If you want to live in a country where we grow financially (when we aren’t in a recession, of course) and we enjoy freedoms of ALL kinds, you live here.

They both have their positives and negatives. It sounds to me like the author probably got laid off or had a hard time making it on his own so he decided to move to a country where he doesn’t have to make his own day-to-day decisions. I think there is nothing wrong with that at all. The sad part is, for every person you want to say is miserable in the US, I can bet you anything that you will find 100 that are happy and have had a good life. You, like the media, just wants to sensationalize the negatives which is awesome because you don’t live here anymore and we need your kind to move away. Then this country can truly start to heal again.

America is what it is and won’t change because sonay believe in the rhetoric on the news channels. So let those sheep live and die in this miserable stock yard while the rest of us live life!

From the comments I’m … pleased, I suppose, to see how many other Americans feel the same way I do regarding their country. The culture sucks (or the cultural psychology) – it’s Social Darwinism at it’s ugliest. I visited the US for a month this past Summer, and on the plane flying back here to Asia it felt like someone took a gigantic gorilla off my back – a huge sigh and shudder of relief.

I’ve lived in Wyoming, California (SF and LA), Utah, Arizona and Buenos Aries, worked in Hawaii, Singapore, London, parts of France, and vacationed to many more places in Europe and Asia. You should travel and you should consider escape. However, I’ve been part of these expat communities and what I’ve found is it’s a tradeoff. There are upsides and downsides to every place. Also America is a massive place and your experience will vary a TON if you live in LA vs. Wyoming vs. Hawaii.

For example, In Singapore you cannot buy gum in the country. No gum in the entire country because they like to keep it clean. If you somehow get some gum and dispose of it improperly, you will likely be physically beaten for spitting out your gum. This is reality. I’ve been there. And considering all of this I’ve still considered moving there. It’s very very clean, beautiful, and safe. The tradeoff is that you’re not allowed to do a lot of things and the punishment for non-compliance is harsh. It’s a tradeoff. I like Singapore, I’d still consider living there. But It’s silly for the author to hold it up as a shining example of a place that is better than America for the reasons he lists.

The apocalyptic “Mad Max” vision that the author paints of the IS is fine. However, it doesn’t take into account the world-wide cascade effect that such a massive failure represents. Many EU companies economies have failed recently or are close to faling. The author’s view on world economics is a bit too simplified. US debt crisis is over rated for one simple reason: it’s a world economy. If the US fails what happens the the rest of the world? Too big to fail is the US in a nutshell. If the US fails, and you think your life won’t change in your cozy costal fishing village in the South of France or Vietnam? You are dead wrong. It’s a world economy. Also, one benefit the world enjoys from the US’s massive military presence is protection. Shipping lanes are protected by the US Navy. Piracy would run rampant if that happened.

Think about escape. No place is good for everyone or forever. But don’t think the US is all bad and these other places are all good. Don’t think moving solves all of your problems. The problems are just different. Most of the places the author lists have had bad times. The US has had a rough few decades but it’s a living system like everything else. It will always change, that’s a constant. Just like everywhere else.

But the most timely information came from one of the responders. Most of you recognize all too well the predicaments we are in as Americans. Some seem to still be in the docile fog the ruling classes want to keep you in. Laura Rice is indeed right in her assertion about free university education in European countries (I don’t know about Canada, Australia or New Zealand). In their systems, only the elite can go or at least only the brilliant. It no longer takes much intellectual bravado to go to uni in the States. It just takes money. And Skenner was right about in questioning how your husband is managing the costs. Sure, it’s great that he can go to law school at 59, but who’s paying for it? If he is, great. If he’s on student loans … how many years does he have left to get a return on that investment? In any case, good luck getting a good job past 60.

JC, we can already see from examples in England, Greece and Spain what may happen if/when the rest of the developed world sinks as low as we have. They won’t end up living in slavery as we do because the people won’t let it happen. They’ll be out in the streets by the tens of thousands, possibly the millions by the time the shit really hits the fan. In other countries, people get out in the streets when they’re kicked; Americans do not — or at least don’t anymore. The working classes in other countries fight directly with the powerful who kick them; the American working classes (the disappearing middle class included) fight only each other or those below them. As other responders said, they have been very well taught by their masters who to blame.

As for the first responder, I don’t have anything to say except to reiterate what Kevin said about freedom of expression. We’re losing that, too, remember. And Charles Dunbar, hate is exactly what our masters want us to do — with each other. That way we won’t point our fingers toward them.

But the response that resonated with me was the one that actually had an idea. Michael Passe, how many more working-class Americans are there like you who would dearly love to leave this country and settle elsewhere, legally, and be able to earn a living? I’ll hazard the number is close to a million and quite possibly many more. But you are the first one I’ve read about who suggests not only that EFA try to find information for us and not just those with assets, but that there be an expat organization designed to help us.

It could be along the lines of our settlement houses of old, where new immigrants came when they arrived for shelter, food, contacts and job assistance. They don’t exist anymore here, of course (or I don’t know of them), but somehow they managed to exist then. Who funded them, I wonder? Who could possibly fund something similar now for American immigrants to other developed countries? Everyone thinks all American immigrants abroad are people of assets. Not so. There are so many more of us than them, people who would dearly love to go, properly and legally, but who just lack the start-up funds. Perhaps some of those with assets would find this a worthwhile cause to contribute to, in addition to any other causes they may assist.

I can’t even go back to California where I lived before I moved abroad 11 years ago. I can’t afford to. I was hospitalized during my last Japan teaching stint last year (yes, I was able to pay for it there, I couldn’t have here), but the illness cost me my job, as it was brand new and the company didn’t want to absorb the cost of a new employee’s illness. After I recovered, I ran out of money before I was able to find a new job, and had to return “home” to the States — where after a harrowing year of job hunting and imposing on my sister’s already overcrowded house, this 57-year-old degreed woman with years of professional experience and bad knees ended up toiling in a factory for close to minimum. There’s nothing else out there anymore. What there is requires background I just don’t have and can’t afford to obtain. I’m $25,000 in debt. Forget paying it off. I can’t even afford to go bankrupt! I’m not in work today because the brakes on my car went out. I can’t afford to replace them. The car is old and was bought shortly after I arrived here with the last of my credit. There is no public transportation in this area and I work at night. If I do not find someone to help me pay for this car repair, I will be homeless within a month. Not would be. Will be.

I’m breathless with it all. The stress is absolutely killing me. The loss of hope is the worst.

A “vast intellectual underclass”? You bet. Lance couldn’t have described it better. For all the emails I get from splinter organizations (most of them extremely respectable and headed by well-meaning, compassionate people) wanting to get out there and change things, the majority of Americans are too brainwashed, and these groups will remain on the fringes. It doesn’t matter what they do — organize rallies where hundreds may show up (a drop in the population bucket for us), get together for little “house parties” where intelligent people throw around ideas but it will never change anything because they’re nowhere near the majority. It will take nothing short of absolute collapse, where the ruling class is also affected, for our system to change.

Especially in the case of us older folks, we need to be looking out for ourselves and any loved ones willing to follow us. I want very badly to get back abroad asap. I also want to see my California friends again after eight years of not seeing them, but I must get back abroad. Soon. Before it’s too late and I’m really locked in.

So if there’s no expat settlement organization currently existing, Michael, perhaps we should start one. We have no money but others do. How many other expats feel as we do, KNOW as we do, and have something to contribute? Perhaps we should communicate privately and find out …

All the best,
Ana