All this talk of low tax in the US is slightly inaccurate. When I flew over there I took home a smaller percentage of my pay cheque than I do in the UK. While income tax is less, people constantly forget about the added cost of medical insurance. I took home roughly 60% of my total pay in America. At BA I worked out that I take home about c.66-67% of my total pay. That’s not on a cadets salary, that’s on a figure not all that far below six figures a year.
As for all this nonsense about Europe becoming a third world country; well, while I enjoyed my time living in the US, I know where I would rather live. I’m by no means a ‘liberal’, but I find life in Europe much more palatable. Yes, it has its problems, but I was very happy to return a few years ago.
I have no anti-American agenda, my wife is American. But it is a hugely divided nation, racism is still very much alive and well and I got fed up of the constant lack of culture or identity outside of many of the major cities. I tired of driving past strip mall after strip mall, biased TV ‘news’ (both left and right wing), and fast food. The cities are some of the greatest in the world, but day to day life lacked any real character FOR ME. (Emphasis on this being my own PERSONAL opinion).