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Comment by kloncks | Hacker News Reader

"If you’re extremely talented or intelligent, the US is probably the best place in the world to live."

This is one of the most important points.

For the average American HackerNews reader, life is radically different from the rest of America. I am given opportunities, networks, connections and chances that I wouldn't be able to get this easily anywhere else in the World.

The genius of America seems to come from a few very key categories that exist to this day. Silicon Valley is one of them; Hollywood or Wall Street might be others.

But outside that, our average is a rather poor showing compared to a lot of other countries around the world that more collectively seem to take care of their people.

The problem, in my humble opinion, always stems from ignorance. As a culture, we're just not as aware or respectful as we should be. Other countries know more about the World than we do. That leads to more open-ness and respect.

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I 100% agree with your quote from the article as well. The US is an absolutely amazing place when you are "the best". You get to live the hyperbole and talk about it too. What better place to do so? For example, the US healthcare doesn't suck, it's actually really good. But it's only good for those who can afford it. I've had to go to the doctor three times now in the UK (eye infection, sports injury and regular checkup) and every time I've had to wait 3+ hours to get diagnosed/treated. In the US, my healthcare meant I was in and out in 30 minutes. The US is a great place when you can afford it. That being said, I happily waited in line for the 3+ hours because I knew that other people are being treated for things they normally can't afford in the US. The problem in America, is that no one can even fathom a system like this. It's so foreign to the way we operate our lives (i.e. our culture) because everything we do is deeply rooted in transferences of goods and services in the form of money.

ps- I'm also an American who has lived in the UK, Germany, and been to 30+ countries. I share a lot of the same views as the author.

Yeah, in visiting other countries, my impression is that the average person is way happier with life, regardless of their financial standing. This in turn makes me happier. I'd be happy to pay way more in taxes in the US to support that kind of living environment.

It's hard to realize the difference it makes without traveling and meeting lots of people when you do so, though, and the tragedy is that the current system in the US doesn't allow most people the resources to travel and educate themselves, which seems to negatively effect the chances of having a well educated voting populace.

But you can get private health care in the UK and it's much cheaper than the US. In the US if you can't get health insurance—and I mean literally can't because you are a single payer where no company is willing to offer you a policy—then you pay out of pocket at a high multiple of the negotiated prices insurance companies get. The quality of the actual care in the US is top notch, but the system is beyond fucked up, and the lies spewed by the politicians are positively nauseating.

I'm an American living in the UK and I have to disagree with your assessment of the difference. First of all, most of my medical needs are taken care of through my GP who has never taken more than a week advance notice to get an appointment with, and the wait times I've experienced are actually far less than I've experience in various US health providers in Minnesota, New Mexico and California. When I crashed my bike before I had my GP, I did have to wait at a Walk-In Center, for about an hour, and ditto for Minor Injuries where they sent me after an initial evaluation, but that's equivalent to going to an emergency room in the states, because you can't just walk in to the nearest doctor there, you have to be "in-network". Later, through my GP I was able to get several osteopath sessions, a shoulder ultrasound, and physical therapy all of which was very well administered with minimal wait times. I'm not saying the system doesn't have problems, but it's nothing like the bogeyman of socialized medicine that seemingly the majority of Americans have been hoodwinked to believe it is.

Even for a hacker news reader the U.S. might not be unequivocally the best place to live. For example I would like to live in the U.S. (perhaps not forever, but at least for some time). There are a couple of things that don't make it a clear cut choice, even if you only consider purely selfish factors:

- healthcare: a large health bill or something that the insurance refuses to pay for can still wreck your life

- very religious

- high HIV rates

- gun ownership

- cycling unfriendly

- social safety net (because even hacker news readers can have bad luck, especially when you do something risky like starting a company)

- and of course more important things like distance from friends & family, but that's not a property of the U.S. in itself

None of these are show stoppers per se, and perhaps they are irrational fears, but they can tip the scales in favor of other places despite the big bonus points that the U.S. get in other areas.

As an American, I can't help but find your listed "fears" quite humorous (and irrational). The US is a huge country with 300M people, and there is pretty much something for everyone. For example, Portland, OR is extremely bike friendly (as are many other cities), and I've never seen a gun brandished by someone I didn't know. I've never locked my house in the 3 years I've owned it, and my car keys stay in the ignition with my garage door open 90% of the time.

Starting a company is a risky endeavor no matter where you do it, but I would advise starting a company in a country with which you are familiar, or with cofounders you trust that are.

That list was definitely not intended as a list that applies to all of the U.S.; quite the opposite: some of the points apply to some of the U.S. (I didn't make that clear though). You're right, there's something for everybody. One problem is that this also works the other way; I have to pick from the places where I find an interesting job and where the employer wants to employ me. So far those places have been places where several of the above criteria are unfortunately met. I do know that some of those things are definitely irrational, and would not be a problem in practice (especially gun ownership).

> - cycling unfriendly

Unless you are coming from the Netherlands or Denmark, I don't think this is really the case.

The US has changed vastly on this front and I would rank it more cycling friendly than most places. Mind you many municipalities are still quite unfriendly to bicycles, but San Francisco and New York City (just to name two) have changed vastly.

San Francisco has taken street lights that were timed for cars (so a car would drive down the street and get all green lights if it were to drive straight) and changed them to 13 miles per hour, so that a bicycle will get all green lights.

It's certainly no Amsterdam, and there is still a long way to go, but I'd rather pedal there than most places.

(NL, DK, parts of BE and DE are still more bicycle friendly than anywhere else I've been on a scale that simply won't make sense to a person who hasn't been to those places. Caveat, I've never been to China, rumor has it that there a lot of bicycles there too.)

Well, I am coming from the netherlands ;) San Francisco and New York are definitely nice cycling cities from what I've heard (and also don't have many of the other issues I listed). However, I was under the (perhaps wrong) impression that in a substantial area of the US, drivers are either inattentive of or actively against cyclists? But probably only the bad news gets out.

You seem quite knowledgeable about these issues. If you have time, I'd love to get your perspective and advice about U.S. cities (though this might not be the appropriate place, I put my email in my profile in case you have time).

> Well, I am coming from the netherlands ;)

Then like I said, with that standard, everywhere else is bicycle unfriendly. :(

An email is coming, but I think that one of the big things (and San Francisco has this badly) is that the US is has been so car focused for so long that it is not exactly something that easily changes. But, compared to what it used to be, I think it has changed and still is changing.

I don't think it is unique to USA. When I was in London in the late 90s, I was told "You want to ride a bike? You'll get killed!" Now there are bike lanes and bike share programs and all sorts of things, and while there are still places to avoid and even back in the day there were bike-able places, it's gotten much better.

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