this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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Some young American workers are moving to Europe in hopes of a healthier and happier life.

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[–] topperharlie 45 points 1 year ago (6 children)

as an European I have to say:

please stop advertising this, they will all come here with their American dreams and turn Europe in USA.

I'm yet to see two of them actually connecting the dots between the "American dream" and the horrible labor laws. They want the wellbeing we have but they also want the rampant capitalism, they think "socialism == communism"

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

American here - this stuff is actually widely known and accepted among our progressives, who are the people most likely by far to leave.

We just get fucked out of political power at the federal level by the outsized representation of small-population, rural, die-hard-conservative states. For example if the presidency was by popular vote we likely wouldn't have had a Republican president since 93 which would have made the supreme court liberal by 8-1.

At the most fundamental level, the US political system just wasn't built to handle the increasing rural/urban population disparity, and at some point things will need to change. What that change looks like is anybody's guess. One scenario is that with the economic failure of the backwaters, plus the housing crisis and additional automation, it becomes economically feasible to just build/buy enough housing in the backwaters to be able to have a controlling share in the vote. Which obviously sucks in a lot of ways but it might be the solution with the lowest barrier to entry.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Clumping 332 million people together and expecting that they're all the exact same.

Come on, buddy.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The most reactionary people in the US, those who think socialism is communism and horrible labor laws are "freedom," are too heavily indoctrinated into their own little death cult. They honestly believe there is no country more free than the US and are genuinely fearful of the idea of living anywhere else, they would never move to Europe.

People who live in reality, on the other hand, see how horrible it has become in the US and are looking for a real "land of opportunity," where you do not have to be a willing slave to capital in order to have the right to the basic necessities of life. They are fully disillusioned with the "American dream," and so are more open-minded toward socialism, and are more willing to agree that maybe most countries in Europe provide them with real, actual freedom far more that what they have living in the US.

This has been my experience with immigrants from the US, anyways (and, full disclosure, I am an immigrant as well, just not in Europe).

[–] Garzak 16 points 1 year ago

That’s a weird take on the subject, most American I’ve met or worked with where surprised but happy about our ways.

We might have met totally different kinds of people.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I think you should take the time to actually talk to people rather than throw rancied judgments all around

[–] Squiglet 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Wow you're generalizing way too much! An American that had the will to move out of the US is proof enough they think differently, probably. Give them a chance.