Reasons you wouldn’t move to US

[Preiu]

Dh has been offered a job in the US. The increase in salary would put us into a completely different wealth bracket but I really don’t want to move.

• fear of home invasion with guns
• school shooting - guns in general I guess
• American exceptionalism attitude annoys me
• Being away from family
• Not having Europe on doorstep

Can I ask if you have any other reasons

Wow. That is some batshit crazy talk right there.

I would actually say that Americans do think about the British. It's about 45% positive and thinking our accents are adorable (You could have the thickest Scouse accent imaginable, Americans will still love it), 45% odd stereotypes (tea and crumpets, Wimbledon, weather), and 10% ribbing the British on Independence Day. A worryingly large proportion of American ideas about the UK are based on exported dramas, and I fear they overestimate the number of murders in quaint country villages.

Point out the inaccuracies in my post.

USA is a great country if you're rich. God help you if you're poor and sick.

I would always be on edge for fear of being shot by a lunatic. I would never have the balls to confront anyone over anything. Push in front of me in the line? Go ahead. Cut me off? It was probably my fault. You just never know

Are you scared a lunatic will stab you in the UK or will burn Ur face with acid?

Very much depends where in the US. There are parts I would be happy to live and parts I really wouldn't. I spent 5 years in Northern California when I was much younger and that's a pretty good place to live.

Also depends on if you have children and how old they are - is it a good time to move them? Do you have elderly parents? If you are a relatively young couple and would be moving somewhere liberal, well-connected, temperate (probably on the coast!) then I certainly wouldn't rule it out.

No because acid attacks and stabbings are almost entirely attributed to gang activity. And outside of London (where I am) they are basically non existent. Plus acid and knives are less deadly.

It’s shocking the number of Americans trying to minimise the danger of guns. No wonder gun laws are so hard to change.

@IJustFarted

2023
US: 43163 gun related homicides
UK: 244 knife related deaths

Even when you account for population the gun violence in the US is shocking. UK knife crime is nowhere comparable.

Above stat is why I would fear living in the US.

Guns.

On top of that, knife murders are higher in the US per capita, too!

Knife crime just gets a lot more news coverage in the UK because the UK doesn't have the issue of people being shot dead left, right and centre, taking up the airtime.

None of the people are know are "rich". There are a huge number of ordinary Americans you know, and they seem to be doing just fine. Also, what do you define as "poor"? There is medical assistance for the poorest.

Judging by many of the threads on MN the poor in the UK aren't faring so well at the moment - it's hardly utopia!

I was in my local supermarket over the weekend and recalled all of the comments on this thread about how people wouldn't move to the US because nobody there eats fruit or veg, so there wouldn't be any in the stores.

You're all correct. It's truly dire, with hardly anything available.

Fat kids???! As someone that lives in the US I can tell you that most kids are into sports, sometimes multiple sports. We don’t all live off Cheetos and Twinkie’s 😂. I’m English by the way, and the majority of my UK friends/ family have fat kids that stay inside on their games consoles!

@MissConductUS Honestly, the ignorance is baffling! I’m not sure where everyone is getting their information from?! The majority are wrong on many accounts. It makes me feel glad that we moved away!

That may be true for the people you know, but the obesity rate is twice as high in the US as in the UK.
Obesity Rates by Country 2024 (worldpopulationreview.com)
Admittedly that may not be true for children, but it's harder to find data. An it's got to start somewhere!

@pinkspeakers from the chart you shared, the majority of the US is at 25% and the UK is at 20%. Also, we were talking about kids. Like I said, sports are a huge part of life for kids here. There is also a lot of land and kids are outside frequently. It doesn’t rain too much so people aren’t stuck inside. Obviously I’m only able to speak about where I live and places I've been. Edit to add I got the percentages totally wrong and it says 45%. If you look up the statistics here then it doesn’t match that at all, so it’s hard to know when those things are correct. I honestly don’t know many overweight people. A lot of people are tall and slim where I live.

You can't buy things like Marmite or Custard Cream biscuits in the US. or orange squash. And kettles are a rarity because the electricity is weaker.

You can buy marmite, it’s available on Amazon, as are custard creams along with a ridiculously wide variety of electric kettles

Yes but they take longer to boil because of the weaker electricity.

There are numerous flavours of custard cream biscuits available in virtually every US grocery store.

Also plenty of electric kettles. True, they take longer to boil. Not much longer though. Is this really a reason not to live somewhere? Also you can actually use your hairdryer in the bathroom which more than compensates in my view.

Ah yes, you can't get decent biscuits in the US. This one is also highly accurate, and I have pictures from the same supermarket to prove it.

The selection is rubbish, just rubbish.

not proper biscuits though like custard creams, bourbons and malted milk. You can't get those. Maybe from specialist suppliers of British foods but they will be expensive.

You also can't get Kinder Surprise eggs. They are actually illegal in the US.

Clearly barbarians, the whole lot of them.

Well, yeah, coz you are Abroad.
You can, nonetheless, get excellent biscuits and cookies in the States.

And sweets... not the same ones, it is true (and most of the chocolate is pretty terrible) but oh my word, cherry sours!

A quick google shows you can get them on Walmart online, delivered direct to your house, that well known wee specialised suppliers of British food, yes they’re more expensive than in the UK but not prohibitively so.

im not even American, just this thread is genuinely ridiculous in things being said, that are so easy to google if you take a second.