Will my life be better if I move to USA?

[Yatre]

I truly hate the UK class system.

I hate the whole private school vs grammar school vs state school elitism.

I hate the Oxbridge elitism and how Oxbridge-educated people dominate public life and the arrogance many of them have.

I hate the posh Etonians and Harrovians.

I hate the elitism of the Royal Family, the British aristocracy, all those titles and landed estates, the House of Lords etc.

Just the existence of certain British politicans (regardless of their politics - because this isn’t necessarily about their political beliefs) really irks me. Think David Cameron or Boris Johnson. Both upper-class, privately-educated, Oxford/Bullingdon Club, which have given them a great sense of arrogance about their position in life.

I hate the Oxford Union and the way they all dress up in posh attire, acting all special, and thinking their oratory skills will materialise into anything of worth.

This arrogance has been talked about before with many Brits believing that these Oxbridge, privately-educated, middle and upper-class people have the arrogance to think they have the right to run the country.

They’re present everywhere. Edward Davey, Keir Starmer, Suella Braverman, Tony Blair etc. it’s not just a right-wing thing. In fat, you could argue, these days, it’s more so left-wing.

Even successful British actors like Emma Thompson, Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne etc exhibit these attributes. They

I just don’t want to have to live in the same country as these types of people or listen to their antics.

Luckily, I’m a dual UK-US citizen since I was born in the US while my parents were living there for a while, but I have never been there since my parents returned and I don’t know anyone there.

I really want to move to the US.

If you know what it’s like to live in the USA, can you just tell me whether if I moved to the USA, I wouldn’t have to come across any of those posh, aristocratic, upper/middle-class, privately-educated, titled, Oxbridge graduate snobs that I mentioned.

I would live in a much more meritocratic country where nobody would tolerate Oxford Union debaters thinking their opinion matters or privately-educated people thinking they have a right to run the country.

At least Trump’s wealth or that of the Kardashian’s isn’t offensive to me because it just feels different - it doesn’t feel as layered and it doesn’t make them act as entitled or snobbish.

So, if I move to USA will I be free from these types of people or will I still see some of them/hear from them? I’m not sure if America is dominated by middle-class or posh, Oxbridge graduates or aristocrats.

Sorry for the rant. Just felt overwhelmed.

Most of the Americans he works with are Ivy League and many of them expressly say they’ve moved to London to escape the elitism, narrowness and snobbery of their lives in the US.

If they have renounced their US citizenship, immigrated to the UK, and taken permanent positions there, I'd find this credible. If they were there on a one or two year assignment, I'd suspect that they were attempting to ingratiate themselves with their British colleagues by confirming their biases about American society.

My DH worked in London for a year before we met. He was on assignment from the big four (big six then) accounting firm he work for, in their management consulting division. He loved London, loved the Brits he worked with and met, but was happy to return to NY when the assignment was over.

I think you are deluded if you think wealth in the US doesn’t make people act in an entitled or snobbish way.
Your fixation with Oxbridge is quite weird. I have a daughter at Oxford. She went there from a rural comprehensive, not a selective or private school. One of my closest friends went to Cambridge, again from a rural comprehensive, ditto my DH. Highly academic students tend to go on to good universities, that’s hardly a surprise.

I hope this isn't your baby sister!

Where are all these Oxbridge people?? Are they all lined up outside your window in their rowing kit or something???

If you like gun violence and Christianity - head to the USA!
But it’s just a different type of class system there - if you’re poor you are treated as nothing and can’t even access health care.
Plus…Trump…gross.
Give it a try and let us know how you like it.

if you’re poor you are treated as nothing and can’t even access health care.

So much ignorance and misinformation.

https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/0548/medicaid.htm

Every state has a Medicaid program.

My sons went to Oxford. From a normal family and state school. All their friends were similar. Yes lots of prats have gone. But your statements are not true

A meritocracy that has elected Trump to the top job in the land. If that's on merit, what must the rest of them be like?

As talented and dependable as Liz Truss?

Though, to be fair, she was second choice after the lying buffoon.

A quick google shows that there is less social mobility in the US than the UK. You'd be better off moving to a Scandinavian country if you wanted a more egalitarian society.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/social-mobility-by-country

Yes, I think this is what can get lost in the salary conversation sometimes, the contrast to COL. Depending on the household's tax bracket, they're about 37% between state and federal, after which people still need to purchase their own health insurance as it's not covered, as well as invest in their own retirement plans, etc. In my neighborhood, a "fixer upper" exceeds $1M to purchase, plus energy costs, insurance, property tax (~$20k per year), etc. The salaries look much higher but the cost of living is, too.

I have US relatives and I when I stayed with them last year I noticed that a new railway station had been opened, and new housing had been built in the vicinity. I commented that it's a shame there were no pavements or obvious crossings to allow commuters to walk back home safely.

I was told pavements equates to poverty. You only walk if you can't afford a car, so a lot of new housing going up in their area deliberately favoured those who drove, by excluding those who didn't.

There is a class system in US, but not necessarily along the same lines as the UK.

Inverted snobbery comes to mind. People are people whether they are posh or not. Good ,bad or a mix of both .
If you think everyone is equal in USA then you are in for a shock. Their class system is based on wealth.
But why don't you just go?Obviously you are not bothered by Trump as President.

This trope about pavements is a nouveau riche attitude. There are many older, very wealthy areas of major cities and suburbs (even along the California coast, where people drive everywhere) full of well maintained pavements.

I lived in Calif and not only could you not hang washing outside you couldn’t even hang it in the garage. In a state that hates oil cos.🙄
edit as it lowers the tone

Thank you for your clarification, I will tell my American born relative that she is wrong.

But they don't live in a long standing wealthy city area, it's a relatively new suburban area that is increasing in size, predominantly white, close to an existing much poorer Hispanic area.

Maybe it wasn't just wealth that was being excluded.

Correct. Pavements (called sidewalks here) are built in areas with high population density and in city and town centers. They are not built in areas with low population density as they would get little use compared to the cost of constructing and maintaining them.

I think this is an example of Brits not understanding that the US is not like the UK in some ways. I live in an exurban or semi-rural area. We have two acres of land, and our closest neighbor is 100 yards down the road. Pavements would be nonsensical on my street.

That was a rule imposed by your HOA (homeowners association), not your state or local government. Had you been in a house with an HOA, you would have been perfectly free to hang your washing wherever you liked.

I don't think anyone has said the UK is a meritocracy.

(I love the fact that I would know who "lying buffoon" was, whatever the context)

To expand on this, here are the numbers of Americans who get government-provided healthcare. Medicare provides health insurance to everyone aged 65 or older regardless of income, and Medicaid provides health insurance to people on low income. The US government provides healthcare for millions more people than the NHS does.

https://www.cms.gov/files/document/medicare-and-medicaid-numbers.pdf

2 out of 5 Americans: Nearly 2 in 5 Americans are covered by Medicare or Medicaid.

82 million: Medicaid & the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) cover more than 82 million Americans, including adults, pregnant women, children, and people with disabilities.

62.7 million: The number of Americans enrolled in Medicare in 2024, up from 19 million when the program began.

1 in 4: Medicaid provides health coverage to 1 in 4 non-elderly Americans.

38 million: About half of all children in the U.S.—roughly 38 million—get a healthy start through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

80 million: CMS estimates that Medicare enrollment will reach 80 million within the next 10 years, and 100 million by 2075.

1.5 million: Medicaid and CHIP pay for more than 40% of all births in the U.S.—over 1.6 million each year.

3 out of 5: Three out of every five nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their care.

As an example, in my state of New York, 37% of the population qualifies for Medicaid coverage.

https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-are-on-medicaid-in-the-us/state/new-york/

So please don't tell me that the poor can't access healthcare in the US.

That's interesting.
Although the fact that Nouveau riche exists as a concept sort of suggests there is a class.system I guess. So you have poor areas with pavements, Nouveau riche areas without pavements, well of older money places with pavements.where people feel less need to show they have money.

@MissConductUS

"The US government provides healthcare for millions more people than the NHS does"

That's not a meaningful argument, since it is a smaller proportion of a larger population.

Correct, but it shows how wrong the assumption is that there's no government-provided healthcare for the poor or the elderly here. They are by far the largest provider of health insurance in the country.

The US has it's own social issues and frankly I think they are far worse. I used to live there. I won't ever again (though I do still spend several weeks of the year there for my business). I don't even holiday there anymore. What do I mean? Racism. It's a massive issue that hangs over everything. And lack of social care. Homelessness, drugs, mental health, general healthcare... if you aren't wealthy you are in trouble if you have issues around any of those. And mainstream America thinks those problems are unsolvable, despite the evidence from other countries. Is the class system here a bad thing? Sure. I'm from a working class, immigrant background and went to private school so I've suffered through it, but I'd rather be here than endure the state of America today.

"the assumption is that there's no government-provided healthcare for the poor or the elderly here"

I think a lot of Europeans heard about Obamacare.