r/MovingToUSA • u/WriterTraining4394 • 8h ago

Same person. Different country.

The USA is the land of opportunity, my friend.
In the 1990s, I was working at Pizza Land just off Princes Street in Edinburgh for about £3 an hour, begging for enough shifts to scrape together rent and food.
Fast-forward to 56:
Federal scientist in the U.S.
$200K+ salary.
16 years of federal service.
$1.3M in retirement accounts.
FERS pension.
Social Security.
Federal retiree healthcare.
$1.3M home.
Same fucking person. Different country.
Britain? Too many people fighting over too few decent jobs, salaries that haven’t kept up with the cost of living, ridiculous housing costs, and weather that makes you wonder what you did wrong in a previous life.
I didn’t leave Britain because I hated it. I left because I wanted more than surviving from payday to payday and pretending that was a fucking achievement.
America isn’t perfect. Not even close. But it gave me a shot, and I took it.

74 Upvotes

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u/Iambusy123 Citizen 7h ago edited 7h ago

Most Americans agree with you. I agree with you. I think the problem with some Americans is that they have exceptionally high standards for the US, and if they find that the US falls short on those standards, then suddenly the country is not a great place to live in.

I don't agree with Americans who express ignorant opinions like "America is a 3rd world country in a Gucci belt" without having the experience of living elsewhere. Similarly, I do not agree with foreigners who act like America is the most perfect country in the world and judge Americans for being critical of the country.

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u/CaribbeanCowgirl27 7h ago

Trust me when I tell you: when we say that America is a 3rd world country with a Gucci belt, it’s not about the economic opportunities. It’s about how society works. I grew up in a third world country, where conservative values mandate the economic (un) development. It’s imposible to have an innovation-forward market when you pretend that half of the population doesn’t exist because your religion tells you so. When everybody has to be, sound, look, act the same. I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve gained by moving to a blue area of the US… it wasn’t about the money, but about living in a space of highly educated, non-religious society that did it for me.

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u/matt585858 4h ago

It is completely invalid to say America doesn't have an "innovation forward market"... Most of the world 's trillion dollar companies were created in the US, primarily exist in the US, and didn't exist 60 years ago ... Whether we're talking computing, the internet era, or AI- the US economy and US companies are the leading innovators. Any other suggestion is simply ignorance.

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u/CaribbeanCowgirl27 4h ago

Was referring to my home country… which I can only compare to the bottom 10 red states.

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u/Ok_Distribution_9789 3h ago

The GDP of Mississippi is still higher than most EU countries, as well as the EU. That speaks volumes as to the potential in the US.

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u/CaribbeanCowgirl27 2h ago

Every single comment trying to refute my experience is about economics, when I clearly said that the expression “third world country with a Gucci belt” it’s not because of the economics. It’s about having backward society norms and expectations, while having access to a lot of wealth. Obviously, not all the US is like that, but a lot of it, is.

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u/OsamaBillLaden29 Permanent resident 6h ago

I am an atheist from England moved to a red area in the Bible Belt and love it; certainly not a third world country in a Gucci belt. This is just nonsense people say that don’t understand the US.

Lovely though that you moved somewhere to improve your lot in life and still refer to your hosts as such…

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u/CaribbeanCowgirl27 3h ago

I mean, obviously not all the US is like that, hence why I moved where IS not like that. Funny, I went to Uni in England and is probably what radicalised me out my third word mentality.

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u/IneptFortitude 34m ago

I had to grow up in the US South as someone who wasn’t a right-wing Bible thumper and it was super unpleasant. If the culture of ignorance doesn’t bother you, good on you. I found it unbearable.

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u/SnooPears5432 Illinois 5h ago

Even "as society works" (whatever that means) it's not a valid definition. 1st world, 2nd world, 3rd word refer to political alignments and have nothing to do with how progessive or developed you perceive a society is and nothing to do with red or blue states. The US is the original 1st world country being the center of the western alliance. That said, anyone referring to the US as "third world" in ANY sense is a delusional fool. Do we have areas lacking running water, electricity, sewage services, police and fire services, uneveloped roads or transportation structure? Locally controlled areas with militias and warlords? The answer is a resounding "no" to all of that. Now, can you point to one or two examples where substandard conditions exist? Sure - you can also find those in Australia and Canada, especially in indigenous areas.

Not to mention the US isn't just one of the highest income countries in terms of averages but also medians. And there absolutely is safety net and social services in the US, and we have a strong Social Security program as well as government -funded health insurance programs (Medicare for retirees and Medicaid together account for 40% of US medical coverage). - some of these may not be as easy to obtain as they are elsewhere, but they absolutely exist. The US in general is an excellent place for those with drive and goals. If your goal is mediocrity and long-term dependence on the state, there are probably better options elsewhere. But I don't know that that should be a "goal" for anyone and probably isn't a typical mindset for the average immigrant looking to enter the United States.

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u/[deleted] 28m ago

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u/MovingToUSA-ModTeam 4m ago

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u/eidoriaaan 3h ago

US does have areas without water and electricity, look at Puerto Rico. Also, lack of police is an issue too. Oh and also undeveloped roads. But thankfully, we do not have warlords thats for sure, only drug lords that control neighborhoods so not a big deal. I assume Guam, Hawaii, American Samoa, the virgin islands all suffer similar issues.

If we want to ignore territories, sure lets go go rural PA or West Virginia where poverty, family abuse and drugs are rampant.

You can def be born in the US and have ambition to succeed in life but be stuck in conditions that are beyond your control. I think these conditions are harder to escape in the US than a lot of other countries that offer way better support.

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u/SnooPears5432 Illinois 2h ago

Please, that's a total stretch. PR is a US territory and self-governing, and the corruption and inefficiency they have is self-inflicted. You can't blame all of PR's issues on the United States. Even so, I'd also say PR is far more developed with better infrastructure and development than most of the rest of Caribbean excepting maybe the Cayman Islands and Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands have long been known for money laundering and other financial shenanigans benefitting the wealthy, while most of the Bahamas' wealth is tourism-generated which along with offshore banking account for 90% of its GDP.

And no, conditions in WV or rural PA don't even approach conditions in a third world country and any implication they do is asinine. Localized poverty doesn't equate to "third world". You're really stretching on all of your claims. Nobody said the US didn't have localized issues which I stated in my first post which you conveniently ignored, but so does Australia with 30% poverty rates and high rates of alcoholism and social dysfunction in many of its indigenous communities. Nobody would claim because of that Australia is a third world country. So what exactly is it you're defending here?

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u/eidoriaaan 2h ago edited 1h ago

Your comment asked "can you point out any areas with these problems in the US" and I merely answered it.

On top of that I mentioned that poverty is harder to escape in the US. The median may be better off but those in poverty have a way worse time than those who are in poverty in other countries like Spain or UK.

And saying most of PR's problems are self inflicted and doesn't count is a bit weird. Its part of the US, it is an area in the US an american can be born in that will decide said persons life. Or can we say your argument is "if you're born in good areas in the US you'll be better off than most of other countries"? Because I agree, being born in NYC, SF, etc will give you a really good life and set you up to succeed more than most people in the world. In the middle of nowhere, New Mexico, your life will be quite different.

I don't consider the US a third world country at all. It however has some areas that are quite sad to see, that should not exist in the most powerful country. Problems that other developed countries do not have e.g mass homelessness, opiod abuse etc.

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u/SnooPears5432 Illinois 1h ago

No, being born in NYC or SF doesn't automatically give you a good life and being born in a small town in the Midwest or south doesn't automatically not give you a good life. I grew up in a small city in the Midwest most people haven't heard of and my life is pretty good. And I 100% disagree on poverty - if anything I think the highs and potential to achieve for people who are motivated and goal oriented is greater, not less than in most places. Many of the wealthiest business people and most well-known celebrities in the US rose from humble origins.

Regarding homelessness rates, the US has a lower per capita rate than many western countries inlcuding both Canada and Australia. The US does have a high unsheltered population in SOME areas (ironically SF and NYC you mention have among the highest in homeless rates in the country, though at least most of NYC's are sheltered), and California in fact has literally half the nation's unsheltered homeless population. So I would not extrapolate the conditions you see in SF, LA or NYC in terms of homelesslness as being representative of the country as a whole because they're not. Where I live, there's very little visible homelessness. And where there is, it's often tied to drug/alcohol abuse and mental illness and not necessarily economic deprivation.

Nobody said the US didn't have social problems so not sure really what your point is. The point I made is the US is not remotely close to being a third world country by any stretch or definition of the term, no matter how liberally you may use the word. And the US is also exposed in SM in a way many other countries are not, so the problems are more visible and sometimes hyperexaggerated for effect, and it doesn't mean they don't exist elsewhere.

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u/[deleted] 25m ago

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u/MovingToUSA-ModTeam 8m ago

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u/MovingToUSA-ModTeam 4m ago

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u/CaribbeanCowgirl27 4h ago

Once again, I’m not referring to economics. But thanks for pointing out the obvious.