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He lives in Europe. As do I, and I have never heard of anyone who dreams of living in the US. Honestly, public discourse about the US is mostly negative. I don't understand where you people get the idea from that everyone is jealous of the US, it's absurd.
Only young people whose dream is to get rich and who believe in the myth of the American dream do.
But then they grow up.
Actually many Europeans are jealous of America and would LOVE to live here if they could have, especially after visiting Los Angeles/Orange County, Miami and NYC area.
Very few are jealous in fact more hold it in disdain. America of course does hold some sway over the young but many folk with popular culture but many who go there like it for a break but prefer the better life in Europe.
Those that do stay quite a number return for health care reasons and easier social life when older.
New York is cool but then so is London and Paris and Prague an d Amsterdam. Certainly no reason for Europeans to be jealous....
Actually, it was mostly Americans who know a sinking ship when they see one who voted for the US being the worst of the First World nations to live in.
If health care in the US were as good as you say, the World Health Organization wouldn't list it as #26, after Costa Rica, and ahead of Slovenia. Yes, our health care is worse than that in some 3rd World countries. The US does a great job of emergency and catastrophic care, but really falls down when it comes to dealing with chronic illness. The medical education is driven by Pharma, this is one reason docs don't know how to diagnose and treat many chronic conditions. The whole system is Pharma driven and surgery-driven. Medicaid is being cut, insurers are cutting back on basic preventive measures like annual exams, which they now say are unnecessary, not everyone is eligible for Medicaid, but they can't afford private insurance either.
Unemployment is high, bankers are fraudsters who can do whatever they want and get bailed out with taxpayer money, and there's political gridlock in Congress. Manufacturing jobs have been allowed to go overseas while money for retraining those workers isn't sufficient for the numbers who need the training. Politics (as you undoubtedly noticed on this forum) is all about bickering, and not about bipartisanship for the good of the nation. Factions dither about non-issues, like gay marriage, while unemployment drags on, wrecking people's hopes for ever getting back into the workforce.
I could go on, but I won't.
Your post are usually more intelligent than this but boy, you're a bit off on this to the point of being ignorant about the US healthcare as far as treatment is concerned. I'm not even being nationalistic just being real. Yes, I know there are other countries out there with good health care but the way you mock the healthcare system is a joke.
LOL, Pharma driven, that's called medicine, if a patient has a bacterial infection give em antibiotics, if a patient has back pain, give em pain meds. What do you want, herbal medicine,lol.
I would say it's diagnostic driven if that's what you meant, this is to protect the doctor from frivolous lawsuits because unlike other foreign countries, patients here have rights.
Yes, we all know not everybody can afford health insurance and not everyone is eligible for medicaid but no one is denied treatment if they seek treatment in an emergency room setting unlike other countries. Yes, we know there should be health care reform. If you take politics out of it and just see it for what it is in terms of medical treatment, it is the best in the world, hands down.
Put your money where your mouth is and forget your ranking, if you or your husband or child needed surgery, would you choose Costa Rica or Slovenia over the US to have it done. Now, be honest!
I'm glad you mentioned Costa Rica, lol, my college friend who's parents are from Costa Rica travel all the way to Minnesota for the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland for the Cleveland Clinic for checkups. They have no confidence in the health care system in Costa Rica. Why do you think heads of state from foreing countries come here for healthcare, I mean just look at the Saudi royal family coming here for healthcare. Do you really think they'd come here for healthcare if you described it the way you did.
I see there's a lot of hatred for the US in this part of the Forum but please think before you post nonsense.
If you hate this country so much, why the hell are you here, why don't you move to these countries that you love so much, go move to Costa Rica or Slovenia, lol.
Put your money where your mouth is and forget your ranking, if you or your husband or child needed surgery, would you choose Costa Rica or Slovenia over the US to have it done. Now, be honest!
I'm glad you mentioned Costa Rica, lol, my college friend who's parents are from Costa Rica travel all the way to Minnesota for the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland for the Cleveland Clinic for checkups. They have no confidence in the health care system in Costa Rica. Why do you think heads of state from foreing countries come here for healthcare, I mean just look at the Saudi royal family coming here for healthcare. Do you really think they'd come here for healthcare if you described it the way you did.
Many members of the Saudi royal family are living in London and south Spain. They go to USA for the heathcare, but they still prefer to live in Europe.
In my view, the US is still the best country to start up a business, featuring low effective tax rates, relatively little bureaucracy, great technological infrastructure, and a very convenient lifestyle. The legal system is a mixed bag, slow and expensive, sometimes unpredictable in terms of outcome because of rogue judges and award-happy juries, but for the most part not terribly corrupt.
The financing of health care is a farce. I would prefer either a true market system or throw in the towel and go for a national single-payer system financed by a single national tax, say 3% of gross revenues.
Like education, the quality of health care service is skewed towards the top, while in Europe, for example, both primary education and basic health care are on average better for the average person, or have been up to now, not so sure about the future.
The so-called housing boom was a tragic waste of resources, building the wrong type of housing in the wrong places, energized and financed in the wrong way, infecting almost the entire global economy. I don't think that oversized, energy-guzzling McMansions in the exburbs are anything to be proud of. In my city, I cannot find a well designed, decent family-sized, more efficient condo regardless of price. For example, I have seen secondary bathrooms bigger than living rooms. What a waste of valuable space! Oversized outlets for air-conditioning ducts right smack in the middle of the living room wall. No ramps to haul personal shopping carts up steps to the elevator. Etc. And God forbid there should be a bread store within walking distance.
The housing debacle, then, goes hand-in-hand with the mostly one-sided transportation policy (thank God for internet-based home businesses!).
In short, the average American is almost forced - FORCED! - to go into debt to buy an overpriced, energy-inefficient house, an energy-guzzling vehicle ... well, there is now an incipient, renascent domestic gas-and-oil production boom, maybe that will solve the problem, that is if they don't poison the water supply in the meantime ... pay overpriced premiums for mediocre basic health care (which I believe subsidize the high end), and pay overpriced tuition for higher education which is in many cases is an increasingly bad deal (though I believe it subsidizes high-end research).
It's still survival of the fittest wherever you are in the world, no matter how much we try to kid ourselves.
The US still provides a good chance at a decent life in the global context for the globally competitive for as long as the energy framework lasts, which seems to be evolving into a mixture of "traditional" hydrocarbons and so-called alternatives, and provided that it doesn't shoot itself in the other foot with more and even stupider financing decisions in terms of health care, housing, transportation, and education.
I have mixed expectations.
At least we have helicopter Ben, unlike Europe where no-one knows who is sovereign and who the lender of last resort is. We all love money illusion.
I don't like the culture in the US and I think they treat their citizens pretty poorly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by In God We Trust
Actually I was born in Europe and traveled nearly all over the continent. I've also been to several Asian and South American countries, as well as Oceania. Not a single country offers what the U.S. does.
"god bless america" oh boy lol. Why is god always on your side? Did you ever think there are 200 other countries around the world who are telling their citizens the same thing. So funny to watch lol
The problem with the US in my experience is that most people I met there think the world revolves around the US. Most people I met thought that there was no cars in Ireland and that it was part of either England or Italy. Americans have a reputation around the world of not knowing there is a world outside the US and that they are stupid.
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, that's called medicine, if a patient has a bacterial infection give em antibiotics, if a patient has back pain, give em pain meds. What do you want, herbal medicine,lol. 
Now, be honest!