africa's problems grow these countries both stand to gain. They're not going to be superpowers, but they're definitely on track to become really decent places to live in the next generation or so.
Considering how little arable land and water resources they have, they might already be overpopulated.
Considering how little arable land and water resources they have, they might already be overpopulated.
Namibia has a effectively limitless supply of water. All it needs are desalinization plants. Plus one of the pluses of building a town or city in a desert is you're probably not taking up land that has better economic uses.
Countries with healthy economies can easily afford to import food and water especially when so many of their neighbors can only produce natural resources and food.
Hong Kong started out having to import water and within a few decades it was one of the richest nations in the world. Japan and the UK both have to import food, and they're certainly okay places to live.
High crime, poor social safety net, declining education system, expensive higher education even for US citizens, prevalence of drugs. Ranked 14 in education among OECD countries, Canada #3, NZ 4, Australia 6.
Let's pick your post apart.
High crime. Most places in the U.S. do not have high crime, and most people do not live in a major city that has a lot of crime to begin with. Ever heard of the country or suburbs?
Poor social safety net. Not quite sure how that equates to a successful country. Lots of people get by here without having to use the so-called safety net. My family did.
Expensive higher education. It's only expensive if you're stupid enough to go to an expensive university for your general education or live in a state that is more expensive than others. I live in possibly the most expensive state to study in, while most states are half the cost or less, like Texas.
Prevalence of drugs. Can't argue with that, but then again, I never used drugs in my life so I don't see how this counts. Most people that use drugs are in the inner city ghetto and the occasional pot smoking teenager though hardly anyone counts smoking pot in the same class as heroine.
Kinda hard to be number 1 when 300 MILLION people live here, and more than 12M of them are undereducated, poor illegal immigrants that give birth to a lot of anchor kids who in turn many become ghettoized. Also, millions upon millions of blacks and other poor immigrants the U.S. seems so fond of brings down our ranking. It's easy to be in the top 5 when your population is very small and manageable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
If I were raising a child, there is no way in hell that I would raise him/her in the USA. In America, children must be raised according to exacting government regulations or community standards, and the slightest deviation, if only for a moment, can result in imprisonment of the parent, or at the very least, having the child confiscated by the state and placed in foster care. Dogmatic fear of everything has become institutionalized in the child-rearing cycle.
The fact that "most people here think XYZ is good enough" is hardly a sterling endorsement of it. Most people think Spaghetti-O's and reality TV shows are "good enough". (But 3G is not.)
Someone is really paranoid aren't they? I never heard of this raising kids in lock-step with the government. But then again, heh, I'm gonna homeschool my kids anyway so there is no public school indoctrination in them.
But yes I know what you're getting at. That there's al-Qaeda hiding behind every corner (even though al-Qaeda is actually CIA), and a child rapist walking by all the white picket fence houses ready to pounce on poor little Suzie and Johnny any moment. You can blame that on shows on liberal channels like MSNBC that scare people into thinking that every other person on the street is a potential child molester This is the same in the UK as well. This isn't just a US problem. At least we don't have CCTV cameras on every street corner like the UK does.........yet
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
or live in a state that is more expensive than others. I live in possibly the most expensive state to study in, while most states are half the cost or less, like Texas.
