To be a bit envious of this lifestyle? (USA)

[ThePinkPonyClub]

I've just watched School Swap: UK to USA on Channel 4 and have ended up feeling a teensy bit jealous of the kind of lifestyle that's possible over there.

Even normal, non wealthy families seemed to be able to live really outdoorsy lifestyles where they can hike and hunt and boat amongst the gorgeous scenery. I feel like in the UK, even rurally it isn't possible as everywhere is so densely populated especially when the weather is nice. The weather is also a limiting factor!

I'm obviously not jealous of the MAGA/Trump craziness or the crappy healthcare and all the rest of the political stuff but purely the lifestyle side of things, it seems so much more possible to live in that free, outdoorsy kind of way.

And the schools seemed to have a much more positive, enthusiastic culture with things like school sports and dances, compared to the UK teens in their drab uniforms staring at their phones the whole time in their miserable, run down secondary school.

aibu? Anyone live this kind of life in the UK? If so, where?!

I am glad this caused you amusement but getting granular would have given you a more complete picture, and is actually shocking
The median wealth, not income, of the US is very low compared to many countries Including the UK. This is because of the incredible gap you have between the few rich and the many poor.
I am in no way saying the UK is great and the US is crap, there are many things I like and dislike about both
But it's this massive disparity in wealth, the haves and have nots the equal and not so equal. That's what I do find unsettling. This is where failures in health provision housing, education and life chances really impact. The US laughs at the UK and calls it socialist. I'm middle of the road politics wise here but could never live somewhere where inequality was so stark.

But anyway, as I say there are great positives and I am enjoying the series

Again try comparing median us wealth to other countries

Again try comparing median us wealth to other countries

I do wholeheartedly agree about not treating US as one mass though. There is incredible variation, good and bad.
It's why I can understand how torn apart politically it must be right now, like UK after brexit. Such variation

I'm not an economist, and each state has different taxes. Annual median income is a measure that's the same in the US and UK, so it's useful for comparison purposes.

Wealth is hardly evenly distributed in the UK either.

When you talk about the stark disparity, where in the States do you mean? There are 50 states, they're all different, with a millions different laws and regulations, and the place is the same size as the whole of Europe.

There is some terrible disparity, and sadly that is often due to people experiencing addiction. There's a fentanyl crisis.

Annual median income is a measure that's the same in the US and UK, so it's useful for comparison purposes.

It's not unless you have an understanding of the cost of housing and daily living costs. That's not easy to determine unless you've lived a particular country.

I would suggest median wealth is a better indicator to look at and also the difference between average and median wealth, which highlights disparities in a population.

www.visualcapitalist.com/top-10-countries-with-the-highest-wealth-per-person/#:~:text=Europe%2C%20the%20Middle%20East%2C%20and%20Africa:%20$166%2C000%20per%20adult,Americas:%20$146%2C000%20per%20adult

Much of the difference is due to the UK's horrendous house prices. Those very high house values are reflected in the UK net worth. Even though it's money you can't access, unless you downsize considerably, and for most, UK houses are already small. Americans are more cash-rich - and they like spending it!

There's probably more disparity though, yes, given that the US has a large number of people worth well into seven figures. But for an ordinary earner like me, living in a "sensible state," I don't really see those disparities around me. I would if I lived in a big house in, say, Arkansas, probably.

The point is that this calculation is one that we can make across the two countries to come up with an accurate figure as to what the median income for each household is. The buying power of said income is a different issue.

Also, you can't determine COL and housing costs in America as a whole - well you could, but it would be averages, which then wouldn't be accurate for many places. You'd have to look at each state, since COL, housing costs, income, and tax varies massively across fifty states.

Well no, because as I said, median wealth is a more important indicator globally. Median incomes are really quite meaningless in isolation, although I understand they fit your narrative.

Median income is one of a few different ways of looking at wealth, including net wealth, average wealth, and more. They're all useful in some way.

Yes, I'm well aware of that. Believe it or not, I have lived in the US!

Whereabouts? For long?

So you don't pay a rediculous amount foer medical care, your car insurance depending on where you are in US isn't double or treble the norm, same for home insurance down the east coast. Good to know.

I pay $90 a month for an amazing health plan, I don't own a car, and home insurance is however much you want to pay, really. Could be $30 a month, could be $300 a month, depending on how big your house is and for how much you want to insure its contents. Also highly dependent on your zip code.

For me, the US has been brilliant. The Brits I know here seem to like it. Of course, not everyone will feel the same. There are many people worse off than me and many better off, too.

Healthcare - the company's platinum plan would be $180 a month. Higher premium but lower out of pocket costs and excess. It's still much less than BUPA, and you get a lot for it, at one of the best hospitals in the world.

If I lost my job, I would get another job with benefits asap, any job. But at home I'd have to get any job as well, to live. Or, in MA, if you have no or low income, there's also MassConnect which is the Affordable Healthcare marketplace. There's a social safety net, but I haven't looked into it. If you are very poor, you get Medicaid. MA is one of the best places for having a welfare state. And then, in your early sixties, healthcare is no longer tied to your job and you get Medicare, which is sort of like the NHS.

It is very torn apart, but tbh it's been that way ever since Trump first got in. Believe it or not, I don't notice a huge difference, because it was so divided anyway. If anything, after the last few weeks, I get the feeling that people are more united because even some people who voted for him have their mouths hanging open. I think a lot of people got more than they bargained for. His first term was extremely constrained in comparison to this!

We have a lot of friends in US who are retired and have a very good stanard of living through 401k investments and others not so much. I would love to spend more time in US as people are generally nicer than in the UK.l I think the point of the thread was to ask if it was reasonable to be a bit jealous of the US lifestyle. Like all countries, the US has its problems but because of its size/population its magnified. I look at what the UK has become in recent years and I honestly couldnt blame anyone for emigrating. We are powerless to make the changes that need to be made but thats the same in most places. The Establishment calls the shots everywhere.

I don't either.
What's more, I had two babies on Medicaid many years ago, and had an obstetrician and midwife practice from first pre natal visit to six week checkup, private room with ensuite in the hospitals I used, superb, kind, competent nursing care during and after delivery, and delicious food, plus water constantly refilled. Also a bag filled with useful baby items from both hospitals.

Car insurance depends on your zip code, whether your car is parked in a garage on on the street, your own driving record, who else uses the car and their age and record, whether you drive it to work/ annual mileage, your age and health, whether the car has an alarm, and make and model. Probably more. I got a discount this year for some reason. Veterans can get insurance especially for them.

It’s the fact there is nothing to stop him doing what he is doing and that the American people are just standing there with their mouths open that is the concern.

Would just like to point out that Massachusetts is a very liberal, small and expensive state. It really doesn’t speak for the US as a whole.

I think it’s the people who put me off the country the most to be honest.

Seriously?

Leaving aside the fact that Bosnia is as far from Catholic as it is possible to be (even within the country there is great division, in some areas it's full of mosques, in others parts Eastern Orthodox churches). I was in Hamburg a few days ago. The former dock warehouses that hold (among other attractions) Miniatur Wunderland look nothing like the picture you paint. St Michael's church was definitely not Catholic. In fact if you visit Miniatur Wunderland and you can see the amount of variety on offer, helpfully located in adjacent rooms.

Are timber-framed buildings in Bavaria "Baroque" or "Mediterranean village" in your binary system? What about the colourful wooden buildings in rural Sweden, where I passed through on my way to Stockholm last week? Yesterday I visited Suomenlinna near Helsinki, and the architectural styles reflect the conquests of both the Swedish and Russian empires over the last few hundred years. The Orthodox church there lost its onion domes on independence when it was converted to a Lutheran one (again, neither of those denominations are Catholic). Is the St Pancras station hotel "Baroque" or "Mediterranean village"? Looks more "gothic revival" to me.

You'd be very offended if I pointed out that you could be dropped in a random strip mall somewhere in the US and would have no idea which state you were in.

FFS you're really beyond parody now. My dinner last night is a traditional dish in the country I am visiting. Not a single morsel of olive, fish, bread or cheese. Unless you reckon that a reindeer is a type of fish...

Would you like me to reduce American cuisine to "basically about how many things you can do with high fructose corn syrup and lots of salt"?

Chicago and Philadelphia

I didn’t say that you did - in fact I was pretty explicit that your example was not a universal one. I said that food deserts existed. Towns where the only food available is sold by a gas station, and by necessity has to be pretty heavily processed in order to last in a place that can't justify regular deliveries of fresh food.