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Because those same cosmopolitans fetishize Europe--oh, the trains I took while on study abroad!--and fantasize about moving there (but almost never do).
The reality? UK& #39;s GDP per capita is about that of Mississippi. Europe is less unequal, but also far less wealthy. https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1248794007112646656">https://twitter.com/mattygles...
The reality? UK& #39;s GDP per capita is about that of Mississippi. Europe is less unequal, but also far less wealthy. https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1248794007112646656">https://twitter.com/mattygles...
Conversely, American poor likely don& #39;t realize how much worse they have it vs. comparable Europeans. The irony is that those relatively worse off whose lives *would * improve by moving to Europe don& #39;t fetishize it, while those whose lives *wouldn& #39;t* improve, do.
The mystery here is why Americans don& #39;t emigrate, almost ever. You meet few American emigrants (or & #39;expats& #39; if they& #39;re white collar) abroad. It& #39;s like citizens of an immigrant country refuse to become immigrants again, making their last stand in their adopted, invented homeland.
For the record, I& #39;ve emigrated. Most recently in Jan 2015 when I sold everything and moved to Barcelona followed by Berlin, to work on a book and pursue what I thought would be a second life after getting ostracized from the US tech sector. I moved back by end of year.
Europe has its charms. An American urban middle-class professional will work themselves to the bone to afford things like housing, education, and access to high culture that an analogous European would mostly take for granted.
But did I tell you what my UK book deal was vs. my American one?
Americans make the arguably irrational choice for unequal individual success, also placing a huge premium on choice in all things: tipping instead of flat service fees, PPO health plans instead of managed care.
Americans make the arguably irrational choice for unequal individual success, also placing a huge premium on choice in all things: tipping instead of flat service fees, PPO health plans instead of managed care.
Of course, Europe isn& #39;t in a stable equilibrium. They live under an American military order they don& #39;t pay for but profit from. I don& #39;t know how much of Europe& #39;s charm survives when it& #39;s European navies keeping the Strait of Hormuz open (which they need more than us).
Coming from Europe, America feels like a Brazil-esque developing country, but with Google and Hollywood and Wall Street amidst the favelas.
Coming from America, Europe feels like a retirement home inside a museum behind an American tank (and they resent the tank).
Coming from America, Europe feels like a retirement home inside a museum behind an American tank (and they resent the tank).
