8 ms·

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

lostlogin 3mo ago
I’m not in the US, but laughed when I saw that my bike is ‘known to cause cancer or birth defects/reproductive harm.’ When everything is dangerous, nothing is dangerous.
- oblio 3mo ago
  And you know that it's not dangerous based on... Gut feeling? Have you read the health warning in detail and disagree from an informed point of view or are you just generally opposed to regulation? Even better, can you link the bike model and health warning and let others take a look at it for you? Or just your neighborhood chat bot :-)
  - TomK32 3mo ago
    The DOT has a list of interesting studies on the active transportation in the form of walking and cycling https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/active-transportation-and-health https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/active-transpo... You can also search for studies that compare the societal cost/benefit of using a car vs a bicycle. The generally accepted conclusion is that cars have a cost while cycling has a benefit for society.
    - oblio 3mo ago
      That's not what I'm saying. Based on OPs phrasing, their specific bike was marked as a health hazard. Maybe their bike is painted with lead based paint. There could be a million reasons a specific model could be unhealthy.
      - TomK32 3mo ago
        Oh sorry, I missed that CA over-cautious warning label nonsense.
        oblio 3mo ago
        > Oh sorry, I missed that CA over-cautious warning label nonsense. See, that's the thing... what "over-cautious warning label nonsense"? What are they actually warning about? Which chemicals/products?
        lostlogin 3mo ago
        Who’d know. It gets slapped on all sorts of things and you can’t tell which matter.
  - entrope 3mo ago
    I've read the list of materials that California knows cause cancer and birth defects. It lists things that people encounter every day. Alcoholic beverages, aloe leaf extract and aspirin are some of the most notable examples from the "A" section. https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list
    - vladvasiliu 3mo ago
      Well, here in France, pregnant women are also discouraged from drinking alcohol because of birth defects. I don't know about aloe extract, but pregnant women are also discouraged from taking aspirin. Here's a random online store selling it, with a big warning for "usage during pregnancy and breastfeeding" (French only): https://lasante.net/nos-medicaments/douleurs-et-fievres/aspirine/aspirine-du-rhone-500-mg.html https://lasante.net/nos-medicaments/douleurs-et-fievres/aspi...
      - entrope 3mo ago
        Yes, but California requires prominent signs for any business premise where these materials are found, and the incentives are to not provide any further detail about which substances are present. So a gas station will have a Prop 65 sign; is there a hazard beyond automobile exhaust? It's legally less risky for the business to not say. Similarly for a store that sells alcoholic beverages; should customers take protective measures besides not drinking alcohol? It's less risky for the business to not say. The signs are too common, and too vague, to satisfy the intent of the law.
        vladvasiliu 3mo ago
        Oh, I thought those signs were on the products themselves. I was probably confused because of the "handlebars being a cancer risk" comment.
    - oblio 3mo ago
      Asbestos, leaded gasoline, lead based paint, etc were things encountered everyday in the past. This is how science progresses and how our life expectancy and active life expectancy go up.
  - Henchman21 3mo ago
    You ignore gut feelings? Feelings from your second brain? That seems incredibly unwise. Sorry for the off topic comment.
  - lostlogin 3mo ago
    I’m on a Cervélo Soloist. I’ve just looked more carefully - the warnings is on the S5 (under the frame set sale option, specifically naming lead), so I’m safe! https://www.cervelo.com/en-GB/bikes/s5 https://www.cervelo.com/en-GB/bikes/s5 So I’m in the clear. I’m pro good regulation. This warning is ridiculous and it’s plastered all over things in California such that it’s useless. Yes, there are toxic things on a bike. How many riders or their offspring were harmed as a result of them?
    - oblio 3mo ago
      Does the warning harm you? That's the ultimate benchmark of bad legislation? Annoying legislation is just... meh. Now, what would be ideal if they would actually list the harmful chemicals and where exactly they are used. There are certifications that require that kind of disclosure and for people that do care, they're gold.
      - lostlogin 3mo ago
        > Does the warning harm you? It’s a waste of time and money, so yes.
- pjc50 3mo ago
  "we know this is dangerous, but we're not going to do anything about it"
- cannonpr 3mo ago
  Well… your bike likely has several lubricants, and paints as well as coatings that especially in close contact with your skin… especially in the handle bars under friction indeed probably introduce chemicals that will increase some risks, versus never having done it. That is the horror of what we have done with modern material science… Would you prefer a label that gives you only risk increases above say 1% ? Alternatively you can just assume we have complicated the world so much with modern material tech that despite its benefits nearly everything you touch increases your cancer chances in America.
- stasomatic 3mo ago
  Look up California Proposition 65 warning labels [0]. Every parking structure or a building is dangerous to your health, enter at your own risk. It's very endearing. Our taxes at work. [0] https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov
fuckinpuppers 3mo ago
Yeah the USA has only given lip service for everything it claims to be. Especially in the last 18 months it’s been working overtime to make it even worse. All the US has done is allow for massive amounts of wealth hoarding and gaslighting of a significant portion of the population into voting and supporting things against their own beliefs or common sense. If you said “China allows red dye 12 in their food and it’s been proven to cause cancer” they’d freak out about it. But they don’t see any problem back home.
isoprophlex 3mo ago
Not to mention school shooting drills. Teaching kids how to behave when someone tries to shoot up your school, because it happens more than once a decade... And then not doing fuck all to fix the root cause, besides thoughts and prayers, because muh freedom. Incredible that this is the country that has been the dominant global exporter of technological innovation, pop culture and economic policy for so long.
- anonym29 3mo ago
  Training kids how to respond to school shootings is like training kids how to respond to dual engine failures on an airplane. It happens, it's just statistically so unlikely to ever happen to your kid, that the drill essentially serves as ideological propaganda reinforcing fear of the idea of the threat far above and beyond the statistical risk actually posed by the threat itself. And as a reminder, Europe sees more people die to heat than America sees people die to guns. https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/heat-death-europe-ac-american-gun-violence-climate-change-hot-summer/ https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/heat-death-europe-ac-american... Maybe your guild should figure out how to beat the PvE server before lecturing the players on the PvP server on how ridiculous you think our freedom is. Major skill issue, noob.
  - inigyou 3mo ago
    School shootings in America are not statistically unlikely, they are a regular occurrence.
    - anonym29 3mo ago
      The odds a child will be killed by an armed assailant at a school in the USA are about 1 in 5 million per year, and if you narrow down to mass shootings at schools, that drops to about 1 in 10 million. Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 77 students in grades K-12 have been killed in 11 school mass shootings, in a country with 50 million school children. A child in America is about 500-600x more likely to die in a car accident than a school shooting. A child in America is about 90-120x more likely to die from a pedestrian fatality than a school shooting. A child in America is 70-90x more likely to die from choking than a school shooting. A child in America is 50-60x more likely to die from drowning than a school shooting. A child in America is 40-55x more likely to die in a fire or from smoke than a school shooting. A child in America is 10-15x more likely to die in a bicycle accident not involving a motor vehicle than from a school shooting. Comparable risks to dying in a school shooting include a fatal sting from a bee or wasp, (about twice a likely), or dying from being struck by lightning (about half as likely). School shootings, while tragic, do not pose nearly as much of a statistical threat as you think they do, even if they still pose more than they ought to.
philipallstar 3mo ago
> even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. The US welcomes more people legally than any other country in the world[0], and half of its politicians think welcoming illegal immigrants is a good idea too. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/migration?tab=line&country=USA~DEU~FRA~GBR~TUR~IND~CAN~FIN~SWE~CHE~EGY~BRA~BEL~AUS~AUT~ALB~KOR~ZAF~TWN~THA~POL~PRT~ESP~ITA~ISR~JPN~CHN~COL~HRV&hideControls=false&Metric=International+immigrants&Period=Total+number&Sub-Metric=Total&Age=All+ages https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/migration?tab=line&coun...
- rudolftheone 3mo ago
  Now look at the same metric per capita - USA immediately loses its 1st place.
- DarkNova6 3mo ago
  This is irrelevant because of 2 factors: 1. Past policies don't dictate current policies. And current policies are wildly different from policies of 5 years ago, which are again different of policies of 20 years ago and even before that. 2. Amount of immigrants doesn't say anything about standard of living. And we all know immigration (and even illegal immigration) was promoted by all parties because this meant cheaper labor costs. And often also, exploitable labor. And finaly... it's not a surprised that the third largest country in the world, who was considered an immigrant nations for well over 2 centuries has the most immigrants?
petcat 3mo ago
It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-in-law went from consultation to a full knee replacement surgery within 3 weeks. Again, that kind of thing takes 8 months or a year minimum anywhere in Europe or Canada.
- gadders 3mo ago
  A lot of people in the UK (with professional jobs) top up their state health provision with private medical insurance provided by their employer. This isn't a bad mix.
  - mlrtime 3mo ago
    There are some companies that give private health care to all it's UK employees. It's the best of both worlds.
    - gadders 3mo ago
      Yes, agree. I only really know about office work. If people are giving it to their blue collar employees as well, that's great.
- Arnt 3mo ago
  You read that? I can get either in a day or two if I need it, they want much longer-term planning though. For a vaccination I'll call several weeks in advance. If I want an appointment before/after work I'll call well in advance, if I want something tomorrow they may say "11:30, take it out leave it", which isn't great for my work. Don't trust whoever wrote what you read there. FUD scaremongers.
  - microtonal 3mo ago
dzonga 3mo ago
yeah the hostility started recently with trump and his ilk - fighting for nationalism of a bygone era. if you can afford it - the US has excellent healthcare, you can also get organic food and dare I say better housing, private infra. what the US could/should improve on is have public clinics ie for preventative and quick care. public hospitals in the long run have many problems. in the U.K for example - I used private healthcare, could've I have to the NHS - yeah but it means waiting times. the southern states in the US are also what bring the quality of life down.
- krapp 3mo ago
  >yeah the hostility started recently with trump and his ilk - fighting for nationalism of a bygone era. It definitely didn't start with Trump, it just became policy under him. Trump would never have had a chance if Americans didn't already blame immigrants for the effects of neoliberalism rather than the billionaires who put it into practice, and if the rural white populace weren't already afraid losing the cultural power of their demographic majority and identity. People forget how much of a joke candidate he was until racists took him seriously. >if you can afford it - the US has excellent healthcare If you can afford it, anywhere has excellent healthcare.
  - vladvasiliu 3mo ago
    > If you can afford it, anywhere has excellent healthcare. I don't think so, judging by the many heads of state and other filthy rich people choosing to get healthcare in the West instead of their local countries.
  - FeloniousHam 3mo ago
    [flagged]
    - _DeadFred_ 3mo ago
      "estimates suggest that inability to afford costs of medical care contributes to at least 530,000 personal bankruptcy filings annually. Approximately two-thirds of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are associated with medical expenses or illness-related loss of work." https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2026/04/05/increasing-burdens-of-medical-debt-and-bankruptcy-are-uniquely-american/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2026/04/05/increasi...
stasomatic 3mo ago
I live in the US. I disagree about the hostility towards non-citizens. If you are talking about ICE, it's more about racism. They are not gunning down Brits, Germans or Australians. Agree about the rest. Can I come live in your country? :)
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
- insane_dreamer 3mo ago
  [dead]
- DarkNova6 3mo ago
  Not from the population itself but the changes to policy and hostility at the border. This includes restricted access even to visas, but also handing over your unlocked phone if you are a foreign national. Nothing of that sort is done when you make a visit for China. In fact, I could go there for 2 weeks without the need for a visa. For over a year it has actually been the official recommendation to bring a burner phone to the US if you area a European citizen. To me personally, this feels like an invasion of privacy that makes me feel deeply resentful.
  - stasomatic 3mo ago
    I replied to the parent post about hostility towards non-citizens. I am not sure if they meant from the administration or general population. There is zero to none from the latter. Sure, there are going to be some hicks in the boonies in their camo who will say inappropriate things about folks south of the border, etc. I am sure that happens in the most tolerant European countries as well. That said - I moved to the States in the late '80 as a teen (NYC/Brooklyn/NJ) from Ukraine. I lived all over the country since, except for PNW and the Midwest. The US was different then. Perhaps my glasses were rosier then. Perhaps it's because the net was in its nascent phase. By a strange twist of fate, I ended up working for a Ukrainian company until recently. When my ex-colleagues asked me "should I move", I told them no, stay in Europe. Culture, infrastructure, medicine, work-to-live. It takes me 9 hours to fly to Barcelona from Miami + customs, as opposed to a 2 hour train from Paris to London without any TSA shenanigans. I'd move to Europe in a sec, but it's too late, too many roots. One thing I'll add, as banal as it is, one can become an American, but one would probably never become French or German or Polish.
AmVess 3mo ago
It really is astounding how bad national brands are. Everything loaded with sugar and salt. Lowest quality ingredients in everything, and I do mean everything. I bought a package of national brand slice turkey. Threw it right away. It was dripping in chlorine. Things like national or regional brand ground beef is vile, and nothing can be done to it to make it edible. I bought a package years ago, grilled up burgers. I had to throw every single one of them away because they STANK. Our bread is a joke. Bakeries no longer smell like bakeries because they aren't making bread, but a bread substitute. Chemical leaveners, trash flour, loaded with sugar and salt. Extra absurdity? Some brands dye the crusts brown because the leaveners they use doesn't brown in the oven. Candy is also a joke. Fake chocolate, tiny portions and very chemically tasting. Expensive, too. 75 cents for a bar the size of my ring finger. Extra insults? Everything is shrinkflated. Less product for higher prices. https://www.reddit.com/r/shrinkflation/ https://www.reddit.com/r/shrinkflation/ $22 for a package of toilet paper that has 1/3 less paper than before. Prices are out of sight. 3 years ago, 1lb of real deli roast beef was $7. Now $20. Costs almost $30 to make a pot of stew. Used to cost $10. I could write for hours on this subject. The garbage produced is that prolific.
- eudamoniac 3mo ago
  It is not that astounding that the cheapest possible product legally available is not good quality. You are free to pay what UK pays for meat (a lot) and get great product. I'm not sure what bakeries you're visiting but that's not my experience; there's nothing cheaper than flour and yeast and baking soda. If the bakery bakes things in store, rather than getting shipped in, it's pretty likely to be made with those. Of course if you want to buy the sandwich bread that lasts 4 weeks on the shelf then it's not going to be 2 ingredients. The rest is just global inflation. EU doesn't have cheaper cocoa or wood pulp imports. Every problem begins with inflation. COVID QE fucked it all up.
  - AmVess 3mo ago
    [flagged]
- DarkNova6 3mo ago
  I have no idea why you are getting downvoted. I don't know the specifics, but just comparing the ingredients of foods between the US and the EU really speaks for itself. Just compare something seemingly innocuous like Ketchup ffs.
sershe 3mo ago
If you look at the immigration numbers across the board, apparently most people disagree :) just purely by numbers other than vibes or rare scary scenarios, the living standards in the US make most other OECD countries look poor. Not even speaking of the fact that immigrants can always go back so it's even better for them. I hiked with a guy who lived between US and Canada because he liked US better but needed expensive surgeries (that were also optional, kinda) so he did the minimum in Canada to qualify. Or worked with a European who outright said after making money it would be a good idea for him to go back and (ab)use the welfare state. Americans can't do that!
- DarkNova6 3mo ago
  Looking at the state of infrastructure, public transportation or the quality of food doesn't exactly make a compelling case for the US. Public schooling isn't something that wants me want to move either. I really enjoy walkable cities and I am absolutely not a car person. Sure, none of these are a problem if you earn a shitton of money... but where doesn't this apply? Look, I'm not saying the US is necessarily a bad place to live in but I really enjoy live in a high wellfare societies and will happily trade away a good chunk of my salary for higher quality of living.

lostlogin 3mo ago

I’m not in the US, but laughed when I saw that my bike is ‘known to cause cancer or birth defects/reproductive harm.’ When everything is dangerous, nothing is dangerous.

oblio 3mo ago
And you know that it's not dangerous based on... Gut feeling? Have you read the health warning in detail and disagree from an informed point of view or are you just generally opposed to regulation? Even better, can you link the bike model and health warning and let others take a look at it for you? Or just your neighborhood chat bot :-)
- TomK32 3mo ago
  The DOT has a list of interesting studies on the active transportation in the form of walking and cycling https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/active-transportation-and-health https://www.transportation.gov/mission/health/active-transpo... You can also search for studies that compare the societal cost/benefit of using a car vs a bicycle. The generally accepted conclusion is that cars have a cost while cycling has a benefit for society.
  - oblio 3mo ago
    That's not what I'm saying. Based on OPs phrasing, their specific bike was marked as a health hazard. Maybe their bike is painted with lead based paint. There could be a million reasons a specific model could be unhealthy.
    - TomK32 3mo ago
      Oh sorry, I missed that CA over-cautious warning label nonsense.
      - oblio 3mo ago
        > Oh sorry, I missed that CA over-cautious warning label nonsense. See, that's the thing... what "over-cautious warning label nonsense"? What are they actually warning about? Which chemicals/products?
        lostlogin 3mo ago
        Who’d know. It gets slapped on all sorts of things and you can’t tell which matter.
- entrope 3mo ago
  I've read the list of materials that California knows cause cancer and birth defects. It lists things that people encounter every day. Alcoholic beverages, aloe leaf extract and aspirin are some of the most notable examples from the "A" section. https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list
  - vladvasiliu 3mo ago
    Well, here in France, pregnant women are also discouraged from drinking alcohol because of birth defects. I don't know about aloe extract, but pregnant women are also discouraged from taking aspirin. Here's a random online store selling it, with a big warning for "usage during pregnancy and breastfeeding" (French only): https://lasante.net/nos-medicaments/douleurs-et-fievres/aspirine/aspirine-du-rhone-500-mg.html https://lasante.net/nos-medicaments/douleurs-et-fievres/aspi...
    - entrope 3mo ago
      Yes, but California requires prominent signs for any business premise where these materials are found, and the incentives are to not provide any further detail about which substances are present. So a gas station will have a Prop 65 sign; is there a hazard beyond automobile exhaust? It's legally less risky for the business to not say. Similarly for a store that sells alcoholic beverages; should customers take protective measures besides not drinking alcohol? It's less risky for the business to not say. The signs are too common, and too vague, to satisfy the intent of the law.
      - vladvasiliu 3mo ago
        Oh, I thought those signs were on the products themselves. I was probably confused because of the "handlebars being a cancer risk" comment.
  - oblio 3mo ago
    Asbestos, leaded gasoline, lead based paint, etc were things encountered everyday in the past. This is how science progresses and how our life expectancy and active life expectancy go up.
- Henchman21 3mo ago
  You ignore gut feelings? Feelings from your second brain? That seems incredibly unwise. Sorry for the off topic comment.
- lostlogin 3mo ago
  I’m on a Cervélo Soloist. I’ve just looked more carefully - the warnings is on the S5 (under the frame set sale option, specifically naming lead), so I’m safe! https://www.cervelo.com/en-GB/bikes/s5 https://www.cervelo.com/en-GB/bikes/s5 So I’m in the clear. I’m pro good regulation. This warning is ridiculous and it’s plastered all over things in California such that it’s useless. Yes, there are toxic things on a bike. How many riders or their offspring were harmed as a result of them?
  - oblio 3mo ago
    Does the warning harm you? That's the ultimate benchmark of bad legislation? Annoying legislation is just... meh. Now, what would be ideal if they would actually list the harmful chemicals and where exactly they are used. There are certifications that require that kind of disclosure and for people that do care, they're gold.
    - lostlogin 3mo ago
      > Does the warning harm you? It’s a waste of time and money, so yes.
pjc50 3mo ago
"we know this is dangerous, but we're not going to do anything about it"
cannonpr 3mo ago
Well… your bike likely has several lubricants, and paints as well as coatings that especially in close contact with your skin… especially in the handle bars under friction indeed probably introduce chemicals that will increase some risks, versus never having done it. That is the horror of what we have done with modern material science… Would you prefer a label that gives you only risk increases above say 1% ? Alternatively you can just assume we have complicated the world so much with modern material tech that despite its benefits nearly everything you touch increases your cancer chances in America.
stasomatic 3mo ago
Look up California Proposition 65 warning labels [0]. Every parking structure or a building is dangerous to your health, enter at your own risk. It's very endearing. Our taxes at work. [0] https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov

fuckinpuppers 3mo ago

Yeah the USA has only given lip service for everything it claims to be. Especially in the last 18 months it’s been working overtime to make it even worse. All the US has done is allow for massive amounts of wealth hoarding and gaslighting of a significant portion of the population into voting and supporting things against their own beliefs or common sense. If you said “China allows red dye 12 in their food and it’s been proven to cause cancer” they’d freak out about it. But they don’t see any problem back home.

isoprophlex 3mo ago

Not to mention school shooting drills. Teaching kids how to behave when someone tries to shoot up your school, because it happens more than once a decade... And then not doing fuck all to fix the root cause, besides thoughts and prayers, because muh freedom. Incredible that this is the country that has been the dominant global exporter of technological innovation, pop culture and economic policy for so long.

anonym29 3mo ago
Training kids how to respond to school shootings is like training kids how to respond to dual engine failures on an airplane. It happens, it's just statistically so unlikely to ever happen to your kid, that the drill essentially serves as ideological propaganda reinforcing fear of the idea of the threat far above and beyond the statistical risk actually posed by the threat itself. And as a reminder, Europe sees more people die to heat than America sees people die to guns. https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/heat-death-europe-ac-american-gun-violence-climate-change-hot-summer/ https://fortune.com/2026/06/26/heat-death-europe-ac-american... Maybe your guild should figure out how to beat the PvE server before lecturing the players on the PvP server on how ridiculous you think our freedom is. Major skill issue, noob.
- inigyou 3mo ago
  School shootings in America are not statistically unlikely, they are a regular occurrence.
  - anonym29 3mo ago
    The odds a child will be killed by an armed assailant at a school in the USA are about 1 in 5 million per year, and if you narrow down to mass shootings at schools, that drops to about 1 in 10 million. Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 77 students in grades K-12 have been killed in 11 school mass shootings, in a country with 50 million school children. A child in America is about 500-600x more likely to die in a car accident than a school shooting. A child in America is about 90-120x more likely to die from a pedestrian fatality than a school shooting. A child in America is 70-90x more likely to die from choking than a school shooting. A child in America is 50-60x more likely to die from drowning than a school shooting. A child in America is 40-55x more likely to die in a fire or from smoke than a school shooting. A child in America is 10-15x more likely to die in a bicycle accident not involving a motor vehicle than from a school shooting. Comparable risks to dying in a school shooting include a fatal sting from a bee or wasp, (about twice a likely), or dying from being struck by lightning (about half as likely). School shootings, while tragic, do not pose nearly as much of a statistical threat as you think they do, even if they still pose more than they ought to.

philipallstar 3mo ago

> even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. The US welcomes more people legally than any other country in the world[0], and half of its politicians think welcoming illegal immigrants is a good idea too. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/migration?tab=line&country=USA~DEU~FRA~GBR~TUR~IND~CAN~FIN~SWE~CHE~EGY~BRA~BEL~AUS~AUT~ALB~KOR~ZAF~TWN~THA~POL~PRT~ESP~ITA~ISR~JPN~CHN~COL~HRV&hideControls=false&Metric=International+immigrants&Period=Total+number&Sub-Metric=Total&Age=All+ages https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/migration?tab=line&coun...

rudolftheone 3mo ago
Now look at the same metric per capita - USA immediately loses its 1st place.
DarkNova6 3mo ago
This is irrelevant because of 2 factors: 1. Past policies don't dictate current policies. And current policies are wildly different from policies of 5 years ago, which are again different of policies of 20 years ago and even before that. 2. Amount of immigrants doesn't say anything about standard of living. And we all know immigration (and even illegal immigration) was promoted by all parties because this meant cheaper labor costs. And often also, exploitable labor. And finaly... it's not a surprised that the third largest country in the world, who was considered an immigrant nations for well over 2 centuries has the most immigrants?

petcat 3mo ago

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada. I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance. Also, my father-in-law went from consultation to a full knee replacement surgery within 3 weeks. Again, that kind of thing takes 8 months or a year minimum anywhere in Europe or Canada.

gadders 3mo ago
A lot of people in the UK (with professional jobs) top up their state health provision with private medical insurance provided by their employer. This isn't a bad mix.
- mlrtime 3mo ago
  There are some companies that give private health care to all it's UK employees. It's the best of both worlds.
  - gadders 3mo ago
    Yes, agree. I only really know about office work. If people are giving it to their blue collar employees as well, that's great.
Arnt 3mo ago
You read that? I can get either in a day or two if I need it, they want much longer-term planning though. For a vaccination I'll call several weeks in advance. If I want an appointment before/after work I'll call well in advance, if I want something tomorrow they may say "11:30, take it out leave it", which isn't great for my work. Don't trust whoever wrote what you read there. FUD scaremongers.
- microtonal 3mo ago

dzonga 3mo ago

yeah the hostility started recently with trump and his ilk - fighting for nationalism of a bygone era. if you can afford it - the US has excellent healthcare, you can also get organic food and dare I say better housing, private infra. what the US could/should improve on is have public clinics ie for preventative and quick care. public hospitals in the long run have many problems. in the U.K for example - I used private healthcare, could've I have to the NHS - yeah but it means waiting times. the southern states in the US are also what bring the quality of life down.

krapp 3mo ago
>yeah the hostility started recently with trump and his ilk - fighting for nationalism of a bygone era. It definitely didn't start with Trump, it just became policy under him. Trump would never have had a chance if Americans didn't already blame immigrants for the effects of neoliberalism rather than the billionaires who put it into practice, and if the rural white populace weren't already afraid losing the cultural power of their demographic majority and identity. People forget how much of a joke candidate he was until racists took him seriously. >if you can afford it - the US has excellent healthcare If you can afford it, anywhere has excellent healthcare.
- vladvasiliu 3mo ago
  > If you can afford it, anywhere has excellent healthcare. I don't think so, judging by the many heads of state and other filthy rich people choosing to get healthcare in the West instead of their local countries.
- FeloniousHam 3mo ago
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  - _DeadFred_ 3mo ago
    "estimates suggest that inability to afford costs of medical care contributes to at least 530,000 personal bankruptcy filings annually. Approximately two-thirds of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are associated with medical expenses or illness-related loss of work." https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2026/04/05/increasing-burdens-of-medical-debt-and-bankruptcy-are-uniquely-american/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2026/04/05/increasi...

stasomatic 3mo ago

I live in the US. I disagree about the hostility towards non-citizens. If you are talking about ICE, it's more about racism. They are not gunning down Brits, Germans or Australians. Agree about the rest. Can I come live in your country? :)

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insane_dreamer 3mo ago
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DarkNova6 3mo ago
Not from the population itself but the changes to policy and hostility at the border. This includes restricted access even to visas, but also handing over your unlocked phone if you are a foreign national. Nothing of that sort is done when you make a visit for China. In fact, I could go there for 2 weeks without the need for a visa. For over a year it has actually been the official recommendation to bring a burner phone to the US if you area a European citizen. To me personally, this feels like an invasion of privacy that makes me feel deeply resentful.
- stasomatic 3mo ago
  I replied to the parent post about hostility towards non-citizens. I am not sure if they meant from the administration or general population. There is zero to none from the latter. Sure, there are going to be some hicks in the boonies in their camo who will say inappropriate things about folks south of the border, etc. I am sure that happens in the most tolerant European countries as well. That said - I moved to the States in the late '80 as a teen (NYC/Brooklyn/NJ) from Ukraine. I lived all over the country since, except for PNW and the Midwest. The US was different then. Perhaps my glasses were rosier then. Perhaps it's because the net was in its nascent phase. By a strange twist of fate, I ended up working for a Ukrainian company until recently. When my ex-colleagues asked me "should I move", I told them no, stay in Europe. Culture, infrastructure, medicine, work-to-live. It takes me 9 hours to fly to Barcelona from Miami + customs, as opposed to a 2 hour train from Paris to London without any TSA shenanigans. I'd move to Europe in a sec, but it's too late, too many roots. One thing I'll add, as banal as it is, one can become an American, but one would probably never become French or German or Polish.

AmVess 3mo ago

It really is astounding how bad national brands are. Everything loaded with sugar and salt. Lowest quality ingredients in everything, and I do mean everything. I bought a package of national brand slice turkey. Threw it right away. It was dripping in chlorine. Things like national or regional brand ground beef is vile, and nothing can be done to it to make it edible. I bought a package years ago, grilled up burgers. I had to throw every single one of them away because they STANK. Our bread is a joke. Bakeries no longer smell like bakeries because they aren't making bread, but a bread substitute. Chemical leaveners, trash flour, loaded with sugar and salt. Extra absurdity? Some brands dye the crusts brown because the leaveners they use doesn't brown in the oven. Candy is also a joke. Fake chocolate, tiny portions and very chemically tasting. Expensive, too. 75 cents for a bar the size of my ring finger. Extra insults? Everything is shrinkflated. Less product for higher prices. https://www.reddit.com/r/shrinkflation/ https://www.reddit.com/r/shrinkflation/ $22 for a package of toilet paper that has 1/3 less paper than before. Prices are out of sight. 3 years ago, 1lb of real deli roast beef was $7. Now $20. Costs almost $30 to make a pot of stew. Used to cost $10. I could write for hours on this subject. The garbage produced is that prolific.

eudamoniac 3mo ago
It is not that astounding that the cheapest possible product legally available is not good quality. You are free to pay what UK pays for meat (a lot) and get great product. I'm not sure what bakeries you're visiting but that's not my experience; there's nothing cheaper than flour and yeast and baking soda. If the bakery bakes things in store, rather than getting shipped in, it's pretty likely to be made with those. Of course if you want to buy the sandwich bread that lasts 4 weeks on the shelf then it's not going to be 2 ingredients. The rest is just global inflation. EU doesn't have cheaper cocoa or wood pulp imports. Every problem begins with inflation. COVID QE fucked it all up.
- AmVess 3mo ago
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DarkNova6 3mo ago
I have no idea why you are getting downvoted. I don't know the specifics, but just comparing the ingredients of foods between the US and the EU really speaks for itself. Just compare something seemingly innocuous like Ketchup ffs.

sershe 3mo ago

If you look at the immigration numbers across the board, apparently most people disagree :) just purely by numbers other than vibes or rare scary scenarios, the living standards in the US make most other OECD countries look poor. Not even speaking of the fact that immigrants can always go back so it's even better for them. I hiked with a guy who lived between US and Canada because he liked US better but needed expensive surgeries (that were also optional, kinda) so he did the minimum in Canada to qualify. Or worked with a European who outright said after making money it would be a good idea for him to go back and (ab)use the welfare state. Americans can't do that!

DarkNova6 3mo ago
Looking at the state of infrastructure, public transportation or the quality of food doesn't exactly make a compelling case for the US. Public schooling isn't something that wants me want to move either. I really enjoy walkable cities and I am absolutely not a car person. Sure, none of these are a problem if you earn a shitton of money... but where doesn't this apply? Look, I'm not saying the US is necessarily a bad place to live in but I really enjoy live in a high wellfare societies and will happily trade away a good chunk of my salary for higher quality of living.