USA Number One?

March 7, 2011 4:23 PM

I’m trying – and failing – to analyze the present and long term risk/reward or cost/benefit of living in the States.

I hesitate to provide too much background as I'm hoping to solicit a wide range of views. The only two relevant assumptions are that I live in the US now and that the opportunity cost of moving elsewhere is not a consideration. Assume anything else about the situation you can imagine.

I'm trying to gain some perspective and break out of my own echo chamber here.

posted by digitalprimate to Society & Culture (2 answers total)

Unfortunately, that doesn't help us at all. What do you want to do with your life? Do you want to have children? These are enormous signifiers.

I personally, as much as I love the States, would consider moving to a country with socialized health care if it were not for the enormous costs and slim probability of success (by which I mean success in getting any job), because I am a writer and I would like to spend more time working for myself without a high risk of medical bankruptcy. But that's me, and I am pretty much okay with loving it, since I can't leave it.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:29 PM on March 7, 2011

It's impossible to answer this question without more information. In nearly every country on the planet you could find an example of a person who relocated to that country from the U.S. after careful thought and consideration. Wikipedia tells me that there are about 6 million U.S. citizens currently living abroad (this figure does not count military deployments). Charitably, I think we can assume all these people had reasonable, well thought out reasons to relocate.
posted by 2bucksplus at 4:38 PM on March 7, 2011