Working as a permi this is certainly the case, but if you can get your living costs down and work on a more ad hoc basis (i.e. contracting or consulting) then y

Working as a permi this is certainly the case, but if you can get your living costs down and work on a more ad hoc basis (i.e. contracting or consulting) then you can take big blocks of time off to use as you see fit. Personally I wouldn't want to work in the US right now. The worker protections are practically non-existent (advantageous if you own a company but if you work for one, not so much). Health care has always been problematic in the US but I suspect by your comment you mean that you don't like that you have to have it now. Not having insurance would be an insane level of risk to put on your family (especially when coupled with the risk of a start up). One of the bigger mistakes the US did with health care IMO was letting companies pay it for the employees. That creates a terrible lock in incentive and removes health care from the person's budget so when you do wish to try something else (e.g. a start up) you're not prepared for the sudden jump in expenses.