Curse on a nation!

[Devlyn ✅]

I shook hands with an immigrant last week on a green card.

He is from Spain.  He thinks that the USA is the best country in the world.  He and his family have opportunities here that exceed where they are from.  He is grateful.  We have many rights and privileges here.

I think many citizens here take for granted what they have here.  We should be thankful for what we have.

I'm sure he will enjoy his time in the states but (and please don't take this the wrong way Chrissy) Spain has the US beat on rights and priviledges. To be honest most of Europe fares better actually.

My take: Most of the people I've met outside of the US very much want to get to the US, whether to visit or move there. Most of those people are not transgender and thus they don't have to worry about the kind of discrimination that our community needs to worry about.

I can't deny that Spain, and the EU in general are much better on rights and privileges than the US or UK. But given a return to the pre-trump standards in the US... we'd move there on the next flight.

The UKs tiny houses, tiny appliances, tiny yards, tiny roads, tiny cars, tiny parking spaces...well, you get the idea... they stink. We hate all of it. This country feels like it was built for hobbits.

I frequently hear people talk about the quality of life being better here (UK), usually associated with the work/life balance. Yeah, Americans work more hours. Yeah, Americans get less vacation. But Americans can get much higher wages. And we know how to pack a vacation into a weekend with all of our toys (RVs, boats, jet skis, etc).

[davina61]

You forgot tiny minds-------

[Stottie Girl]

My take: Most of the people I've met outside of the US very much want to get to the US, whether to visit or move there. Most of those people are not transgender and thus they don't have to worry about the kind of discrimination that our community needs to worry about.

I can't deny that Spain, and the EU in general are much better on rights and privileges than the US or UK. But given a return to the pre-trump standards in the US... we'd move there on the next flight.

The UKs tiny houses, tiny appliances, tiny yards, tiny roads, tiny cars, tiny parking spaces...well, you get the idea... they stink. We hate all of it. This country feels like it was built for hobbits.

I frequently hear people talk about the quality of life being better here (UK), usually associated with the work/life balance. Yeah, Americans work more hours. Yeah, Americans get less vacation. But Americans can get much higher wages. And we know how to pack a vacation into a weekend with all of our toys (RVs, boats, jet skis, etc).

Remind me again why you've moved to the UK Dev? You don't seem overly keen to be here.🤣 Why didn't you you just stay in Spain? I can think of worse places to be!

We have smaller houses because we are an older country. We are not a society designed around the car. Our small roads were designed for horse and cart not giant fuel guzzelling pickups. I would say we aren't as fat either but we are starting to catch up these days! The car parking spaces are too small as the regulations for car parking sizes have not been updated since the 60's and cars have increased in size significantly.

What applicances do you need that are bigger anyway?

Yes, you get more wages in the US but you have to spend it on stuff like heathcare, pensions, etc etc that we get through taxation. Food seems to cost a lot more over there from what I can see. Plus what good is having more money if you don't have the time to enjoy it? I put more value in work life balance than a big pot of cash. Too many people I've known have died straight after starting retirement or never made it there in the first place. There are loads of jetski's about where I am, loads of people have boats (mostly fishing or sailing but some speedboats) and there are tons of campervans all over the place. Is it different down South?

With the exception of my cousin who married an American man I have never met anyone who wanted to move to America. Visiting, well as much as I would like to see the natural wonders of the US, the horror stories I have heard about border control and ICE agents etc etc have mean't it is no longer in my top 20 places to go.

[Charlotte Kitty ✅]

My take: Most of the people I've met outside of the US very much want to get to the US, whether to visit or move there. Most of those people are not transgender and thus they don't have to worry about the kind of discrimination that our community needs to worry about.

I can't deny that Spain, and the EU in general are much better on rights and privileges than the US or UK. But given a return to the pre-trump standards in the US... we'd move there on the next flight.

The UKs tiny houses, tiny appliances, tiny yards, tiny roads, tiny cars, tiny parking spaces...well, you get the idea... they stink. We hate all of it. This country feels like it was built for hobbits.

I frequently hear people talk about the quality of life being better here (UK), usually associated with the work/life balance. Yeah, Americans work more hours. Yeah, Americans get less vacation. But Americans can get much higher wages. And we know how to pack a vacation into a weekend with all of our toys (RVs, boats, jet skis, etc).

I think the main things that bother me  in the UK are all the stupid people and the rubbish health system. I think I'd be better off in the US in terms of pay and would consequently have much better healthcare. But I definitely would hate the US working conditions. Too little time off for me even in the UK and prefer the employment security here. I worked with Disney imagineering for a couple of weeks in Florida and they often did 14-16 hour days and Saturdays. Add to that the treatment from more senior staff...nooo thanks!

I'm not sure anywhere is perfect unfortunately. I don't think i even belong on this planet tbh!

[Finally Anna]

Well he and his family grew up in Spain and I figure he made a sound conclusion based on his own experiences. I suppose it depends on what a person wants and what she or he thinks are valuable rights and privileges.

YMMV but as far as I have been able to see there are many countries in Europe that are quite liberal and kind of trans-ok or trans-friendly. Now, I haven't been looking specifically at the trans-friendliness but I have visited at least 25 of the countries in Europe so I have a somewhat nuanced feeling about things. Spain is generally a nice place.

I have only visited a few states in the US but I guess you cannot compare US of A as a single country. There are 50 states of which some probably are ok and some probably a lot less than ok? On top of that there's the variation among different geographic locations within a state.
So, if we view the US as 50 states and the EU as 44 states, and look at them a bit more individually then we probably end up with "some are ok" and "some are not ok" in both places.

Way up north where I live, things are probably as ok as can be expected.

💕

[Devlyn ✅]

The plural of anecdote is not data, but when I met my wife in 2018 we compared numbers so to speak. We compared my situation (lower US tax rate, privately purchased healthcare) and her situation (higher UK tax rate, free NHS). Our outgoings were almost the same on a percentage of income basis.

Her transition through the NHS faced all of the delays and hurdles. I went from first visit to HRT in a week, and surgery in seven months.

Parking spots have mandatory minimum sizes. A parking lot owner can make the spots as big as they want to. But they don't.

Surprise surprise, we didn't have cars in the US in the 1700s and it was just cart tracks too. But it's okay to upgrade things like that when they stop being useful.

[ChrissyRyan]

The plural of anecdote is not data, but when I met my wife in 2018 we compared numbers so to speak. We compared my situation (lower US tax rate, privately purchased healthcare) and her situation (higher UK tax rate, free NHS). Our outgoings were almost the same on a percentage of income basis.

Her transition through the NHS faced all of the delays and hurdles. I went from first visit to HRT in a week, and surgery in seven months.

Parking spots have mandatory minimum sizes. A parking lot owner can make the spots as big as they want to. But they don't.

Surprise surprise, we didn't have cars in the the US in the 1700s and it was just cart tracks too. But it's okay to upgrade things like that when they stop being useful.

I heard that Canada is far worse than most countries, including the USA, for taxes if you are high earner.  That is considering just income tax.

The free health care is not free.  It is being paid by taxes.  Just like withholding taxes, you may not feel the tax bite (it all adds up though) but you and others are paying for the social medicine and other things the government decides to spend money on.

Then there is the waiting periods for socialistic medicine.  I wonder if when you get old they make you wait longer as you are older. 

I suppose one could argue that Medicare and for sure Medicaid are social medicine plans.  But they are monthly premiums I hear for Medicare and they can get high if you make a lot of money. 

I am not knocking any country.   

Chrissy

[Lori Dee ✅]

I wonder if when you get old they make you wait longer as you are older. 

They should make us old folks wait less, as we have less time!

Let the younger ones wait the longest. They are more resilient.

Then, the likely outcome would be that everyone gets in at the same time.

Well, that won't work either.

😂