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if you were given one place to live for the rest of your life between the EU and USA, which would you pick ??
btw by EU, i mean the following countries. because EU allows free movement, you'd be able to visit and live in any of these countries willy nilly.
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Switzerland (also allow free movement of EU residents and vise versa)
Norway (also allow free movement of EU residents and vise versa)
i was thinking USA and EU because they both offer a wide range of landscapes and climates.
I will never ever want to live anywhere in Europe due to following reasons:
* Everything is smaller (houses/apartments, roads, food portions, buildings, stores, etc.)
* High unemployment rate (Esp. in Eastern and Southern Europe)
* High youth unemployment rate in Western and Northern Europe
* Very high taxes
* Basically everything is more expensive
* Confusing road system and signs
* Less demographic diversity (but too high Islamic immigration)
* Less freedom
* Lack of skyscrapers in most cities
* No real and true suburban area like in the U.S..
* Close to the Middle East (generally bad region)
* Less climate and landscape diversity (No tropical or desert climate in mainland Europe, and most of Europe have much less sunshine than most of U.S. and even Canada)
* Too many national languages (You need to learn another language)
* Way less shopping stores and shopping opportunity (No wonder why Europeans go crazy when shopping in America)
* Big houses (McMansions) are rare
* Having own individual car is relatively uncommon
* Central Air and Heat is rare and something luxury
* Everything is too old
* Jante law in Scandinavia
* Higher racism and most Europeans are cold
* Less religious / High rate of atheism
Only the state of California offers more diversity in terms of climate, landscape/scenery, culture and others than all of EU combined despite being the size of Sweden in area.
Europe doesn't have New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, Phoenix, Denver, Orlando, Honolulu, and being close to Canada, Mexico, Central America, and all Caribbean islands.
I guess it'd depend on what employment opportunities are offered to me. If I really can pick and choose with all things being equal, then I'd probably go with EU.
This topic has been beaten to death on these forums so many times, several times a year for a number of years now.
Well, anyway, if wide range of natural landscapes and climates is the criterion, then the US has a broader diversity.
In my view, generally speaking Europe has better urban landscapes, better planning in the use of space, better balance between urban and rural, and broader diversity in transport systems. In the US, I don't like suburbs and the mandatory use of car, which was okay during the era of cheap energy, but lately has proven to be a liability, though somewhat offset now by the new fracking technology.
If one is in love with pre-industrial history and culture, then obviously Europe hands down, especially Mediterranean Europe.
To me, however, an independent minded small businessperson, the deal-breaking criterion is effective tax rates and ease of doing business. In that respect, then, the US hands down.
In some ways, my thoughts on that are contradictory: I like European urban transport systems and the relative simplicity of the single-payer health care system, which do require taxation, but in my view it, and government intervention in general, goes too far in other areas, and I prefer the challenge of navigating myself in the era of global competition through wide and deep capital markets, and not depend on the decisions of narrow-minded bureaucrats. While both regions' systems try to shelter large swathes of the population from global competition, though in different ways, I find the European way too stifling, sadly, and I am not the only one, though still a relative minority. In particular, to me the fact that even the mention of global competitiveness is virtually taboo in what lamely passes for public policy discussions in a country like Italy, for example, is just outrageous, as if the entire population were childish and the bureaucrats are trying shelter them from something ugly.
Life is movement and risk, the good, the bad and the ugly, and even children need to know it upfront in an economy of words, not babble.
At any rate, in the era of the globalization of industrialization we are all becoming more like each other and the US and EU have started negotiating a free trade agreement. Though it may take some 10 years of discussion, I expect it to be implemented sooner or later, followed by easier change of residence rules, similar to what already exists among EU countries, on the one hand, and NAFTA countries, on the other. It will be marginally good for both.
In the meantime, there are plenty of people with both a US and EU-country passports, professional/business skills and capacity, and/or wealth that merit residence on their own to make the discussion meaningful and not merely an abstract "either/or" proposition. There is a significant amount of "both/and", like I've been doing for some 25 years.
I will never ever want to live anywhere in Europe due to following reasons:
1.High unemployment rate (Esp. in Eastern and Southern Europe)
2.High youth unemployment rate in Western and Northern Europe
3.Confusing road system and signs
4.Less freedom
5.Too many national languages (You need to learn another language)
6.Having own individual car is relatively uncommon
7.Central Air and Heat is rare and something luxury
8.Everything is too old
9.Higher racism and most Europeans are cold
10.Less religious / High rate of atheism
Europe doesn't have New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, Phoenix, Denver, Orlando, Honolulu, and being close to Canada, Mexico, Central America, and all Caribbean islands.
Do you know Europe is a continent and not a country?
1.You don't have to live in the Balkans, half of the European countries have a lower unemployment rate than the USA.
4.LOL, 8 of the 11 countries that recognize same-sex marriage are EUROPEAN, the first one to do it "the Netherlands" is a European country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_r...y_or_territory
Same-sex ACTIVITY legal nationwide in the USA only since 2003, in some European countries already legal for over 200 years.
5.It can make life more easy but you don't NEED to learn another language if you can speak English.
6.Most households i know own 2 cars.
7.Maybe in Moldova.
8.One of the reasons American tourists want to come here.
9.Most Europeans are not cold, they are just overconsidered, afraid to disrespect.
10.Depends on the European country, don't see the problem, most countries with a high rate of atheism have the highest quality of life + GDP per capita and lowest crime rate.
btw you said "Less Freedom" in Europe, now you say the US is more religious, how does that work?
USA doesn't have London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Budapest, Bucharest, Athens, Istanbul, Kiev, Warsaw, Krakow, Vienna, Prague, Lisbon, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Belgrade, Amsterdam, Brussels, Monaco etc. etc.
USA is only closer to the rest of Americas and some islands in the Pacific Ocean, Europe is closer to the rest of the WORLD!
I will never ever want to live anywhere in Europe due to following reasons:
* Everything is smaller (houses/apartments, roads, food portions, buildings, stores, etc.)
* High unemployment rate (Esp. in Eastern and Southern Europe)
* High youth unemployment rate in Western and Northern Europe
* Very high taxes
* Basically everything is more expensive
* Confusing road system and signs
* Less demographic diversity (but too high Islamic immigration)
* Less freedom
* Lack of skyscrapers in most cities
* No real and true suburban area like in the U.S..
* Close to the Middle East (generally bad region)
* Less climate and landscape diversity (No tropical or desert climate in mainland Europe, and most of Europe have much less sunshine than most of U.S. and even Canada)
* Too many national languages (You need to learn another language)
* Way less shopping stores and shopping opportunity (No wonder why Europeans go crazy when shopping in America)
* Big houses (McMansions) are rare
* Having own individual car is relatively uncommon
* Central Air and Heat is rare and something luxury
* Everything is too old
* Jante law in Scandinavia
* Higher racism and most Europeans are cold
* Less religious / High rate of atheism
Only the state of California offers more diversity in terms of climate, landscape/scenery, culture and others than all of EU combined despite being the size of Sweden in area.
Europe doesn't have New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, Phoenix, Denver, Orlando, Honolulu, and being close to Canada, Mexico, Central America, and all Caribbean islands.
* Everything is smaller (houses/apartments, roads, food portions, buildings, stores, etc.) that is true
* High unemployment rate (Esp. in Eastern and Southern Europe) you don't have to live in eastern and southern europe, thats the beauty of the EU freemovement. if one country is economically unstable, just move to another. move to switzerland, they have the most stable economy in the world
* High youth unemployment rate in Western and Northern Europe again, you don't have to live there.
* Very high taxes again, in switzerland, the top tax rate is 22%
* Basically everything is more expensive it is generally, but its the expensive houses are expensive because they are nice communities with excellent schools, low crime rate, great views, eetc etc.. obviously if you want cheaper houses, you would have to make comprimise just like you would in the US.
* Confusing road system and signs you'd get over it.
* Less demographic diversity (but too high Islamic immigration) nope. the islamic community in europe don't hate europe, they embrace it. same can't be said for the USA.
* Less freedom it does lack some freedom, but when you compared it to the USA, which is almost a police state, i'd have to disagree
* Lack of skyscrapers in most cities are you sure ?
* No real and true suburban area like in the U.S..
LOL, where are you getting this info ? have you been to europe ?
* Close to the Middle East (generally bad region) haha, you havn't left the USA have you ?
* Less climate and landscape diversity (No tropical or desert climate in mainland Europe, and most of Europe have much less sunshine than most of U.S. and even Canada) Accona Desert ? Monegros Desert ? ..there's alot more.
* Too many national languages (You need to learn another language) i'll give you that one
* Way less shopping stores and shopping opportunity (No wonder why Europeans go crazy when shopping in America) well, europeans from bulgaria might, but europeans from UK or Germany won't certainly won't.
* Big houses (McMansions) are rare french riviera ? to name one.. you really havn't looked this through have you ?
* Having own individual car is relatively uncommon you have the freedom of choice to own your own car ?
* Central Air and Heat is rare and something luxury its not as rare as you think.
* Everything is too old the history must preserved. if you want new, you can get that too.
* Jante law in Scandinavia don't go to Scandinavia then
* Higher racism and most Europeans are cold racism is prevalent in eastern europe, just don't go there then.. its really that simple.
* Less religious / High rate of atheism again, depends on where you are.. the USA isn't exactly a religious country.. not by a LONG stretch.
you REALLY need to leave the USA, its not as rosy as the hype suggests.
How is the USA going up against 30 different countries.
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