Having to live in the US is already a punishment, being inmate is like being in a prison inside a prison.
I’ve given the US tons of shit and have even done so in this thread, but I’ll be the first to admit there’s plenty of reason to migrate. Much of the country is an unwalkable hellhole with mediocre salaries, but there are still at least a few cities that are 1) walkable or have good public transit, 2) have salaries that even western Europe can only dream of 3) aren’t all that bad with crime either.
It just sucks to be poor in the US. But if you’ve got a great career, it’s one of the few places where hard work CAN technically result in becoming a millionaire, as a software engineer or doctor for an example. The country has a working population for 167 million and somehow has over 20 million millionaires.
Also there’s so much variety of nature for one country, it’s nuts.
If H1Bs weren’t so hard to come by, I’d probably move and work for that sweet US software engineer salary for 5 years, then move back to my homeland that has much cheaper property lol
there are reasons why people are or are trying to immigrate here in droves
If you compare yourself to third-world countries you always come out looking good. “America Bad” can definitely get circlejerky though, no denying that
I’ve had a good, privileged life here in America. I got lucky as a white male in a middle class upbringing, but to complain about my life would be wrong. I am well educated with a solid career path, great benefits, and am doing well. Have always lived comfortably, but still work hard to get ahead. I can’t imagine there is much room for improvement anywhere else in the world for me.
Anyone I’ve met outside of America treated me like I lived in a third world country. Perhaps you live a middle class existence in an urban area? Go to a decaying town in a rural area and you will see how nearly half of America lives. A lot of middle class people are super sheltered. Did you buy the laptop you are on? I found mine in the trash outside the college where all the middle class kids go to. Do you use linux because you like free software? I use linux because my computer is literal trash and i need to remove spyware