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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Does everyone want to live in the US?

846 replies

AteRiri · 22/12/2016 19:43

I was talking to an American friend and he made this blanket statement, "Everyone wants to come here!"

Is this true?

OP posts:
Spudlet · 22/12/2016 20:18

Also - wildlife that wants you dead, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires... Trump... 😱

Starlight2345 · 22/12/2016 20:20

Well you could show your friend this thread.....Add my no to the list.

MontePulciana · 22/12/2016 20:21

We're moving to either San Diego or Salt Lake City in the new year, depending on my DH company offer. We'd take any over rainy Britain any day! San Diego has much to offer and SLC is incredibly beautiful and family orientated. It's also cheap cost of living (Utah), excellent schools (public and private), there is an abundance of large housing at affordable prices and winter sports in the winter. We adore it there so I'm secretly hoping we get offered SLC. California is comparatively expensive but incredibly beautiful too.

AmberEars · 22/12/2016 20:22

I'd much rather live here than in the US.

notnowbernadette · 22/12/2016 20:22

Gun laws, lack of employment rights, car centric, Trump, wasteful - no thank you, I'll stay with the UK any day over that

Pluto30 · 22/12/2016 20:23

God no.

Have been watching The Killing Season lately and that has more than put me off living in that country. The corruption, the massive gap between the extremely rich and the extremely poor, the gun culture, the crime rate etc. Nothing appeals.

MrsSnow · 22/12/2016 20:23

Good god. No. What an awful idea. What a deluded individual.

MrsC2810 · 22/12/2016 20:23

@GingerHollyandIvy gosh, me too. I've lived in the UK for almost 10 years now and whilst it's nice to go 'home' I don't have any desire to move back. Especially not with Trump in power, plus racism, gun laws etc.

Pluto30 · 22/12/2016 20:23

(But I think a lot of Americans live under the illusion that everyone who isn't American wishes they were).

HolgerDanske · 22/12/2016 20:24

No. I would never want to live there.

Haven't RTFT.

BakeOffBiscuits · 22/12/2016 20:24

NO!

Dd spent time at uni there, I visited and we travelled around. I found it a very brutal place, if you can't fend for yourself you're completely in the shit. The gun laws, lack of NHS, very little welfare. I was so glad to come back home, as was DD.

redexpat · 22/12/2016 20:25

I love visiting the USA. Wouldn't want to live there.

AllTheBabies · 22/12/2016 20:26

Oh hell no!

SenecaFalls · 22/12/2016 20:26

Wow, what is it with the spate of anti-American threads on MN these days?
Can't y'all let it alone at least for the festive season? There are quite a few of us on MN, you know. Xmas Sad

AnnieAnoniMouse · 22/12/2016 20:27

I have been a fair few times. I've yet to see a single place that mdke me think 'oh it's lovely here' let alone 'and I could over look 'long list of negatives''.

He's deluded. But he's not alone. I've heard that several times this past week on the radio.

Liara · 22/12/2016 20:27

No. I've worked there and have family there, but feel absolutely no inclination to live there. Which is a bugger, because I miss living close to my sister and she will never leave.

But I think that person was expressing the general feeling in the developed world that there is an endless supply of people wanting to come here, because to be fair, there is and will continue to be so long as there continues to be such extreme inequality between countires.

Gollygeewhizztits · 22/12/2016 20:28

I definitely do not want to live in the US.

BayaGoji · 22/12/2016 20:28

I wouldn't live in America if you paid me.

SenecaFalls Disclaimer: Many Americans are wonderful people. But that doesn't change that I wouldn't want to live there in a million years.

LeadPipe · 22/12/2016 20:29

Trump
Guns
Rampant crime
Reducing Women's right (abortion, birth control)
Rampant Poverty
Police corruption
Cringey Nationalism
Healthcare
Relentless Warmongering

No thanks.

Pluto30 · 22/12/2016 20:29

Seneca I have nothing against the American people, just not interested in living in the country. Smile

FranHastings · 22/12/2016 20:30

Trump has completely put me off even visiting again. We were half thinking of an anniversary trip, but I think we might swap to Canada instead.

Based on very little research, I think I'd rather live in Canada too. Keep thinking I don't particularly want to live in Brexit Britain currently.

zizza · 22/12/2016 20:31

Nope - guns, too many bigoted people, and Trump!

SingaSong12 · 22/12/2016 20:32

I have lots of relatives across USA. Great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. There are some brilliant people, they don't all tote guns and my relatives are as shocked by Trump as anyone here. Many are very kind.

As with pp healthcare and gun laws would be an issue. Not being able to drive would be a big issue. Even if I was living in a big city so could get around don't feel it would be practical if I wanted to enjoy the country.

For all I moan about our weather the extremes in America are worse. Can get incredibly cold as well as hot. In other parts there are earthquakes and hurricanes. My cousins in California had half an hour to get belongings and get out before house was destroyed due to brush fires.

SenecaFalls · 22/12/2016 20:34

Pluto30 I understand that, but this thread is really just inviting anti-American comments. And in connection with other threads, it just makes MN seem unwelcoming to us Americans right now.

Terramirabilis · 22/12/2016 20:34

OK, as a British immigrant to the US I feel I have to weigh in.

  1. No one has yet said to me in six years of living here that they assume everyone wants to live in the US.
  2. We don't have a gun at home. Nor do many, many people, both in general and among those I personally know.
  3. Only about 1/4 eligible voters (i.e not even 1/4 of everyone) voted for Trump. That doesn't change the fact that he won, but it does suggest Americans aren't all rabid fans of the Orange One.
  4. I really appreciate how much more positive and go-getting Americans are. There is a can-do attitude here and people are so support if you want to start something new, a business, a nonprofit etc. Not to say no one in the UK thinks like this, but it really is more prevalent here in my view.
  5. Once you get used to it, service in restaurants is so much better. Working for tips concentrates the mind on keeping people happy. Being a server can be pretty lucrative and is treated as much more of a real job (here in Portland, anyway.)
  6. Climate and geography. We are living a short drive from some of the most stunning landscapes in the world. Within our state alone are forests, rivers, mountains for skiing and winter sports or hiking in summer, beaches and lots more. It's on a scale way beyond anything in the UK.
  7. I'm sure I'll think of a few more.

It is amusing to read so many people in this thread pronouncing on what Americans think. I'm sure you've all traveled extensively in this country of 300 million people to form that assessment haven't you?

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