Beyond "Statistics and anecdotes are different", there's probably some heavy selection bias presented in "Spaniards that had the wealth to emmigrate"

I'm Spanish. I make about 40k/yr. I wouldn't move to the US for, say, 200k.

I have excellent 0€ out of pocket 0 paperwork healthcare. I walk to my 35 hours per week job. I have about 50 days of vacation each year. I have a small second home down in the beach to enjoy them. In my 150k people hometown some years there is a murder or two, and most years there isn't one. When people rob a business they might threaten with a tiny Swiss Army knife, or maybe just yell very hard.

I'll stay thanks.

Undoubtedly, but the corollary 'statistics is not reality' doesn't really hold. I'm sure people here would know many Americans who moved to Spain.

Statistics might not be ideal, but making policy decisions based on anecdotes is far, far worse.

Why does your anecdotal evidence trump math, exactly?

> The situation you describe is… one of statistics and not reality

So you reject mathematics in favor of a few cherry-picked experiences.

> I know several Spaniards who emigrated to the US,

As do I. They all seem to have moved to cosmopolitan places with advanced economies, not Mississippi. I also have friends and relatives that have migrated to Spain. Overall, there is no mass migration in either direction.

> The situation you describe is… one of statistics and not reality

A high speed rail network and universal healthcare are not statistics, they are as real as it gets.

But I definitely agree that Spain is probably not a good place if you want to make an absolute shitload of money.