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Disappointed with living in US, immigration issues, inner city poverty, high crime rates, lack of cleanliness, depressing atmosphere, looking for information on European countries
Hey everyone, first post on these forums. Glad to have registered finally.
I've been living in the US for 9 years now but am truly disappointed, especially after I made a trip to some other countries.
There are some issues that truly raise my blood pressure: (in no particular order).
1. illegal immigrants are flooding this nation, a huge population of poor people are coming over without making a positive contribution. And our gov't isn't doing ANYTHING and will not be doing anything for another 4/8 years considering the present candidates. using all of our tax moneys for social programs, stealing jobs, and pushing quality of life down the drains.
2. high crime - the town centers and downtowns are usually very old locations of most cities and have a vibrant life about them, unfortunately these areas are flooded with crime, poverty, and overall a very dirty environment. For example LA or frankly any other major cities in America.
3. lack of cleanliness - Every time, I travel to LA or even SF (or again any major cities in America) I feel like I'm in a 3rd world country. The dirtiness, the amount of crappy cars, the amount of dirty factories, the lack of a proficient metro system all contributes. And then I wonder whether or not I'm living in the richest country in the world. When I was in Tehran for a business trip, in the middle of a night when everyone was asleep, there was a street cleaning crew that was assigned to different areas and cleaned by very hi-tech tools.
4. poverty - the stuff that you see on TV and in our streets. homelesses, tent cities, ghettos once again make me wonder if I'm living in America.
5. negative vibes - we are no different than Japan in our work ethics. The depression, the loss of love, the loss of bonds, and stress can all be seen in the faces of our citizens because of work and other life stresses.
These are all realities of America, even though I don't come in touch with them all the time because I live in a rich part of town...they exist and they are sad because I always thought as a 1st rate country, such problems wouldn't exist. In no way are they to bash America, I'm an American citizen and that's why these problems are a concern, because I care. It just disappoints me because our gov't is much richer and economically stable that many of the countries that I visited yet they make the ends meet and we have failed to do that here, in the supposedly richest gov't in the world. With all these problems the quality of life is dropping everyday.
America's name is sounding bigger than what is actually is.
SO
with that being said, I have yet to visit many countries in the world but I'm sure that I want to move on and migrate to another nation. But to where, I don't know, I would like to hear some opinions on where I could enjoy my life and have these issues be non-existent. Is there anywhere in the world like that?
I'm an American who has been living abroad for the last 13 years outside of a couple years where I went back to the States. One of the time I went to live in San Francisco, and I was harrassed by way many more homeless people than in most 3rd world countries whenever walking down the main street of Market Street.
The attitudes of people in the States is also alarming. There is often a strong tension on the air when you are walking down streets or in supermarkets or malls. The tough-guy tensions combined with the general paranoid diatribe of stuff talked about on the evening news can really drain a person.
Worse is watching American TV. Much of it based on callousness and things that are funny to Americans are often violent. The language used like 'I am going to kill you' and many similar ones are commonplace.
Growing up and living in America, I never thought anything about it. But living abroad and going back to the U.S., you can really see how strong all of that is way down deep in today's American culture.
Most of our cities look like crap because the focus for the past 50 years has been on building up the suburbs. That trend is starting to reverse itself to some degree, but we still have a LONG way to go.
Have you considered taking a look at the east coast? Things are a lot more normal, shall I say, compared to Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a weird downtown because not too many people live there. It is somewhat typical for a sun-belt city, with sprawl going out in every direction. Cities on the east coast are much more in line with what you'd typically find in the rest of the world.
San Francisco is great, but as Tiger Beer stated, the homeless situation is completely out of control there. I've never run into so many pan handlers as I did in SF. I think the beggars in Calcutta were more relaxed than they were in San Francisco. Maybe its something in the water?
The USA has always had lots of immigrants, but things have gotten out of control in the past decade. With the slowing economy this problem will self correct to some degree. I have already read statistics stating that the flow of immigrants coming north is slowing down because there aren't as many jobs available.
I would suggest you try out some other cities besides LA. New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and DC are all very nice places. Definitely give them a shot before you decide to leave.
Hmmm... while I understand your feelings, I think you're not being fair to the US and were exaggerating a little bit. I'll use Los Angeles as an example since you mentioned it in your post. Greater Metro LA areas have close to 18 millions of people according to the latest statistics, compare this to Paris (2.1 millions) and greater London metro areas (7.5 millions). So of course LA will have many more problems as a consequence to its sprawl and population. Poverty will always exist, no matter where you are. By and large, LA's poor have much more options given by the US government compare to some of the poor I've seen first hand in other cities in other countries with similar size & population. Same thing can be said about crime as well. Name one city with comparable size & population that doesn't have high crime rate. Ever driven in Jakarta - Indonesia, where at every stop light you are basically at the mercy of whichever crook happens to walk by even when a cop is stopped next to your car? Heck, the cops are even worse than the crooks in that country!
So the US is not that bad, otherwise there won't be that many people who want to come here, including people from supposedly rich European countries. After you've travelled a bit, and lived in other countries more, you'll come to realize that no country is perfect, and while the US has its flaws, it also has many good aspects compare to others.
Hmmm... while I understand your feelings, I think you're not being fair to the US and were exaggerating a little bit. I'll use Los Angeles as an example since you mentioned it in your post. Greater Metro LA areas have close to 18 millions of people according to the latest statistics, compare this to Paris (2.1 millions) and greater London metro areas (7.5 millions). So of course LA will have many more problems as a consequence to its sprawl and population. Poverty will always exist, no matter where you are. By and large, LA's poor have much more options given by the US government compare to some of the poor I've seen first hand in other cities in other countries with similar size & population. Same thing can be said about crime as well. Name one city with comparable size & population that doesn't have high crime rate. Ever driven in Jakarta - Indonesia, where at every stop light you are basically at the mercy of whichever crook happens to walk by even when a cop is stopped next to your car? Heck, the cops are even worse than the crooks in that country!
So the US is not that bad, otherwise there won't be that many people who want to come here, including people from supposedly rich European countries. After you've travelled a bit, and lived in other countries more, you'll come to realize that no country is perfect, and while the US has its flaws, it also has many good aspects compare to others.
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore..... actually I think most cities in Asia are probably safer than LA.
Hmmm... while I understand your feelings, I think you're not being fair to the US and were exaggerating a little bit. I'll use Los Angeles as an example since you mentioned it in your post. Greater Metro LA areas have close to 18 millions of people according to the latest statistics, compare this to Paris (2.1 millions) and greater London metro areas (7.5 millions). So of course LA will have many more problems as a consequence to its sprawl and population. Poverty will always exist, no matter where you are. By and large, LA's poor have much more options given by the US government compare to some of the poor I've seen first hand in other cities in other countries with similar size & population. Same thing can be said about crime as well. Name one city with comparable size & population that doesn't have high crime rate. Ever driven in Jakarta - Indonesia, where at every stop light you are basically at the mercy of whichever crook happens to walk by even when a cop is stopped next to your car? Heck, the cops are even worse than the crooks in that country!
So the US is not that bad, otherwise there won't be that many people who want to come here, including people from supposedly rich European countries. After you've travelled a bit, and lived in other countries more, you'll come to realize that no country is perfect, and while the US has its flaws, it also has many good aspects compare to others.
Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore..... actually I think most cities in Asia are probably safer than LA.
Maybe. But how big are Singapore, HongKong, and Tokyo? I've been to Singapore many many times, and their government is not exactly as democratic as the US, you know. Singaporeans call their own country a 'fine' country, because every little thing you say or do can get you 'fined' if it's not in line to their government's wishes. Their No. 1 newspaper, The Straits Times, has many government officials on their management board, and everything printed by the media has to be approved by the ministry of communication. That should tell you something about their freedom of speech. With an island that small, and a rather tight fisted goverment style, it's no wonder Singapore becomes such an organized city compare to others.
HongKong? My uncle has been living there since the 1960's and I have a bunch of chef friends from HK who told me there are a few places in HK where they themselves avoid due to safety reasons.
Can't say much about Tokyo as I've only been there once for a brief visit.
My point is, visiting is not the same as living. When you visit a foreign country either for business or pleasure, especially a westerner visiting a non-english speaking country, you tend to stick to areas frequented by foreigners, not the back alleys and the slums of said foreign country. Your knowledge of said foreign country will be fairly limited based on the limited (and safe) places you've visited, so how can you compare that to the vast knowledge you have of your home country?
To Caseras regarding Paris population: OK, I got my statistic wrong, my apology for my mistake. Tell me though, how's the poverty and crime in Paris these days?
Maybe. But how big are Singapore, HongKong, and Tokyo?
The Tokyo metro area has over 30 million people. Crime is very low there and in every other major city in Japan compared to any city in the United States.
The Tokyo metro area has over 30 million people. Crime is very low there and in every other major city in Japan compared to any city in the United States.
Like I said, I have only been to Tokyo once for a brief visit, so I really don't know much about the city. I will tell you one discussion I had with one of my Japanese co-workers though. This co-worker's father is a cop in Japan, which is a VERY respectable & powerful occupation there, and he often shares his amazement with me of how limited power the cops have in the US.
You see, Japan gives a higher authority and power to their law officials compare to the US. There's no such thing as the Miranda rights that limit coercive police interrogation techniques in Japan, which means a cop can search you at anytime with no warrant or proof, and whatever 'proof' obtained from a search (illegal search or not) will be accepted by the court. Cops can also detain you for as long as needed until confession is obtained. Technically there's a rule that limits detention time that can only be extended under a judge's approval, but defense attorneys rarely object to detention extension request because they're afraid of offending the prosecutors and other law officials. Anything that interferes with police interrogation will be denied, including bail. In anycase, such interrogation will almost always result in a signed confession due to the sense of shame that Japanese people still hold true to this day. If a suspect dares to go to trial instead, he often doesn't even see a defense attorney until trial day, and when the meeting does happen with the defense attorney, he's given probably 30 minutes before the trial begins! One more thing, there's no jury at the trial, decision is made by the judge who almost always defers to the prosecutors' recommendation. Oh, I almost forgot to mention their very tough gun control law (besides the police and military, nobody is allowed to possess any kind of firearms or swords in Japan). So as a result, Japan is the safest industrialized country in the world, but at the cost of their civil rights and liberty.
Like I said, no country is perfect.
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