OPINION: Hey, Americans: Move out of America

[penguingrrl]

Yes, moving is so easy. Wish I had thought of it. This is about as valuable an idea as the concept that low income workers in HCOL areas should just move to LCOL areas.

[lilibet]

He strikes me as someone who either studied abroad in college or backpacked through Europe and now feels he's so worldly and educated and just thinks "omg why can't all these stupid Americans figure this out themselves?"

[penguingrrl]

Jun 8, 2015 11:07:35 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Jun 8, 2015 11:04:13 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Yes, moving is so easy. Wish I had thought of it. This is about as valuable an idea as the concept that low income workers in HCOL areas should just move to LCOL areas.

Except worse.  Moving from NYC to Pittsburgh is 1,000 times easier than moving from NYC to London for 98% of the population.

DH and I are actually going to try to get jobs overseas in 2017.  We will all be EU citizens at the time and he speaks Italian, Spanish and Mandarin on top of English (just Spanish for me).  This should be a walk in the park, right?!

I'm sure you'll all find out how that works out in a few years.

The premise is the same, though. The idea that you can just pick up and move. And I'd venture to guess this person has considered the visa issues about as thoroughly as a middle class person has truly researched the costs of moving and how possible they would be for someone earning minimum wage. Either is intellectually lazy and unrealistic.

I don't know that for a middle to upper middle income family it's not that dissimilar comparison honestly. No, you aren't dealing with visa issues, but if you're living paycheck to paycheck saving up enough for a major move is probably just as prohibitive. Different things standing in the way, but major barriers that are being entirely overlooked.

[ttt]

This is possibly the stupidest article I've ever read. I've actually looked into moving abroad, pretty seriously, and it's enormously difficult and expensive. I finally concluded that it's essentially impossible for me to immigrate legally to the countries I was interested in living in.  

ETA: and that's for someone who's got an advanced degree and is solidly middle class to upper middle class. 

[Velar Fricative]

Well duh, if illegals can do it sooooo easily and snatch all our jobs, then why can't the rest of us do it???

I kid. But really, this writer deserves sarcastic responses. I do love the part that was essentially like, "Yeah, there are some pesky legal issues that people might have to deal with but yadda yadda yadda just leave anyway, you can do it!!!"

[zoegirltx]

i totally thought this was going to be an article about retirement since so many americans are moving overseas (at least to central america) to retire. Then I thought it may talk a bit about how Americans could really learn from others by having some international exposure & interacting with other cultures...

Clearly i was wrong.

[rupertpenny]

Besides all the other obvious issues with this piece, I don't really understand why he thinks living abroad will solve housing issues, especially if he isn't interested in high density living. I can't think of anywhere in the world with the perfect balance of affordable housing, adequate personal space, AND convenient transportation links. Does that exist anywhere?

[mx27]

no thanks.

[Velar Fricative]

Jun 8, 2015 19:53:24 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Besides all the other obvious issues with this piece, I don't really understand why he thinks living abroad will solve housing issues, especially if he isn't interested in high density living. I can't think of anywhere in the world with the perfect balance of affordable housing, adequate personal space, AND convenient transportation links. Does that exist anywhere?

Probably Scandinavia. Scandinavia has all the good stuff, doesn't it?

[tacosforlife]

Jun 8, 2015 20:42:37 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jun 8, 2015 19:53:24 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Besides all the other obvious issues with this piece, I don't really understand why he thinks living abroad will solve housing issues, especially if he isn't interested in high density living. I can't think of anywhere in the world with the perfect balance of affordable housing, adequate personal space, AND convenient transportation links. Does that exist anywhere?

Probably Scandinavia. Scandinavia has all the good stuff, doesn't it?

I'm pretty sure heyjude can remind us that it's France. How else would French women become so perfect?

[tacosforlife]

But seriously, I do not understand at all how this will solve anything. And the author certainly did not bother to explain his point.

I think I'm most mad that someone pays this asshole to write. That's offensive.

[ttt]

Jun 8, 2015 20:42:37 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jun 8, 2015 19:53:24 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Besides all the other obvious issues with this piece, I don't really understand why he thinks living abroad will solve housing issues, especially if he isn't interested in high density living. I can't think of anywhere in the world with the perfect balance of affordable housing, adequate personal space, AND convenient transportation links. Does that exist anywhere?

Probably Scandinavia. Scandinavia has all the good stuff, doesn't it?

Gender equality, generous social programs, tall attractive blondes, and soul-crushing depression brought on by 22 daily hours of darkness. 

[rupertpenny]

Jun 8, 2015 20:42:37 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jun 8, 2015 19:53:24 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Besides all the other obvious issues with this piece, I don't really understand why he thinks living abroad will solve housing issues, especially if he isn't interested in high density living. I can't think of anywhere in the world with the perfect balance of affordable housing, adequate personal space, AND convenient transportation links. Does that exist anywhere?

Probably Scandinavia. Scandinavia has all the good stuff, doesn't it?

But isn't your paycheck only like 3 kronur after taxes?


You're right though. Probably Scandinavia. 

[tacosforlife]

Jun 8, 2015 21:08:15 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Jun 8, 2015 20:42:37 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Probably Scandinavia. Scandinavia has all the good stuff, doesn't it?

But isn't your paycheck only like 3 kronur after taxes?


You're right though. Probably Scandinavia. 

Wait, they pay you in cronuts? Fuck, sign me up!

[wise_rita]

Jun 8, 2015 10:53:25 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

Now, we'd do ourselves a disservice getting too specific or opinionated about where American migrants could or "should" go, but some broad outlines, beyond relatively "easy" choices like Canada or Australia, are reasonably clear. 

This dumb ass proved right here that he doesn't know his ass from his elbow.

If housing is the biggest factor in why Americans should move abroad then for the love of god Australia is not the place to go!  The Australian housing market is a huge bubble waiting to destroy the economy, and even the cheapest cities are on par price-wise with major American cities.

English speaking =/= easy

I, too, am offended that someone paid this fuckwit to write this.  What an ignorant, naive fool.

[mrsukyankee]

You also wouldn't want to move to England where the average person can't buy a house before age 40 (if ever) due to the price of housing and inability to save for the 20% downpayment that you need (cause renting prices are insane as well).

This person is an idiot.