Which Countries in Europe Are Better to Live in Than the USA?
July 16, 2017
Alex Henderson, Periodista and Technical Writer
Question: which countries in Europe are better to live in than the USA?
Short answer: Pretty much all of them.
More nuanced answer for those who have longer attention spans:
After World War II, the American middle class was the envy of the world. The U.S., problems and all, was looked up to by many Europeans in the 1950s and 1960s. Jobs were plentiful. But things have changed dramatically since then. Thanks to trickle-down economics, neoliberalism, corporatism, downsizing, stagnant wages, the decline of unions, etc., the quality of life has grown worse and worse for most Americans.
The U.S. now resembles a banana republic of the 1%, by the 1% and for the 1%. The notion that Europeans are all longing to move to the U.S. is truly laughable. When Europeans think of the U.S. in 2017, they think of increasing authoritarianism, a shrinking middle class and medical bankruptcies.
Presently, the economy is lousy in Southern European countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal, but better in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. North or south, however, Europeans generally have enough sense to realize that an economy designed to benefit the 1% is doomed. When I hear young Italians complaining about high youth unemployment in Italy, they aren’t contemplating a move to the U.S.; that’s the last thing on their minds, in most cases. They’re wondering about possibilities in Germany or Denmark.
Many Americans would love to move to Europe if they could get in. But to say that EU immigration rules are an uphill climb for U.S. citizens these days is an understatement. So they’re stuck in a declining country facing a grim future.
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